Monica Boyadzhieva
Creative, introverted and a foodie. That’s how Monica Boyadzhieva, a first-year student in AUBG, describes herself on a Monday afternoon in ABF Student Center. Monica’s creativity is fueled by her curiosity: “I’m a person who doesn’t know what they wanna learn. I wanna learn a lot of things!”
Other than her constant search for knowledge, Monica is also a charity activist in her town of origin — Pleven, Bulgaria. She says, “I’ve been part of Friends of English, a club from my English academy in Pleven, so we’ve done a lot of local […] events. Like giving clothes to children or teaching them English.”
Monica admits that her schedule in AUBG stops her from achieving her fitness goals. “Have a healthy lifestyle! That’s one of the things that I imagined: that I’m gonna be so healthy and be away from my parents who always make me eat what is at home. And go to the gym…and be very motivated…None of this is actually happening,” says Monica through laughter, concluding that her current diet consists of pizza and noodles.
Despite university not accommodating for her exercise regime, Monica says that some AUBG Alumni have become influential figures in her life. She says, “Listening to these people made me think, ‘Wow! Maybe I can be like that someday! Just experience a lot of things and go many places and do a lot of good, and interesting things!’ ” For Monica, AUBG has been a special place even before her official start in August of 2019.
Monica says she is a dreamer who sometimes forgets how the world works. However, she thinks her fear of mistakes stops her from showing her full potential, and she is determined to change it. Monica concludes, “I would like to be braver in the sense of just be ready to do stuff. Like not doubting if I should do this, if I’m too shy to do this, that I can’t really do what I want…but if I want to [do something] instead just go for it! Do it! Whatever happens, happens, it’s just error and trial.”
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Radina Veleva is studying Journalism and Mass Communication, and Psychology in AUBG. For her, freshman year was a time of discoveries.
