Public Republic

Lauren Sophie Kearney

Momentary happiness came over me today when I visited a great bookshop in town. It calms me down right away when I step into a bookshop. The quietness, the relaxing music, everything about it is like wonderland to me. I could wander about the isles of books all day long.

Today I spent so long in the bookshop; a woman that worked there approached me and asked me if I needed any help because I’d been in there so long. In the corner of the shop there is rather a large section with English books, which I am drawn towards.

How wonderful it is to see English titles ahead of me. Truly, the one thing – and a minute thing at that – I miss very much is English books and so when I leave the store, I find it impossible to leave empty-handed.

I end up buying two novels: Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte and Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. Two major classics.

When I’m back home, it suddenly occurs to me that I have went a week without studying Bulgarian. Time just seems to rush past, there’s merely a moment free. The sea air doesn’t help. It appears to have gotten to my head because I sleep for longer now I live here.

Where my Bulgarian is concerned, I have forgotten much of it. I wish I could put more of my energy into it, but as I said before, there are never enough hours in the day to do everything I wish to do. Learning Bulgarian is a priority, and I shall have to dedicate more time to it.

There are many words and phrases that I am familiar with and I am just beginning to get the knack of Bulgarian grammar. I do not think it will ever be easy though.

There are times when I feel quite confident with my progress, but when I come face-to-face with a Bulgarian, everything I have learned seems to evaporate from my mind and I’m left feeling rather mortified.