Day 1

The first day of my new life. This day the Welcome day took place. Where I had the chance to met different people from different countries.

Guatemala, Bulgaria, Russia.

Varna was awarded European Youth Capital 2017

We were welcomed to the City of Varna by the vice Mayor of the city.

The European Youth Capital 2017, as in previous years, will encourage participation of young people through the promotion of new ideas and innovative projects. During an EYC year, the host city holds events and projects designed to demonstrate the active, essential role that young people and youth organisations can and do play in society. The European Youth Forum is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Independent, democratic, youth-led, it represents 99 National Youth Councils and international youth organisations from across the continent. The Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

Treasure Hunt

We went to the city to take pictures of different places using the App Lighthouse which allows you to discover marklands of Varna.

This App was developed by a former student of this university, in conjuntion with one person from Chile (South America), who has been living in Bulgaria for over 15 years.

King Kaloyan Monument

Kaloyan, also known as Kalojan, Johannitsa or Ioannitsa (Bulgarian: Калоян; c. 1170–October 1207) was emperor (or tsar) of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was a younger brother of Theodor and Asen who led the uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs in 1185. The uprising ended with the restoration of the independence of Bulgaria. He spent years as a hostage in Constantinople in the late 1180s. Theodor (who had been crowned emperor under the name Peter) made him his co-ruler after Asen was murdered in 1196. A year later, Theodor-Peter was also assassinated, and Kaloyan became the sole ruler of Bulgaria.

To obtain an imperial crown from the Holy See, Kaloyan entered into correspondence with Pope Innocent III, offering to acknowledge papal primacy. His expansionist policy brought him into conflict with the Byzantine Empire, Serbia and Hungary. Emeric, King of Hungary allowed the papal legate who delivered a royal crown to Kaloyan to enter Bulgaria only at the pope's demand. The legate crowned Kaloyan "King of the Bulgarians and Vlachs" on 8 November 1204, but he continued to regard his realm as an empire.

Kaloyan took advantage of the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders (or "Latins"). He captured fortresses in Macedonia and Thrace and supported the local population's riots against the crusaders. He defeated Baldwin I, Latin emperor of Constantinople, in the Battle of Adrianople on 14 April 1205. Baldwin was captured and died in Kaloyan's prison. He launched new campaigns against the crusaders and captured or destroyed dozens of their fortresses. He was thereafter known as Kaloyan the Romanslayer, because his troops murdered or captured thousands of Romaioi (or local Greeks). He died under mysterious circumstances during the siege of Thessalonica in 1207.