What is Bulgaria like in the eyes of someone coming from elsewhere in Europe to live here? Is it an easy thing to get accustomed to a different way of thinking and living? These are questions a young mother from Barcelona, Spain is able to give the answers to. Her name is Marta Ros and she has been a freelancer for Radio Bulgaria's Spanish language service for one year, but has been living in Sofia with her husband and her two Spanish-Bulgarian children for almost seven.

I discovered her blog, and through it, Marta herself by chance while I was surfing the Internet, and I saw she was asking herself questions like: What are Bulgarians like, how do they park their cars, are there similarities between the Bulgarian and the Spanish language, what am I doing in Bulgaria? That got my curiosity going, so I clicked on the link to see who the author of the blog was. That was my first contact with Marta. What attracted me to her was her positive outlook, her objectivity when it comes to Bulgaria and her desire to get to know the country and its people.

“The first time I came to Bulgaria I knew next to nothing about the country,” says Marta. “In this sense it may be better to come here knowing nothing because it is easier to get new impressions than it is to amend old ones. Staying on was no easy decision for me because it is difficult to leave one's comfort zone. It wasn't just leaving my town, my family, my friends, I didn't know the language or the customs, I knew nothing.  But for my husband, who is Bulgarian it meant coming home and he helped me adapt.”

Was adapting to a new way of thinking, to a new language easy, how did you learn Bulgarian and to what an extent?

“It wasn't easy but it's been quite some time now - seven years. Bulgarian is a difficult language but I attended Bulgarian language courses at the St. Kliment Ohridski University for three years. What helped me most was that when I came to Sofia I didn't try and find people from Spain, so my friends now are Bulgarian. Obviously I don't speak Bulgarian like they do, but I get by.”

What else do you do besides your work for Radio Bulgaria?

“I spend most of my time home with the kids. Every week I devote a great deal of time to my blog “Spanish mamma in Bulgaria”. As most blogs, mine started out as a form of diary. Then I realized there was so much information missing about Bulgaria, so I gradually made changes until I decided what I wanted to discuss was being a mother abroad.”

Would you recommend Bulgaria as a good place to live?

“Of course. In my blog I recommend it often - many people write they want to come and live here. Salaries are still low, but Bulgaria is a stable and safe country that will develop in the years to come and will reach the level of the other, wealthier European countries. All it takes is time. As a tourist destination I wholeheartedly recommend it. Bulgaria is a beautiful country, with breathtaking landscapes. There is so much to choose from - beaches, mountains, cities. The food is excellent and prices are affordable by any European standard.”

English version: Milena Daynova