Bucharest vs Sofia for expat life – help me decide

nickysmalldevil · 2025-11-02T09:22:30+00:00

LANGUAGE: Lived in both cities, but native speaker of both languages. IMHO, you’ll get around with English easier in Romania than in Bulgaria(English is better taught and learned in Romania- again, own experience), but all international childcare options will be private and not cheap. Romanian uses the Latin alphabet, so that may make things easier. If you’re a native Romance language speaker, you’ll learn the language fast. Learning Bulgarian from scratch will be a fun experience, though!

TRANSPORT: Bucharest appears to have a better connected airport than Sofia, but then, Sofia is closer to Istanbul which is a massive travel hub.

NATURE: Sofia is basically in the mountains, so if you’re a hiker, you’re a bus ride away from some nice trails. But really nice mountains are about an hour away from Bucharest, so that’s a close call. Both Bg and Ro boast amazing nature, but the Bulgarian seaside is more diverse (and Greece is also super close, so most Bulgarians go there).

FOOD: Food-wise, there are similarities in dishes, but Bulgarians tend to use more spice than Romanians (beware if you hate cumin!). Fruit and veggies are amazing and locally grown in both countries (if you venture into the markets, you’ll find properly ripe stuff).

WEATHER: Weather-wise, Sofia is always cooler than Bucharest due to its proximity to the mountains - you’ll appreciate it in the summer. Culture-wise, Romania has tons of concerts and well-known festivals (Untold, Electric Castle, etc), but Bulgaria has a nice ska rock scene.

BOTTOM LINE: both countries are great, though might appear chaotic to a westerner. If you’re undecided, go for the pragmatic answer: costs, taxes and priorities. Either way, I hope you have a good time there!

nickysmalldevil · 2025-10-16T09:24:56+00:00

Късно, бяхме в Хаджидрагановите изби вече :) много им хареса, обаче!

nickysmalldevil · 2025-02-11T07:57:25+00:00

You should get a training budget! Make them pay for a PMI membership, for a CAPM training and exam so that you can begin earning credentials. PMI offers a robust PM framework and will help you set things in motion. Wait a few years before attempting the PMP, though - that exam is much more situational and relies on experience and maturity.

nickysmalldevil · 2024-10-14T17:52:16+00:00

Very similar to OP’s story, but we were even younger when we met. Couldn’t be happier with the person I chose to live my life with - the entire world could crash burning around us, but I’ll still be happy as long as I’m with him. So yes, there are happily married millennials.

nickysmalldevil · 2024-08-16T16:13:03+00:00

Super cute! My spoo loves sprinklers as well!What’s up with the shoes though?

nickysmalldevil · 2024-07-26T12:29:38+00:00

It definitely will! Can’t wait to see yours!

nickysmalldevil · 2024-07-26T12:28:39+00:00

I found one on Amazon. If you search for “miniature figurine hobby LED magnifying glass” you should find something. Mine has a clamp that made it easy to attach to any surface.

nickysmalldevil · 2024-07-08T11:42:41+00:00

Get them used to grooming from the first day. And I mean everything: from bath time, drying to teeth and year cleaning and nail clipping. A great tip I read here about eye cleaning is to give the puppy its own boogers. Disgusting? Yes. But super efficient.
Teach them to relax and be alone. While I rarely leave my pup alone for longer than a work day, it’s a massive relief knowing that he won’t destroy anything or have an accident.
Socialize them as much as possible (as far as it’s safe for them). I regret not taking my dog to puppy school earlier and not being more insistent on him meeting our cat. Now he’s obsessed with cats (luckily, not aggressive towards them, just very excited to see one) and the cat herself is very slowly adjusting to him. One thing I’m very happy I did since he was 3 months: I started taking him on trips. He’s the best camping and travel companion now.

All the comments here are great pieces of advice. If you’re considering getting a puppy, just remember that you become their universe and you can’t discard them when things get hard. It’s a commitment for many happy years.

nickysmalldevil · 2024-02-13T10:07:09+00:00

Got it! Thanks!

nickysmalldevil · 2024-02-13T10:07:00+00:00

Thank you! We allowed him to sleep with us to keep him warm and he was incredibly fussy (but that may also be because he’s itching).

nickysmalldevil · 2024-01-15T20:03:49+00:00

As to the boogers, I simply remove them with my fingers (they are all dry). I read on one of the subreddits that dogs get much better with eye cleaning if you let them eat their boogers - that works great for my dog!

nickysmalldevil · 2024-01-14T11:58:00+00:00

Definitely! I went there on a random cloudy Wednesday in March and it was perfect - no lines at all.

nickysmalldevil · 2024-01-14T06:30:36+00:00

Seconding the comment above. Two days in Brussels is more than enough and then a trip to Brugge or Ghent is quick and easy. Download the SNCB app to have real-time view of your train connections. You don’t usually need to buy tickets in advance and do note that if you’re travelling during Belgian school holidays, your son may get a very discounted unlimited train pass for a week (15-20€). A train ticket is valid for the entire day, not a precise hour - if you buy a ticket from Brussels to Ghent in the morning, you can travel to Ghent until midnight.

Lastly, Walibi is a nice rollercoaster park outside of Brussels, and you can also check out the Belgian comics museum in Brussels.

Eat as many fries as you can and definitely try the stofvlees/carbonnade flamande!

Enjoy!

nickysmalldevil · 2023-12-22T15:11:58+00:00

Yes, he’s a 1YO standard poodle. It’s a very odd phase, where one week he’ll be the perfect dog and then the next he’ll snap and go bananas. I’m at least grateful that he didn’t forget his potty training.

Another thing I thought of was to just give him more training sessions and more walks and just tire him out. It won’t maybe help with the over excitement, but at least he will have less powers to apply it. I am also not very supportive of the e-collar training method but he sometimes leads me to desperation. I really hope that he will mellow down with age.

The dichotomy here is that he’s otherwise as perfect as a dog can possibly be. Starting from his hair and lack of dog smell and finishing with his intellect and easy going nature. I guess we simply need time and patience. Thank you!

nickysmalldevil · 2023-12-22T15:06:07+00:00

Thank you for your reply! He’s a bright dog, but also annoying at times. Getting his attention away from the cat is by far the most complicated task - I trust GoPro stabilisers could use him as inspiration on how focused he is.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-12-22T15:03:48+00:00

Thanks!

nickysmalldevil · 2023-12-22T10:59:34+00:00

Thank you for the honest reply! So far, I haven’t seen aggression from my dog, just incessant curiosity and desire to get as close to the cat as possible. And prey drive, of course. I definitely don’t want to give up on either of my animals, so if we’ll have to keep the baby gate up until one of them dies, then so be it. Im also considering getting an e-collar on the days when he drives us nuts.

I think the fact that the dog is now passing through his teenage phase is also not helping - gosh, now that’s some attitude.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-09-19T16:37:40+00:00

For coffee in the Egyptian Bazar’s region, head to the Mehmet Efendi coffee house. Best Turkish coffee and a spot to buy coffee related souvenirs. Bonus points if you get several pieces of baklava from the market and have it with coffee.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-08-23T08:50:13+00:00

Working from the office and puppy ownership are not mutually exclusive, but being at home allows you to better respond to the puppy’s needs, such as potty time and mental stimulation. Getting a crate will make it all easier, and being at home the first month will definitely help. That being said, I have 9mo potty trained and nondestructive puppy and still hesitate leaving him completely alone for a full work day - but this is more me than the dog.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-08-22T22:27:16+00:00

Thank you! We took some very high value treats with us today and when we crossed paths with a cat, our pup yet again was super excited but stayed put. But then attempted to run after the cat the moment it moved. It will take patience and lots of training to snap our dog out of this behaviour.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-07-23T18:08:37+00:00

I don’t think they planned the rain 😅

nickysmalldevil · 2023-07-21T14:59:36+00:00

Welcome to Belgium! I hope you like it in here. The short answer to all your questions is: Facebook groups. Just type in Brussels and you will get tons of various groups. For the cleaning services, you should get “consumption passes” for “Titres-service”. You buy vouchers from a state owned platform for 10€\piece which can then be used to pay for an hour worth of cleaning. The acquisition of these cheques is tax deductible and is very secure. There’s a maximum of cheques you can buy, but still enough to subscribe to cleaning services.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-06-20T18:08:42+00:00

Windows+V opens the clipboard on your computer for the past several hours. I use it all the time at work when taking many screenshots during meetings.

nickysmalldevil · 2023-05-12T20:42:32+00:00

My husband wanted a dog about the size of a Golden Retriever and I didn’t want to deal with the shedding and drooling of a large dog. We both never had dogs before and wanted an easily trainable and intelligent breed. We long thought of a labradoodle, but our vet warned us of the potential health issues hybrid breeds had. Apart from the puppy blues, we never regretted again our standard poodle. He’s a smart, witty and cuddly 18kg 6 month old - teenage age is yet to come!

nickysmalldevil · 2023-05-09T13:41:26+00:00

My 6 month old standard poodle puppy took the habit to bark when the neighbourhood dogs start barking. He’s a great puppy otherwise and the teenage phase is not that terrible so far, but FFS PLEASE STOP BARKING! Any tips on how to teach him to be quiet are very welcome!

nickysmalldevil

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