Bo’s Story – or why having an interesting interviewee does most of the work for you.

And yet again I ask for five minutes of your time (well, ten if you listen to the audio clip) to tell you a story. Just like all the others, it’s a story of decision, turbulence and turmoil. It’s a fascinating tale of a monastery, some monks and what turned out to be a considerable amount of spirits

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Enter Boyana Yordanova, a sophomore majoring in Political Science and European Studies. Bo is like most young adult women her age – driven, yet easygoing, casual when need be and serious whe the occasion calls for it. And yes, I am completely underselling her. As she herself puts it:

”I do a lot of different $#*! like art, music, stuff like that…”

To say Bo is interesting, or fascinating, or a true gem would be to say that the Ice Age was just a very harsh winter. She is one of the people you simply… appreciate. It is nigh-impossible to meet her and not be completely disarmed. A charming smile, coupled with deep green eyes. A mischievous smirk that can make you laugh or tear you down, depending on which side of sarcasm you end up on. She listens to good music, makes good music and appreciates all things beautiful. An artist by heart, a procrastinator by choice, and an insomniac by necessity. Whatever I say about her will be found lacking.

And after all the praise (from which I’m sure she’s blushing right now, if she’s reading) let me give you a quick overview of her story.

“It’s an unlikely story of meeting a bunch of Bulgarian monks in a monastery and a funny story of how Bulgarian monks are actually quite open to drinking with outsiders”

She was in high-school, a year away from graduating, when the photography club decided to have a photo-expedition and hunt for beautiful natural scenery. Everything was as one would expect it to be – there were some beautiful shots, fun memories and  two bottles of tequila. However, tequila is consumed with lemon wedges and salt.

“The entire time we were bringing two bottles of tequila with us in a backpack. And we unpack them… ready, steady, go! But we forgot one valuable thing – the lemons!”

As you might guess, salt isn’t that difficult to come by, but LEMONS in the mountain – well, good luck.

Fortunately, Bo, when faced with the inevitable sobriety of the evening had an idea. That idea is now a story. She proposed that they pop by the nearest monastery and ask the kind, God-fearing men there for lemons. The others were a bit shocked, since the Church is not particularly supportive of all teenage pastimes. Nevertheless, no guts, no glory (and no hilarious stories for me to tell). So onwards they marched to the monastery… for fifteen minutes. When at the doors, they knocked. And there was an answer (no, not to their prayers, that comes after) – a priestly looking old man, with a bushy beard and calm demeanor answered the door. After a cute little back-and-forth about the nature of their request, the brave pioneers were invited into the monastery. There they proceeded to consume excessive amounts of alcohol, and according to Bo – forget most of the evening.

Honestly, I can’t do the story justice, you might as well just check it out here:

And If you’re curious to see Bo hard at work being artistic and overall – extremely pleasing to look at, check out this short video: