׉?ׁB!בCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://bbAFf4w6vV10Y1CMAYishwc06Cgq-pmJljscbWzTgbc`I׉ 7cassandra://7iMtkbvjaXQwZKyFtvkFsdHE6SGdayeqNQZNqC5AsyMm`@׉ 7cassandra://12pCXeCc5ISAbRyTAj5zsnnuwB06HQWzV_7RuoabJ_E!`̫׉ 7cassandra://Q9j7rrNCMVZjBER6RlHAqieHgxVoDN16Uy_khTCLZEk͠_m3TUטnu׈X3?y׈E_m3TU׉EAUBG DAILY Fall 2019 OWL THE NEWS Vol. 1, Issue 1 Panitza Library: Hundreds of Books Damaged By Yoan Bondakov & Milka Stoycheva is the driest place on earth,One could say the library but not the Panitza Library. A recent flood damaged hundreds of books and periodicals, and raised questions about how secure the valuable inventory deposited there is. On Sep. 24, a major flooding hit the Panitza library. Water coming off a broken pipe in the men’s bathroom flooded the ground floor and basement. Some sections of the library were covered in ankle-deep water. “I opened the door of the ground floor and stepped into a lake,” librarian Gergana Atanasova said. “I left my bag on the desk and immediately ran to the basement. The real disaster was there. I saw a waterfall coming from the ceiling.” Salvaged Books by Steliyana Yordanova for AUBG Daily The basement houses most of the library's collections, many out-of-print books, multivolume sets, periodicals and second editions. The water poured directly over the university’s archive, and the books in the compact shelves were the most damaged. Altogether, 523 books and 26 volumes (321 issues) of archived periodicals were completely destroyed. The estimated cost of all ruined publications is $7,409.90. “Just as a comparison, we normally purchase about 600 to 650 books per year. So you can imagine that this equals nearly a one-year purchase for our library. This is an enormous loss for us," Library Director Nikolina Ivanova-Bell said. Among the lost publications were books donated by Dimi Panitza, the patron of the library. Some of them were special presents for Dimi and Ivon Panitza and were autographed by their authors. ׉ 7cassandra://12pCXeCc5ISAbRyTAj5zsnnuwB06HQWzV_7RuoabJ_E!`̫_m3TUс_m3TUЁnבCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://4bICt0KNbMGF7_FIrX5ipK3-reauLN0e5wlXYc9Y860``I׉ 7cassandra://D3LlP9qK_bt0KZY2Mb0T6_QDJHIetRmjk6JreA8Rx7A{I`@׉ 7cassandra://7PdLl_ynv1YhZyeqRhnRQwG6EuwFjc2-OyC6I2MdkiE#`̫׉ 7cassandra://WLbF5F2o_tL4ETR7fsUylZJ3Me4SxCCt67IbiRnjsUQ͠_m3TUטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://vHOOMIYnKAJ1MdWxIZYV_3HLlWqr6tO7GqdCFF2QCVY|`I׉ 7cassandra://KDrLvHoAqU0soXcG40yC3NUXjx4Japi5VK6hq2tdJmI̓u`@׉ 7cassandra://7TkFaESuLImDjMZiWPlfgNCBK6HTj3bLGaMVRracMYs#`̫׉ 7cassandra://pYwjI-tbX7FNT4ij8KVk87FPQTA5hJ2QBKXWqQvZR_sG͠_m3TU׉E Damage control The librarians, cleaning ladies, facilities management staff and volunteers joined forces. The most urgent task after the flooding was to stop the water and then remove the excess water covering the floors. Then, they dried out the carpets, electrical equipment, and the damaged books. The rest of the work was left to the dehumidifiers. On the day of the flood, the humidity level in the basement reached 78%. It was restored back within its normal range of 48% two weeks after the incident. The library remained open during the restoration process. “It was important for us to keep our facilities open for our students to study and our faculty to do their normal job,” Ivanova-Bell said. The team of librarians managed to save a lot of the damaged books with the help of six dehumidifiers and by spreading the books out on the dried cement and furniture. Of the saved books, 434 are currently piled in a separate room and await special procedures against mold and mildew. A specialist from Conservation Lab International Ltd. visited the library a week after the flood to examine the preserved books and assess which could be repaired. The procedures are currently on hold since the negotiations with the insurance company have not been finalized. 2 AUBG Daily | Fall 2019 Damaged books spread out on the basement floor Photo courtesy of Panitza Library Reasons for the flood Without constant monitoring, there was nobody in the library to signal when the flooding started. Water might have leaked for hours before the librarians entered the building at 7:30 in the morning. According to Director of Operation Todor Todorov, this is the only building on campus that does not have a security guard available 24/7. The water leakage from the pipe was the result of a broken valve but the exact reason for the valve’s malfunction is not clear. “For me, it’s simply an act of God. It’s not human influence,” Todorov said. “Nothing like rise in the pressure of water, nothing like technical influence on the pipes - it just broke itself.” As a response to the faulty valve, the university took preventive measurements. Ivanova-Bell maintains that after the incident all pipes and the water sewage system in the library were changed. However, these measures are to a large degree only protective and not an absolute solution since the health of the library’s inventory is still dependent on other factors. The building’s close proximity to the river is one of them. ׉ 7cassandra://7PdLl_ynv1YhZyeqRhnRQwG6EuwFjc2-OyC6I2MdkiE#`̫_m3TU׉E !For the past few years, the library has suffered several other floods caused by the rise of underground water below the building. “When the river rises, the level of the water, which is underneath the BAC building is also rising,” Ivanova-Bell said. “This is why we sometimes have water coming through the floor of the basement.” According to Todorov, the underground water penetrates the basement floor also because membrane underneath the building is damaged. Preventive measures The correspondence between the insurance company, called OZOK Ins, and the Facilities office is still in progress. The contract between the two institutions requires AUBG to pay for part of the damage expenses. “It’s a small amount of money that is not seriously influencing the budget of the Facilities department or the budget of the university,” Todorov said. In the event The creation of a digital archive of the students’ print publications was first prompted by the strong interest of AUBG alumni to get access to their past work. AUBG Aspecter, i view and that OZOK Ins. recovers the losses, the insurance money is estimated to be more than the original net value of the damaged books, magazines and journals. The Facilities office is planning on reinvesting it back to the library. One of the possible projects is to connect the library to the Building Management System (BMS) installed in the Student Center to measure the humidity and temperature. “This way we will be monitoring the basement of the library 24/7, not only when the security guards or the cleaning ladies are inside,” Todorov said. Preventive measures also include water wells that redirect the underground water before it enters the building and a pump in the basement to remove water that gets through. Students' Publications Digital Collection the hydro-insulation This year’s flooding inspired the librarians to push themselves further in the implementation of the Students’ Publications Digital Collection. The project was launched in October as an expansion of the longestablished AUBG Digital Collections, which until then, compiled only the senior theses collected over the years. Verve were the first three digitized periodicals in the collection. “These periodicals carry the history of the university,” Ivanova-Bell said. “They were created in the years of the new democracy in Bulgaria. Students back then were fighting not only for their student rights but also for their civic and democratic rights.” The team is currently digitizing the AUBG Literary Magazine. Next on the list are Agora, Vox, defacto and Griffin. The Students’ publications project is among the library’s top priorities for the 2019/2020 academic year. “Our goal is to start thinking more strategically about the ways to preserve all the students’ output from the different departments,” Ivanova-Bell said. This plan includes creating and administering a new digital collection where students will be able to deposit their projects. Damaged books, ground floor; Steliyana Yordanova for AUBG Daily Fall 2019 | AUBG Daily 3 ׉ 7cassandra://7TkFaESuLImDjMZiWPlfgNCBK6HTj3bLGaMVRracMYs#`̫_m3TUӁ_m3TUҁnבCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://GrAJIuPpdaIWCM2mLQ0l6MJchJCeILwBIOrMoUVXMcEP`I׉ 7cassandra://sJ8qSRkI6o93tWS9WZexeuEWS9y8LBxobQIN7CEHykwqc`@׉ 7cassandra://EQ8txSnjICVoa-KqgyIsplaKkDeDISEpZimwjnKmox0 `̫׉ 7cassandra://x6da3LYpU-2zKp54XknNJmNebe96Bz0gKoeMDWEyxvc?͠_m3TUטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://9YibqbAKC_gOjR1_z1JamhbaAx8P6Z1GAUTDBgswsDs`I׉ 7cassandra://sYuqH6KguXWUmaT0qcr5hweBSw4PjA4kHVE0H4LCz-8͆8`@׉ 7cassandra://808SJ0ND3u1kKHQwAOe-c5DbPbNsCnMSp54M_LSl3jU%`̫׉ 7cassandra://EW2ZU1oKOqFHVgP5nkUsXBSQlEibNIH840VRSc5wYmo ͠_m3TUנ_m3TU%4 9ׁHhttp://aubg.eduׁ ׁ Ј׉E wAUBG’s Vaccination Campaign By Ruslan Noori Although not as harsh as the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones” portrays it, winter is coming for all inhabitants of the western hemisphere. Whereas white walkers and dragons characterize the fictional one, real-life winter plans on storming us with… you guessed it … the flu. Though not as intimidating as the cold “long night” — that can range from a few months to a couple of years — in the show, influenza killed around 50 million people during its heyday between January 1918 and December 1920 according to a 1997 Stanford University study. Ph.D. and medical author Charles Patrick writes the first approved vaccine against the disease was developed in the late ‘40s. Dr. Daskalov consulting a patient. This vaccine was later used during the Second World War by the U.S Military. New shots were developed afterward, and today the World Health Organization estimates the number of influenza-caused deaths has been reduced to 650,000 per year. Resembling the night’s watch from Game of Thrones, The American University of Bulgaria offers its services as a line of defense. Following the annual flu vaccination campaign, AUBG Daily sought insight from the Health Center Director Dr. Ventsislav Daskalov. Dr. Daskalov, when did oncampus vaccination first become an option here at AUBG, and do you deem this year’s campaign successful? Photo derived from https://www.aubg.edu/health-services. We work and live in crowded It was a long time ago. We have been doing this for decades, almost from the very first moment when the flu vaccine became available on the Bulgarian pharmaceutical market. This year’s campaign was average, I would like to see more people participate. When it comes to accessibility, who does the campaign target, and when does it usually take place? The campaign targets all AUBG community members. 4 AUBG Daily | Fall 2019 spaces, and we are constantly in contact with each other. This means that there is a high risk of the virus spreading among the whole community, especially during the flu season. That is why vaccination is a good idea for everybody, especially those with chronic diseases and immune deficiency conditions [to help with herd immunity, as they can’t always get vaccines themselves]. I would strongly advise anyone who is contemplating whether to get shot or not to consult me or their personal physician. ׉ 7cassandra://EQ8txSnjICVoa-KqgyIsplaKkDeDISEpZimwjnKmox0 `̫_m3TU׉E ^To those petrified of needles, what does the vaccination process actually entails, and are there any specific side effects? We cannot avoid needles, but I can honestly say that it is almost painless. The fact that I have immunized small kids in my practice shows that the amount of pain should not even be taken into consideration. When it comes to side effects, pain near the spot where the patient got shot for about a day and a half is as far as it goes. As long as the patient did not have any troublesome experiences with vaccines in the past, which I or my team were not informed beforehand about, everything is more or less bound to run smoothly. What is your message to those still reluctant to get a shot? Giving a personal example is probably not the best of ideas, but I have been protecting myself annually against the flu with this vaccine for more than 25 years now. As a doctor I had contact with many sick people during that time but not once did I have to take sick leave. It is the same with all the nurses and the health center’s staff in general. It is certain – inoculation protects. It seems most students see eye to eye with Daskalov, deeming immunization “It is an added plus for the university when it takes our health and well-being seriously,” freshman Presiana Tsvetkova said. “I really do not understand whyso many people are reluctant to get a shot.” Fall 2019 | AUBG Daily 5 beneficial. However, it seems that Daskalov’s wish for more participants in the campaign would have been fulfilled if the deadline for purchasing the vaccine from the Business Office was longer. “I wanted to get myself vaccinated and saw the campaign as a great opportunity,” freshman Milen Plevneliev said. “Sadly, I missed the time limit, but it is all right. Hopefully, I will succeed next year.” Biology professor William Clark said getting vaccinated is a responsibility we all bear for our collective well-being. Clark points to bad nutrition, lack of vitamin D and poor hygiene as the main contributors to winter sickness. “When we first lived in Bulgaria back in the 1990s, there were not a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables during the winter and in the spring people would look kind of yellowish and greyish,” Clark said. “The cold does not cause diseases, microbes cause them.” Clark labels vaccination as one of the wonders of modern medicine and said the process aims not only toward personal health but Presiana Tsvetkova Ruslan Noori for AUBG Daily. to community resistance against disease, a phenomenon he refers to as “herd immunity.” “Vaccines are the only way we can protect ourselves from some diseases,” Clark said. “There really are no greateralternatives. Overall, the clinical evidence shows that immunization does a great job, but in order for it to work, you have to get to a certain level of vaccination in the population.” Although a nuisance at first, Prof. Clark and Dr. Daskalov agree that vaccines are favorable in the long run. Better preparation can lead to higher participation in next year’s round of the vaccination campaign on campus. Prof. Clark in his office Source: aubg.edu ׉ 7cassandra://808SJ0ND3u1kKHQwAOe-c5DbPbNsCnMSp54M_LSl3jU%`̫_m3TUՁ_m3TUԁnבCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://sWQxb8JzJ_INyp09kPbraWFRDDciykoJAP0452FbDagw`I׉ 7cassandra://mfm0nMbH2_OtzOx5-lELrawXXoaHy4DlY8yYrC9Y6jAyK`@׉ 7cassandra://Y5cHMVvFJz_HfoAVWFsXgwbxZCy0hMWCRvgH9M_S0as#`̫׉ 7cassandra://6W0o9Crv0XzzX7xOPAZxp2Yud73tnfrUy--0N64obzA͠_m3TUטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://hDK4_Xf9yT88Rq-Ds80daawe4rCY_xmXhb5cRZNlY_I@`I׉ 7cassandra://eTZ37VSkzq4_en0kri5MZyaOHrrFFSDlnM9-cEQrolYc`@׉ 7cassandra://p5Z_-6VwTfWbiYO6SjMCu8Z8LJ--78SDxa2KKAm2NUY" `̫׉ 7cassandra://i0CHBoEFwlrQ9xtYnyCI7py3zUi3fvFps0dlTlukjbgu ͠_m3TU׉E It's Time to Elevate Your Idea By Kristiana Dimitrova Elevate is the first startup acceleration program, launched at a university in the Balkans. It started on Nov. 4, 2019, and there are already six prospective businesses. The program is designed to help students and recent alumni develop business ideas and start their own companies. Participants in Elevate build teams, decide what kind of business they want to start and begin their entrepreneurship journey. During the 14-week program, mentors come to the American University in Bulgaria campus to share their experiences. They help students better understand the process of setting up a business, by going through the steps every entrepreneur must follow in order to start a company. “Elevate aims to inspire and motivate students to transform By participating in Elevate students get more practical work experience as they face real business challenges. Along with that, every team receives a starting capital of $5,000. In exchange, team members sign a contract that ensures a 5% stake to AUBG from each company started as a result of the accelerator program. Even if the participants don't succesfully start a company during the program and don't go into business, AUBG will still hold a 5% stake of the company if the idea gets developed in the future. their ideas into working businesses,” said Nikolay Pohlupkov, AUBG graduate and one of the leaders of the program. Participants can benefit from hearing the success stories of the mentors and discussing with them all of the difficulties they might encounter. “At first, our idea was kind of a joke, but then we gathered as a team and decided to give it a try,” first-year student and participant in the program, Nikolay Pachev, said. “So here we are in the next round. From a practical perspective, I think I would learn many facts and tricks about the market and the business.” “If you happen to have missed the [application] deadline, and you are not in the program, that doesn’t mean that you cannot benefit from it,” Pohlupkov said. “It means that you can come here, network with these people, get in touch with them." Access to the events is not restricted to AUBG students. Everyone who finds a particular topic interesting can join, and each event is posted on Elevate’s Facebook page. Lubomir Nokov, talking about his entrepreneurship journey; Nikolay Pohlupkov for AUBG Daily 6 AUBG Daily | Fall 2019 ׉ 7cassandra://Y5cHMVvFJz_HfoAVWFsXgwbxZCy0hMWCRvgH9M_S0as#`̫_m3TU׉EWhat God Gives to the Unfortunate Photo Story by Steliyana Yordanova Tania has turned her hobby into a profession not because she wanted to, but because she had to. "In my teenage years, I went through an accident, I fainted in the bathroom. Then I was hospitalized for 6 months because of plastic surgery and that’s how I started painting." Because of her condition, nobody would want to hire her. This made her realize that she could make a living by painting and selling her art at the bus station. She began in the city center of Blagoevgrad, but then moved to the bus station because the children in the center would ruin her art. You might have seen her there, or maybe you were rushing not to miss the bus and didn't even notice she was there. But who is she? She is the artist who many people pass without even acknowledging her presence while she quietly bends over a small table working on her art. She is Tania Kovacheva. Fall 2019| AUBG Daily 7 ׉ 7cassandra://p5Z_-6VwTfWbiYO6SjMCu8Z8LJ--78SDxa2KKAm2NUY" `̫_m3TUׁ_m3TUցnבCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://v8VEA7F1RQ4lAx_r9S69pYph6nBCI45ZolLYytG1i1M`I׉ 7cassandra://-qs9cCdSGG3obQgAGxdhruX6CfaI0Jr0zjn6sf-mfk8g`@׉ 7cassandra://dFnlwzElLGnPe_igrABL5RLCQEBoGElf6a-rrrQHI4w#`̫׉ 7cassandra://rddHwYoTRY1v5lsvMJN0MsEE2AZe3gGF4S6ZBlXnUrc͠_m3TUטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://ugzgRxTIf65bDBkupAcjpW8bLgdBcRjCr2uB1s8zGzs`I׉ 7cassandra://CvBQqJdCgVAvjiaU09TtqMNUo3x4VH_5HmpMT3UCysMr&`@׉ 7cassandra://Z3TvHYVYoSM8uKPab-_gbILGuBd3H4VtiACnfblF7yg%`̫׉ 7cassandra://-C0mwqos8xTJgeB9mbSyUudnZnj_Z0cFtqaTNS8ukew ͠_n3TU׉ETania creates icons and likes painting on gourds and making dolls out of them. "The first time I saw a gourds was when my husband brought me to Blagoevgrad. There were so many of them, they were all my mother-in-law’s and I instantly said, 'This is going to be a boy, and this is going to be a girl' and my father-in-law laughed and told me, 'Those are gourds, my dear, not dolls.' But I told him that I am going to make them. This is just what popped into my imagination, and that is how I started making dolls out of gourds." Tania was born and raised in Dobrich, Bulgaria. She met her husband on the Internet and moved to the other side of the country to be with him. "I have always liked the mountains. When my husband brought me here, this inspired me even more because in Dobrich, I was painting only icons while here I started with the gourds and the landscapes. Nature here had an influence on me and my work." 8 AUBG Daily | Fall 2019 ׉ 7cassandra://dFnlwzElLGnPe_igrABL5RLCQEBoGElf6a-rrrQHI4w#`̫_m3TU׉E"I have never studied painting or drawing. I started painting in the hospital. I was looking at the icons and drawing them myself and while I was painting, I was becoming more and more religious." Tania does this for a living and looks at it like a nine to five job. She is at the bus station from Monday to Friday. She used to come to paint on Saturdays, but after having a child, she prefers to spend time with him. "I have always prayed to God to have a kid and it finally happened. This also inspires me, even more, to believe in God. I have been married for 10 years now, and it was not happening, not happening until it finally did. The good things happen slowly, but still, happen." Tania hopes that her business flourishes in the future because she finds it hard to have a painting business in Bulgaria. She said she dreams to be recognized by a merchant who would buy her art and resell it, so she only has to draw and not worry about the business aspect as much. Fall 2019| AUBG Daily 9 ׉ 7cassandra://Z3TvHYVYoSM8uKPab-_gbILGuBd3H4VtiACnfblF7yg%`̫_m3TUف_m3TU؁nבCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://yTfidzZa2eSVVme3_vqEONMtFM6gcYg_PeGy8Tjw8NwU`I׉ 7cassandra://Nbom_2Df0GcBe-Qp9pHt_2XFC2koWNlKwkIaGvMz0tQx?`@׉ 7cassandra://-G0DBBH4_cmmTye0lo8Y7SphDemh3trIhXKkM7Ig0m0$`̫׉ 7cassandra://B8OSaJeaDBYSLF8isSNpMMJ9OVtIXR6HdyvhIYkYlGEo;͠_n3TUטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://M8IUASHDZfk8wTUi8ZuSd5YCp8gsvS-UGB3L6lK2aok `I׉ 7cassandra://iT_Iud3fcSOM8-yaDVdWPC8yGGHVPEkHGcahxXDEgS4`@׉ 7cassandra://9jSDl_uIaVVof_lHAE-3UsGLJ7q4e0xzYzakZfYvya0"`̫׉ 7cassandra://_YhZew4rloapYNMLpLdERk4Ly-CyKegFNZ2TQDLE33o͠_n3TU׉EGermany’s Oldest University Through the Eyes of an AUBG Student By Victoria Ivanova Heidelberg is an old town in southwestern Germany, sitting on the banks of the Neckar river, which leaves visitors fascinated by its cultural and historical heritage. It is renowned for historical landmarks like the Karl Theodor Bridge, Schloss Heidelberg and the Church of the Holy Spirit. Countless stories behind the centuries-old buildings enrich people who visit the town. In the midst of the stunning cityscape is Germany’s oldest and one of Europe’s most reputable universities. Heidelberg University gives the old town a lively atmosphere as it is filled with students, who compose a quarter of the population. The students’ experience at Heidelberg University differs greatly from that of AUBG students. While the American University in Bulgaria opened its doors in 1991, the Heidelberg University was founded in 1386. This alone speaks for the immense contrast between the style of education and facilities. AUBG promotes a liberal arts education that teaches students a wide range of skills and knowledge in various fields, and Heidelberg University is mostly renowned for its law and medicine majors, which have been taught for centuries. The campus buildings of AUBG are contemporary and students are provided 10 AUBG Daily | Fall 2019 Entrance to the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg – University Library Heidelberg. Victoria Ivanova for AUBG Daily. Karl Theodor Bridge over the Neckar River in Heidelberg. Victoria Ivanova for AUBG Daily. ׉ 7cassandra://-G0DBBH4_cmmTye0lo8Y7SphDemh3trIhXKkM7Ig0m0$`̫_m3TU׉E Wwith modern technologies to assist them in their studies. Heidelberg has an Old Town Campus for the law students and a New Campus for those studying medicine. Some of the facilities that are still used today, like the library, were built back in the 1900s. The Heidelberg University library is ranked as Germany’s best library. It holds around 3.2 million books and is home to some of Germany’s oldest manuscripts. Schloss Heidelberg also known as Heidelberg Castle. Victoria Ivanova for AUBG Daily. The cafeteria and canteen at Heidelberg University have their own separate buildings in the main square of the town. They provide outdoor seating, which is a perfect way to enjoy the beautiful mountainous landscape that surrounds the town. The inside of the canteen has high ceilings with huge chandeliers and interesting artwork on the walls. The topic of food at the canteen that is often discussed in AUBG might not concern the students in Heidelberg as they have a big selection of meals provided for meat-lovers, vegetarians and vegans. The canteen also has a separate pastry-shop where students can get pieces of cake, sweets and other delicious foods to satisfy their sweet tooth, similar to AUBG’s cafe. When it comes to life outside university activities, Heidelberg offers a lot of places where young people can enjoy their free time. AUBG students like to visit a handful of places that have proven to be most popular among them. Meanwhile in Heidelberg, students have such a big choice of shops, restaurants and late-night bars that they rarely visit the same ones every week. All of them are conveniently located in the Marktplatz, or Market Square, which is the heart of the town. Another place where many choose to go to relieve stress is The Philosophenweg, which means the Philosophers’ Walk. It is a two-kilometer trail overlooking the Neckar river and the town. It is named after the Heidelberg University philosophy professors who used to go there to collect their thoughts. Before taking this seemingly relaxing walk, however, one should keep in mind that the trail is pretty steep and at times physically challenging. There are many different aspects that make university life distinct for each and every university around the world. Heidelberg University and AUBG are just two examples of contrasting places that make for a very different learning experience. Both universities benefit their students in distinct ways which cannot be measured. Visiting Heidelberg gives a fresh look at a town that manages to blend its historically valuable landmarks, beautiful nature and upbeat atmosphere of university life. Comparing two contrasting places lets students discover more about their own university, whether it’s finding aspects to be thankful for or areas for improvement. Inside the main hall of the library. Victoria Ivanova for AUBG Daily. Fall 2019 | AUBG Daily 11 ׉ 7cassandra://9jSDl_uIaVVof_lHAE-3UsGLJ7q4e0xzYzakZfYvya0"`̫_m3TUہ_m3TUځnבCטnu׉׉ 7cassandra://ScoM7GKDwAJhh3LHgT54zOxxM6N3DyeQanfgdoK7OLI`I׉ 7cassandra://1dXRSN6oQsHHyenODwOODRqJwF2VmbJVLoYJARD_3Z4k{`@׉ 7cassandra://ehIQzHpX2_6qsCDzmXezsn2iJ4e1PVLAboJccczbZvo"`̫׉ 7cassandra://MPmqZWeXj7DiP4AAjFxWgyvjeiSdtNzYUS89-UK9TUQg ͠_n3TU׉EDear Reader, Yes, you who is holding this newspaper. I have an important request for you. Go through the pages of AUBG Daily. Read it, question it, disagree or agree with it, share it with others, or talk to us about it. Whatever you do, do not remain silent. Give voice to your thoughts. If for whatever reason you cannot do this, reach out to us because we will do it for you and for everyone who is deprived of the right to express freely. This newspaper was created by a small group of tirelessly working students who are eager to explore the world and enthusiastic to report what we have found to all of you. We are here to leave a mark on this world. A mark, not a scar. We see the ugly, we see the beautiful, we see everything and we are not afraid to talk about it. Our hearts beat in unison with what we believe journalism is about — free speech, free society and free media. AUBG Daily is here to stay. Sincerely Yours, President Georgi Staykov OUR TEAM: President: Georgi Staykov Editor-in-Chief: Milka Stoycheva Producer: Kameliya Stefanova Editor: Bethany Spitzmiller Visual Editor: Teodora Vasileva Sponsorship: Photographers: Steliyana Yordanova Nicola Smilenov 12 AUBG Daily | Fall 2019 Yoanna Dimitrova Kristiana Dimitrova Maria Vasileva Reporters: Joan Bondakov Ruslan Noori Kristiana Dimitrova Victoria Ivanova Emily Timcheva Simona Simeonova Daria Naydenova Marketing: Steliyana Yordanova Selbi Shanyyazova Bilhen Birtan ׉ 7cassandra://ehIQzHpX2_6qsCDzmXezsn2iJ4e1PVLAboJccczbZvo"`̫_m3TU׈E_m3TU݁_m3TU܁n,,Final Version AUBG Daily Newspaper Fall 2019_fX3?yz