This Transient Life

When I was a little girl my parents had a very old globe that I would play with. If you've seen the movie Doctor Doolittle (the Rex Harrison version, not the one with Eddie Murphy) you might remember the musical scene where the cast is at sea and use a hatpin to randomly select a destination in an atlas. Apparently I was interested in travel from an early age, because I used to do the same thing by spinning the globe and stopping at a random place with my finger. I would discover new and exciting destinations and imagine what it would be like to one day visit them. On one occasion I landed on or nearby a place called Sofia. How excited I was to discover a city named after me! There is that slight spelling difference but the idea is the same. Of course I didn't know anything about Bulgaria back then, had never met anyone from Bulgaria or anyone who had traveled there. But since then I was always vaguely aware of Sofia's existence, and thought wouldn't it be cool go there when I grow up?

As of last Friday, I am a resident of the city of Sofia, with which I share a name. After two months of traveling from Pleven to Burgas to Warsaw to Seattle to San Francisco (and back!) I am definitely glad to be settling into my new home. Looking around my apartment, I have boxes and suitcases of things to unpack and I get very tired just thinking of where to put them right now. Jet-lagged or not, I am excited to finally visit my new school, meet my colleagues and students, and start off another year of my Fulbright grant. I already feel very good about it, and incredibly lucky to be here. I want to thank you for reading and promise to update often about things, now that I am going to be in one place (hopefully) for a while.

And to everyone starting a new school year, good luck and best wishes!