Panama student finds inspiration in the AUBG library

 

He came to Bulgaria to look for adventure. While sitting in the library, among hundreds of carefully selected novels, he dreams of becoming a writer. You have not met him in any of your classes because he is not an AUBG student. He studies at the South-West University in Blagoevgrad and spends some of his time in the AUBG library, looking for inspiration. This is Mario Salzar Boychev and his home country is Panama.

Boychev grew up in San Miguelito, a district of Panama City where broad daylight gang shootings were not exactly uncommon. As a child, he grew up with the idea that Bulgaria is an extraordinary place and the thought of seeing the country always intrigued him. Born to a Panamanian father and a Bulgarian mother, he was taught to love, appreciate and think of Bulgaria as his second home.

Mario enjoys retelling the story of how his parents met in the late 80's, an event he views as a curious coincidence. "My father won a scholarship for East Germany, but the Ministry of Education in Panama made a mistake and sent 50 Panamanian students to Bulgaria," he said. While his father was enrolled at Sofia University, Mario's mother was supposed to take the entrance exam in the National Academy of Arts, but fell asleep during the test. "My grandmother gave sleeping pills to my mother, because she [grandmother] thought that my mother was also nervous like her," he said. Mario's mother wasn't accepted at the National Academy of Arts, so she applied instead to Sofia University, where she met her future husband, Mario's father.

Boychev's interest in the country's culture helped him to decide to come and study in Bulgaria. With no concrete knowledge of the language, Mario chose to live in Blagoevgrad, his mother's hometown. He said his mistake was that he never really learned Bulgarian while in Panama, although he often visited the country when he was a child. Two years after his arrival, Mario lives with his grandmother in Blagoevgrad and studies Philosophy and Languages at the South-West University. "Today I know sophisticated words in Bulgarian but don't know everyday talk," Boychev said.

His passion for philosophy comes with his ambition to become a writer. He believes that becoming a good writer takes a lot of knowledge and experience. "Every time I write something I feel good about myself, because I have expressed the way I feel," he said. Mario is inspired by books and by meeting new people; Bulgaria also hosts many mysteries that spark his creativity. He plans to write novels that will make people think and act upon existing problems.

When he needs a bit of inspiration, Mario comes to the AUBG library. "In this place I find all the books I feel I need to read to become a writer," he said. He does not visit the South-West University library often because the literature there is very specialized so he cannot find the books he seeks. Every day he fills in a visitor's form and spends hours in the Panitza Library reading. Although Mario admits he knows English better than Bulgarian, his choice to study at a Bulgarian university is due to his ambition to improve his knowledge of his mother's native language.

After finishing his studies, Mario plans to go to Africa. "My dream is to go to Darfur and work and help people," he said. He believes that people pay too little attention to poor regions, which he plans to change through his future writings. His interest in Africa made him read many books about the region but he admits that you can only write about an issue after experiencing it yourself.