As our daily lives get disrupted and the larger systems that our society runs on begin to break under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming increasingly important for all of us to practice resilience and sovereignty.

*At the bottom of this article, I have included a list of the best Future Thinkers podcast episodes on the subjects of sovereignty, sensemaking, and resilience in the face of the unprecedented changes the world is going through.

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and to adapt to new circumstances.

I have noticed many people suddenly becoming concerned with their health — eating better, exercising more, learning to meditate. Others are taking online courses or reading books. Yet others have finally planted that garden they’ve been wanting to for years. Many have reconnected with their families and communities and have made an effort to help others.

This is how resilience shows up in in everyday life as response to a crisis.

During times of peace, relative economic stability, and abundance, focusing on building resilience is rarely our first priority. People just go about their lives without questioning things much.

Sovereignty is the capacity to respond consciously to the world: to see reality clearly, to make sense of it, and take appropriate action.

When it comes to sovereignty, most of us never even question whether we have it or not until we experience a loss of it.

It’s only when life no longer makes sense that we start to question if what we believe is actually true.

We don’t think about our ability to withstand emotional upheaval and deal with grief until it hits us in the face. It’s not until someone dies, or we’re thrown into existential despair, that we start contemplating how we’re going to stay sane through all of it.

It often takes a crisis to wake us up to the necessity of resilience & sovereignty.

Many people live paycheque to paycheque. Few people even have enough savings to cover the expense of a medical emergency or their car breaking down, not to mention having enough saved up to keep their family afloat for 6 months in case of an unforeseen loss of income.

Now, all of a sudden, we’re realizing why being prepared and having that buffer would have been a good idea.

Many more people will likely be bankrupted than be killed by COVID-19.

Many businesses run with less than 3 months worth of reserve funds. Hospitals only have a few more beds and staff on call than what they need day to day. Most governments don’t have a department to deal with pandemics.

In normal times that may be enough, and having any more would be inefficient. Unfortunately, we are no longer in normal times.

In a crisis, what looked like efficiency now looks like fragility. And what looked like inefficiency now looks like a life-or-death necessity.

The same pattern plays our on a personal level. Many people didn’t question the status quo of how the world is run, because they didn’t have to. They’ve been able to live their lives without concerning themselves with the big picture. It was easy when the bad things were happening somewhere else, to those other people.

Now suddenly, we’ve been hit with a crisis that concerns everyone, here, now. It’s real and personal and immediate. And it’s creating a very rude awakening for billions of people.

The pandemic is making it clear that we cannot got back to the way we’ve been doing things.

We can’t go back to normal, because we see now that it wasn’t normal to begin with. We have to change. But change is costly, both on a personal and a systemic level.

People and systems rarely change unless there is sufficient external pressure that pushes them to do so.

Viruses have played a major role in human and planetary evolution. Ancient viruses that infected our ancestors now make up 8% of the human genome.

This virus is pressure that is pushing on us and our systems — medical, political, economic. It’s making us reconsider how we run our systems, and how we run our daily lives as well.

When it comes to societal systems, the real effects still remain to be seen. This crisis will catalyze the problems that were already brewing for decades, and reveal to us the things that are broken in our governments, economies, and societies. There will be many more second-order effects than what we’ve already seen.

Many of us have had to become amateur epidemiologists for the lack of information early on and the inadequate response from various institutions.

I have honestly seen better and more timely sensemaking of this pandemic from the collective intelligence of people on Twitter than I have from any institution or single expert.

This is a major sign that our systems cannot withstand the crisis that is upon us. On many levels, things are going to get harder before they get better.

We are all going to need to get a hell of a lot more resilient and a hell of a lot more sovereign.

My partner Mike and I have been talking about these topics a lot on our podcast, Future Thinkers. Our interest in these subjects came not by accident, but by necessity after having experienced many serious challenges, crises, and failures throughout our lives.

Below I have compiled a list of free resources — our best podcast episodes that deal with the topics of sovereignty, sensemaking, and resilience in the face of the unprecedented changes the world is undergoing right now.

Some of these episodes talk about personal resilience and some focus more on societal change and existential risks. They are most useful if taken together, since the lessons in them provide different perspectives that interconnect. I hope you find them useful.

Personal Resilience:

Developing and Practicing Your Self Sovereignty

We talk about their stories of learning to practice sovereignty and suggest some ideas, techniques and exercises from their personal experience that others can try.

John Vervaeke — Overcoming The Meaning Crisis

Canadian psychologist John Vervaeke explains what the meaning crisis is and what are some of the practices to deal with it. He talks about how the quest for wisdom and self-transcendence is the key to unlocking meaning in life.

Derek Sivers — Hell Yeah or No

In this 2-part interview, entrepreneur and writer Derek Sivers talks about stoicism, minimalism, and exploring freedom to its extremes. He also explores practices for increasing self-knowledge, and the many different ways in which people can thrive and find fulfillment.

Jordan Peterson — Failed Utopias, Mapping the Mind, and Finding Meaning

Renowned Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson talks about understanding the subconscious mind, finding meaning in a meaningless world, and why we shouldn’t aim to create a utopia.

The Depression Epidemic — What You Can Do

It wouldn’t be a conversation about resilience without bringing up the subject of depression. Having both experienced depression at different points in our lives, we talk about scientifically proven ways to overcome it or at least lessen its effects.

Becoming More Adaptive

We talk about overcoming fear and helplessness, practicing minimalism, developing mental flexibility and self-sovereignty, and other tools that can help us become more adaptive in a chaotic world.

The Ancient Art of Adulting And Meta-Skills For The Future

We also talk about how what it means to be an adult has changed, and what meta-skills we need to develop in order to adapt to this fast-changing world.

Cris Beasley — How To Deal with Negative Emotions to Develop Mental Sovereignty

Startup founder turned trauma healer Cris Beasley talks about emotional healing practices that can help us improve our quality of life, fix our relationships, and help us gain more sovereignty.

Emmanuel Jal — The Incredible Resilience of The Human Mind

In this heart-wrenching interview with South Sudanese ex-child-soldier, you will hear his incredible story of overcoming immense trauma and coming out on the other side.

Collective and Community Resilience:

Jamie Wheal — Sense-Making In Chaos

Group flow researcher Jamie Wheal talks about how to make sense in a world that is unraveling faster than we can keep up with, and the challenges to creating functional collective intelligence and resilient communities.

Joe Brewer — Rites of Passage For Cultural Evolution

A two-part interview with climate scientist Joe Brewer explores regenerative cultures and how to build resilience at the level of communities and bioregions.

Jim Rutt — Game B: The Fifth Attractor, A New Social OS

Complexity researcher Jim Rutt explains the concept of Game B — a different social “operating system” that could potentially replace today’s capitalism. He also talks about how to strengthen a municipality and make it more resilient to potential collapse scenarios.

Resilient Systems:

Jordan (Green)Hall — Sovereignty in Chaos & Why We Need Collective Intelligence During Global Collapse

In this two-part interview, entrepreneur and existential philosopher Jordan (Green)Hall introduces the concept of cognitive sovereignty and why it’s especially important in chaotic times and talks about why collective intelligence is something we need if we are to mitigate systemic collapse.

Nora Bateson — The Complexities of Climate Change and Cultural Evolution

Filmmaker and educator Nora Bateson discusses the complexity of understanding global existential problems, what it means to do sensemaking, and what we really need for social and cultural change.

Alex Gladstein — Anti-Authoritarian Technologies and The Future of Governance

CSO of Human Rights Foundation Alex Gladstein talks about why civil liberties make a country better for its people, what the future of governance is, and why anti-authoritarian technologies like Bitcoin are important for that future.

Daniel Schmachtenberger — Global Phase Shift and Solving The Generator Functions of Existential Risks

These are some of the many interviews we have done with systems thinker Daniel Schmachteberger. In Global Phase Shift, he talks about the transformation humanity seems to be undergoing right now.

In Winning Humanity’s Existential Game, Daniel talks about designing resilient post-capitalist systems.

In the last 3-parter, he lays out the steps we have to take as a collective to solve the causes of potential existential risks to humanity.

***

Going Deeper Into Practicing Resilience & Sovereignty

If you want to dive deeper into the practices and exercises for building resilience and sovereignty, we teach several courses on these subjects and host weekly group sensemaking calls. Register for the Future Thinkers Members community to join us.

Finding Resilience in a Crisis was originally published in Future Thinkers on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Since then, I’ve been doing a lot of research to understand the possible scenarios and outcomes of this situation.

I recently did two live streams on Future Thinkers with my partner Mike talking about some of these effects.

Here is the first one:

And the second one:

In the meantime, I wanted to share a primer with some basic information.

All the info in this article is provisional and likely to change as more data becomes available.

COVID-19 is a new disease. We don’t have immunity to the virus, we don’t have a cure or a vaccine, and we don’t know what is going to happen.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional.

What is the Coronavirus / SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19?

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), previously known by the provisional name 2019-nCoV, and colloquially known as “Coronavirus”, “Wuhan flu”, or “Wuhan pneumonia” (what it’s often called in China), is a virus that is highly contagious in humans and causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is deadly.

The virus shares 80% of its genome with SARS and is in the same virus family. It is not a flu.

The disease is now in the early stages of a pandemic. World Health Organization predicts a moderate to very severe pandemic, based on COVID-19’s transmissibility and clinical severity.

Where did it come from?

• It is thought to have originated in China in late 2019
• Exact origin is unclear, but the official narrative says it was transmitted from a bat at a live animal market in the city of Wuhan, China
• Some researchers speculate it was lab-made, but the evidence is not solid

What are the symptoms and effects?

• In milder cases: fever, cough, fatigue, muscle soreness (flu-like symptoms)
• In severe and critical cases: pneumonia (lung infection), shortness of breath, heart failure, organ failure, death

How is it transmitted?

• Through bodily fluids
• Through the air in droplets of mucus (from coughs and sneezes)
• Through surfaces that people often touch (door knobs, elevator buttons, public bathrooms, cash)
• Through food that ill people prepared

How deadly / dangerous is it?

• A study of 44,000 Chinese patients found the average chance of dying to be 2.3% — 4.3%, heavily skewed towards the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions.
• For those with cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes or heart conditions — 5–10%.
• For those over 80 years old — around 15% (likely due to this age group having a weaker immune system and higher occurrence of pre-existing conditions)
• For healthy young people — less than 0.5%
• In children under 9, no deaths have been recorded as of early March 2020

• Other high-risk groups are the immuno-compromised, those under high stress / exhaustion (i.e. health care workers during epidemic), and smokers.
• Young, healthy adults and children can have milder symptoms (like a regular flu) or no symptoms, but still be contagious. However, there have been cases of young people dying or developing serious complications as well.
• Unlike the flu, the symptoms can last for up to 3 weeks or longer, which can disrupt people’s ability to work.
• A percentage of people pronounced “cured” still test positive for the virus and are still contagious.
• There is evidence suggesting that when people get the disease the second time, it is more severe and deadly.
• The disease makes people susceptible to secondary infections (viral or bacterial), which can increase the mortality rate.

What else is known so far?

• There is currently no vaccine and no treatment. Several vaccines are being developed, but it will likely take until 2021 for them to become available.
• The virus can have an incubation period up to 21 days (some reports say up to 29 days), during which time the person shows no symptoms but is contagious.
• It can survive on inanimate surfaces up to 9 days.
• The R0 is between 2 and 6, meaning each infected person infects 2–6 others, which can cause the number of infected to double every few days
• The virus has mutated and there are now 2 strains circulating, the second more aggressive and deadly than the first.
• Recent studies show that the virus can cause permanent damage to the lungs and other organs, male infertility, and other serious complications.

What are the chances of containment?

• At this point, containment is no longer possible. The virus is on every continent and in most countries. It has been growing exponentially in certain regions like China and South Korea (before it got slowed by quarantine and preventative measures), Iran, Italy, and now Europe and USA.

• According to a recent estimate by a Harvard epidemiologist, 40–70% of the world’s population may get the virus in the next year
• It is still possible and necessary to reduce the rate of spread of the virus, and reduce the load on the local healthcare and economic systems all at once. A tidal wave is preferable to a tsunami. This is called “flattening the curve”.
• It is in all of our interest to delay getting infected until the healthcare system has more beds and doctors available again (at the peak of the outbreak, there is always a shortage of those, which is what caused people to die in hospital hallways in Wuhan, China)

What if I get infected or think I might be infected?

• Call your doctor or hospital (don’t go there in person unless they tell you to).
• Quarantine yourself at home if your symptoms are mild and you are in a low-risk group (young & healthy adult or child). Stay home for at least 3 weeks, or as long as your doctor tells you to.
• Isolate yourself from other people so you don’t infect them, especially the elderly, sick, and immuno-compromised.
• Take measure to prevent the spread of infection — disinfect your house & personal items

Tips to avoid / delay infection

• Wash your hands often, especially after going outside.
• Avoid touching your face, especially your mouth and eyes.
• Avoid crowded places, especially indoors.
• Avoid sharing personal items — towels, cups, etc.
• Don’t shake hands. Do a fist bump or elbow bump instead.
• Clean & disinfect high-touch surfaces in your home daily (doorknobs, keyboards, phones, toilets, bathroom fixtures)
• Avoid international travel if possible.
• You may want to wear a face mask and gloves in crowded places (especially if you are in the high-risk group)

Stock up on supplies

It should be enough to last your household for a few weeks to 1 month.

People panic once the first deaths are announced in their country and authorities start implementing quarantine measures like shutting down schools, public events, or public transport, etc.

At this point, people tend to buy up everything at the supermarkets, and shelves might be empty for weeks. This may already be happening in your location.

In addition, if you decide to self-quarantine, reducing the number of trips to the grocery store will reduce your chances of infection. And if you are put under mandatory quarantine, you may not be able to go to the grocery store anyway.

Only buy the food you are going to eat. Don’t hoard supplies just because.

Nutritious, non perishable food:

• Fish, canned (i.e. mackerel)
• Lentils / beans
• Rice
• Oats
• Chia seeds
• Peanut butter
• Tahini
• Coconut oil / extra virgin olive oil
• Sultanas, raisins, figs, dates, or other dried fruit
• Nuts
• Raw honey (it has an antibacterial / antiviral effect)
• Tea / coffee
• Apple cider vinegar (also doubles as an all purpose cleaner)
• Cayenne pepper (improves circulation)
• Dried herbs & spices, bullion cubes, flavouring
• Frozen meat / fish
• Pet food, if you have pets
• Baby food or formula, if needed
• Bottled water in large bottles

Medical supplies:

• Cold & Flu medicine
• Pain killers (Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, etc)
• Rubbing alcohol for disinfecting surfaces
• Medical gloves (for wearing outside to avoid infection, or for caring for sick house mates)
• Any medication you normally take (1 month supply)
• Bonus: help your elderly, sick, and mentally ill loved ones and neighbours ensure they have enough medication and supplies for a month. They will be the most vulnerable if this gets really bad in your city (as it’s already getting in China, Iran, and Italy).

Hygiene:

• Bleach (for disinfecting surfaces)
• Toilet paper
• Soap (antibacterial or regular)
• Tooth paste
• Deodorant
• Laundry detergent
• Dish soap
• All purpose cleaner
• Feminine hygiene products, if needed
• Diapers & baby wipes, if you have babies
• Pet toilet supplies, if you have pets
• Face masks, if you can get them (there is disagreement on whether they are effective)

Immunity boosters and antivirals:

• Vitamin C powder (1000mg daily)
• Vitamin D (helps lower inflammation and increase your capacity to fight disease)
• Elderberry syrup
• Bee propolis (i.e. in throat spray form)
• Iodine (a few drops in a glass of water, gargle in the morning)
• Glutathione — an antioxidant that increases the longevity of cells (eat eggs, bone broth, raw honey, whey protein powder)

Free immunity & health boosters:

• Get adequate sleep. This cannot be overstated. Sleep is when your body repairs itself. If you’re up every night worrying, this will weaken your body’s ability to fight disease.
• Exercise / be active. If you’re under quarantine at home, use a yoga mat and some tension bands, a chin-up bar, or kettle bells. Or just jump around and do some kicks and punches. There are lots of tutorials of every kind on Youtube.
• Get sunshine exposure daily. This will increase your vitamin D levels and help protect you from disease.
• If there is no sunshine where you live, go outside anyway (or on a balcony, or at least sit in front of a window if you’re in quarantine). You can also try infrared sauna if you have access to that.
• Deep breathing exercises, i.e. Wim Hof method (this activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes and repairs your body)
• Take cold showers or ice baths (this draws the blood away from your skin and towards your internal organs, and helps your body fight disease).

Mental / Emotional Health

• Make sure to stay connected with friends & family digitally. Frequent video calls can help you feel closer to the ones you love and keep you saner.
• Prepare some games, books, art supplies, music making equipment, and basic exercise equipment in case of quarantine. A guitar or a sketchbook can go a long way when you’re cooped up at home.
• Listen to soothing audiobooks or nature sounds at night as you’re going to sleep.
• Meditate on difficult emotions and accept them. Bottling things up only creates more long term stress and illness, and can cause explosive outbursts and breakdowns.
• Meditate on death — we are all going to die at some point, and so will all our loved ones. It may come soon or it may not. In any case, accepting this emotionally will make you stronger and more capable of dealing with death when it comes.

Questions for further reflection

I intend to publish a second article on the second-order effects and potential outcomes of this pandemic, but I’ll leave you with these questions to ponder in the meantime.

• What is this situation likely to become?
• What are the best case, medium case, worst case scenarios?
• What are the actions most relevant to those scenarios? What is the 80/20? (most effective thing to do that doesn’t cost much and doesn’t take much effort)
• What happens if we all take those actions?
• What are the potential second order effects? (societal repercussions of the pandemic)

Where can I learn more?

Dr John Campbel has been posting daily level-headed updates on COVID-19 on his Youtube channel.

Another doctor’s informative updates on Youtube.

An aggregator of key news updates.

Coronavirus subreddit is another news aggregator.

Useful timely sense-making from many medical professionals, public intellectuals, and people on the ground can be found on Twitter through #COVID19 and #COVID-19 hashtags.

Live maps:

John Hopkins

Outbreak.cc

BNO news

COVID-19: The Basics You Need To Know was originally published in Future Thinkers on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I’ve been thinking about the relationship between freedom, choice and responsibility.

A couple of months ago, I read Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision Of Life as Play and Possibility by James P. Carse, a profound philosophical book that talks about game theory in the context of politics, religion, art, sex, and every other area of life. It often brings up the concepts around sovereignty and choice. It was a book that came recommended by Daniel Schmachteberger and Jordan Greenhall, who are two of my favourite podcast guests on Future Thinkers.

In a recent tweet storm I summed up my own understanding of these ideas, which I’m putting together as a blog post below for easier reading (with just a few minor edits for better flow).

Now, before we get into this, I have to say that these ideas may be upsetting to some. I don’t believe in content warnings, but if you do — this is it.

Euvie Ivanova on Twitter

Thread: 1. The more freedom you have, the more responsibility you have to take.

The more freedom you have, the more responsibility you have to take.

The Western civilization prides itself on its freedoms. But its freedoms are limited to certain domains, constrained by laws and social expectations, and defined by external boundaries.

Like characters in a videogame, people in this system can choose from a limited number of moves, and are not even aware of being inside a game.

This is not true freedom, it’s only the illusion of freedom.

True freedom is realizing that the limitations and boundaries enforced by civilization are illusory.

They may be useful for keeping social order and cohesion, but they are not real in any deep sense.

Now, this does not mean that all the boundaries and limitations should be abolished. Nor does it mean that they can or should be broken without consequence.

What this does mean is that choices are limitless, but all the different choices have different consequences.

So what you are really doing by choosing is selecting the consequences you assume you want, consciously or unconsciously.

Different aspects of you want different things.

Your genes want to replicate.

Your animal nature wants to eat, fuck, and ascend the dominance hierarchy.

Your prefrontal cortex wants to make sense of things.

Your soul wants divine cosmic union and self-transcendence.

Etc.

Rationality is over-emphasized in Western society, as it is often seen as the best or only mode of choosing. This is limiting.

People are expected to take responsibility for what their rational mind chooses, but rarely for what the other parts of their being choose.

When a murder is pre-meditated, the punishment tends to be more severe than when it is spontaneous. Same choice, but coming from a different part of being.

Many choices that you make are not rational and not conscious, but they are nonetheless choices that have consequences.

You may think that you didn’t have a choice in certain situations, but the reality may be that you are simply not consciously aware of the part of you that was making the choice.

And by the way, not choosing is also a choice — a choice to surrender.

You often choose to give up your freedom in exchange for other things.

Sometimes you make choices that reduce your freedom and optionality because you do not want the risk and responsibility that comes with having that freedom.

When there is someone telling you what to do, you have less freedom but also less responsibility.

An example of this is working a job instead of starting your own company.

Less freedom can mean more safety.

Sometimes you make choices that reduce your freedom because the consequences of choosing otherwise can mean violence, ostracism, or the withdrawal of resources.

This is why people stay in crappy jobs and abusive relationships, or live in societies and not alone in the woods.

When you take the role of a victim, you willingly (though sometimes not consciously) absolve yourself of the responsibility in the situation, thereby giving up your freedom.

Victimhood is submission. When you act submissive, you are seen as less of a threat. Sometimes, not being threatening can mean avoiding violence or even death.

You can sometimes also willingly risk or give up your freedom for a greater purpose, as is the case with mothers or revolutionaries or war heroes.

The reward in this case is a form of immortality. Something lives on after your body dies.

To be truly free, take full responsibility for all of your choices, conscious and unconscious.

This means accepting the consequences of all your actions, especially when they are undesirable.

This also includes responsibility for the times when you chose to give up your freedom for one reason or another.

To become more aware of the origins of your choices, you bring the unconscious into the conscious.

Once you observe yourself choosing, the choices become easier to accept.

You can get better at this awareness through practices like psychedelics, psychotherapy, or meditation. Meditation is probably the most stable of these practices in the long term.

You can also reframe the above thread from the mystical perspective of “no self”. In this view, choices can be seen as various natural processes optimizing for various outcomes.

P.S. The deep truth here is that you have always been free. You were just conditioned to believe that you weren’t free or had limited choices, and you didn’t know otherwise.

—

This is just one framework for thinking about choice, freedom and responsibility. It is not meant to be complete or definitive.

For more on this subject, read Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse, listen to my Future Thinkers interviews with Daniel Schmachtenberger and Jordan Greenhall, and study the work of Jordan Peterson.

Krishnamurti has also spoken extensively about true freedom, although his view on choice is framed differently.

What is The Blockchain?

The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and platforms like Ethereum. It provides a way to record and transfer data that is transparent, safe, auditable, and resistant to outages. This technology has the ability to make the organizations that use it transparent, democratic, decentralized, efficient, and secure. It will likely to disrupt many industries in the coming 5 to 10 years. These are some of the industries it’s already disrupting.

1. Banking and Payments

Some say that the blockchain will do to banking what the internet did to media. It can be used to give access to financial services to billions of people around the world, including those in third world countries who don’t have access to traditional banking. Bitcoin allows anyone to send money across borders almost instantly and with relatively low fees. Abra is one startup that is working on a bitcoin-based remittance service.

Many banks like Barclays are also working on adopting blockchain technology to make their business operations faster, more efficient and secure. Banks are also increasingly investing in blockchain startups and projects. IBM predicts that 15% of banks will be using the blockchain by the end of 2017.

2. Cyber Security

Although the blockchain ledger is public, the data is verified and encrypted using advanced cryptography. This way the data is less prone to being hacked or changed without authorization.

That said, the applications build on the blockchain are still young and there have been several hacks in recent months. This is something future applications will need to grow up to.

3. Supply Chain Management

With blockchain technology, transactions can be documented in a permanent decentralized record, and monitored securely and transparently. This can greatly reduce time delays and human mistakes. It can also be used to monitor costs, labour, and even waste and emissions at every point of the supply chain. This has serious implications for understanding and controlling the real environmental impact of products. The distributed ledger can also be used to verify the authenticity or fair trade status of products by tracking them from their origin. Some blockchain companies working in this sector are Provenance, Fluent, SKUChain, and Blockverify.

4. Forecasting

The blockchain is set to change the entire approach to research, consulting, analysis and forecasting. Online platforms like Augur are looking to create global decentralized prediction markets. These technologies can be used to place and monitor bets on anything from sports to stocks to elections in a decentralized way.

5. Networking and the Internet of Things

Samsung and IBM are using blockchain technology for a new concept called ADEPT, which will create a decentralized network of IoT devices. Operating like a public ledger for a large number of devices, it would eliminate the need for a central location to handle communications between them. The devices would be able to communicate to each other directly to update software, manage bugs, and monitor energy usage.

6. Insurance

The global insurance market is based on trust management. The blockchain is a new way of managing trust and can be used to verify many types of data in insurance contracts, such as the insured person’s identity. So-called oracles can be used to integrate real-world data with blockchain smart contracts. This technology is very useful for any type of insurance that relies on real-world data, for example crop insurance. Aeternity is one blockchain project that is building tools that are useful in the insurance industry.

7. Private Transport and Ride Sharing

The blockchain can be used to create decentralized versions of peer-to-peer ridesharing apps, allowing both car owners and users to arrange terms and conditions in a secure way without third party providers. Startups working in this area include Arcade City and La’Zooz.

The use of built-in e-wallets can allow car owners to automatically pay for parking, highway tolls, and electricity top-ups for their vehicle. UBS, ZF and Innogy are some of the companies developing blockchain based e-wallets.

8. Cloud Storage

Data on a centralized server is inherently vulnerable to hacking, data loss, or human error. Using blockchain technology allows cloud storage to be more secure and robust against attacks. Storj is one example of a cloud storage network using the technology.

9. Charity

Common complaints in the charity space include inefficiency and corruption, which prevent money from reaching those that are meant to have it. Using blockchain technology to track donations can let you be sure your money is going to end up in the right hands. Bitcoin-based charities like the BitGive Foundation use blockchain’s secure and transparent distributed ledger to let donors see that the intended party has received the funds.

10. Voting

Probably one of the most important areas of society that the blockchain will disrupt is voting. The 2016 US election is not the first time certain parties were accused of rigging election results. Blockchain technology can be used for voter registration and identity verification, and electronic vote counting to ensure that only legitimate votes are counted, and no votes are changed or removed. Creating an immutable, publicly-viewable ledger of recorded votes would be a massive step toward making elections more fair and democratic. Democracy Earth and Follow My Vote are two startups aiming to disrupt democracy itself through creating blockchain-based online voting systems for governments.

11. Government

Government systems are often slow, opaque, and prone to corruption. Implementing blockchain-based systems can significantly reduce bureaucracy and increase security, efficiency, and transparency of government operations. Dubai, for example, is aiming to put all its government documents on the blockchain by 2020.

12. Public Benefits

The public benefits system is another sector that suffers from slowness and bureaucracy. Blockchain technology can help assess, verify, and distribute welfare or unemployment benefits in a much more streamlined and secure way. GovCoin is a UK-based company that is helping the government to distribute public benefits using blockchain technology. The blockchain is also a good contender for implementing a basic income. Circles is a project working on developing a blockchain-based technology for implementing a universal basic income.

13. Healthcare

Another industry that relies on many legacy systems and is ripe for disruption is healthcare. One of the challenges hospitals face is the lack of a secure platform to store and share data, and they are often victims of hacking because of outdated infrastructure. Blockchain technology can allow hospitals to safely store data like medical records and share it with authorized professionals or patients. This can improve data security and can even help with accuracy and speed of diagnosis. Gem and Tierion are two companies that are working on disrupting the current healthcare data space.

14. Energy Management

Energy management has been a highly centralized industry for a long time. Energy producers and users cannot buy it directly from each other and have to go through the public grid or a trusted private intermediary. TransactiveGrid is a startup using Ethereum that allows customers to buy and sell energy from each other in a peer-to-peer way.

15. Online Music

Several startups are coming up with ways for musicians to get paid directly from their fans, without giving up large percentages of sales to platforms or record companies. Smart contracts can also be used to automatically solve licensing issues, and better catalog songs with their respective creators. Mycelia and Ujo Music are two startups creating blockchain-based solutions in the music industry.

16. Retail

When you shop, your trust of the retail system is tied to the trust of the store or marketplace. Decentralized blockchain-based retail utilities work differently: they connect buyers and sellers without a middleman and associated fees. In these cases, trust comes from smart contract systems, the security of exchanges, and built-in reputation management systems. One startup disrupting the retail space is OpenBazaar.

17. Real Estate

Some of the issues in buying and selling real estate are bureaucracy, lack of transparency, fraud, and mistakes in public records. Using blockchain technology can speed up transactions by reducing the need for paper-based record keeping. It can also help with tracking, verifying ownership, ensuring accuracy of documents, and transferring property deeds. Ubitquity, is a blockchain-secured platform for real estate record-keeping that is an alternative for legacy paper based systems.

18. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has become a popular method of fundraising for new startups and projects in recent years. Crowdfunding platforms exist to create trust between project creators and supporters, but they also charge high fees. In blockchain-based crowdfunding, trust is instead created through smart contracts and online reputation systems, which removes the need for a middle-man. New projects can raise funds by releasing their own tokens that represent value and can later be exchanged for products, services, or cash. Many blockchain startups have now raised millions of dollars through such token sales. Although it’s still early days and the regulatory future or blockchain-based crowdfunding is uncertain, it’s an area that holds a lot of promise.

19. Your Industry

If your industry deals with data or transactions of any kind, it is a field than can likely be disrupted by blockchain technology. The space is wide open and the opportunities are many.

Original article was published on Future Thinkers.

Check out more blockchain podcasts & videos from Future Thinkers.

19 Industries The Blockchain Will Disrupt was originally published in Future Thinkers on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Note: this article and photos are copyrighted by Euvie Ivanova. Please don’t reproduce without giving credit and a link to this original article.

If you aren’t from Europe, you have likely never heard of Plovdiv. Although it has recently appeared on some “up-and-coming” lists of locations for travel and living, it’s still one of the best-kept secrets in Europe.

For digital nomads, it ticks a lot of boxes. From the low cost of living and high quality of life, to the hiring & business opportunities (lowest taxes in EU), the very fast WIFI, the healthy lifestyle options, warm weather, great food, nature, culture, and many other factors, it makes it an easy choice for a home base in Europe. Plovdiv may not be a large city, and it’s a bit rough around the edges, but for that it makes up with lots of other benefits.

I had been to other parts of Bulgaria before many times as a kid (I’m part Bulgarian ethnically), but in the summer of 2015 was my first time coming here as a digital nomad. When my partner and I came to Plovdiv in 2015, we loved it so much that we decided to make it our home base. I even signed my first (ever!) long term lease. I am now proudly a permanent resident of Bulgaria.

Plovdiv is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe (and the 6th oldest in the world), dating back some 8 thousand years. Parts of the old town look like something straight out of Game Of Thrones. The 2,000 year old Ancient Roman Theatre in Plovdiv is still used for shows today!

The city is the second-largest in Bulgaria with about 500,000 inhabitants. It’s a major cultural, production, education, and sports centre in Eastern Europe. Since Bulgaria became a part of the EU in 2007, citizens of most Western countries can travel there visa-free for 3 months.

Plovdiv is set to be the European Capital of Culture in 2019.

Plovdiv nomad score: https://nomadlist.com/plovdiv-bulgaria/scores

Chiang Mai, for comparison: https://nomadlist.com/chiang-mai-thailand/scores

This is my digital nomad guide to Plovdiv. I will keep adding to this resource as time goes on.

My top favourite things about Plovdiv as a digital nomad:

1. Great lifestyle output

Plovdiv has a lot of comforts and a very low cost of living (less than SE Asia in many cases).

As a nomad (staying in airBnBs, eating out for every meal), you can have a great lifestyle in Plovdiv for around $1,500/month. As an expat (staying 3 months or longer), you can have an upper-middle-class lifestyle for less than $1,000/month. Most locals live on less than $500/month.

The lifestyle output is higher than what you get for the same price in Ho Chi Minh City, and is comparable to Chiang Mai. Plovdiv is one of the best places to live in the European Union in terms of value for your money.

2. Some of the fastest internet in the world

Bulgaria has some of the fastest Internet in Europe — and in the world. Actual speeds vary, but it’s not uncommon to have 30mb/s down at a cafe. Free WIFI is available at most cafes and restaurants. If you get your own fiberoptic cable hooked up or go to a co-working space that has it, you can enjoy up to 100mb/s internet. Several companies have also recently started offering Gigabit internet (up to 1,000mb/s).

3. Great cafes and work environments

There are tons of unique cafes with great coffee (costing around 1.5 leva, or 75 euro cents for espresso and 2.5 leva (1.25 euro) for cappuccino). You can sit there for hours with your laptop, and no one minds. Most places serve some sort of food too, so you can just keep ordering and don’t have to interrupt your work.

Check out my list of Plovdiv cafes here.

Co-Working

BizLabs (Bul. 6-ti Septemvri 152). A co-working space for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and teams. Rates from 12 leva (6 euro) per day, 99 leva (50 euro) per month.

Limacon (Bul. Mariza 154A). A spacious co-working and event space for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and companies. Rates from 15 leva (8 euro) per day, 120 leva (60 euro) per month.

Incubator (ul. Bratya Pulevi 4). A small co-working space for artists, musicians, and other creative types. Rates from 15 leva (8 euro) per day, 100 leva (50 euro) per month.

Hackafe (ul. Opalchenska 13). More of an event hub than a co-working place, focused around tech, design, and programming. They hold regular tech-related events, and paid members also get access to the space.

4. Delicious and healthy food

Bulgarian food is healthy and delicious, borrowing from Greek, Turkish, and other Eastern European culinary traditions. Lots of fresh grilled meats, fish, and vegetables. Plus fresh local fruits. Oh, and the dairy. Bulgarian yoghurt and cheese are amazing and world-famous.

It’s easy and cheap to eat healthy here.

A meal at a sit-down restaurant in the center of the city will set you back around 10 leva (5 euro) per person. A meal at a sandwich shop or food stall is 2–4 leva (1–2 euro).

Check out my list of Plovdiv restaurants Foursquare.

Fresh squeezed juice is widely available at cafes and restaurants, with the usual choices being orange, grapefruit, carrot, apple, and beet. A glass usually costs around 4 leva (2 euro).

There are also many supermarkets and several farmer’s markets where you can get groceries if you choose to cook at home. The prices are much lower than in most other European countries, and the quality of produce is excellent.

Bulgaria in general is a major food manufacturer, and there are still many traditional practices in use. The cattle are often raised outdoors rather than in pens, and many vegetables are grown without the use of chemicals.

The Trakia valley around Plovdiv in particular has been famous for its fertile soil for thousands of years. Many wars have been fought over this area, and at one point it was feeding most of the Ottoman army.

And now you can come and enjoy the delicious Bulgarian food for yourself!

5. Many modern, furnished apartments available for around 300 euro / month

When I first came here, I was blown away by what kind of accommodation I could get here for the price. In Chiang Mai or Ho Chi Minh City, a decent 1-bedroom (bedroom + living room) apartment with a kitchen that is close to the center will cost you at least 500 euro/month, likely closer to 1,000.

In Plovdiv, I found lots of much nicer and better equipped apartments for significantly less. The prices below are per month, when you sign a 1-year lease. If renting month-to-month through AirBnB or similar, expect to pay at least double.

You can get a modern 1-bedroom apartment in the center for around 400-600 leva (200-300 euro). Studios can go for as little as 300 leva (150 euro), but may not be very nice at that price. Most apartments for rent have a kitchen and come already furnished.

If you go up to 700 leva (350 euro) per month, you are in the “lux” category, and can get a brand new place with hardwood floors, full kitchen (with washing machine and oven), air con in every room, balcony, nice view, etc.

If you want a bit more space, you can find a modern 2-bedroom (3 room) apartment for 600–800 leva (300–400 euro) per month.

With most long-term rentals, you will have to sign a lease for 12 months, and give a deposit (1 month rent). That said, you can ditch that lease later if you don’t mind losing the deposit.

Utilities (electricity, water, internet) are around 100–150 (50–75 euro) per month on top of rent.

For a foreigner, it’s much easier to use a real estate agent to help you find an apartment than to look for one yourself — just be clear with them what you are looking for. Be aware that you will have to pay an additional 50–100% of the first month’s rent to them as commission.

If you choose to go through AirBnB or something similar, expect to pay double or more of the above listed monthly prices when you rent for 1–3 months. However, if you message the landlord directly you may be able to negotiate a better rate.

6. Nice climate, hot summers and mild winters

Plovdiv is located in southern Bulgaria, and has a subtropical climate with strong continental influences. Summers are hot and humid (May to September), with daytime temperatures between 20 and 35 degrees, sometimes as high as 40. It’s not uncommon to have 30+ degrees for most of June-August.

The winters are cool but mostly mild. In December to February, daytime highs are 5 to 13 degrees, and nighttime lows are -3 to 3 degrees.

It usually does get really cold for a few weeks in December or January (down to -20), but overall Plovdiv has milder winters than Sofia, or Central Europe in general. Even when cold, the winters are often sunny, which makes it more tolerable.

March-April and October-November are shoulder seasons, when you get a combination of summer and winter weather.

The 2015/2016 winter was the hottest one on record, and in was 20 degrees during the day on most days — even in February. It still got below zero several times in December-January. The 2016/2017 winter was the opposite — cold with record snow falls in the whole region. So it does vary.

The rain is more or less equally distributed throughout the year, so you get some rain and some sun during all seasons. Plovdiv has more sunshine than most of Central Europe, and is comparable to Italy or Spain.

The best times to visit, in my opinion, are May-June and September-October. It’s not too hot and not too cold, plus there are a lot of events happening in these months. July and August are often very hot, so Plovdiv can get a bit deserted as the locals head to the beach or their mountain summer homes, and students go back to their home countries.

December-January is the coldest time of the year, and the air quality tends to declines as people use coal to heat their homes.

7. Many sports facilities and parks

Plovdiv is a major sports centre, and has one of the largest sports complexes in Eastern Europe, with a stadium, soccer fields, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor gyms, a rowing channel, and many other things. There are also many private gyms in the city with monthly membership ranging from 30 to 100 leva (15–50 euro) per month. Grand Hotel Plovdiv (ex-Novotel) has a fancy gym with pool and sauna that costs around 100 euro per month.

There are many parks in Plovdiv including several tree-covered hills, a riverside, and many car-free streets and paths where you can go jogging. Almost every park has outdoor exercise equipment.

Plovdiv also has a 6-story tall indoor rock climbing wall, an indoor ice skating rink, a rowing channel, and many yoga, dance and martial arts studios around the city.

8. Hiring opportunities of local talent

Bulgaria has a budding IT sector, with several international companies setting up offices here. There are many smart, young, educated, english-speaking people looking for work, which means great hiring opportunities for foreign business owners. An average office worker gets around 700 leva (350 euro) per month. If you pay more than these wages, you can get some really talented and keen team members for your business. Some areas Bulgarians are often strong in are programming, design, and other creative and technical fields. Customer service and tech support seem to be other popular fields for hiring, and many international companies outsource these jobs to Bulgaria.

9. Ancient history, modern arts & culture scene

Plovdiv is one of the oldest living cities in Europe and the world — at 8 thousand years, it is older than Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem. At different points in history, it was ruled by Thracians, Macedonians, Byzantines, Romans, Ottoman Turks, and Bulgarians, leaving architecture, traditions, and other cultural heritage from each of those civilizations. The city centre has architecture from many periods, and it’s a wonderful trip through time just strolling down the main walking street and the Old Town area.

More on the history of Plovdiv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Plovdiv

Plovdiv also has a rich art & design, theatre, and music scene — both traditional and modern. There are many big and small festivals happening throughout the year.

Notable events & organizations:

For a sampling of events in and around Plovdiv, go here. Another small overview is here.

Free Plovdiv Walking Tour happens daily and all year round, rain or shine. Get to know the history of the City Of The 7 Hills.

Kapana Fest is a music & arts street festival that happens in Plovdiv every June and September. There are many live performances, craft and food vendors, and workshops.

One Foundation hosts three week-long cultural festivals every year: One Design Week, One Architecture Week, and One Dance Week

WakeUp! is a 4-day long open-air music & culture festival that happens every summer in the foothills of Rhodope mountains, close to Plovdiv.

Plovdiv Opera holds a number of live open-air performances every summer at the 2,000 year old Ancient Theatre, and include opera singers from all of Europe.

The Plovdiv International Fair hosts a number of fairs every year, you can check the event calendar here.

Plovdiv Jass Fest happens every November.

10. Proximity to mountains and nature

Plovdiv is located in the Thracian valley, almost at the foot of the Rhodope mountain range. Within only half an hour by car or bus, you are in beautiful mountain wilderness (which isn’t that common in Europe anymore!). There are many hiking trails and occasional cute cobblestone villages to explore. There are also some lakes and rivers to go swimming and fishing. Hunting and foraging for wild berries/mushrooms/herbs is also common here. People come to Bulgaria from all over Europe to do that.

Asenovgrad, for example, is just 30 min away and costs 1.5 leva (0.75 euro) to get to by bus or train from Plovdiv, and has many hiking trails and some notable ruins too. Bachkovo monastery & village is another spot that is just 30 min away.

There are several ski & snowboard resorts in Bulgaria (most are around 2 hours away from Plovdiv by car). Bulgaria is one of the cheapest place in Europe for winter sports.

If you’re a nature lover, you will really enjoy Bulgaria all year round.

11. Expats & Locals

There is a small but nice expat scene in Plovdiv. The thing about Plovdiv in general is that people live here not because they have to, but because they want to. The people don’t come here for the job opportunities or other obligations, they come here because it’s a lovely city.

Most foreigners living in Plovdiv can be put into these groups: entrepreneurs doing business in Bulgaria or online, university students (there are 5 universities in the city), and people who have a Bulgarian partner. Most of the expats I have met here were in their 20s to 40s. Bulgaria also has a fairly large retiree expat crowd, but most of them live in the countryside.

The expat crowd also mixes with the locals quite a bit, particularly with the Bulgarians who lived abroad and then came back.

The Locals

On the surface, sometimes Bulgarians can seem unfriendly, particularly the middle-aged folks (similarly with other Eastern Europeans). It reminded me of being in Vietnam in a way — if you don’t speak the language, sometimes they can just shoo you out of a store as soon as you open your month. In reality, they’re probably just embarrassed that they don’t speak English well and don’t know how to help you.

Either way, it all can change when you smile, make an effort to speak a few words of their language, or show some curiosity. Your warmth will be reciprocated.

That said, the young and educated Bulgarians who were raised in the internet era are often a lot more friendly and worldly than the older generation, and they speak English.

Once you get to know the people here, you fill find out they are incredibly warm, hospitable, and helpful. They take you in like family. If you come to Bulgaria, make sure to meet the locals — your experience of the country will be completely different when you do.

Entrepreneur Scene

Plovdiv’s entrepreneur scene is largely focused around the main industries in the area: IT and web, agriculture & wine, real estate, textiles, and other manufacturing.

The digital nomad scene is not well developed yet, but I think this will change in the near future as more people find out about this city.

Other useful info

Short Stays & Visas

Bulgaria is a member of the EU since 2007, but is not in the Schengen zone yet. EU citizens and citizens of most developed countries can spend 90 days in Bulgaria without needing a visa. Holders of a Schengen visa can also enter Bulgaria for up to 90 days. Otherwise, you can apply for a 90 day tourist visa at your local Bulgarian consulate. You can check the visa requirements here.

Because Bulgarian is not in the Schengen yet, you can use it as a way to stay in Europe all year round visa-free (if you’re American, Canadian, Australian, etc). You can stay 90 days in a Schengen country, then 90 days in Bulgaria, then back to Schengen zone for another 90 days, etc.

Long Stay Visas

If you want to stay in Bulgaria longer than 3 months, you will need to get a D-type visa, which allows you to stay for 6–12 months on the basis of: doing business, work permit, freelancer, student, Bulgarian ethnic origin, married to Bulgarian citizen, member of the family of EU citizen, etc.

Navigating the bureaucracy is difficult if you don’t speak Bulgarian, so I highly recommend that you get a good immigration lawyer to help you. Also, keep in mind that you have to apply for the D-visa from a Bulgarian embassy or consulate in the country where you are legally a resident (so your home country, or somewhere else where you have a residence permit).

Getting Residency in Bulgaria

It is possible to get residency in Bulgaria, including for tax purposes (see tax section below). For EU citizens, this is quite simple (a German friend of mine set it up in about a week). For other citizens, you will need to get a D-visa first plus and a bunch of other documents, which can take many months.

As for my own story, I was able to get a D-visa on the basis of Bulgarian ethnic origin. I had to fly back to Canada to apply for it (I’m a Canadian citizen). I then applied for residency status here in Bulgaria, and as of this update just received it. I was able to do the process by myself without using a lawyer because I speak some Bulgarian, but it was not easy and took me about a year.

English/Foreign languages

Many young urban Bulgarians speak one or several foreign languages, with the most common being English, Russian, and German. If you speak several European languages yourself, you are sure to find a common language here. Many young people speak English, especially those working in sectors that deal with tourism like hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. Overall, the level of spoken English is better than in Thailand or Vietnam. However, old people or those from the countryside often don’t speak English — but you can always get by being friendly and making an effort to understand them, or by trying another language like Russian or German.

Do try to learn some Bulgarian though, locals will really appreciate it and will be much more helpful. I happen to speak some Bulgarian, so I try to use it as much as possible. But in times when I don’t know how to say something, I just say it in Russian or English, and I am always understood in the end.

Getting In & Out

There is a small international airport in Plovdiv with a few companies flying to London, Moscow, and some other European hubs.

For more options, Sofia airport is 2 hours away by bus and has a much larger variety of flights available, including several discount carriers flying in from many European cities.

The cheapest way to get in is to fly to Sofia, and then take the bus to Plovdiv — 2 h, 14 leva (8 euro) or train — 3h, 8–12 leva (4–6 euro).

Getting around

Taxis in Plovdiv are plentiful and cheap. An average ride within the city costs 3–6 leva (1.5–3 euro). The ride from the Plovdiv South bus station to the center is in the same range, rarely more.

Reputable taxi companies always have a four-digit number on the side of the car and a phone number you can call. I usually use one of these taxi companies in Plovdiv: 6155, 6665, 6160.

There are a few rip-off companies, or just solo opportunists posing as taxis. You will end up paying more if you use those. They are usually parked around the bus and train station, waiting for unsuspecting tourists.

In Sofia, OK Supertrans is an ok company, but make sure they always use the meter — particularly when coming from the airport. The fare from Sofia airport to Sofia central train or bus station should be 13–15 leva. The rip-off companies can try to charge you as much as 150 leva, so beware. Some rip-ff companies cabs can look suspiciously similar to the legitimate ones.

Taxi drivers are often from the countryside and don’t speak much English, so it is best to have a piece of paper with the address written down in Bulgarian, or to show them the place on the map.

Plovdiv center is easy and pleasant to get around on foot. There is a 1-km long walking street with many car-free side streets. There is also a brand new network of city bike paths for those who prefer two wheels.

Plovdiv has local bus system, which cost 1 leva to take (50 cents). There are also many buses and trains that can take you to other cities in Bulgaria, and other nearby countries.

You can easily do inexpensive weekend trips to several European countries (and also Turkey), by air or land.

Nightlife and Bars

There are many funky bars in Plovdiv, mostly in Kapana district and around the Walking Street. Many bars serve a variety of cocktails, beers, and wines, and are open late. Some serve shisha or have live music. Outdoor patios are very common. You can find a party at any time of day or night, if you know where to go. Although it’s not as crowded or varied as large cities, the atmosphere makes up for it.

A cocktail at a bar will set you back 4 leva (2 euro). A bottle of wine at a restaurant or bar is around 15 leva (7 euro). A beer is 3 leva (1.5. euro). If you get your liquor at the supermarket, it’s 6 leva (3 euro) for a bottle of wine, and 1 leva (50 cents) for a beer.

Dating

The cultural difference between Bulgaria and other European cultures are not so major, and foreigners dating locals is very common. There are many young people from all over Europe living in Plovdiv, as it’s a major university town.

LGBT

Bulgaria in general is not a very LGBT-friendly place. Homosexuality is not illegal, but it’s socially frowned upon, particularly by the older generation. That said, things are changing and among themselves, young people are quite open. Plovdiv has an LGBT cafe (PLOVEdiv, ul. Kurtevich 3), and a gay bar (Caligula, ul Knyaz Aleksandar 30). Sofia also has a small pride parade happening every summer.

Attitude Towards Foreigners

In general, Bulgarians are friendly towards other Europeans, as well as people of Turkish and Jewish decent, since there are many of them here. But they can be somewhat reserved towards racial minorities (although not unfriendly), mainly because there aren’t many people of color in the country. However, in Plovdiv there are many foreign students and a fair number of tourists (including those coming from North America and Asia), so even that is changing.

There is a bit of a generational gap in the attitudes towards foreigners — many young people, particularly those who are educated or have been outside of Bulgaria — are very open minded and welcoming. Whereas the older people or those from small villages are a bit more reserved in that sense. The only ethnic group I have heard people being outright negativity towards is the gypsies.

In any case, Plovdiv is a safe place for foreigners and people of color — the worst you might get is someone who don’t know how to deal with you because they don’t speak your language.

Safety

Plovdiv is a very safe city — much safer than Sofia or the Bulgarian seaside, for example. As a female, I feel safe walking home alone after dark in the central parts of the city. I have left my laptop on the table while going to the bathroom at a cafe many times. That said, you should always keep your wits about you to matter where you are.

One thing you want to watch out for are the illegitimate taxis. Not because of safety, but because of potential rip-offs. This is particularly a problem in Sofia or the touristy parts of the seaside and mountain resorts, but I have also experienced minor cases in Plovdiv.

Places you may want to avoid going to alone, in Plovdiv and elsewhere in Bulgaria, are the gypsy neighbourhoods (“mahala”), which are mostly on the outskirts of the city. Theft is common in these parts. Not to say you shouldn’t go there at all, but probably best to go with someone who knows the area and speaks the local language.

Shopping

Bulgaria has great shopping. They are a major manufacturing centre in EU. Big brands like H&M, Zara, and others have factories here. There are also many small independent brands of clothes and shoes that are high quality for the price (those are my favourite — so many unique styles). You can get high quality mens leather shoes for 70 leva (35 euro), and womens leather sandals for 20 leva (10 euro). There are several malls in Plovdiv and many more in Sofia, as well as many shops along the walking street.

The handmade / craft culture is also alive and well, so you can buy many beautiful things made with love — pottery, carved wood, textiles, jewelry, rose oil cosmetics, etc. Many of these are located around the Old Town and Kapana areas.

There are several farmers markets in the city where you can buy fresh local produce, wild herbs, honey, pottery, and other goods.

Plovdiv also has a budding health product scene, with new health shops popping up monthly. You can easily find vitamins, supplements, and organic products.

And of course, there are many supermarkets of all sorts.

Money and Banking

The currency of Bulgaria is leva, which is pegged to the euro at a rate of 1.95, so 1 leva is approx. 0.50 euro cents. There are many banks and ATMs, as well as money exchange booths.

Getting a bank account is super easy for foreigners. I set one up in 15 minutes with only my rental contract and phone number in hand. I got two accounts actually, one in leva and one in euro, and each of my bank cards with have Visa and Mastercard built-in respectively.

Medical services

There are many modern medical clinics in Plovdiv with dental work, surgery, and other medical services available at lower rates than Western Europe or North America. Medical tourism has been developing here in the last few years.

Health insurance

If you decide to stay in Bulgaria long term, you will need to get health insurance. Unika offers 1 year of health insurance for 160 leva. This covers any accidents or unexpected illness.

Families

Plovdiv is a very family-friendly city. There are many young families everywhere. Many walkable streets, parks with playgrounds, and lots of activities. It seems like many Bulgarians move to Plovdiv to have a family. There are several private or international schools.

Air Quality

For most of the year, the air quality in Plovdiv is ok. There is not a lot of heavy industry in the area, the car traffic is light. Comparing to Sofia, for example, the air feels much better.

The only issue is that many households in Plovdiv (and Bulgaria in general) still use coal for heating in the winter. So the air quality declines in the coldest winter months, namely December and January. These two months are responsible for Plovdiv’s reputation for non-stellar air quality. The rest of the year the air is fine, and is comparable to other cities in Central and Southern Europe.

All that said, even the worst winter day in Plovdiv is about the same as an average day in Bangkok or Saigon in terms of air quality (in ppm).

Taxes

Bulgaria has a 10% flat tax rate for both personal and corporate taxes, which makes it an attractive place to have residency or register a business. Several European companies are based here for that reason (and also for the labour). It is quite easy for an EU citizen to become a tax resident of Bulgaria. It’s possible to set it up in a couple of weeks. For non-EU citizens, the process is a bit more complex and takes longer, but still possible.

Did I miss anything? Let me know and I will be happy to update this guide.