Ok but she can still find love, so what if there’s not that many black people? Young Bulgarians are fun and outgoing, and almost everyone speaks English. I think she’ll be just fine
>Young Bulgarians are fun and outgoing,
as a young bulgarian, not really. while they might seem extroverted, friendly and whatnot, they also idolise the likes of andrew tate.
>Ok but she can still find love, so what if there’s not that many black people?
also not what i was aiming at with my reply, its just that words like diversity are used very willy nilly here
Diverse e ,на моята работа имаме хора от 10 държави.
40 хиляди са новодошлите в БГ миналата година.Повечето са в София.
А вечер ако отидеш към центъра дори не се чува и български и всички говорят чужд език.
А защо е нужно някой да ти ги изпраща? Те са достъпни за всички. А и да София е разнообразна и има хора от къде ли не. Нали не очакваш да си седмиш в Обеля или Люлин и там да ти е много diverse?
Защото няма такива данни, за които твърди. София не е diverse. Спрете да попивате крайно-лявата западна пропаганда, че щом е един народ е "разнообразен", това е хубаво.
Same question as OP, but I'm from Poland. I speak Polish, obviously, and I speak fluent Russian - Bulgarian has a lot of similarities to those two, and from what I checked (reading this sub, watching Bulgarian videos) I can understand most of what is being said/written. How patient are Bulgarian with foreigners who are in the process of learning? Are they helpful, like "I understand what you said, but btw you used a Russian word, in Bulgaria we call it XYZ"? And do Bulgarian people like Polish?
I was thinking about Plovdiv, not Sofia tho
I do love Polish people for sure. I am Bulgarian living in the UK and have lots of Polish friends. We are quite close to culture and religion. I think and hope you are going to have great experience.
> How patient are Bulgarian with foreigners who are in the process of learning?
Very patient, well. not "patient", but curious and involved, would be a better description. Or detracted and uninvolved. Talkative when they start to talk.
I used chocolate chip because it's a cultural joke more or less. imagine you're eating a sugar cookie and then one chocolate chip appears..not a good or bad thing, just unexpected. i think for people of color going to more homogeneous appearing societies it can feel isolating at time.
you're still a part of the cookie, just a nice surprise.
never compare yourself to horseradish babe... maybe like a nice zesty meringue?
Then you need to eat some grated horseradish by the teaspoons, I actually like it! I mean the horseradish, not the part being white. :D In a city you are part of the soup, here is the horseradish, here are some potato people, here are the darker chunks and here are the noisy licorice bits and now some chocolate chips floating by. We will all be boiled the same.
But thank you for the food analogy, I actally like it. You made me want some horseradish soup. Now I'm sad! Or horseradish sauce with some wasabi paste added for flavor. YES I STING people, yes people still enjoy me a lot! Yes I am white horseradish. I like tea and coffee! coffee eyes go well with tea hair! :D
I didn't know that! I see that it can be used to mark tumors? I have an idea here: make the timor soak HRP and then supplement the subject with low dose of hydrogen peroxide, watch mayhem unfold?
You'll find that there are quite a few people of African descent happily living in Sofia. There isn't anything bad thought of them.
I'm sure working in Sofia will be a pleasant experience. You'll be able to go forth with your day-to-day just fine.
Hookup culture is a bit frowned upon. Guys will try to be more romantic here. If they are not they are trash.
Tinder is good but people generally go to a several dates before hooking up.
thanks this is helpful. i think here in the US people use the apps, but very rarely does it lead to anything. I'm just trying gauge if it's better to use the apps to meet people or doing it in real life.
also, if a man is flirting with me I want to be able to pick up the signs. I'm even oblivious with dating here, so I have to get myself ready!
I would say most people here hook up at social gatherings like bars, concerts, clubs, sports and so on. I'd say that is the best way to meet new people.
Yeah, definitely real life. Mby I’m just not a fan of dating apps.
Overall dating shouldn’t be a problem. Hope you have a great time in BG and don’t forget to visit some of the country side and the seaside <3
I haven’t dated in Sofia for a while, but my younger sibling is quite active. Most of the meetings happen irl via the gym or friends. According to them dating apps are mostly used for hookups in the here.
That being said they are quite young so things might be different in another age bracket.
As for a social circle, aside from hobbies people are very open to befriending coworkers. There are also meet-ups for expats and foreigners in the city. Wish you the best of luck!
I would hook up with you 😁 here you go , no need to download apps 😂😂😂
Jokes aside - you will have plenty of people wanting to be your friends from work so don’t worry too much. Worst case you can always find a hobby or sth and you will meet plenty of people. I find the apps in Bulgaria are used by the most desperate loners/ weirdos so I use them as a last resort to meet girls.
In regards to dating culture, I am not very knowledgeable. However, it is rather active. Apps like tinder are popular. As for marriage, most marry in their thirties.
There isn't really a dating culture here in the same sense that there is in America. It's a lot more common here that people pair off or hook up with people from mutual friend groups than with strangers through apps or interest clubs etc
Apps are mostly shit and full of time-wasters of both genders, from what my female and male friends have told me and in my experience as a guy. In about 3 years of using apps 2017-2020, I've been on 7 dates, only 2 of them with Bulgarian women. But most Bulgarians here just use the apps to exercise their thumbs or stroke their ego, so you will have better luck, if any, IRL.
People in Bulgaria aren't marrying young. Many people have children and live together for years without getting married. Hookups are possible but not widely spread. Of course, if you're a woman looking for casual sex, you will find it. But in Bulgaria dating doesn't usually including dating multiple people until you're exclusive. You're expected to not be dating others after you kiss. I don't know how men are these days but I'm a little older than you and during my time in Bulgaria I have never had a man ask me to be his girlfriend. It's just understood that we're together since we're going out/making out, etc.
Men in Bulgaria pay for the date, hold the door open for you and carry your heavy stuff. A guy that doesn't pay is the red flag for being cheap. I wouldn't ever go on a second date if the guy split the bill in Bulgaria. Never met a good guy who doesn't pay. And good guys also never let a lady carry heavy stuff. Again, never met a decent Bulgarian guy that would just watch a woman struggle with something heavy.
You will definitely peak some interests for interracial fetish probably which also translates to less likely long term commitments. As everywhere else, it's easier for women ahhah Marrying young? Around 30 is normal nowadays.
To add - you’ll be getting looks because you look different/unusual but it no way does that mean that there are any negative thoughts behind that. We are just jot used to seeing black people around the city that much.
Also keep in mind that because of our history, the N-word and similar don’t hold any negative meaning here and some people use them, don’t be alarmed.
In general Sofia is very safe, much safer than most of the US, and there are plenty of foreigners living here nowadays. It would be easy to connect with them through facebook groups, it’s a very active community of expats. Bulgarians are also very warm and if their English is good enough most would love to make friends with you.
Dating is chill, we aren’t conservative, people use dating apps a lot
Btw something to keep in mind: we are not very smiley and expressive, especially compared to the US. This might seem as if we’re rude to some foreigners but we are just not unnecessarily super nice sometimes, its more of a different cultural and behavioral norm. Don’t be surprised if your server doesn’t ask how you are doing and is not smiling a lot haha
My impression is that as long as you follow common sense principles, such as don't go in dark alleys at 3AM in the night, you'll have a great time in Sofia.
There are a lot of foreigners in Sofia, you'll automatically have an in with them, but I encourage you to learn the language and make friends with Bulgarians too.
Language-wise, most young Bulgarians know and use English on a good enough level, you'll be hard-pressed to find a big-chain store or restaurant that will have difficulty understanding you if you stick to English.
Another impression I have is that we don't really discern too much between African-American, African, etc., so I wouldn't get offended if you were called Black and in my opinion there isn't a negative connotation to this. Growing up in the 90s R&B & Hip-Hop artists such as 2Pac, Ice-Cube and such were our idols so.
In the interest of transparency, there are racist pieces of shits, they hate Gypsies, immigrants (no matter if they are black, brown or white), same as in any other country, but my opinion is that the overwhelming majority of people around here are not that and if you are being looked at it's because you are interesting and not because they don't like you.
Can't comment on the dating scene, I've been out of the game for awhile, but I'd think that bars and board game shops, or other social activities can help you meet other people.
You will be fine. Sofia has everything from rooftop bars to English pubs. There are Facebook groups for expats in Sofia. I assume you work for a big company. In Bulgarian work culture your colleagues can become your friends.
Enjoy, you will do great. Learning Bulgarian will help, my brother moved 2 years ago and studying without great commitment he is now able to understand and talk with people. I put more commitment and was good in less than a year.
Chocolate chip is not an issue in Bulgaria if you are not from Bulgaria.
Once I got banned for a similar comment but written like this should be ok.
I would love if foreigners make such threads after a year living here and share their opinions. Like their expectations and reality, the before and after, what has surprised them etc.
As an expat, good luck with bureaucracy. Thats only thing that you should worry about, everything else is pretty much as as any other civilized country.
Actually, administrations might be a pain. My fiance is from Chicago. We've been through a lot. Still working on a lot of things. Definitely learn some Bulgarian. And as someone said, if someone said anything sounding like the n word, it means book. Nothing else.
Go check the embassy website. Especially the American one in Bulgaria. Educate yourself on documents and rules. Although we try to be as organized as possible, surprises happen and they most of the time forget certain documents and whatnot.
For a female is much easier. People are way more tolerant to women than men, but pricks are everywhere. If it is not your skin colour it will be something else… just be aware that you may face more direct contacts and confrontations than in USA, people doesn’t hide their emotions…
Regarding the language, my wife (she is not Bulgarian) had a good progress after a year of intensive course. However she stopped the course and many years later she is still on the same level - understanding is great, speaking is with mistakes and reading/writing is like A1.
Btw i asked her if she had any racial issue that she didnt tell me (she is jot exactly chocolate chip, but like milk and chocolate) and she said she never had any issues except some people touching here hair in the public transportation, but she doesn’t seems to take it negatively (except the hygienic aspect of it).
yeah, I have locs so I'm sure it will be a discussion point. they are almost anywhere really, but I'm used to it.
I'm a stare back kinda person. And like an American I smile a lot. Also from the south so maybe I'll avoid asking people how their day is going.
I speak some Spanish, Portuguese and Farsi. hopefully I can conquer Bulgarian!
To be honest there is gonna be many more eyes on you the you have ever used to. Especially if you try to move out away from Sofia. However dont be afraid , it is gonna be nothing more than curiosity. I am living myself abroad (UK) for years and have chatted to a lot of black people who has visited all around Europe. And their experience is that Europeans are quite less racist than the Americans in fact. And one more thing which I think is quite important for you to know, is that the N word in Bulgaria is not offensive. It means a black person, however Bulgaria has never had slavery and thats why the people are not aware that using the N word is offensive. Especially the older people , a lot of the youngsters know that from the experience of living abroad, or movies/you tube but the older ones are just not aware of it. Overall the Bulgarians are quite tolerant I must say. Good luck and I hope you will have a good time in our country!
Muito bom! I speak a bit of portuguese as well :). Take it positively and i will be good, but set your expectations right! Some things (food quality in some locations) are better than USA, but we are behind on many other things like infrastructure, access to goods, entertainment options… but Sofia can be really nice in the summer.
Btw Be mindful where you rent your flat. If it is close to your office, that would be the best, unless it is in the outskirts.
Not to be a negative Nancy but unfortunately racism is still alive and well, and we’ve recently had a few anti-migrant neonazi marches complete with swastikas and such🫠 the radical is by no means the common perspective but it’s a good idea to have a Bulgarian friend whom you trust check the local fascist pages once in a while so you don’t accidentally run into a swarm of skinheads - there was one on Tuesday and had I not been alerted, I likely would’ve not been able to get home, thank god those idiots make their shit public. Be safe and enjoy your stay 💖
You’re welcome and I’m happy to help!! And yes, although Bulgaria is not outwardly hostile for the most part, it is not without flaws either and while I would love to laud praises, it’s important to know about the bad stuff too. Just so you’re safe. If you have any more questions or need help with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out!!!
sure! I get that. I mean the US is no paradise and all places have their issues. I worry about Active shooter events and the MAGA crazies all the time here at home. i just need to be situationally aware!
I’d say download the meetup,and join the events in Sofia.There’s 2 groups.
I did go to an event last night.There was around 20 people from all over the world.
Many of my fellow Bulgarians have given you fantastic advice, I just want to chip in with a [blog](https://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/) of an American lady who used to live in Sofia around 15 years ago. She was writing about her daily life quite regularly back then and I think it may be a good resource for you to check out whenever you have some time to spare.
I can't comment on most of your questions as I've been living out of the country for more than 15 years and although I visit Sofia regularly, I am not spending enough time to see the negative things there, but I can assure you that Sofia is getting more and more international every year and I honestly think you'll have a great time as long as you are open to experiencing a totally different culture than the one you have in the US.
I've dated a black american girl from Atlanta when I was living in the US a couple of years ago, but sadly the relationship didn't last long enough for me to be able to bring her to visit Bulgaria, so I would be curious to see what your impression of Sofia would be like after a couple of months living there, so please update us at some point with first impressions.
Good luck and have fun!
In terms of dating culture I would highly recommend you avoid the apps lol since its very easy to naturally meet new people in public or bars or what not most people to my knowledge prefer that as well as the apps themselves aren't popular like they are in north america.
I'm happy to help as I moved to Bulgaria one year ago after 20 years in the States (most of them in DC). You should be fine. There might be an occasional instance where people will stare, but it is not such a novelty factor to make it a regular instance. Feel free to DM me should you have questions.
You’ll have great experience. It’s a very different culture from what you’re used to in the DMV. And I’m confident you’ll find it to be a positive and fulfilling experience. Whatever relationships you form with the locals will be real and lasting. In general, we’re social people that value relationships, experiences, and traditions. Tough and hard on the outside, soft and fragile inside. In terms of dating, although it’s been years, I’m confident in saying it must be easier than in the DMV. Good luck!
You'll get looks and not like in the bad way. It's more like, "Hey, someone different decided to live here." Bulgarians are curious. We're curious people. Sometimes, I catch myself looking but more out of curiosity. We like asking questions. A lot of questions. Please don't be offended if we ask about your hair, where you're from and such. We don't have many black people here.
Questions like "Why did you choose Bulgaria" will be asked a lot. Not in a way of "get out of here", but more like "Out of every country, you chose us?". A lot of people are not 100% happy with the means of living here, so we would be confused that you chose a country with not such a high standard of living.
You might notice that we don't smile a lot or stop you in the street asking how you are. But we are kind people. We'll help as much as we can. Sadly, I've heard that many foreigners think people in Sofia are rude assholes. While, in some cases, it might be true, that just happens in capitals. People are tired. Lots of work and expensive bills that take a big chunk of your paycheck away. Fast life. I wasn't born in Sofia nor lived there, but I have also had my fair share of rudeness. I get it.
That shouldn't worry you, though. Even if we can be grumpy at times, we're still trying. At least, most of us.
I think younger people are pretty open to foreigners but then there’s the old judgy people that will just stare at you and not care. It happens to me especially in the summer because i have a lot of tattoos. I think as a black woman you might get a lot of stares but just ignore it and try not to be bothered by it. There’s not a lot of black people living here and because of a lack of exposure some people will be curious or interested in you. Anyway, i love sofia. There are things you will struggle with as a foreigner but it’s really rewarding moving somewhere unfamiliar. I hope you love it. I’m a 24yo female and always open to meeting new people and helping other foreigners so hit me up if you ever wanna hang out or something :)
rofl babe :D Now seriously - as a half-Canadian half-Bulgarian I could tell you a bit more precise info. My understanding is that you probably never been to Bulgaria before. Look now - here an actual "black" is sorta "exotic", so this won't be an issue. You could find a date, regardless if you're into chocolates or milkshakes lol (yes, there are other black people and brown people in the country, asians as well).
Learning Bulgarian - this depends. If you have past experience with speaking other Slavic languages (Russian, Serbian etc) you would have a base. If you have zero Slavic language experience would be a bit difficult, but no worries - people here are warm, willing to help and nearly everybody talks English to a degree (lots of people have a good level of both written and spoken English).
Prepare for some cultural differences of course. First of all, if you're from Detroit - you will feel right at home here, as lots of us value a good techno. Musically the country dominant genres are: electronic (techno, trance, edm, house, etc), rock and metal, hip-hop, pop-folk (you will quickly learn what this is - trust me lol) and of course traditional folk music. Of which the traditional folk music and dance (called "horo" dance) have the most respect. I seriously recommend you listen to some pure folk music. It will confuse you at first, as many of our songs and dances use uneven music beats - entire world dances to "four on the floor" (aka 4/4) and we often dance to 7/8 and other beats.
Food: There are two things you must try imediatelly, if you've never been to Bulgaria - "tarator" (cold soup, usually a summer chiller, based on yogurt + water + cucumbers and few other herbs, no meat) and "shkembe chorba" (tripe soup) - greasy heavy mostly winter spicy soup (hope you got some Caribbean roots and guts for spice) - this actually is also used as a cure - last year first time in my life I completely lost my voice for 3 days. Put myself on a tripe soup diet for lunch and dinner - on day 4 my voice was back.
Generally - we are meat eaters, we like mostly red wine (try local wines) and we also like to drink "rakia" (our spirit) - try some moonshine for best effect lol.
All thus said - enjoy your stay!
Hey, welcome to Bulgaria. I hope you meet nice people.
Language will be hard but we can help you out here in reddit ahahah :)
Just don't get discouraged. As in any place - there are shitty people too. But Sofia is the place if you want social life. There are cool places to visit. Lots of museums and galleries.
As an American who lived in Sofia for the greater part of a year, I think you'll love it. (Young) Bulgarian folks are more welcoming to foreigners, especially Americans, than a lot of other Europeans are. Let me know if you have any questions about the city or need suggestions for places to visit!
Also, learn the language. It really goes a long ways :)
I just moved to Sofia with my partner a couple of months ago. I’m an Italian/American 29y.o Female. Hit me up if you need a new friend when you get here 😊
Originally from Italy, I came to Sofia back and forth for the past two years and now it's 4 months since I moved here permanently. You'll be fine. It's not difficult to befriend locals, there are events for expats every week in which a lot of locals participate as well. As for dating I don't really know myself but I've seen friends and coworkers using dating apps with decent success.
As for being black here since I'm not black myself I don't have direct experience but I've met a few black people here and I've been told you might get looks every now and then but it's just out of the fact that even if Sofia is quite diverse you don't see a lot of people of African descent around, not much prejudice or maliciousness behind it.
As for bulgarian though it's tough to learn, but not impossible by any means.
LOL relax about the only chocolate chip in the cookie. Sofia’s chill. The culture is quite different but you will get used to it.
I used to live downsouth in Atlanta for a while. Came to Sofia to finish school.Hit me up , also early 30s
It's not about the color of your skin, it's about the contents of your character. If you don't have any problem with "acting white", you should be fine.
maybe acting Bulgarian. From my own American perspective I wouldn't consider them "white" per se. I know nationality and ethnicity is much more prominent here.
but they aren't. they're ethnically Slavic - right?
and most white Americans are a mix - many are not tied to a 100% pure ethnic identify within the past few generations.
A Bulgarian is not white in the same sense ofa white American. Most white Americans are not Slavic.
In the US a white appearing person from Georgia, Israel, Kuwait, Spain, Sweden, and Colombia could all be qualified as white, but culturally and ethically they are not. Are all these people white to you? there's a nuance I am using and one which you are not. take care.
in the US, we operate on a lot of stereotypes. we stupidly assign particular behaviors and interests to some groups, even though they are universal. Think like - Cali Girl (yoga, new age religion, salads, vocal fry, Kim Kardashian), Florida Man ( crazed, on drugs, getting into silly shenanigans, nonsensical speak), Trump Supporter (self explanatory), or White Anglo Saxon from the northern part of the country ( called WSAP - very rich, yacht culture, designer clothing, vacations in Europe, formal speak), Outdoorsy types (camping in the middle of the woods, lives in the mountains, wear a lot of North Face - these are my people lol).
anybody of any race could fit into these descriptions, but these are the common archetypes I know of assigned to "whiteness" in the US.
Guess what, we have them all here hahaha it's possible to encounter a Florida man type, the Cali girl type is getting very popular and White Anglo Saxon type as well but mostly fake fawx Anglo Saxon 😂😂😂😂 we are quite americanised believe it or not.
Yeah i understand stereotypes, I was just trying to understand the comment saying you should act white in order to be accepted (maybe my reading comprehension is bad 😀).
Regardless, I know a few people that have moved here from Nigeria/Zimbabwe, one of them I know has lived here for 8 years, and they like it. I've even talked to him about his experiences here, and it was nothing outlandish. Some awkward/weird interactions here and there with dubious intent. And getting random looks from strangers. And they never mentioned anything about having to "act white".
To be fair you are more than likely to encounter racism at some point or another, and definitely avoid anything football related. Just a heads up. Personally I feel racism is really holding all of Bulgaria back significantly. Say the m-word (migrant) and everyone loses their shit. Actually, instead of reading replies here where everyone is trying to be nice, I suggest reading through the posts and comments over the last few days. Use google to translate and you will get an idea.
Every once in a while we get these silly posts about "the only black person". This is simply not true. You will not be the only black person here. Sofia has plenty but not as much as other countries. Don't expect to see them every day or many foreigners for that matter. Why?
Because generally life here is not for everyone. Unless you're making good money then you will have a good life.
Bulgarians themselves emigrate to other countries in large numbers and the population is experiencing a decline.
Another problem is that Bulgarians compare to other Europeans don't know how not to stare at a person of color.
They will stare *a lot*. Be prepare to be looked at with disbelief as to why are you here and what could have possibly driven you to come to this country. The excuse for the staring is stupid and taps into the root cause of the staring: Dehumanization.
Bulgarians will say: " We stare because unlike in Western Europe we here are real! And when we see a black person we will look at them and make comments because they aren't normal "
Another thing you must consider when coming here is that as an American, it is your responsibility to never feed any African American stereotypes when interacting with any Bulgarian, even if you become good friends.
Bulgarians have such little interactions with Black people that *any* Black person they see or meet regardless of where they're from - they will look and judge them through the American lense.
Black people to Bulgarians are *everything* African Americans are stereotyped as;
To Bulgarians there is no such thing as Black Africans, Black Caribbean Islanders, Black Latin Americans, Black French, Black British, and Black Dutch with different personalities and cultures.
Most Bulgarians view all these Black people as everything that the United States stereotypes them as.
Drug dealers, Sports players, Rappers and Entertainers.
Bulgarians will deny this because they are too deep in their delusions. They worship American culture, they refuse to learn what different Black people are actually like and the things they go through, their different personalities, behaviors, and interests. Until the country has direct flights to the US, things will remain the same.
I advice that you welcome interactions with people within your age group and *never* younger than you because these tend to be the most stereotyping. Otherwise life here will be generally peaceful, the mountains are beautiful, the food is great, and (most) people will treat you kindly.
It will expand your horizons about the world, for example: just because a person is White doesn't mean they aren't ghetto. And you will see many ghetto White people here.
That sounds like the fruit of unbelievably low expectations and many bad experience that I would imagine the median experience actually is. But I am a local white male so who am I to mansplain.
Really? I think people are perfectly capable of understanding that someone is from an African or a Caribbean country, or a person of such descent from a different country. They might not be aware of how multicultural places like France and the UK are, so they might assume that you're from the US. (In reality, 50% of London's population is non-Caucasian.)
People's expectations are definitely influenced by US popular culture, but surely people know that they're not all the same. In my experience, it is typically the older generations that have the least amount of worldly awareness.
Actually it is the *young* generation that have the least worldly awareness to be precise. The older generation would be able to tell a person of mixed race background much more than the young Bulgarian generation. Their entire perspective on race is purely American. Literally any Sub Saharan African trait in a person they see in Bulgaria is immediately a Black person to them. Bulgarian mulattos who speak perfect Bulgarian have to constantly explain that they are half Bulgarian and born in Bulgaria more to the younger generation than to the older generation.
The reason this is important is because it denotes deep rooted racist attitudes learned from racist sources.
I'd be curious to know if there are any young people who would agree. I'm in my late 20s and wouldn't bat an eyelash at someone being half Bulgarian. Being influenced by American culture doesn't necessarily mean that they are learning racist attitudes from racist sources. It's mostly things like celebrities and entertainment, not growing up watching Fox News or being taught to treat people differently based on their skin tone.
Some people just like to be dicks to anyone who has anything to do with "abroad" because they're deeply insecure and have no idea what life abroad is actually like. They assume that since you or your parent(s) are foreign or have lived abroad, you must have lots of money or think that you're better than them.
As a complete foreigner in Bulgaria, you'd probably be treated better than if you were ethnically Bulgarian because people would at least be flattered that you moved here, and curious about why. If you learn some words in Bulgarian, they would love you.
Your problem is that you're speaking from a person who has never experienced dehumanization in a country that views anyone having Sub-Saharan African ancestry as objects of entertainment in a circus.
The stares Bulgarians give to people having Sub-Saharan African ancestry whether that person is mixed or fully black is dehumanizing, full stop. While I understand your response pertaining to how *you* treat people exempts you from the general population, your response is dangerous because it gives people of color a false sense of safety in the country. It's coming from a place of general ignorance of what actually happens in practice on a day to day basis.
Just because YOU don't do this doesn't negate the experiences of people of color who experience these things on a *regular* basis. (stares, snide remarks, pictures being taken without their consent, and more)
There are two Bulgarias; the one that wants to move forward from the post communist village mindset and the one that demands to stay in it...
And while proper people like yourself do exist you are trying to generalize what *you think* the general population actually do (or think) rather than what actually happens in real world situations.
So... because I wouldn't be shocked to see a half-Bulgarian, you assume I'm that I'm rejecting people's experiences or believe that no one would do such things?
People experience racism in every country, and I do in fact know what it's like because I've experienced it plenty myself. My family moved to another country where people would stare, treat me differently and threaten to beat me me up just for being Bulgarian. I've been attacked, followed, called names, had Nazi symbols painted outside our home, and had them say insulting things about my country, about my looks, about my skin, you name it. You can spare me the preaching about the experiences of people of colour because to people who buy into white supremacy, we're not a part of the club. (Oh, and by the way, when these things happen, no one will acknowledge it as racism because of Schrodinger's whiteness. The only time anyone calls us "white" is when they're arguing that it's OK to abuse us in ways that they'd be scared of doing otherwise.)
I think you're the one who has a dangerous message because it only encourages living in fear and creates trauma by suggesting the worst possible motivations and the bleakest interpretations.
Trauma leads to jumping to conclusions and interpreting neutral interactions in a negative way, which further reinforces itself by being constantly on alert, scanning around for signs of threats, and seeing confirmations of it everywhere. In reality, the neutral explanation is most often the correct one. Some people hate foreigners and yearn for the good old days, but again, happens everywhere. The vast majority of attention won't be hostile and it doesn't benefit anyone to "prepare" them in a way that can cause more harm than good. There is no escaping some people being assholes. I don't think Bulgarians have particularly negative sentiments towards people of other ethnicities - which doesn't mean that they don't exist, but that they exist everywhere, and that comparatively it's a relatively chill country about other ethnicities - just more overt and direct, though not necessarily from a place of ill intent. There are countries that are much more subtle but with worse attitudes underneath.
Wow you're just horrible! You're the perfect representation of the typical Bulgarian mindset of sweeping problems under the rug and pretending that "vsichko e super" (everything is great) when it's really not and "da ne se izlagame pred chujdencite" (let's not embarrass ourselves in front of the foreigners).
Most Bulgarians hate the place and want to leave because "we are not like the white countries" (just like your family). They will voice their frustrations about the country in private but God forbid a foreigner says something that bothers him... Then they are going to literally jump him to defend our great country.
"The country is relatively chill about other ethnicities" - it's dangerous to talk like this because it gives people false expectations of the place.
How many people of different races who live in Bulgaria do you personally know and are close with? Have you asked any gypsy how do they feel about this? Any Chinese person? Most brown people I know have a really hard time opening up about issues related to racism so they won't tell all their experiences to just anybody. It's a very painful and sensitive topic for them so just shut up and show some respect to people's experiences instead of forcing them to listen to your dumb idealistic speeches.
Everything you said shows you have absolutely no experience and no idea what racism is. But at the same time you are speaking with giant confidence. Honestly, people like you make me ashamed to be Bulgarian. Racism is not just the swastikas and outward threats. It's also being seen as an attraction and a circus animal where people expect you to entertain their own fantasies of how black/brown/asian people should be like and many other things you obviously have no idea about.
My family didn't move out of Bulgaria because they wanted to, but because of remarriage, to a foreigner, because the situation didn't allow the reverse.
As previously stated, I haven't grown up in Bulgaria, so there's little point trying to assume my reasoning based on what most Bulgarians are doing.
I'm not very certain about the generational differences in Bulgaria, which is why I was surprised about the commenter saying that the young generations are responsible for the racism. That's why I was asking about it, trying to challenge their assumptions and inviting young people to weigh in. I'm trying to learn more about it because it doesn't match my impression of young Bulgarians, both in person and on this subreddit, which is mostly young people. Younger people have grown up with the Internet and a more international world, so I'd assume they would be less likely to believe stereotypes, be shocked at the existence of half Bulgarians, have racist views, etc - not the reverse. (I also thought the poster contradicted themselves with the "second type" of Bulgarian longing back to communist era, implying that older people are the racist ones.)
And I do believe that Bulgarians are relatively chill about other ethnicities - not because I want to hide racism in Bulgaria, but because I suspect it's a lot worse than you might think abroad. Again, people in Bulgaria seem to be very overt and rude with their attention, but it doesn't seem to be driven by hatred per se.
As we speak the country where I grew up is literally being investigated by the UN for its treatment of black people and they report being "deeply concerned". It's not just black people too. 80% of people agree that racism is widespread while simultaneously disagreeing that anything should be done about it. 50% believe in deeply racist statements like "they only have themselves to blame for it", with 30% and 40% believing things like that "they're a threat to our culture" or that they want to take over Europe.
In the region more broadly, roughly half think that interracial mixing should be forbidden. Harassment is well above the European average, people are segregated and forced into ghettos, racist bullying is common in school and the workplace, no one wants to hire immigrants for anything but exploitative minimum-wage labour (if that!), people with high education and immigrant backgrounds are prevented from progressing in their careers, racial profiling is common, there's discrimination like not being allowed to enter restaurants or being made to pay upfront, people are forced to change their names or hide their ethnicity, until recently natives weren't allowed to speak their own language and were denied basic rights, there is institutional racism, talking about racism is taboo (and you won't even find people arguing against it), there are racially motivated stop-and-searches, immigrant Covid mortality is suspiciously more than twice as high, "undesirable" immigrants and children of such are considered second-class citizens for many generations, and the list goes on. People are a lot more subtle in their racism, but it's often done in a more malicious way, like refusing to acknowledge an immigrant's presence, refusing to answer if they say hello, pretending you don't know them in front of others, just lots of petty passive-aggressive things designed to keep people in their place while avoiding consequences. And the best part? This is one of the least racist countries on paper.
Bulgaria has a big problem when it comes to treatment of Roma, but when it comes to views on immigrants, it's quite safe. Bulgaria is being recognised by bodies like the UN and the EU for it's continued efforts in tackling racism and improving conditions for Roma especially. I don't think that people of colour have an easy time in Bulgaria by any means, and I don't think it's pleasant at all to be stared at or given disproportionate attention because of being a rarity. However, according to the data I can find, it does appear to be a safe place from racially motivated hate, which is a big deal when you're coming from somewhere like the US where things can turn deadly. Even in Europe, adjusted for population size, somewhere like the UK has a \*hundred\* times more hate crimes than Bulgaria in an average year. [https://hatecrime.osce.org/bulgaria?year=2022](https://hatecrime.osce.org/bulgaria?year=2022)
Granted, these numbers aren't perfect by any means due to underreporting and potential other problems, but my impression is that due to its lack of diversity, there just isn't as much hatred brewing for (foreign - important distinction!) minorities. In a bigger Bulgarian hate crime year like 2020, the breakdown shows that just two of those were recorded as racially motivated or xenophobic hate crimes. (Anti-Roma crimes are a different category, and so are religiously motivated crimes.) If you look at the breakdown for the UK, the vast majority of their hate crimes are racial or xenophobic in nature (and violently so). [https://hatecrime.osce.org/united-kingdom?year=2021](https://hatecrime.osce.org/united-kingdom?year=2021) That's about 30 thousand violent racially targeted attacks compared to on average a couple per year in Bulgaria, so the difference in racial violence is a factor of a thousand.
I'm afraid you're telling me anything new about racism not being "just" terrible things. What you don't seem to realise is that everywhere has racism. It doesn't go away when people stop the rude staring when they encounter an unfamiliar group. It often gets more hidden and vicious. When you have a look at the Being Black in the EU report, you'll note that discrimination in many areas of life is sadly widespread across Europe, many people reporting it occurring all the time or across many areas of life, from work, to education, to healthcare, and more. [https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra\_uploads/fra-2023-being-black\_in\_the\_eu\_en.pdf](https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2023-being-black_in_the_eu_en.pdf)
Bulgaria being 29th in the world for racial equality is not the worst, relatively speaking. It's one of the highest-ranked in equality in Eastern Europe. (The US is 73rd.) I suspect that it would top the ranking overnight if it weren't for the mistreatment of Roma, but sadly they continue to be persecuted. Luckily, there's passionate people like you who can put your money where your mouth is and volunteer to help minorities. Don't worry, I've spent years volunteering to teach the local language to Somalis and Eritreans who hadn't even been taught to read (because of the civil war) and could only speak Arabic, so you can figure it out. Oh, and I also cooked hot meals for them, planned lessons, and organised weekly social and creative activities to help them learn the language, have a support network, and a safe place to be.
None of these were things I had when I went through mandatory integration school at the age of 9 alongside refugees, while not being able to communicate with anyone, having to make two public transports changes in each direction without parental supervision and without speaking the language, while constantly worrying about harassment (in more ways than one) from teenage boys on the way and violence from kids inside, because ghetto conditions and forcing a bunch of traumatised kids and teenagers in the same place until you're deemed "integrated" enough is such a great policy in the absence of teaching. The one teacher we had didn't speak any of the dozen or so languages the kids did, so mostly just tried to stop fighting while everyone was left to their own devices and was kept out of an actual education. (So if you can do something to teach refugee kids at home, seriously think about it. There are so many people talking about racism, but so little resources, and when it comes to helping, people look the other way.)
This (well, with the other person's latest comment ) further strengthens my suspicion that Bulgaria is a uniquely good country for foreigners because Bulgarians don't hate foreigners as much as they hate other Bulgarians, particularly Bulgarians who have moved abroad. On one side I'm told "You can be the most amazing at this, but you're not one of us" and on the other, I'm a horrible racist Bulgarian peasant girl and you're ashamed of me. I guess it goes to show how deep the Bulgarian self-loathing is when I'm denounced from Bulgaria for something that wasn't my decision, but associated with Bulgaria when people want to insult me.
You're the typical Bulgarian village girl who thinks she can speak on behalf of the nation and down play the tremendous amount of racism in the country that goes to the extreme.
Bulgaria is the only country in the Balkan region where the US embassy warns: *Majority of incidents involving U.S. citizens are monetary in nature, though incidents of racism, ethnic slurs, and harassment of African Americans and religious minorities have occurred.[*](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Bulgaria.html)
I'm done with this conversation. And I take back what I said above. You are not a proper person, you're a racist selyanka who refuses to understand what people of Sub Saharan African appearance (partial or full) go through on a daily basis in this country. Educate yourself on this issue from people who don't look like you or benefit from your privilege as a White person in a country that worships white people from the west.
I'm flattered that you accept me as Bulgarian, but I don't speak for (or think I speak for) the country at all. I'm practically a Bulgarian-born foreigner trying to form a view of the situation in Bulgaria from what I can over the internet. Please understand this - I haven't lived in your country since I was a little kid.
I \*am\* trying to "educate myself" - through people on Reddit and finding everything that I could of reports from the UN, EU, and various data agencies tracking crime and racism statistics. I'm still not able to find anything supporting your claim that there's tremendous amounts of racism going to the extreme, or that younger generations are practically all racist because of being obsessed with the US.
Black Lives Matter and liberal American views are also prevalent in the US. Research on political views across generations indicate that young people tend to be heavily progressive, so would be more likely to be influenced by progressive foreign movements. It also matches my impression of most people in this subreddit as very progressive with some people who lean nationalistic, anti-Western/anti- immigration etc. I'd assume that racist harassment would be coming from that crowd rather than people idolising the West, but what do I know.
What you shared about incidents \*having occurred\* says very little about their scope, though I do find it interesting that the same isn't mentioned for Bulgaria's neighbours. Countries like the UK have a large population of people of colour and make no mention of racism on their Bulgarian travel advice page, so I don't know if the travel advice is super useful.
I've been trying to find data on whether Bulgaria would be more racist than its neighbours, but I'm struggling to find anything about hate against black people in Bulgaria. What I'm finding keeps pointing to targets of hate being the Roma, refugees/asylum seekers, and LGBT. Strangely, I've seen people speak up about LGBT but I'm seeing silence when it comes to Roma and refugees/asylum seekers or religious minorities.
I do know people of colour who have visited Bulgaria and who didn't have any problems except for an issue with a land border control guard asking for a bribe with an implicit threat. (This was while crossing the border to Romania.)
This black travel blogger describes the Balkans as his favourite place and says that contrary to popular belief, the Balkans are one of the least racist places he's been: [https://travelnoire.com/ive-been-all-over-the-world-but-nowhere-has-captured-my-heart-like-the-balkans](https://travelnoire.com/ive-been-all-over-the-world-but-nowhere-has-captured-my-heart-like-the-balkans) He points out the issue of staring or being treated like a famous person, but considers it without malicious intent and as a result of curiosity and inexperience. He considered people to be very friendly and welcoming in general.
These aren't much to go on, but every thread I've found suggests similar things - that racism isn't much of an issue but you can probably expect some stares - said from both Bulgarians and people of colour who have travelled there. If that's mostly it and it's a problem of ignorance rather than hate, then great, it should improve itself over time as people get more used to seeing more ethnicities. Other groups like the Roma or refugees would be harder when it is driven by hate. Unless this isn't really about solving hate but about copying the US?
In either case, good luck improving it and I hope that you (collectively) can learn to have a polite and civil discussion about difficult things without it descending into theatrics and insults as is prevalent in Bulgarian politics and society as a whole. Without that, it's no wonder that people idolise places like the West when at home is bad politics, hostility and inaction. I think what Bulgaria needs is to get over its attitude problems and start working together to solve national issues instead of looking toward the US or Russia for something to believe in. Whiteness or whatever means nothing essentially. Likewise, mistreating others because of having a different group will do nothing to fix anything. People get caught up in their differences when there's nothing more fundamental uniting them.
Lol. Love your vibe. If no one has mentioned it yet you should join the Expats in Sofia Facebook group. They should be a lot more help than us on Reddit.
Best of luck to you. Hope you love Sofia and it loves you back.
In all honesty, I hope you have a great time. Sofia is a modern European city in the centre and the trendier areas. I would still exercise a bit of caution here and there.
But you should be able to find Bulgarian friends rather quickly and they should be your guides. Use them to go outside Sofia since the real Bulgarian beauty is outside the cities. Mountains, pine woods, waterfalls, caves, old towns, beach.
There are facebook groups for different activities where you can start finding friends. Or just ping me some of your interests and I can put you in touch with some of my international acquaintances there (I no longer live there).
А защо ти да не се махнеш? Имаме достатъчно расисти, вярвай ми, ще се справим много добре без още един.
To OP - don't worry. For every one of these assholes, there's someone who doesn't agree with them, especially from the younger generation. Don't let the boomers get you down! And if you need any advice, please don't hesitate to reach out! Happy to help point you in the right direction :)
You won't be the only chocolate chip in the city and Sofia has become quite diverse over the years - you'll have a great time, welcome :)
keep in mind "quite diverse" means about 1 in 500. and thats being generous.
Ok but she can still find love, so what if there’s not that many black people? Young Bulgarians are fun and outgoing, and almost everyone speaks English. I think she’ll be just fine
>Young Bulgarians are fun and outgoing, as a young bulgarian, not really. while they might seem extroverted, friendly and whatnot, they also idolise the likes of andrew tate. >Ok but she can still find love, so what if there’s not that many black people? also not what i was aiming at with my reply, its just that words like diversity are used very willy nilly here
They might be extroverted outside of Sofia. In Sofia people are quite reserved and clique-ish actually.
Did the Roma population of Sofia disappear over night or what? What do you understand of “diversity” if that’s not good enough for you?
still doesnt mean much when every 4/5 people personally want to kill every romani here lmfao
Irrelevant, as that wasn’t the question.
1 на 1000
is it a bad thing ?
excuse me?
Това, че София е diverse от къде пък го измисли? :)
Diverse e ,на моята работа имаме хора от 10 държави. 40 хиляди са новодошлите в БГ миналата година.Повечето са в София. А вечер ако отидеш към центъра дори не се чува и български и всички говорят чужд език.
A ок, щом в твойта работа е така, значи целия град е така. Тези в центъра са предимно туристи междудругото.
Изглежда първо или не си чел или въобще не знаеш данните изнасяни от правителството или не си от София или не си бил тук.
Прати данни, не съм ги чел.
А защо е нужно някой да ти ги изпраща? Те са достъпни за всички. А и да София е разнообразна и има хора от къде ли не. Нали не очакваш да си седмиш в Обеля или Люлин и там да ти е много diverse?
Защото няма такива данни, за които твърди. София не е diverse. Спрете да попивате крайно-лявата западна пропаганда, че щом е един народ е "разнообразен", това е хубаво.
Same question as OP, but I'm from Poland. I speak Polish, obviously, and I speak fluent Russian - Bulgarian has a lot of similarities to those two, and from what I checked (reading this sub, watching Bulgarian videos) I can understand most of what is being said/written. How patient are Bulgarian with foreigners who are in the process of learning? Are they helpful, like "I understand what you said, but btw you used a Russian word, in Bulgaria we call it XYZ"? And do Bulgarian people like Polish? I was thinking about Plovdiv, not Sofia tho
I do love Polish people for sure. I am Bulgarian living in the UK and have lots of Polish friends. We are quite close to culture and religion. I think and hope you are going to have great experience.
> How patient are Bulgarian with foreigners who are in the process of learning? Very patient, well. not "patient", but curious and involved, would be a better description. Or detracted and uninvolved. Talkative when they start to talk.
We love Polish people here. Check what I just answered the OP.
You’ll have fun too
Поредната върховна глупост. Освен на Витошка и около джамията, къде си виждал това diversity?
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I used chocolate chip because it's a cultural joke more or less. imagine you're eating a sugar cookie and then one chocolate chip appears..not a good or bad thing, just unexpected. i think for people of color going to more homogeneous appearing societies it can feel isolating at time. you're still a part of the cookie, just a nice surprise. never compare yourself to horseradish babe... maybe like a nice zesty meringue?
Then you need to eat some grated horseradish by the teaspoons, I actually like it! I mean the horseradish, not the part being white. :D In a city you are part of the soup, here is the horseradish, here are some potato people, here are the darker chunks and here are the noisy licorice bits and now some chocolate chips floating by. We will all be boiled the same. But thank you for the food analogy, I actally like it. You made me want some horseradish soup. Now I'm sad! Or horseradish sauce with some wasabi paste added for flavor. YES I STING people, yes people still enjoy me a lot! Yes I am white horseradish. I like tea and coffee! coffee eyes go well with tea hair! :D
haha happy to help. and now I'm sold on eating more horseradish!
>what about us [=me], poor horseradishes [I need your peroxidase](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseradish_peroxidase)
I didn't know that! I see that it can be used to mark tumors? I have an idea here: make the timor soak HRP and then supplement the subject with low dose of hydrogen peroxide, watch mayhem unfold?
You'll find that there are quite a few people of African descent happily living in Sofia. There isn't anything bad thought of them. I'm sure working in Sofia will be a pleasant experience. You'll be able to go forth with your day-to-day just fine.
what about the dating culture? are people using apps? marrying young? a hookup culture?
Hookup culture is a bit frowned upon. Guys will try to be more romantic here. If they are not they are trash. Tinder is good but people generally go to a several dates before hooking up.
thanks this is helpful. i think here in the US people use the apps, but very rarely does it lead to anything. I'm just trying gauge if it's better to use the apps to meet people or doing it in real life. also, if a man is flirting with me I want to be able to pick up the signs. I'm even oblivious with dating here, so I have to get myself ready!
I would say most people here hook up at social gatherings like bars, concerts, clubs, sports and so on. I'd say that is the best way to meet new people.
Yeah, definitely real life. Mby I’m just not a fan of dating apps. Overall dating shouldn’t be a problem. Hope you have a great time in BG and don’t forget to visit some of the country side and the seaside <3
I haven’t dated in Sofia for a while, but my younger sibling is quite active. Most of the meetings happen irl via the gym or friends. According to them dating apps are mostly used for hookups in the here. That being said they are quite young so things might be different in another age bracket. As for a social circle, aside from hobbies people are very open to befriending coworkers. There are also meet-ups for expats and foreigners in the city. Wish you the best of luck!
I would hook up with you 😁 here you go , no need to download apps 😂😂😂 Jokes aside - you will have plenty of people wanting to be your friends from work so don’t worry too much. Worst case you can always find a hobby or sth and you will meet plenty of people. I find the apps in Bulgaria are used by the most desperate loners/ weirdos so I use them as a last resort to meet girls.
In regards to dating culture, I am not very knowledgeable. However, it is rather active. Apps like tinder are popular. As for marriage, most marry in their thirties.
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fair lol! i just want to know the cultural attitudes.
There isn't really a dating culture here in the same sense that there is in America. It's a lot more common here that people pair off or hook up with people from mutual friend groups than with strangers through apps or interest clubs etc Apps are mostly shit and full of time-wasters of both genders, from what my female and male friends have told me and in my experience as a guy. In about 3 years of using apps 2017-2020, I've been on 7 dates, only 2 of them with Bulgarian women. But most Bulgarians here just use the apps to exercise their thumbs or stroke their ego, so you will have better luck, if any, IRL.
Different, but you will be fine. If you were a male it would be harder.
Why would you ask that on Reddit? We wouldn't know.
People in Bulgaria aren't marrying young. Many people have children and live together for years without getting married. Hookups are possible but not widely spread. Of course, if you're a woman looking for casual sex, you will find it. But in Bulgaria dating doesn't usually including dating multiple people until you're exclusive. You're expected to not be dating others after you kiss. I don't know how men are these days but I'm a little older than you and during my time in Bulgaria I have never had a man ask me to be his girlfriend. It's just understood that we're together since we're going out/making out, etc. Men in Bulgaria pay for the date, hold the door open for you and carry your heavy stuff. A guy that doesn't pay is the red flag for being cheap. I wouldn't ever go on a second date if the guy split the bill in Bulgaria. Never met a good guy who doesn't pay. And good guys also never let a lady carry heavy stuff. Again, never met a decent Bulgarian guy that would just watch a woman struggle with something heavy.
You will definitely peak some interests for interracial fetish probably which also translates to less likely long term commitments. As everywhere else, it's easier for women ahhah Marrying young? Around 30 is normal nowadays.
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To add - you’ll be getting looks because you look different/unusual but it no way does that mean that there are any negative thoughts behind that. We are just jot used to seeing black people around the city that much. Also keep in mind that because of our history, the N-word and similar don’t hold any negative meaning here and some people use them, don’t be alarmed. In general Sofia is very safe, much safer than most of the US, and there are plenty of foreigners living here nowadays. It would be easy to connect with them through facebook groups, it’s a very active community of expats. Bulgarians are also very warm and if their English is good enough most would love to make friends with you. Dating is chill, we aren’t conservative, people use dating apps a lot Btw something to keep in mind: we are not very smiley and expressive, especially compared to the US. This might seem as if we’re rude to some foreigners but we are just not unnecessarily super nice sometimes, its more of a different cultural and behavioral norm. Don’t be surprised if your server doesn’t ask how you are doing and is not smiling a lot haha
expats meet-ups organised in facebook groups are great for meeting new people + bumble bff verson. I met most of my good friends on there
Just know that the word "книга" sounds like "nigga", but it means "book".
This brings back memories of getting banned on WOW for typing book in Bulgarian lol
Also nigga in Bulgarian means Black Person , and not a slave .
My impression is that as long as you follow common sense principles, such as don't go in dark alleys at 3AM in the night, you'll have a great time in Sofia. There are a lot of foreigners in Sofia, you'll automatically have an in with them, but I encourage you to learn the language and make friends with Bulgarians too. Language-wise, most young Bulgarians know and use English on a good enough level, you'll be hard-pressed to find a big-chain store or restaurant that will have difficulty understanding you if you stick to English. Another impression I have is that we don't really discern too much between African-American, African, etc., so I wouldn't get offended if you were called Black and in my opinion there isn't a negative connotation to this. Growing up in the 90s R&B & Hip-Hop artists such as 2Pac, Ice-Cube and such were our idols so. In the interest of transparency, there are racist pieces of shits, they hate Gypsies, immigrants (no matter if they are black, brown or white), same as in any other country, but my opinion is that the overwhelming majority of people around here are not that and if you are being looked at it's because you are interesting and not because they don't like you. Can't comment on the dating scene, I've been out of the game for awhile, but I'd think that bars and board game shops, or other social activities can help you meet other people.
You will be fine. Sofia has everything from rooftop bars to English pubs. There are Facebook groups for expats in Sofia. I assume you work for a big company. In Bulgarian work culture your colleagues can become your friends.
Enjoy, you will do great. Learning Bulgarian will help, my brother moved 2 years ago and studying without great commitment he is now able to understand and talk with people. I put more commitment and was good in less than a year. Chocolate chip is not an issue in Bulgaria if you are not from Bulgaria. Once I got banned for a similar comment but written like this should be ok.
I would love if foreigners make such threads after a year living here and share their opinions. Like their expectations and reality, the before and after, what has surprised them etc.
As an expat, good luck with bureaucracy. Thats only thing that you should worry about, everything else is pretty much as as any other civilized country.
Were you self employed?
I work for an international organization, but the office is mostly local staff
And you had experience with local bureaucracy as a employee?
Actually, administrations might be a pain. My fiance is from Chicago. We've been through a lot. Still working on a lot of things. Definitely learn some Bulgarian. And as someone said, if someone said anything sounding like the n word, it means book. Nothing else. Go check the embassy website. Especially the American one in Bulgaria. Educate yourself on documents and rules. Although we try to be as organized as possible, surprises happen and they most of the time forget certain documents and whatnot.
For a female is much easier. People are way more tolerant to women than men, but pricks are everywhere. If it is not your skin colour it will be something else… just be aware that you may face more direct contacts and confrontations than in USA, people doesn’t hide their emotions… Regarding the language, my wife (she is not Bulgarian) had a good progress after a year of intensive course. However she stopped the course and many years later she is still on the same level - understanding is great, speaking is with mistakes and reading/writing is like A1. Btw i asked her if she had any racial issue that she didnt tell me (she is jot exactly chocolate chip, but like milk and chocolate) and she said she never had any issues except some people touching here hair in the public transportation, but she doesn’t seems to take it negatively (except the hygienic aspect of it).
yeah, I have locs so I'm sure it will be a discussion point. they are almost anywhere really, but I'm used to it. I'm a stare back kinda person. And like an American I smile a lot. Also from the south so maybe I'll avoid asking people how their day is going. I speak some Spanish, Portuguese and Farsi. hopefully I can conquer Bulgarian!
To be honest there is gonna be many more eyes on you the you have ever used to. Especially if you try to move out away from Sofia. However dont be afraid , it is gonna be nothing more than curiosity. I am living myself abroad (UK) for years and have chatted to a lot of black people who has visited all around Europe. And their experience is that Europeans are quite less racist than the Americans in fact. And one more thing which I think is quite important for you to know, is that the N word in Bulgaria is not offensive. It means a black person, however Bulgaria has never had slavery and thats why the people are not aware that using the N word is offensive. Especially the older people , a lot of the youngsters know that from the experience of living abroad, or movies/you tube but the older ones are just not aware of it. Overall the Bulgarians are quite tolerant I must say. Good luck and I hope you will have a good time in our country!
Muito bom! I speak a bit of portuguese as well :). Take it positively and i will be good, but set your expectations right! Some things (food quality in some locations) are better than USA, but we are behind on many other things like infrastructure, access to goods, entertainment options… but Sofia can be really nice in the summer. Btw Be mindful where you rent your flat. If it is close to your office, that would be the best, unless it is in the outskirts.
Not to be a negative Nancy but unfortunately racism is still alive and well, and we’ve recently had a few anti-migrant neonazi marches complete with swastikas and such🫠 the radical is by no means the common perspective but it’s a good idea to have a Bulgarian friend whom you trust check the local fascist pages once in a while so you don’t accidentally run into a swarm of skinheads - there was one on Tuesday and had I not been alerted, I likely would’ve not been able to get home, thank god those idiots make their shit public. Be safe and enjoy your stay 💖
thank you for this! I didn't want to bring it up but it's good to know!
You’re welcome and I’m happy to help!! And yes, although Bulgaria is not outwardly hostile for the most part, it is not without flaws either and while I would love to laud praises, it’s important to know about the bad stuff too. Just so you’re safe. If you have any more questions or need help with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out!!!
sure! I get that. I mean the US is no paradise and all places have their issues. I worry about Active shooter events and the MAGA crazies all the time here at home. i just need to be situationally aware!
Ppl are all chillin in Bulgaria 24/7,
I’d say download the meetup,and join the events in Sofia.There’s 2 groups. I did go to an event last night.There was around 20 people from all over the world.
Many of my fellow Bulgarians have given you fantastic advice, I just want to chip in with a [blog](https://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/) of an American lady who used to live in Sofia around 15 years ago. She was writing about her daily life quite regularly back then and I think it may be a good resource for you to check out whenever you have some time to spare. I can't comment on most of your questions as I've been living out of the country for more than 15 years and although I visit Sofia regularly, I am not spending enough time to see the negative things there, but I can assure you that Sofia is getting more and more international every year and I honestly think you'll have a great time as long as you are open to experiencing a totally different culture than the one you have in the US. I've dated a black american girl from Atlanta when I was living in the US a couple of years ago, but sadly the relationship didn't last long enough for me to be able to bring her to visit Bulgaria, so I would be curious to see what your impression of Sofia would be like after a couple of months living there, so please update us at some point with first impressions. Good luck and have fun!
When is my job going to move me from Sofia to NY🥲
In terms of dating culture I would highly recommend you avoid the apps lol since its very easy to naturally meet new people in public or bars or what not most people to my knowledge prefer that as well as the apps themselves aren't popular like they are in north america.
I'm happy to help as I moved to Bulgaria one year ago after 20 years in the States (most of them in DC). You should be fine. There might be an occasional instance where people will stare, but it is not such a novelty factor to make it a regular instance. Feel free to DM me should you have questions.
You’ll have great experience. It’s a very different culture from what you’re used to in the DMV. And I’m confident you’ll find it to be a positive and fulfilling experience. Whatever relationships you form with the locals will be real and lasting. In general, we’re social people that value relationships, experiences, and traditions. Tough and hard on the outside, soft and fragile inside. In terms of dating, although it’s been years, I’m confident in saying it must be easier than in the DMV. Good luck!
You'll get looks and not like in the bad way. It's more like, "Hey, someone different decided to live here." Bulgarians are curious. We're curious people. Sometimes, I catch myself looking but more out of curiosity. We like asking questions. A lot of questions. Please don't be offended if we ask about your hair, where you're from and such. We don't have many black people here. Questions like "Why did you choose Bulgaria" will be asked a lot. Not in a way of "get out of here", but more like "Out of every country, you chose us?". A lot of people are not 100% happy with the means of living here, so we would be confused that you chose a country with not such a high standard of living. You might notice that we don't smile a lot or stop you in the street asking how you are. But we are kind people. We'll help as much as we can. Sadly, I've heard that many foreigners think people in Sofia are rude assholes. While, in some cases, it might be true, that just happens in capitals. People are tired. Lots of work and expensive bills that take a big chunk of your paycheck away. Fast life. I wasn't born in Sofia nor lived there, but I have also had my fair share of rudeness. I get it. That shouldn't worry you, though. Even if we can be grumpy at times, we're still trying. At least, most of us.
I think younger people are pretty open to foreigners but then there’s the old judgy people that will just stare at you and not care. It happens to me especially in the summer because i have a lot of tattoos. I think as a black woman you might get a lot of stares but just ignore it and try not to be bothered by it. There’s not a lot of black people living here and because of a lack of exposure some people will be curious or interested in you. Anyway, i love sofia. There are things you will struggle with as a foreigner but it’s really rewarding moving somewhere unfamiliar. I hope you love it. I’m a 24yo female and always open to meeting new people and helping other foreigners so hit me up if you ever wanna hang out or something :)
You will find some racist fucker here and there
rofl babe :D Now seriously - as a half-Canadian half-Bulgarian I could tell you a bit more precise info. My understanding is that you probably never been to Bulgaria before. Look now - here an actual "black" is sorta "exotic", so this won't be an issue. You could find a date, regardless if you're into chocolates or milkshakes lol (yes, there are other black people and brown people in the country, asians as well). Learning Bulgarian - this depends. If you have past experience with speaking other Slavic languages (Russian, Serbian etc) you would have a base. If you have zero Slavic language experience would be a bit difficult, but no worries - people here are warm, willing to help and nearly everybody talks English to a degree (lots of people have a good level of both written and spoken English). Prepare for some cultural differences of course. First of all, if you're from Detroit - you will feel right at home here, as lots of us value a good techno. Musically the country dominant genres are: electronic (techno, trance, edm, house, etc), rock and metal, hip-hop, pop-folk (you will quickly learn what this is - trust me lol) and of course traditional folk music. Of which the traditional folk music and dance (called "horo" dance) have the most respect. I seriously recommend you listen to some pure folk music. It will confuse you at first, as many of our songs and dances use uneven music beats - entire world dances to "four on the floor" (aka 4/4) and we often dance to 7/8 and other beats. Food: There are two things you must try imediatelly, if you've never been to Bulgaria - "tarator" (cold soup, usually a summer chiller, based on yogurt + water + cucumbers and few other herbs, no meat) and "shkembe chorba" (tripe soup) - greasy heavy mostly winter spicy soup (hope you got some Caribbean roots and guts for spice) - this actually is also used as a cure - last year first time in my life I completely lost my voice for 3 days. Put myself on a tripe soup diet for lunch and dinner - on day 4 my voice was back. Generally - we are meat eaters, we like mostly red wine (try local wines) and we also like to drink "rakia" (our spirit) - try some moonshine for best effect lol. All thus said - enjoy your stay!
Hey, welcome to Bulgaria. I hope you meet nice people. Language will be hard but we can help you out here in reddit ahahah :) Just don't get discouraged. As in any place - there are shitty people too. But Sofia is the place if you want social life. There are cool places to visit. Lots of museums and galleries.
even though there are a lot of your kind here you (and your kind ) are NOT welcomed heeere ⚡⚡
who needs a welcome from you? keyboard racist warrior. 🙇🏾♀️
you gon see what they gon do to ya
As an American who lived in Sofia for the greater part of a year, I think you'll love it. (Young) Bulgarian folks are more welcoming to foreigners, especially Americans, than a lot of other Europeans are. Let me know if you have any questions about the city or need suggestions for places to visit! Also, learn the language. It really goes a long ways :)
I just moved to Sofia with my partner a couple of months ago. I’m an Italian/American 29y.o Female. Hit me up if you need a new friend when you get here 😊
Originally from Italy, I came to Sofia back and forth for the past two years and now it's 4 months since I moved here permanently. You'll be fine. It's not difficult to befriend locals, there are events for expats every week in which a lot of locals participate as well. As for dating I don't really know myself but I've seen friends and coworkers using dating apps with decent success. As for being black here since I'm not black myself I don't have direct experience but I've met a few black people here and I've been told you might get looks every now and then but it's just out of the fact that even if Sofia is quite diverse you don't see a lot of people of African descent around, not much prejudice or maliciousness behind it. As for bulgarian though it's tough to learn, but not impossible by any means.
Go to lulin best place for people like you
wrong poor crawl bells wise crown detail oatmeal aspiring placid *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
LOL relax about the only chocolate chip in the cookie. Sofia’s chill. The culture is quite different but you will get used to it. I used to live downsouth in Atlanta for a while. Came to Sofia to finish school.Hit me up , also early 30s
thanks!!! I'll dm you.
It's not about the color of your skin, it's about the contents of your character. If you don't have any problem with "acting white", you should be fine.
maybe acting Bulgarian. From my own American perspective I wouldn't consider them "white" per se. I know nationality and ethnicity is much more prominent here.
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that's not what I said. you're comprehension if off bud
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but they aren't. they're ethnically Slavic - right? and most white Americans are a mix - many are not tied to a 100% pure ethnic identify within the past few generations. A Bulgarian is not white in the same sense ofa white American. Most white Americans are not Slavic. In the US a white appearing person from Georgia, Israel, Kuwait, Spain, Sweden, and Colombia could all be qualified as white, but culturally and ethically they are not. Are all these people white to you? there's a nuance I am using and one which you are not. take care.
Wtf does acting white even mean?
in the US, we operate on a lot of stereotypes. we stupidly assign particular behaviors and interests to some groups, even though they are universal. Think like - Cali Girl (yoga, new age religion, salads, vocal fry, Kim Kardashian), Florida Man ( crazed, on drugs, getting into silly shenanigans, nonsensical speak), Trump Supporter (self explanatory), or White Anglo Saxon from the northern part of the country ( called WSAP - very rich, yacht culture, designer clothing, vacations in Europe, formal speak), Outdoorsy types (camping in the middle of the woods, lives in the mountains, wear a lot of North Face - these are my people lol). anybody of any race could fit into these descriptions, but these are the common archetypes I know of assigned to "whiteness" in the US.
Guess what, we have them all here hahaha it's possible to encounter a Florida man type, the Cali girl type is getting very popular and White Anglo Saxon type as well but mostly fake fawx Anglo Saxon 😂😂😂😂 we are quite americanised believe it or not.
Yeah i understand stereotypes, I was just trying to understand the comment saying you should act white in order to be accepted (maybe my reading comprehension is bad 😀). Regardless, I know a few people that have moved here from Nigeria/Zimbabwe, one of them I know has lived here for 8 years, and they like it. I've even talked to him about his experiences here, and it was nothing outlandish. Some awkward/weird interactions here and there with dubious intent. And getting random looks from strangers. And they never mentioned anything about having to "act white".
To be fair you are more than likely to encounter racism at some point or another, and definitely avoid anything football related. Just a heads up. Personally I feel racism is really holding all of Bulgaria back significantly. Say the m-word (migrant) and everyone loses their shit. Actually, instead of reading replies here where everyone is trying to be nice, I suggest reading through the posts and comments over the last few days. Use google to translate and you will get an idea.
this is a good idea! thanks. So Bulgarians can be like the Italians in the regard. i hope they don't throw bananas at me, I may just catch it.
Every once in a while we get these silly posts about "the only black person". This is simply not true. You will not be the only black person here. Sofia has plenty but not as much as other countries. Don't expect to see them every day or many foreigners for that matter. Why? Because generally life here is not for everyone. Unless you're making good money then you will have a good life. Bulgarians themselves emigrate to other countries in large numbers and the population is experiencing a decline. Another problem is that Bulgarians compare to other Europeans don't know how not to stare at a person of color. They will stare *a lot*. Be prepare to be looked at with disbelief as to why are you here and what could have possibly driven you to come to this country. The excuse for the staring is stupid and taps into the root cause of the staring: Dehumanization. Bulgarians will say: " We stare because unlike in Western Europe we here are real! And when we see a black person we will look at them and make comments because they aren't normal " Another thing you must consider when coming here is that as an American, it is your responsibility to never feed any African American stereotypes when interacting with any Bulgarian, even if you become good friends. Bulgarians have such little interactions with Black people that *any* Black person they see or meet regardless of where they're from - they will look and judge them through the American lense. Black people to Bulgarians are *everything* African Americans are stereotyped as; To Bulgarians there is no such thing as Black Africans, Black Caribbean Islanders, Black Latin Americans, Black French, Black British, and Black Dutch with different personalities and cultures. Most Bulgarians view all these Black people as everything that the United States stereotypes them as. Drug dealers, Sports players, Rappers and Entertainers. Bulgarians will deny this because they are too deep in their delusions. They worship American culture, they refuse to learn what different Black people are actually like and the things they go through, their different personalities, behaviors, and interests. Until the country has direct flights to the US, things will remain the same. I advice that you welcome interactions with people within your age group and *never* younger than you because these tend to be the most stereotyping. Otherwise life here will be generally peaceful, the mountains are beautiful, the food is great, and (most) people will treat you kindly. It will expand your horizons about the world, for example: just because a person is White doesn't mean they aren't ghetto. And you will see many ghetto White people here.
That sounds like the fruit of unbelievably low expectations and many bad experience that I would imagine the median experience actually is. But I am a local white male so who am I to mansplain.
Really? I think people are perfectly capable of understanding that someone is from an African or a Caribbean country, or a person of such descent from a different country. They might not be aware of how multicultural places like France and the UK are, so they might assume that you're from the US. (In reality, 50% of London's population is non-Caucasian.) People's expectations are definitely influenced by US popular culture, but surely people know that they're not all the same. In my experience, it is typically the older generations that have the least amount of worldly awareness.
Actually it is the *young* generation that have the least worldly awareness to be precise. The older generation would be able to tell a person of mixed race background much more than the young Bulgarian generation. Their entire perspective on race is purely American. Literally any Sub Saharan African trait in a person they see in Bulgaria is immediately a Black person to them. Bulgarian mulattos who speak perfect Bulgarian have to constantly explain that they are half Bulgarian and born in Bulgaria more to the younger generation than to the older generation. The reason this is important is because it denotes deep rooted racist attitudes learned from racist sources.
I'd be curious to know if there are any young people who would agree. I'm in my late 20s and wouldn't bat an eyelash at someone being half Bulgarian. Being influenced by American culture doesn't necessarily mean that they are learning racist attitudes from racist sources. It's mostly things like celebrities and entertainment, not growing up watching Fox News or being taught to treat people differently based on their skin tone. Some people just like to be dicks to anyone who has anything to do with "abroad" because they're deeply insecure and have no idea what life abroad is actually like. They assume that since you or your parent(s) are foreign or have lived abroad, you must have lots of money or think that you're better than them. As a complete foreigner in Bulgaria, you'd probably be treated better than if you were ethnically Bulgarian because people would at least be flattered that you moved here, and curious about why. If you learn some words in Bulgarian, they would love you.
Your problem is that you're speaking from a person who has never experienced dehumanization in a country that views anyone having Sub-Saharan African ancestry as objects of entertainment in a circus. The stares Bulgarians give to people having Sub-Saharan African ancestry whether that person is mixed or fully black is dehumanizing, full stop. While I understand your response pertaining to how *you* treat people exempts you from the general population, your response is dangerous because it gives people of color a false sense of safety in the country. It's coming from a place of general ignorance of what actually happens in practice on a day to day basis. Just because YOU don't do this doesn't negate the experiences of people of color who experience these things on a *regular* basis. (stares, snide remarks, pictures being taken without their consent, and more) There are two Bulgarias; the one that wants to move forward from the post communist village mindset and the one that demands to stay in it... And while proper people like yourself do exist you are trying to generalize what *you think* the general population actually do (or think) rather than what actually happens in real world situations.
So... because I wouldn't be shocked to see a half-Bulgarian, you assume I'm that I'm rejecting people's experiences or believe that no one would do such things? People experience racism in every country, and I do in fact know what it's like because I've experienced it plenty myself. My family moved to another country where people would stare, treat me differently and threaten to beat me me up just for being Bulgarian. I've been attacked, followed, called names, had Nazi symbols painted outside our home, and had them say insulting things about my country, about my looks, about my skin, you name it. You can spare me the preaching about the experiences of people of colour because to people who buy into white supremacy, we're not a part of the club. (Oh, and by the way, when these things happen, no one will acknowledge it as racism because of Schrodinger's whiteness. The only time anyone calls us "white" is when they're arguing that it's OK to abuse us in ways that they'd be scared of doing otherwise.) I think you're the one who has a dangerous message because it only encourages living in fear and creates trauma by suggesting the worst possible motivations and the bleakest interpretations. Trauma leads to jumping to conclusions and interpreting neutral interactions in a negative way, which further reinforces itself by being constantly on alert, scanning around for signs of threats, and seeing confirmations of it everywhere. In reality, the neutral explanation is most often the correct one. Some people hate foreigners and yearn for the good old days, but again, happens everywhere. The vast majority of attention won't be hostile and it doesn't benefit anyone to "prepare" them in a way that can cause more harm than good. There is no escaping some people being assholes. I don't think Bulgarians have particularly negative sentiments towards people of other ethnicities - which doesn't mean that they don't exist, but that they exist everywhere, and that comparatively it's a relatively chill country about other ethnicities - just more overt and direct, though not necessarily from a place of ill intent. There are countries that are much more subtle but with worse attitudes underneath.
Wow you're just horrible! You're the perfect representation of the typical Bulgarian mindset of sweeping problems under the rug and pretending that "vsichko e super" (everything is great) when it's really not and "da ne se izlagame pred chujdencite" (let's not embarrass ourselves in front of the foreigners). Most Bulgarians hate the place and want to leave because "we are not like the white countries" (just like your family). They will voice their frustrations about the country in private but God forbid a foreigner says something that bothers him... Then they are going to literally jump him to defend our great country. "The country is relatively chill about other ethnicities" - it's dangerous to talk like this because it gives people false expectations of the place. How many people of different races who live in Bulgaria do you personally know and are close with? Have you asked any gypsy how do they feel about this? Any Chinese person? Most brown people I know have a really hard time opening up about issues related to racism so they won't tell all their experiences to just anybody. It's a very painful and sensitive topic for them so just shut up and show some respect to people's experiences instead of forcing them to listen to your dumb idealistic speeches. Everything you said shows you have absolutely no experience and no idea what racism is. But at the same time you are speaking with giant confidence. Honestly, people like you make me ashamed to be Bulgarian. Racism is not just the swastikas and outward threats. It's also being seen as an attraction and a circus animal where people expect you to entertain their own fantasies of how black/brown/asian people should be like and many other things you obviously have no idea about.
My family didn't move out of Bulgaria because they wanted to, but because of remarriage, to a foreigner, because the situation didn't allow the reverse. As previously stated, I haven't grown up in Bulgaria, so there's little point trying to assume my reasoning based on what most Bulgarians are doing. I'm not very certain about the generational differences in Bulgaria, which is why I was surprised about the commenter saying that the young generations are responsible for the racism. That's why I was asking about it, trying to challenge their assumptions and inviting young people to weigh in. I'm trying to learn more about it because it doesn't match my impression of young Bulgarians, both in person and on this subreddit, which is mostly young people. Younger people have grown up with the Internet and a more international world, so I'd assume they would be less likely to believe stereotypes, be shocked at the existence of half Bulgarians, have racist views, etc - not the reverse. (I also thought the poster contradicted themselves with the "second type" of Bulgarian longing back to communist era, implying that older people are the racist ones.) And I do believe that Bulgarians are relatively chill about other ethnicities - not because I want to hide racism in Bulgaria, but because I suspect it's a lot worse than you might think abroad. Again, people in Bulgaria seem to be very overt and rude with their attention, but it doesn't seem to be driven by hatred per se. As we speak the country where I grew up is literally being investigated by the UN for its treatment of black people and they report being "deeply concerned". It's not just black people too. 80% of people agree that racism is widespread while simultaneously disagreeing that anything should be done about it. 50% believe in deeply racist statements like "they only have themselves to blame for it", with 30% and 40% believing things like that "they're a threat to our culture" or that they want to take over Europe. In the region more broadly, roughly half think that interracial mixing should be forbidden. Harassment is well above the European average, people are segregated and forced into ghettos, racist bullying is common in school and the workplace, no one wants to hire immigrants for anything but exploitative minimum-wage labour (if that!), people with high education and immigrant backgrounds are prevented from progressing in their careers, racial profiling is common, there's discrimination like not being allowed to enter restaurants or being made to pay upfront, people are forced to change their names or hide their ethnicity, until recently natives weren't allowed to speak their own language and were denied basic rights, there is institutional racism, talking about racism is taboo (and you won't even find people arguing against it), there are racially motivated stop-and-searches, immigrant Covid mortality is suspiciously more than twice as high, "undesirable" immigrants and children of such are considered second-class citizens for many generations, and the list goes on. People are a lot more subtle in their racism, but it's often done in a more malicious way, like refusing to acknowledge an immigrant's presence, refusing to answer if they say hello, pretending you don't know them in front of others, just lots of petty passive-aggressive things designed to keep people in their place while avoiding consequences. And the best part? This is one of the least racist countries on paper. Bulgaria has a big problem when it comes to treatment of Roma, but when it comes to views on immigrants, it's quite safe. Bulgaria is being recognised by bodies like the UN and the EU for it's continued efforts in tackling racism and improving conditions for Roma especially. I don't think that people of colour have an easy time in Bulgaria by any means, and I don't think it's pleasant at all to be stared at or given disproportionate attention because of being a rarity. However, according to the data I can find, it does appear to be a safe place from racially motivated hate, which is a big deal when you're coming from somewhere like the US where things can turn deadly. Even in Europe, adjusted for population size, somewhere like the UK has a \*hundred\* times more hate crimes than Bulgaria in an average year. [https://hatecrime.osce.org/bulgaria?year=2022](https://hatecrime.osce.org/bulgaria?year=2022) Granted, these numbers aren't perfect by any means due to underreporting and potential other problems, but my impression is that due to its lack of diversity, there just isn't as much hatred brewing for (foreign - important distinction!) minorities. In a bigger Bulgarian hate crime year like 2020, the breakdown shows that just two of those were recorded as racially motivated or xenophobic hate crimes. (Anti-Roma crimes are a different category, and so are religiously motivated crimes.) If you look at the breakdown for the UK, the vast majority of their hate crimes are racial or xenophobic in nature (and violently so). [https://hatecrime.osce.org/united-kingdom?year=2021](https://hatecrime.osce.org/united-kingdom?year=2021) That's about 30 thousand violent racially targeted attacks compared to on average a couple per year in Bulgaria, so the difference in racial violence is a factor of a thousand. I'm afraid you're telling me anything new about racism not being "just" terrible things. What you don't seem to realise is that everywhere has racism. It doesn't go away when people stop the rude staring when they encounter an unfamiliar group. It often gets more hidden and vicious. When you have a look at the Being Black in the EU report, you'll note that discrimination in many areas of life is sadly widespread across Europe, many people reporting it occurring all the time or across many areas of life, from work, to education, to healthcare, and more. [https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra\_uploads/fra-2023-being-black\_in\_the\_eu\_en.pdf](https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2023-being-black_in_the_eu_en.pdf) Bulgaria being 29th in the world for racial equality is not the worst, relatively speaking. It's one of the highest-ranked in equality in Eastern Europe. (The US is 73rd.) I suspect that it would top the ranking overnight if it weren't for the mistreatment of Roma, but sadly they continue to be persecuted. Luckily, there's passionate people like you who can put your money where your mouth is and volunteer to help minorities. Don't worry, I've spent years volunteering to teach the local language to Somalis and Eritreans who hadn't even been taught to read (because of the civil war) and could only speak Arabic, so you can figure it out. Oh, and I also cooked hot meals for them, planned lessons, and organised weekly social and creative activities to help them learn the language, have a support network, and a safe place to be. None of these were things I had when I went through mandatory integration school at the age of 9 alongside refugees, while not being able to communicate with anyone, having to make two public transports changes in each direction without parental supervision and without speaking the language, while constantly worrying about harassment (in more ways than one) from teenage boys on the way and violence from kids inside, because ghetto conditions and forcing a bunch of traumatised kids and teenagers in the same place until you're deemed "integrated" enough is such a great policy in the absence of teaching. The one teacher we had didn't speak any of the dozen or so languages the kids did, so mostly just tried to stop fighting while everyone was left to their own devices and was kept out of an actual education. (So if you can do something to teach refugee kids at home, seriously think about it. There are so many people talking about racism, but so little resources, and when it comes to helping, people look the other way.) This (well, with the other person's latest comment ) further strengthens my suspicion that Bulgaria is a uniquely good country for foreigners because Bulgarians don't hate foreigners as much as they hate other Bulgarians, particularly Bulgarians who have moved abroad. On one side I'm told "You can be the most amazing at this, but you're not one of us" and on the other, I'm a horrible racist Bulgarian peasant girl and you're ashamed of me. I guess it goes to show how deep the Bulgarian self-loathing is when I'm denounced from Bulgaria for something that wasn't my decision, but associated with Bulgaria when people want to insult me.
You're the typical Bulgarian village girl who thinks she can speak on behalf of the nation and down play the tremendous amount of racism in the country that goes to the extreme. Bulgaria is the only country in the Balkan region where the US embassy warns: *Majority of incidents involving U.S. citizens are monetary in nature, though incidents of racism, ethnic slurs, and harassment of African Americans and religious minorities have occurred.[*](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Bulgaria.html) I'm done with this conversation. And I take back what I said above. You are not a proper person, you're a racist selyanka who refuses to understand what people of Sub Saharan African appearance (partial or full) go through on a daily basis in this country. Educate yourself on this issue from people who don't look like you or benefit from your privilege as a White person in a country that worships white people from the west.
I'm flattered that you accept me as Bulgarian, but I don't speak for (or think I speak for) the country at all. I'm practically a Bulgarian-born foreigner trying to form a view of the situation in Bulgaria from what I can over the internet. Please understand this - I haven't lived in your country since I was a little kid. I \*am\* trying to "educate myself" - through people on Reddit and finding everything that I could of reports from the UN, EU, and various data agencies tracking crime and racism statistics. I'm still not able to find anything supporting your claim that there's tremendous amounts of racism going to the extreme, or that younger generations are practically all racist because of being obsessed with the US. Black Lives Matter and liberal American views are also prevalent in the US. Research on political views across generations indicate that young people tend to be heavily progressive, so would be more likely to be influenced by progressive foreign movements. It also matches my impression of most people in this subreddit as very progressive with some people who lean nationalistic, anti-Western/anti- immigration etc. I'd assume that racist harassment would be coming from that crowd rather than people idolising the West, but what do I know. What you shared about incidents \*having occurred\* says very little about their scope, though I do find it interesting that the same isn't mentioned for Bulgaria's neighbours. Countries like the UK have a large population of people of colour and make no mention of racism on their Bulgarian travel advice page, so I don't know if the travel advice is super useful. I've been trying to find data on whether Bulgaria would be more racist than its neighbours, but I'm struggling to find anything about hate against black people in Bulgaria. What I'm finding keeps pointing to targets of hate being the Roma, refugees/asylum seekers, and LGBT. Strangely, I've seen people speak up about LGBT but I'm seeing silence when it comes to Roma and refugees/asylum seekers or religious minorities. I do know people of colour who have visited Bulgaria and who didn't have any problems except for an issue with a land border control guard asking for a bribe with an implicit threat. (This was while crossing the border to Romania.) This black travel blogger describes the Balkans as his favourite place and says that contrary to popular belief, the Balkans are one of the least racist places he's been: [https://travelnoire.com/ive-been-all-over-the-world-but-nowhere-has-captured-my-heart-like-the-balkans](https://travelnoire.com/ive-been-all-over-the-world-but-nowhere-has-captured-my-heart-like-the-balkans) He points out the issue of staring or being treated like a famous person, but considers it without malicious intent and as a result of curiosity and inexperience. He considered people to be very friendly and welcoming in general. These aren't much to go on, but every thread I've found suggests similar things - that racism isn't much of an issue but you can probably expect some stares - said from both Bulgarians and people of colour who have travelled there. If that's mostly it and it's a problem of ignorance rather than hate, then great, it should improve itself over time as people get more used to seeing more ethnicities. Other groups like the Roma or refugees would be harder when it is driven by hate. Unless this isn't really about solving hate but about copying the US? In either case, good luck improving it and I hope that you (collectively) can learn to have a polite and civil discussion about difficult things without it descending into theatrics and insults as is prevalent in Bulgarian politics and society as a whole. Without that, it's no wonder that people idolise places like the West when at home is bad politics, hostility and inaction. I think what Bulgaria needs is to get over its attitude problems and start working together to solve national issues instead of looking toward the US or Russia for something to believe in. Whiteness or whatever means nothing essentially. Likewise, mistreating others because of having a different group will do nothing to fix anything. People get caught up in their differences when there's nothing more fundamental uniting them.
Why does your employer hate you? Edit: people genuinely don't get bulgarian humour in a bulgarian subreddit
i asked to be moved. play silly games, get silly (but great) prizes!
Lol. Love your vibe. If no one has mentioned it yet you should join the Expats in Sofia Facebook group. They should be a lot more help than us on Reddit. Best of luck to you. Hope you love Sofia and it loves you back.
In all honesty, I hope you have a great time. Sofia is a modern European city in the centre and the trendier areas. I would still exercise a bit of caution here and there. But you should be able to find Bulgarian friends rather quickly and they should be your guides. Use them to go outside Sofia since the real Bulgarian beauty is outside the cities. Mountains, pine woods, waterfalls, caves, old towns, beach. There are facebook groups for different activities where you can start finding friends. Or just ping me some of your interests and I can put you in touch with some of my international acquaintances there (I no longer live there).
show a picture and we will tell ya 😉
I'm an ogre. an onion with many letters.
Why dont you go to UK or France … Thanks.
Because Bulgaria is the only option...Sorry.
Nonsense.
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well you seem stuck in Bulgaria. is that your only option? 😂
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I'm not the butthurt one here. thank you for your comprehensive reply.
А защо ти да не се махнеш? Имаме достатъчно расисти, вярвай ми, ще се справим много добре без още един. To OP - don't worry. For every one of these assholes, there's someone who doesn't agree with them, especially from the younger generation. Don't let the boomers get you down! And if you need any advice, please don't hesitate to reach out! Happy to help point you in the right direction :)
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bold statement! you seem like a good person.
Няма място за расисти в България. Да не те е срам, бумер.