Sagehen Reunion 2009 (The European Outliers)

As Lisa and I are a 30 hour plane ride away from our 5th year Pomona reunion in May, we decided to have our own version here in Sofia, Bulgaria. The program was perhaps unusual for a college reunion, but we enjoyed it....

Day One:

• Airport Pickup
• Introduction to the Bulgarian "Shopska Salad" at The Spaghetti Company, with a short walk through a local art exhibition scattered within the rapidly failing City Center Mall
• General Discussion of Nuclear war, the policies of the Pope, French cooking school, and other intriguing topics in Mladost Apartment 25

Day Two:

• Exciting visit to local Supermarket "Billa" and tour through unusual outdoor mini-malls
• Downtown Wander, taking in sites such as Nevski Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox Church, Halite Marketplace, the Women's Market, and a variety of Communist antiques and Italian fine food products
• Dinner out at Pod Lipite ("Under the Linden Trees"), with continued education on the merits of the Shopska salad, and a short but tasty introduction to food cooked in little clay pots and Pitka bread
• Movie Showing: Definitely, Maybe (very academic, definitely the kind of thing a Pomona reunion would promote...)

Day Three (wear Pomona Sweatshirt):

• Depart for Koprivshtitsa.
• Get pulled over by the police. Make "Special Negotiations."  
• Continue to Koprivshtitsa. 
• Arrive in Koprivshtitsa. 
• Freeze tuchuses. Gather scarves about faces in attempt to see beautifully painted restoration architecture while preventing frostbite, gazing squintingly through gap between scarves and hat brims. 
• Wander adorable, quaint, bucolic, sweet (ad infinitum) streets. See passing horses pulling carts. Buy pottery for three dollars. 
• Eat at "Bulgaria" restaurant. Continue to appreciate Shopska. Enjoy talking about Bulgaria generally and converse about the possible merits of holding next reunion in Kyoto, Japan. Try first sample of Bulgarian "rakia" (highly distilled grapes). 
• Drive back to Sofia, stopping at impossibly beautifully lonely hilltop monastery to light candles. 
• Airport delivery. Hugs. General delight in the experience of Sagehen Reunion 2009 with possible Part II in Paris to come late next September.