Create, Fly Away, Love
Our daily life is like a Ferris wheel- we get on it after having some coffee in the morning and it starts spinning. It keeps spinning and spinning while our thoughts, plans, and projections accelerate it so much that we stop perceiving the world around us. The mind is wandering somewhere else, burdened with tasks, and experiencing unreal scenarios. This same ride repeats every day. It is hard to slow it down but some people find a way. Maria Manolova, an AUBG alumna from the class of 2011, is one of them. A few months ago, she got off her Ferris wheel in Bulgaria and discovered many joys she was missing.
After graduating from the American University in Bulgaria, Maria began a valuable but also exhausting professional path. The accumulation of work fatigue, and the end of a thirteen-year relationship, made her think over a change. In February 2020, just before the world was about to close, she left her hometown Varna and set off to Thailand. Her initial intention was to explore a different environment for a while. Now, she doesn’t consider going back.
Maria is a digital nomad: she can create wherever she chooses to and get paid for it. She does digital and UX design. These include many areas- from graphic and website design to user experience. Her salary rate is high and she works a few hours a week, just enough to support herself:
“I don’t feel the need to make a lot of money. Life in Thailand is very different- everything is moving slowly and I appreciate the little things. I’ve been working in companies for a long time and I wouldn’t go back. Once you have the forbidden fruit, you do not want to return it.”
Right after graduating from AUBG with a major in Journalism and Mass Communication and a minor in Fine Arts, Maria was hired by a Los Angeles-based company, called Picklegroup. She moved to Sofia and started working remotely as a freelance graphic designer. During her two-year stay there, Maria was executing daily online and print ads for big companies. She was also doing website design, info-graphics, and presentations:
“Professionally, I grew a lot in Picklegroup because I was able to advertise for the New York Times and some other renowned names, even though the company itself was very small. I was working a lot. When I started there, I was working for twelve hours and this lasted for many years.”
Her next job was in a company in Sofia, called MediaBasket. She worked there for five years with four other designers. A valuable skill Maria then acquired was the ability to sell her designs.
“Art is subjective- everyone can refute what you have created and it is essential that you defend it.”
In 2018, Maria and a colleague of hers established a design company in Sofia, called the Boom-Makers. True to herself, she dedicated a lot of effort to work. Boom-Makers was the last company Maria engaged in before she decided to leave the office world:
“I took a lot from this experience but it also took a lot from me. That is what got me in Thailand. Lots of work and sleepless nights.”
Today, Maria is living in Koh Phangan- a small island near continental Thailand. Since moving to her new home, Maria hasn’t stopped exploring its nature and getting to know the people. While enjoying her time, she had one very special meeting:
“I have spent eight months here and I got engaged two days ago. My fiancée is from Puerto Rico and we met each other at a food market.”
At first, the bond between the two was professional- Maria’s fiancée became her yoga teacher for two months:
“As time was passing, I fell deeply in love with him and soon he proposed to me. I understood why I came here. My whole adventure in Thailand and everything that happened during these eight months was not accidental. Somehow, fate took me here.”
Besides meeting her significant other, the yoga classes she took taught Maria that momentary suffering could lead to long-term happiness:
“Out of this discomfort, I experienced an unearthly level of awareness and happiness. For many years, I have been feeling bad without knowing why. What I needed was leaving my comfort zone.”
Maria embraced the unknown when moving to Thailand and that choice made her happier. Still, not everything good was unfamiliar. A well-known aspect that continued empowering her was Thailand’s international environment:
“I don’t miss Bulgaria right now- I feel good to be among people from all over the world. Studying at AUBG plays a big role in that. I haven’t felt better anywhere else like in the university because of the chance to communicate with students from different nationalities.”
Meeting people from all over the world was something Maria enjoyed even before AUBG. When she was fourteen years old, she went to study in Cyprus and got to know many foreign students. After graduating with a British diploma, Maria wanted to continue studying Design in England but a number of financial and procedural obstacles prevented this. Instead, she took two gap years trying different things and in 2007 enrolled in AUBG. Maria took as many courses connected with design as she could and devoted hours exploring the field on her own. She enjoyed the international environment and made many new friends, but was not a big fan of how most students chose to have fun:
“Instead of going out to bars, I was in the AUBG library, reading poetry. I spent a lot of time rummaging through books, enjoying the rich variety of English literature. When I graduated, the saddest thing for me was that I had to part with this place.”
Maria’s experience abroad, as well as the age difference with the other students, made her feel at a slightly different stage:
“I had already been on my own in a foreign country, and when I entered AUBG it seemed like the rest of my peers were all children. When I was a freshman, I already felt older and I have always been feeling that way.”
The mature state of mind of Maria during AUBG still has its funny reflection in a special nickname- ‘The Great Baba (grandma) of Wonders’. For many years, this has been how Maria appears on the Messenger chat with Jonian Gjermani, one of her closest friends. Jonian is an Albanian AUBG alumnus who graduated in 2012 with Computer Science:
“I was calling her baba when we were at AUBG because she was the older one and she didn’t go out as much as the rest of us did.”
Jonian’s room used to be on the first floor of Skapto 2 (one of the AUBG’s dormitories) and he could easily communicate with Maria:
“I would always keep my window open and every time Maria was passing, she would turn up and say: ‘Baba’s here. What are you doing? Why is your room so messy?’ ”
Maria and Jonian had their small traditions, some of which have persisted throughout the years:
“Maria has always been the cool person who was coming up with fun stuff. I am sure she now has a collection of ‘bin pictures’ of us. We had that tradition of taking a photo next to a bin whenever we go somewhere together. I often ask her when we’re going to do the next one because it means we will meet again.”
Jonian says that Maria has always been supportive and creative:
“If you have a problem, she has a solution. When in doubt, I always go to her and ask her a question. She is in a different state of mind. I mean it in a good way- Maria has that positive attitude towards life. She has a unique take and always finds the bright side. I am happy that Maria is part of my life.”
Today, Maria is in yet another state of mind, one that helps her experience life’s beauty even more and turn it into her own happiness. Thailand taught her a skill all of us need- how to slow down the ride and enjoy the view:
“I follow my impulses, my instincts. I haven’t planned in the long term since I came to Thailand. I never know what lies ahead of tomorrow. I am serious about my job, but I dedicate myself to the life I have at the moment.”
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Bozhana Marinova studies Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Bulgaria. She loves talking with inspiring people.
