I am Akash Kambampati pursuing my master’s in Aerospace engineering at Sapienza-University of Rome.
My interest in management brought me to ICDET organisation in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria through the Erasmus program. Upon my arrival at the airport of Sofia, I was received by one of the associates of the organisation who helped me to reach my accommodation and make me meet my manager who also made a warm welcome for me and also, they even made sure to get my basic groceries from the nearby supermarket where I find it difficult to get at new place with new language and culture. This was a sweet gesture by the organisation which made me less worried at a new place.
The place where I was accommodated has a kitchen with a private bathroom and the ambience is peaceful with a nearby metro-station, mall, supermarket, and beautiful park with a lake which makes it a perfect accommodation for new people.
The first 3 days are my on-arrival training days where I will get introduced to my work in internship, but after that I was ready for some exploring.
It was cloudy, perfect weather for a tourist to explore a place in my opinion and being one I thought it would be a great day for us to explore the city of Sofia. My friend and I got ready and started from the place by taking a one-day transport pass which costed us 4 leva each.
We took a metro from Druzhba to Serdika, walking through the beautiful streets of the city we reached “St. Geogre Rotonda”, surrounded by the modern buildings the church was preserved at the center. St. George Rotonda church is cylindrical domed structure built on a square base with frescoes inside the central dome was built in early 4th century which makes it the oldest building in Sofia.
And from there we took the streets to walk into the city garden where you can also find “Ivan Vazov” national performing arts theatre facing towards garden. This cultural theatre was opened in 1907 that makes the theatre almost 113 years old and has gold finishing on the sculptures of the theatre which strikes at instant look even from a certain distance.
After having a pleasant lunch from an Indian restaurant our next stop is the most iconic Bulgarian iconic church in Sofia, “Cathedral St. Aleksandar Nevski”, which is a Patriarchal Cathedral Stauropigial Memorial-Church.
Since it is not possible to visit all the landmark places of Sofia in one day we left some more places to visit on an another day. By the end of the day we are tired but enjoyed the beauty and culture of the city. The interaction with the other interns and colleagues during the work and my free time made me feel comfortable which happened because of their kind and welcoming behaviors, I feel.
These are my first impressions and on-arrival experience after coming to Sofia.
Akash Kambampati, intern@ICDET
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