Frequently asked questions

Some of you may need a visa to travel to Bulgaria. If so, you can ask for a visa to be issued by the Bulgarian Embassy in your country. If you need a special letter of invitation for the Summer School in order to receive a visa, please let us know now, so we could send you one. To the best of our knowledge citizens of EU and CEE countries do not need a visa. Do check whether citizens of your country need a visa for Bulgaria.

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What is the structure of the courses taught?

No courses run in parallel, so you can attend all courses. However, we strongly advise you to enroll in 6 of the 10 courses offered, thus attending 4 hours of classes per day plus 2 hours tutorials in small groups. Each course consists of 5 large sessions (90 min. each), 5 small group sessions (45 min. each) and 2 project work meetings. Participants who want to get credits from a course should attend the small group and project meeting and fulfill all assignments. Thus participants can get credits for one course per week maximum. Each course taken in the case of successful completion will give you 2 credits.

Edward Necka (U. Cracow, Poland) – Creativity

Franz Schmalhofer (U. Osnabrueck, Germany) – Situation Models and Embodied Language Processes

George Kampis (U. Budapest, Hungary) – Deconstructing the Mind: Anti-Cartesian Perspective on Cognition

Charles De Weert and Rob van Lier (U. Nijmegen, Netherlands) – Color and Form in Visual Perception

Myron Braunstein (UC Irvine, USA) – Visual Perception of the 3D World

Boicho Kokinov (NBU, Bulgaria) – Understanding Human Analogy-Making

Jeffrey Elman (UC, San Diego, USA) – Connectionist Models of Learning and Development

Fernanda Ferreira (Michigan State U, USA) – Psycholinguistics: Language as a product and as an action

Richard Belew (UC, San Diego, USA) – Adaptive Individuals in Evolving Populations: Combining Evolutionary Modeling with Learning and Development Models

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Will I get a certificate for the courses taken?

There are two kinds of certificates - one will be issued for participation in the Summer School and the other one - to those participants who receive credits.

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What are the terms of payment for the registration fee?

All payments at the Summer School should be done by bank transfer or check (add EURO 10 processing fee). Payments should be made in EURO.
As an exception you can pay on site. In this case the fee will be increased by EURO 100 because of late registration. Unfortunately, for reasons related to bank account processing, no other currency will be accepted. This means that you need to be prepared to pay the amount on Monday, July 5th, in cash.
Credit cards are not as commonly accepted in Bulgaria as in the EU, especially if you want to withdraw cash in foreign currency. There are a lot of ATM's / cash machines where one may withdraw money with a credit or debit card in Bulgarian currency. The common way of paying in Bulgaria is in cash. The local Bulgarian currency is leva. The current exchange rate is 1 Euro = 1.95 Leva. If you would like to buy something extra, enjoy the nightlife or go on trips, a total of 200-250 EURO should be enough for 2 or 3 weeks.

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What is the typical weather in Sofia in July?

The weather in Bulgaria is usually very warm in July. Generally temperatures are around 25°C but they can vary around 35°C. Note that this is not an official forecast, it is just previous life experience.

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How to get from the airport to my destination hotel/hostel?

There is only one airport in Sofia There will be someone in the Arrival Section waiting for participants on their arriving dates. Look for a person holding a "Summer School" sign. Just in case you miss him/her, here is how you can get to the place where you will be staying.

If you are staying at ELENA HOTEL: The address is: 46 Ljubliana str., tel. 562 849, 957 1454.

If you have registered for the SHAMPION HOTEL: The address is: 1 Coloman str.,tel. 55 73 51, 955 58 12.

Taking a taxi is a good option. There are currency exchange offices at the airport. Be careful when taking a taxi. Better take a yellow DAEWOO car with a large black "O'K taxi" sign on it. The taxi should cost less than 10 Euro.

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Where may I get a schedule for Summer School courses and events?

There will be preliminary registration at your hotel on Sunday, July 4th. Some materials including the full timetable will be available there as well. Late registration and late payment of fees will take place on Monday, July 5th, at NBU, room number 401.

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What time will meals be served?

Three meals daily (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are included in the registration fee for the period July, 5th - 24th. They will be served at Hotel Elena (breakfast and dinner) and at the University campus (lunch). There will be bus shuttles from the restaurant to the School and back for breakfast and dinner.

· Breakfast: 8:00-8:30

· Lunch: 13:00-14:00

· Dinner: 19:00

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School transportation

There will be regular bus transportation every day during Summer School according to the following schedule:

· 8:00 from SHAMPION HOTEL to the restaurant.

· 8:45 from the restaurant to the University

· 18:45 from the University to the restaurant

The restaurant is located at Elena Hotel.

The corresponding bus stops are in front of SHAMPION HOTEL, the restaurant, and the University.

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Whom may I contact in the case of emergency?

In case of emergency, or if you get lost on the day of your arrival, here is one home phone number: 56-99-60 (Boicho Kokinov). You can also try our office number 811-0401. The permanent office of the Summer School is at the New Bulgarian University, room 401 (fourth floor).

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