Published on
This article is also available in German: undweg2016 – Wie eine deutsche Familie in Bulgarien ein neues Leben begann
There is no shortage of guides, first-hand accounts and forum threads about moving abroad. Very few people document the step as honestly, as thoroughly and over as many years as Ben and Lena Jung have with undweg2016.com.
Since 2016 they have told their story there — from the decision to leave Germany, through the friction of Bulgarian daily life, to becoming part of the village of Brăknitsa. Their route shows what it actually takes to turn an idea into an entirely different life.
In autumn 2016 Ben and Lena decided their life in Germany no longer matched what they wanted. Bureaucracy, rising costs and the feeling of being stuck had sharpened the wish for change. With their son they set off for Bulgaria — a country they knew only from travelling.
Importantly, this was not a snap decision. They had prepared the move at length, gathering information and planning. They did not want simply to leave; they wanted a genuine new start, with realistic expectations.
They chose a small village in northern Bulgaria: Brăknitsa. The plan was to live there on trial and find out whether it suited them. Within weeks of arriving they started looking for a house of their own.
The path there was rocky: contracts fell through, viewings disappointed, and not every tip from an agent proved useful. But it paid off. In spring 2017 the family moved into their own house.
On undweg2016.com Ben and Lena write openly about how daily life feels: idyllic at times, demanding at others. Power cuts, unfamiliar administration, neighbours who work differently from what you knew — all of it is part of the deal.
At the same time they found what village life offers: space, nature, self-determination. Before long they kept goats, chickens and cats, planted a garden and repaired the house piece by piece. Their blog shows how much such work slows life down — and how physically demanding it is.
Working with animals is a large part of their life. They arrived with two dogs, and the number of animal housemates grew quickly — the goats Betty and Luzie, cats such as Frodo and Rosi, and a succession of rescued street dogs.
Their reports on local animal welfare are the most striking part. Rather than watching, Ben and Lena organised neutering campaigns to reduce the suffering of street dogs and cats, documenting each one transparently on their site — down to the animals' names and the costs. It is a good demonstration of how small-scale commitment adds up.
One of the biggest hurdles was the language. Cyrillic and Bulgarian grammar were unfamiliar territory. Instead of giving up, they made learning a fixed part of daily life. Step by step they were able to make themselves understood in the village, chat with neighbours and handle official business themselves.
Today they pass on that experience in books intended to make the start easier for others. Their message is blunt: without the language you stay a foreigner; with it you become a neighbour.
Their titles cover reading and writing Cyrillic, and a full A1 Bulgarian coursebook. Both are available through the usual booksellers; we have no commercial relationship with them.
What makes undweg2016.com unusual is the range of formats. Alongside the blog, Ben and Lena run a YouTube channel with more than 130 videos, showing village life in motion — outings, viewers' questions, milking their first goat.
On Instagram they post house renovations, landscapes and animals. Their Facebook page connects them to a community of people doing something similar, and with a fellow expat they run the podcast Prikaski, in which they talk about village life.
What began as "let us document our move" has become a multimedia diary that a lot of people use as a point of orientation.
Over time the public noticed. Ben and Lena have appeared on radio programmes including Deutschlandfunk Kultur, on the Bulgarian international service BNR and on the podcast Einfach Aussteigen. Their story stands for a much larger group of Germans who have found a new home in Bulgaria — and shows that moving abroad need be neither an escape nor a luxury.
Ben and Lena do not see themselves as dropouts but as immigrants who want an ordinary family life in Bulgaria, under different conditions. Their blog is not a glossy magazine; it is an honest record of country life, with the highs, the lows and the setbacks.
That is exactly what makes it valuable. It shows that moving abroad is more than a dream of a better life — it is a mixture of work, nerve, adaptation and real pleasure in something new. Anyone looking there will not find quick recipes, only first-hand experience.
If you are weighing up a move yourself, the practical first steps are on our living in Bulgaria page, and the rest of the accounts are on the blog.
You are here: Living & growing
Relocation & Living
Moved from Bansko to Sofia? Depending on your residence status there are one or two authorities to notify – and the order is not arbitrary. Which deadline runs, why the municipality comes before Migration, and what this typically fails on.
Relocation & Living
Only the owner signs – the tenants do not, and they do not have to go to the notary either. What belongs in the declaration, which notarisation type matches which status, and why a married couple needs two originals.
Relocation & Living
Ask this in any expat group and you get three contradictory answers – and all three can be right. Why that happens, which three procedures keep getting confused, and which type of notarisation actually belongs to your residence status.