When you find yourself surrounded by new friends who represent more than 10 countries and you are all celebrating Christmas together in Bulgaria it feels quite special indeed.
That’s one of the great things about Internations. It’s a place where no matter where you are from or what you are doing you are always welcome. People move abroad for many reasons, often for work, some move for love and sometimes just because they love to travel and see the world. When you arrive in a new country it’s nice to make friends quickly, with both locals and other expats. The sooner you make friends the sooner you begin to settle in and feel at home. Internations is a global expat community that organises events in most capital cities in the world. I joined when I arrived in the Dominican Republic as I had no friends there and was struggling to learn the language and speak to the locals. The monthly events in Santo Domingo were quite small with around 20-30 people attending but I met some great people who quickly became great friends.
In Sofia the events are much bigger, often with more than 100 people attending twice a month. There’s a mixture of nationalities and it’s really interesting to meet them all and hear about their life in Bulgaria. On Wednesday I attended the Internations Christmas event held at the Metropolitan Hotel in Sofia. The venue was perfect, a cosy bar with plenty of seating, nice music and lovely Christmas decor. On arrival we were greeted with a gift from Internations, a bottle of Bulgarian red wine and a photographer who took pictures of all the guests. We also had the opportunity to dress up with some Christmas hats and accessories to take more pictures with our friends throughout the night! There was plenty of tasty finger food for everyone and even some special Christmas shots! It was a really lovely evening, in fact we stayed from 7pm until Midnight and had such a great time chatting to our friends, old and new!
You can register with Internations on their website. If you join the Albatross membership the events are free to attend, if you are not a member but you join the guest list the entrance is 15 leva, if you’re not on the list it’s 20 leva. You receive 2 free drinks at each event which usually are wine, beer or soft drinks.
Thank you to all those involved with organising these great events!
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