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 “It was a wonderful weekend and we made the most of it,” said Georgi Iliev, creative producer at Nova Television and the author of “Life and Death of Mr. Iliev,” the fastest-selling debut novel in Bulgaria. He and more than 70 alumni visited AUBG for an annual reunion on the 27th of September. Teodora Marcheva, Alumni Affairs Coordinator, said that even more people signed up, but not all showed up. The program for Saturday included a breakfast, a campus tour, and a barbeque (initially scheduled for the baseball field but due to bad weather it turned into a group lunch in the canteen.) There was also an auction with AUBG-related items, an interactive surprise event organized by the AUBG Alumni Association, a president’s reception, and a banquet. The day ended with an officially declared Underground night. Thanks to the auction, more than BGN 3,100 will go to the Alumni Scholarship Fund, Marcheva said. Three old Verve issues were auctioned as well; one of them sold for BGN 110. The most expensive items were President Easton’s regalia – $370 and Tony Tonev’s AUBG ID card–BGN 600. The latter item was re-auctioned and bought by Tonev himself, who was an AUBG student for 10 years. This year also introduced the Distinguished Alumni Award. It is awarded to a graduate with outstanding professional achievements and commitment to the university. Elvin Guri, who is also in the Board of Trustees, received the award. “Instead on dwelling on what’s wrong, try dwelling on what’s right,” said Darina Redmond, a 1995 Bulgarian AUBG graduate and an ex-member of student media, reflecting on one of the recent AUBG student publications. While at AUBG, Redmond enjoyed the constantly partying environment of Volga (Volga is a former student dormitory). Nevertheless, the alumna pointed out the improvement of living conditions in dormitories, as well as the overall level of facilities and equipment at AUBG. But first of all, “it’s the students that make the university,” Redmond said. Her husband Vincent said he was truly impressed by the flag representation outside the dorms, even though he graduated from an international school in London. Andrea Balogh, class 2004, added that “AUBG was a great opportunity to know people from other countries… close geographically, but far in terms of communication.” She said Facebook is a great help to keep in touch with friends. Many alumni haven’t been to AUBG for years, so ex-class/room/floor-mates had a lot of news to share. Alexander Yovchev, POS/EUR major, now deals with EU investments in Bulgaria. He found his job six weeks after graduation, though it was in the midst of winter holidays. A recent BUS graduate from Moldova, Anatolie Cernii, said that at the moment he lives in Sofia and studies theology. “You, guys, are [on an international level],” Redmond said. “I hope AUBG doesn’t lose what it has.”
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