Prof. Petkov explained that an “internship menu” is being developed with the help of Provost Mininger, which will off er many opportunities to Sofi a Semester students. “Our goal is to start talking to companies this semester for next fall,” he said. AUBG has recurring internship partners from Fall ‘24, such as Lufthansa and Postbank. “We are shooting for maybe even more than 20 internship opportunities,” Prof. Petkov said. These should be paid and last for 20 hours per week as students combine them with lectures in the Elieff Center. Prof. Petkov also expressed the importance of informing the students early about the Sofi a Semester. “...We can benefi t from letting students know, maybe even a year in advance, about the Sofi a Semester program,” he said. Students thought that there were not enough social events organized by AUBG in Sofi a. “We were promised that there would be events in Sofi a, that they would gather people in Sofi a, but nothing was done for half of the semester,” said Valeriya. Christian added that “one thing was to go and have dinner at J.D. [Miniger]’s apartment, which was only suggested one time.” There was transport organized by AUBG from Sofi a to Blagoevgrad for larger campus events such as the Halloween Party and the SG Christmas Ball. Valeriya added that “they organized one excursion to the [Ivan Vazov National] Theater in Sofi a.” Prof. Petkov expressed an idea for improving the social aspect, which is to host more networking events, such as leadership talks organized for the EMBA students in the Elieff Center. He emphasized the work in progress on students visiting events and other activities related to their major as a part of the Sofi a Semester experience. The Project Manager also shared about landing an opportunity for the current Sofi a Semester students. “With the help of alumna Stephanie El Fil, we are able to secure gratuity tickets for the Crossroads Startup Conference, which is happening on 17 and 18 of October,” he said. Students expressed their opinion that the housing on off er for the previous Sofi a Semester did not have satisfactory In partnership with: 7 Fall 2025 | AUBG Daily Editors: Niya Manditsch and Spasiela Gizdova and conditions, and its location was too far away from the Elieff Center. Prof. Radeva said, “The previous housing was in Hipodruma [district], which is very far and extremely inconvenient for students to commute.” Prof. Petkov explained that the housing problem is being worked on at the moment. Together with Student Aff airs, “we will start looking for next September, basically 11 months ahead of time, so we can have something which is both nice and nearby and students can actually be together.” The Project Manager shared about a potentially new position off ered because of the Sofi a Semester. “We have not named this position yet, it could be called a Local Liaison, it could be like a Resident Assistant on steroids,” he said. The idea is that this person takes care of other students as well as possibly their housing in Sofi a. Prof. Petkov said that the plan is to attract would be to bring in maybe about 20 seniors next fall,” he stated. Prof. Radeva agrees with the Sofi a Semester expansion plan. “It cannot run as a small, very boutique type of thing, using the resources of a professor for fi ve students. That’s a waste of resources,” she said. Ivet has some advice for AUBG students considering the Sofi a Semester. “Try that opportunity to get out of that bubble that we usually live in in Blagoevgrad.” She concluded that the Sofi a Semester will help students to prepare for the real world. Dikov fourth-year students to the Sofi a Semester because of the advanced-level courses off ered. “Our goal
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