That many Southeast Europeans look for educational opportunities in the United States is a well-known fact, but thanks to AUBG the flow of students across the Atlantic is not one-way traffic. Currently, 11 Americans study full time at AUBG, not counting the 9 visiting students from U.S. institutions. Rachael Johnson is a third-year transfer student from the state of Tennessee, majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Operations Management. She has been a full-time student here since Fall 2008.

“90% of the people who come here have the exact same reason. It’s because they’ve seen Western Europe and all of its glory and they want to figure out what the rest of Europe looks like,” Rachael explains, adding she had something “adventurous” in mind when she choose AUBG and the region. What really struck her positively is the small class size. “My home university was very large – 25,000 students. I would be in accounting classes with 500 other people.” Now she appreciates that AUBG professors know her name and treat her as an individual in a small, intimate class environment that reminds her of her high school years.

What is more important than her reason for coming here is her reason for staying. Rachael has no trouble to quickly name it – diversity. “Here at AUBG, in comparison with other American universities, you definitely get so much more diversity. I feel like the quality of education in terms of personal growth is a lot better than at American universities. Definitely it focuses a lot. I know that I have personally developed.”

Like most AUBG students, Rachael does not limit her interests to classes only. She has gone a long way toward becoming the assistant director in the AUBG Writing Center. Walking in the park is how she recharges her batteries, and she is really fond of cooking Bulgarian meals when she has the time.