Everything's Bigger in Texas

Written by Zorana (Montenegro)

So I’m here in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria staying in summer camp at AUBG. I got a task to talk to teachers who lived in Texas or have been living in Texas. First is Andrea from Nebraska, who teaches English language. She is a Peace Corps volunteer here in Bulgaria.


I talked to her about her 3 months spent living in Texas. One question was how is it to live there and she answered very hot. Andrea told me that she lived in Texas only for 3 months. When I asked her how different the style of living in Texas is to style of living in Bulgaria she answered very different. She said that everything in Texas is large. Very big. Houses, buildings, beside the bigness she said that people in Texas wear a lot more jewelry. Going swimming, golf, baseball, going to ranches and shopping are the things teenagers can do when they want some fun in Texas. Also Andrea told us that first place you need to see when you go to Texas is definitely Austin, the capital. I asked for Dallas and she said she has been to Dallas, but didn’t like it as much as she liked Austin. For cooking and food she said that is much better in Texas than her, in Bulgaria. National meals are Tex – Mex and steak with sweet tea. ‘I have been to Texas many times; it’s very hot there, so I wouldn’t be able to live there. I prefer cold.’ – She concluded.

The other person I talked to was my journalism teacher Valerie. She is, as she said “a true Texan.” She was born in Dallas, Texas as well as her parents. That’s why she is so proud talking about Texas. She considers herself to be a true Texan. She is born as I said in Dallas. She was also raised there. I asked her if she can tell us what the difference is between life in Texas and in Bulgaria. She told me that here, in Bulgaria she lives in small village without a car. That’s interesting, even she knows how to drive and had passed the driving test, she and other Peace Corps volunteers are not allowed to drive. But in Texas she lives in big city. When I asked her what teenagers can do for fun, she answered that it’s the same. Girls can go shopping in Dallas’s biggest mall ‘The Galleria’ and boys hanging out with friends. Her answer to question where teenagers are more mature here or in Texas, she said: ‘Teenagers are teenagers’. Austin is the capital of Texas and Valerie told me that if you ever go to Texas that is the first place you should visit. After that comes her hometown Dallas. Dallas is the city where famous 35th president of United States J.F. Kennedy was killed. She agreed with Andrea about meals. Valerie misses a lot Texas’s national meal Tex- Mex. ‘Tex – Mex is the best’. I asked her could she imagine living anywhere else beside Texas and she told me: ‘For a short time yes, but when I get married and have my own family I definitely want to be in Texas.’