I am currently doing a masters degree program at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics in Sofia. This institute is a part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences which is the foremost academical entity in Bulgaria, so I am pretty happy to be there. Even though our Institute doesn't have the technological base to compare to Japanese universities, it does a very good job in the theoretical advancement of science, which is all fine with me as I don't really care too much about practical applications anyway!

The IMI has quite a big staff of professors and doctorants. It doesn't have a lot of students, because it only offers higher degrees of education and professors work personally with small groups of students, but this statement is actually misleading. The IMI has very close relationships with the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (FMI) of Sofia University. Most of the professors in IMI are teaching in FMI and vice-versa. Students of IMI thus actually sometimes take lectures in FMI where there are a whole lot more of students you can meet. It is quite often that bachelor diplomants from Sofia University continue their education in the IMI, just like I did.

It is located in the BAS complex in Sofia, in a very quiet place (it actually looks even a little deserted!) next to a few parks and some sports facilities. Apart from the projects you would usually expect from a Computer Science/Maths facility, the IMI actually takes part in many other projects, usually in cooperation with other institutes of the Academy. Intradisciplinary research is pretty popular and a great opportunity for people like me who have a hard time deciding what branch of science they like the most.

As for the FMI, it is a part of Sofia University - the largest and oldest university in Bulgaria. FMI is one of the most popular places to study in my city and Computer Science majors are usually rivaled only by law and economics majors. I really love that place, as I spent so much time there in the last few years, and I wholeheartedly appreciate the way the staff is taking care to make it better and better, both in terms of appearance, and in terms of science. For me, it was a great place to study.