I look back on myself exactly a year from now. Wrapping up an intensive MBA 10 months program, thinking about a new career, going from interview to interview, reflecting on the learning, leveraging networking, and basically worrying.
Something had to be done and figuring out my purpose became vital. So I went and started cold calling people, asking questions and feedback, and getting opinions. On a daily basis, I became the guy who doesn’t know what tomorrow looks like. On November 3rd, I received a call from the Salesforce, "Sir we would like to have you with us in Ireland." I immediately started celebrating that night. Finally! I got a job where I would be postponing my "purpose" for a while and getting active on my professional goals.
Just when you think everything is set and carved in stone, I received a call from a friend of mine, saying, "Listen, man, we haven’t spoke in a few years. I own a marketing agency in Sofia, Bulgaria and I would like you to join us as a partner." On November 7th, Saturday morning, I grabbed my guitar and played for as long as I can remember. Then, there it was....PURPOSE! I finally realized that I wanted to build businesses for the rest of my life. Not only that, I want to go where no one else would. And so there my journey began.
Refusing to wipe away 15 years of memories in France., I called my parents and a few good friends and informed them I was moving to Sophia. I still remember some of the reactions. "Bulgaria!!!??? Man, you are crazy! You won't last a month there."
I packed my things, sold most of my guitars, and traveled to Sophia. On December 23rd, I reach Sofia and it is cold. No wait a minute, it is really cold! I was coming from the French Riviera so the adjustment was not an easy one. I had booked a small room in an old soviet building for 8 Dollars per night, so you can imagine that I began my wide search for apartments.
Now one of the things you should know about me is that I'm usually fast with my decision making mechanism. It took me four days to convince a realtor to consider my case, and I was on a high budget compared to the market. I was supposed to start my job on the 5th of January, and move into my apartment on that day. To my dismay, the owner after cashed my deposit and changed his mind. So here I am homeless at with 1500h in the hole. I decided to become my own realtor, I ran a quick search, visited a few apartments, took the first one and there it was, I was finally Home at 1900h.
Since then, I took matters into my own hand. I started learning the language, going out, blending in, and realizing that this country had much more to offer than just what was seen in movies like "Taken of the Expendables." I discovered the lifestyle, the culture, the habits, the DNA of this 6000 years old civilisation, and I met very proud people.
Then came the first real experience. When you order at any restaurant a salad or a pasta plate, chances are you will be served both plates together. So the choice between a cold carbonara or a salad for desert is quite common here. I also got to explore the rich sights, from the Ottomans, to the Communists artifacts - Sofia harbours a heavy history. The infrastructure is still very similar to what eastern Europe had known in the 1950s.
One of the cool things I learned was the head nods. When you agree with someone you tend to nod your head, right? Not in Bulgaria!!! You just move your head left and right. It is very confusing at the beginning, but then you get used to it. This is actually a tradition from the Ottomans, when from when they used to point their spears at the chins of people. To agree on the questions, they could only move their heads, left and right because nodding meant getting hurt.
All in all, Sofia is a great place to live in, it’s a very dynamic city, with a lot of things to do. It's also very friendly to entrepreneurs. It's only fair to say that I really feel at home here and I really am thankful that I made the decision of shipping myself to this exiting environment.
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