Teodora Vasileva twiddled her thumbs on the couch, her nervousness obvious. She looked around, trying to gather up her thoughts before continuing her story. She shared that she had always been a shy child, something she had yet to grow out of.
Teodora Vasileva, or Teddy, as she prefers, was born and raised in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in a loving and happy home. She shared jokingly that she and her young brother, age 5, were, in fact, from the same parents, since many people have asked her that question beforehand. Teddy is a 19-year-old girl, thinking of doing a double major in AUBG, with a primary major in Economics, and an undecided secondary one.
Following on the topic of family, Teddy explained how close she was with her own family. “They even stayed with me for the first three days of my Orientation week,” said Teddy. She also spoke about her relationship with her grandmother, who she claimed to be her role model in life. “Just like me, she had so many traumatic experiences in her life and she went through them. {…} I’m really proud of her and hope that one day I can be as great as her.”
Teddy shared her Orientation week experience, explaining how she was surprised by the organization of it. She mentions that she has made other really good friends and joined a few clubs on campus as another reason for her successful integration. “I attended some events {…} and it was an amazing experience {…} I made great friends in the course of three days {…} I’m so grateful that I’m a part of this.” said Teddy.
Teddy also shared the journey she went through before coming to AUBG. “I wanted to go to the United States. And I started preparing myself since tenth grade,” said Teddy. She talked about how she was accepted into almost all the universities she applied to including a few British universities as well, even though she didn’t want to go to Britain at all.
Teddy went on to explain of the excitement she and her family went through when she got accepted into the universities she had applied to. Teddy said that the reason she declined going abroad was mainly monetary. It was what led Teodora to decide to come to AUBG, even though she admitted of her uncertainty in AUBG, which was now gone, .
“I wasn’t expecting much from the university. But as I’m here now, I’m thankful that I stayed. {…} I met so many wonderful people, you have no idea. It’s amazing, I don’t regret one bit of it.” Said Teddy, finishing off the story of her journey to AUBG.
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Emily Timcheva is a second year student at AUBG, studying Political science. She is very interested in people’s take on completely new experiences in their lives.
