When you study Bulgarian with us in Veliko Tarnovo we also help you immerse yourself in the best of Bulgarian culture, traditions and customs.

We want you to not only learn Bulgarian but to experience for yourself the Bulgarian way of life. This means meeting and interacting with Bulgarian people in their normal every-day activities. All the activities in our cultural programme represent a brilliant opportunity to immerse youself in the Bulgarian way of life, to get to know Bulgarians, make Bulgarian friends, to gain a deep understanding of Bulgarian culture and last but not least... to practice your Bulgarian speaking and listening skills:) You can choose from any of the activities listed below and will be accompanied on each by one of our Bulgarian tutors.

Bulgarian family meal

Sitting down in the evening as a family and having a meal together is one of the most important elements of Bulgarian family life. Bulgarians put a high value on the social aspect of sitting round the dinner table with family and friends, eating, drinking, chatting and having fun. Bulgarians are very warm and friendly hosts and love having guests to join them for dinner. This Bulgarian experience will take you to a typical Bulgarian house in the village for dinner where a lot of the food is home grown, the drink home-made and the company inviting.

Bulgarian market

Bulgarians on the whole have a very healthy diet and salads and vegetables can be found in just about every meal. Many Bulgarians rely on home-grown produce and if they want something for dinner that they don't grow themselves you will often find them down the local market buying home-grown produce of other local people. Veliko Tarnovo has an outdoor market selling mainly fresh fruit and vegetables. This Bulgarian experience will allow you to browse the stalls in Veliko Tarnovo's outdoor market and practice buying off the local market sellers.

Learn Bulgarian dances

Bulgarians love to let their hair down, have fun and don't need much of an excuse to have a party. One of the most popular hobbies of Bulgarians is to dance their national folk dances. In Veliko Tarnovo there are 6 or 7 folk dancing clubs each with 2 or 3 groups. It is very common to see Bulgarians stand up and start dancing round tables in restaurants. Everyone is welcome to join the dance, hold hands and have a great time. This Bulgarian experience will provide you with three lessons so you can learn three of the most popular Bulgarian folk dances.

Bulgarian mountains

One thing Bulgaria is most famous for is its breathtaking mountain ranges. Veliko Tarnovo is very near to the Balkan mountains and a local walking club organise hiking trips every 2 weeks. The walks are pretty arduous and 30km could easily be covered in a couple of days. The walks take you up to a mountain lodge usually about 1500 metres above sea level where you will stay the night, have food and enjoy mountain hospitality. For the more adventurous there is often an option to climb a summit typically over 2000 metres.

Local theatre

Veliko Tarnovo boasts a professional and well respected theatre 'Konstantin Kisimov' that put on a busy programme of musicals and drama performances. If you like going to the theatre then this Bulgarian experience is for you. You don't have to understand everything to enjoy the spectacle and you can choose which of the upcoming performances you would most like to attend.

Keep fit group

If you like keeping fit we can introduce you to a large group of local keep fit enthusiasts called 'TarnovoRuns'. The group meets regularly and always welcomes newcomers. They mainly run and exercise together as a large group on weekends in local parks and open spaces in and around Veliko Tarnovo. They put an emphasis on being friendly, positive and social.

Student Feedback

"Learning Bulgarian with Iliyana is really a pleasure. She managed to help me because I needed something else from that you can find in the course book. She motivated me greatly to prepare to learn to speak the language with little knowledge of it. For me she was a kind of blessing from God, and soon I was able to talk to kind people in Bulgaria. Now I need to concentrate more on grammar and once again she proves to be the best Bulgarian teacher ever..."

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"I started learning Bulgarian with no previous experience in August last year and Iliyana’s fantastic teaching style has been perfect for building up my confidence and enabling the mental tools that have been essential in my continuing path to fluency. Thanks to the way she really gets to know her pupils, directing the lessons to suit each learner’s individual needs; I have never felt as invested in the task of learning a language as I do now. This friendly and supportive tone is interspersed with engaging anecdotes that reflect her passion for Bulgaria, which reminds me why I am learning this language, to become seamlessly immersed in this beautiful country by learning how to communicate with the friendly, kind and interesting people who live here. I would recommend Iliyana to anyone..."

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"Learning Bulgarian with Iliyana is fun and efficient. She is very enthusiastic and communicates her energy to the student, giving the necessary motivation to go though the difficulties of the language..."

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