About the Girl
Zdraste!
Hello friends, family and curious readers. I’m Whitney, the girl behind Girl Meets Bulgaria.
I am wife to Ventsi, lover of all things travel, photographer, blogger, crafter, reader, and much more.
I joined the blogging world over a year ago as a way to document my journey from a single American to a married expat living in Bulgar
I just got back the the U.S. after 3 months of living in Bulgaria. I will be visiting Utah for a month then it is off to Alaska to work in the lovely Denali National Park area for the summer.
I am missing my husband and home in Bulgaria, but I will be back in the fall. Lots more adventures await.
Thanks for stopping by!
Please comment and subscribe. I’d be much obliged!
♥W.
33 Comments
leave one →
great read! I’ve just nominated you for the Sunshine Award! Happy Blogging!
Hi Whitney!
I hopped over here from The Ground Beneath My Feet and thought I’d say hello. I recently started writing about my move from New Mexico to Croatia, and I love reading about other bloggers in similar situations. I hope to learn a bit about Bulgaria, too! Looking forward to browsing your posts.
E
Hi Whitney, just spotted your blog through ‘freshly pressed’ & I’m so excited to find it!! My best friend is from Bulgaria, living in the UK right now, but she still spends a lot of time back in Sofia with her family. She got me really interested in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian culture, history, & traditions (as for the language, I’m already a foreign language obsessive – currently learning Russian, & Serbian, but would love to learn a little more Bulgarian too!) & I really want to visit Bulgaria at some point & spend a few months there exploring & learning more, before touring surrounding countries in Eastern Europe too).
So your blog is a real gemstone of a find for me, as I can learn more & see some of Bulgaria through your experiences until I’m in a position to travel there myself!! Can’t wait to indulge in reading your blog
Good luck with making your home in such a beautiful country! xoxo
Hi, wishing you a wonderful 2012!!!
What a terrific opportunity!!! Soooo jealous. Best of luck with the language.
Thanks you!
I really hope you enjoy Bulgaria Whitney! It is truly a wonderful country and I know because I was born there and lived there for most of my life
I am now an American, residing in Boston, MA, but I have not lost my deep connection to Bulgarian culture and traditions.
If you ever need any advice on where to go and what to do while living in this beautiful country of ours, feel free to drop me a line.
All the best to you in your journey; what you are about to do sounds very brave and exciting!
-Sylvia
it is an adventure to live in a foreign country where doesnt speak the same language as u do. I hope you will enjoy the food/culture, people, and everything. i believe your open-minded will help you accustom to the new environment~~~ :]
Hi there Whitney.
I am so excited for you. it is an amazing journey you are about to embark on. I went through the same waiting period as you, and wow, as the days draw near the exitment as well as the emotions become very overwhelming. i landed in Bulgaria in June this year, along with my 2 year old daughter. My husband had been in BG for 6 months befor we were once again able to feel the warm embrace of each other. It is a difficult time, as i find myself looking out the window and often struggle to believe that i made the move. A good move it was, and one I dont regret. I would love to become friends. Where will you be staying?
Anyway, I hope that the time flies by, and that you and your husband are soon reunited in BG.
All the best and hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
Janine
Hi Janine!
I am glad your family is back together. Vince and I have had many lengthy periods apart and it never gets any easier. I cannot imagine how much harder it would be with a young child thrown in the mix. I know I will have times where I wonder if I made the right choice and feel homesick, but I know that overall I will be so happy that I did it. Meeting people such as yourself has been a HUGE help in overcoming my fears. In fact, blogs like Karolinka’s and Lauren’s (Baby in Bulgaria) make me even more excited to move. I feel like they are getting to have all the fun and I am stuck here in the U.S.! That mindset is definitely helping me overcome my soon-to-be expat jitters! I would love to keep in contact with you! I once worried that I would struggle to make friends in Bulgaria, but I am seeing that the exact opposite is true.
For the first little while we will be living in Smolyan (southern BG). We have an apartment there. Ultimately, however, we want to be in Sofia or Plovdiv. Vince just has to find a job first!
I arrive on December 29th, just in time to celebrate New Years! I would love to meet up at some point. Where do you live?
Please keep in touch,
Whitney
Hi Whitney,
My wife and I came across you blog while looking for something completely different, but I thought I would introduce myself anyway. I’m an actual American married to an actual Bulgarian living in Bulgaria, and yes I have a blog too. http://www.blissinbulgaria.blogspot.com/
I thought I would mention it because, as you mentioned, blogs by Americans married to Bulgarians living in Bulgaria are rare.
I just skimmed some of your blogs, so forgive me if I’m wrong, but it looks like you are not here yet. When you make it feel free to look us up.
I forgot to mention, we live in Sofia.
Hi, Dave! Glad you stumbled upon my blog. You are right, I am not currently living in Bulgaria. My fiance and I are working in Alaska right now and are getting married at the end of the month. He will be going back to BG and I will meet him there in a few months after my long stay visa comes through. I will definitely check out your blog. I really enjoy connecting with people in relationships like mine! As I am finding out, it’s not as uncommon as I once thought!
Awww, well hopefully next time! We aim to go every spring. Best of luck, and I look forward to following your blog – thanks for sharing!
Kate
Hi – I’m so happy to have stumbled across you blog! I’m engaged to a Bulgarian from Sofia, but we live in the US (Georgia). I was there with him back in 2007 for a few weeks, and we’ll be there again this year for the second half of May. I’m not sure when you’ll be there – I’ll have to peek around your blog some more – but I’d love to meet for a coffee or something if you happen to be there at the same time!
Best of luck to you guys –
Kate
Hi Kate!
Unfortunately, I won’t be moving to Bulgaria until this fall. I would have loved to have gotten together! Bummer! I am always looking to meet people in a relationship like mine, so I am so glad you found my blog and commented! Hopefully if you are in BG in the future we can meet. Please keep in touch!
W.
Hi, I saw your blog linked to Каролинка Blog. I married my Bulgarian husband in 2007 and we have 1 child now. I’ve been to BG about 4 times now. We live in the US. My husband’s parents have been here for 6 months now, and returning to BG this week. It’s been great having them here and taking care of our daughter. I’m bookmarking your blog and look forward to read once you move there. We did all the US paper, so any questions let me know.
Take care, Kellie
Thanks, Kellie! I appreciate it!
I hope that if we move back the U.S. my mother and father-in-law can come stay with us. That would be awesome!
Kellie
I just saw your post – I am an american and my boyfriend is bulgarian. I have many questions on the visa process. I have been to bulgarian 9 times and will be going again in June. Any insight you have for me in regards to marriage and the visa process would be wonderful.
Best
Heather
I was in a similar situation at one point, but the guy (also from the Smolyan, like Whitney’s guy) ditched me for someone who was supposedly just a “friend.” Still, I’m in love with Bulgaria and would love to live there, so I’m entertaining all sorts of avenues to move there. I taught myself Cyrillic and have been learning Bulgarian pretty well so far. I just have to figure out how to get there, how to make a living (I’m a lawyer) … the major stuff! I just know that I’m totally captivated with the country, the people, the culture, etc. Life is short, and we only get one shot at it, so I’m gonna go for it!
Glad to hear you are following your dreams and still trying to move to BG, despite some crappy obstacles. I think I would murder my fiance if he ever did that to me. Just kidding. Or am I?
Good luck with everything. I’d love to meet when you make it to Bulgaria!
W.
Hi! I’m Latin-American that had been in BG four times since 2007 when I meet an amazing girl from Sofia’s center. Now I’m struggling in how I would manage to live there… Just as same as you I’m paying debts off and anxious to be in that beautiful country once more and stay permanently with her.
It is definitely a daily struggle, but I think love is worth it (as cliche as that sounds).
I wish you both the best of luck. Please keep in touch.
W.
I’m a Bulgarian-American who ended up bringing my significant other and myself to Europe. We’ve had to go through various (paperwork) struggles so if I can help in any way, please feel free to shoot me an email. I love the fact that a few brave souls like yourself have started a blog on this topic and feel inspired to start one myself on what it feels to have grown up bicultural, bring your biculturalism into a relationship and live in a third country, essentially becoming tri- or multicultural:)! Until I gain courage to write about that, I’ll be working on a food blog attempting to combine Bulgarian and American recipes. Let me know if you come across an interesting recipe from Smolyan!
I will definitely take you up on the offer for paperwork advice! One of the biggest reasons why I started this blog was to meet people such as yourself. No one can offer better help/advice then someone who has gone through the process personally.
I would love to read a blog about your personal experiences being a Bulgarian-American. My fiance and I plan on starting a family in the next few years and raising my kids to appreciate their heritage on both sides (as well as being bilingual) is very important to me.
When you get your food blog up and running send me a link! I am compiling all the Bulgarian recipes I can find. I don’t know of any specific ones to Smolyan but I am sure that when I move to BG this fall I will learn a lot of them from my mother-in-law.
Thanks for reading, I really love hearing from people in situations similar to myself.
W.
Hi Whitney! (Dubro Utro!)
Love your blog! Congrats on marrying the Bulgarski man of your dreams.
I also read Karolinka’s and Petya’s blogs, as well as Expat Blog. That’s how I found yours. I’ve thought about writing one, too, but it’s such a commitment.
Anyway… I, too, am an American 20′s-something gal marrying a Bulgarian! I don’t know anyone else with a similar situation, and would love to chitchat about our nutty experiences. At the very least, we can practice our Cyrillic alphabet. Haha! Please comment back or – better yet – email me!
Talk to you soon,
M
Thanks, M!
I always love hearing from readers, especially ones in a relationship like ours.
I will definitely be emailing you. I’d love to compare our experiences!
W.
Yes, for a month in 2009. I celebrated New Years with my boyfriend and his family then stayed for the rest of January. Bulgaria is beautiful in the winter, especially in Smolyan where my bf is from, but I am looking forward to seeing it in warmer weather!
I have no patience either. Have you been to Bulgaria yet?
I hope things are going well for you.
Thanks, Jackie! Things are going as well as can be expected in a long-distance relationship. I just wish I were in BG already. I have little to no patience.