I am often asked, and indeed often see on the innumerable UK property programmes, what should one think about when considering relocating to another property.
So here are my considered opinions on the matter:
Anyone considering moving abroad should get a piece of A4 paper and slowly but surely answer the following:
What am I relocating for ?.Is it because the sun is always brighter on the other side of the street, it often is not.Just because you have been for a weeks holiday there, or it was a particularly good episode of 'A place in the sun',it is no reason for decamping across the globe.Dreams of idyllic existences can easily turn into nightmares.
Living somewhere permanently is very different from visiting especially if there are wide variations in the seasons.For instance winter in Bulgaria bears no recognition to the summer, not just in climate, but in the level of human activity.Winters here can be lonely soul destroying experiences.Those looking for 12 month hedonism should look elsewhere.
For the retired looking to make their pensions go further and buy better property with their uk equity the questions should also include distance from children/grandchildren and access to quality medical facilities.These are hit and miss in countries like Bulgaria.Doctors are nowhere near as qualified as the UK and hospitals, well they aren't good !.In the event of serious illness Bulgaria can be a very isolating and frightening place.
For those under retirement age (who need work) then self-employment may seem attractive, but in most places your great business idea has already been done by half a dozen other people, if they are still doing it you have competitors in a sometimes small market (ie British goods etc), if they are no longer doing it it means your idea was a loser anyway.
For those with children getting them a quality education with recognised qualifications can be difficult.Bulgarian education is fairly poor and a Bulgarian university degree is only equivalent to a British 'A' Level.The only real way to ensure good education is to go privately, such as the American Academy in Veliko Turnovo which is a secondary school.At least in schools like this they can take the Bacclaurette, which can get you into any European University.The bottom line to think of is, is wrenching your child out of settled education and life in the UK not an act of monumental selfishness on your part ?.If you can honestly answer 'no' then proceed.
General homesickness is to be considered.If you come from a close knit family or have a close network of friends think of the effect of not having them around.Relocation can destroy relationships, marriages and even lives.Its not a decision to be taken lightly.
Lastly but not least is the Language which is obviously not a problem in America etc, but in Bulgaria if you dont bother to try to learn it then you live in a small english speaking ghetto.
Hi UB,
ReplyDeleteSo is there anything good about living in Bulgaria??
Cheers,
Dave....
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteOf course there are many good things about Bulgaria, but the purpose of the article was the pitfalls of relocation anywhere in the world.I have waxed lyrically before about the positive side of Bulgaria, but just for you, the next article will be an unashamedly upbeat view of the country in which I live and work.
umm,
ReplyDeleteYour statement on education is not quite correct.
First, there are plenty of really elite high schools in bulgaria. for example Sofia Math High School [1] - have on mind that this list covers only the competitions participation in which is organized by the high school and that there are plenty of students participating independently in other competitions such Microsoft Imagine Cup, Topcoder competitions and so on. Anyway, it has more trophies from prestigious international science contests than all the high schools in UK between them. From my graduating class (~150) there were students going to Harvard, MIT (several students), Yale and other US unis on full scholarships. Almost everyone went on to study in either one of the best unis in Bulgaria, or abroad (most of the people).
In this field (math and natural sciences) there are tons of similarly good schools from around the country - NPMG, TU-ES in Sofia, OMG in Plovdiv, the math high schools in Varna, Burgas, etc. BTW in terms of IMO medals per number of students Bulgaria's educational system is no. 1 in the world by an immense margin [2].
Of course, the teaching in these schools is in Bulgarian, but after all if we don't have Bulgarian language high schools, who is going to?
There are really successful schools in other areas such as the foreign language high schools all over the country, with English language high schools in all the large and medium-sized cities and German, French and Russian ones in most of them. In these high schools the kid can study either in English or in another language, which would be equally foreign to his schoolmates.
I admit that there are the vocational training schools, which train waiters, car mechanics and truck drivers, but that type of schools aren't really good anywhere in the world. Also you cannot expect the small mountain village high school to be world class, mostly because it is the students who make the high school, and there isn't any competition or peer pressure there...
Also there are tons of private schools like the American Academy in Tarnovo, the American College in Sofia and so on.
Bulgarian high school and university degrees are theoretically and practically recognized both in the EU and around the world (Japan to China to Russia to the US).
The universities are not that good to be honest, but there are still some decent ones - The medical academies are generally ok (thanks god!!), the University of Architecture in Sofia is good as well, certain degrees in Sofia University and TU-Sofia are decent, with TU-Sofia offering joint degrees in English and German with universities from England and Germany, respectively, with two diplomas being issued at the end. There are also some foreign university like IUC, which teaches the Uni Portsmouth curriculum with the appropriate diploma being issued at the end, and AUBG, which features quite decent number of foreign students.
I am currently studying in a top German uni and have a lot of Bulgarian co-students around (from all over the country, not only the above-mentioned HSs). Most of them are doing excellently and have top grades, with a lot of them getting TA positions in their second or even first year.
Overall it is true, that the education system in Bulgaria is greatly under-funded (like everything else in this country :/) and that there are some administrative, disciplinary problems, with the lack of funds being most fatal for the unis, but the Bulgarian education still has it's virtues and upsides.
Cheers and thanks for reading this comment,
V.
1 - http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=bg&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smg-bg.info%2Fcontent%2Fview%2F26%2F45%2F&sl=bg&tl=en Page in bulgarian only...
2 - http://www.imo-official.org/country_team_r.aspx?code=BGR&column=rrank&order=desc
And I am not suggesting in any way that relocation from UK to BG, because of education would make sense - that'd have been more than hilarious.
ReplyDeleteJust your post makes it seem as if Bulgarian schools are some third world crapholes, which is entirely untrue - even in it's darkest days Bulgarian education has its upsides.