Senior Judge Evgeni Georgiev of the Sofia City Court is a two-time Fulbright Scholar. A specialist in mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), he is widely recognized as Bulgaria’s leading expert in the field. He is also the founder of the Fulbright Court Internship Program for Bulgarian law students, which has been creating new pathways for academic and professional exchange between Bulgaria and the United States for more than a decade. Throughout his career, the Fulbright exchange and its global network have played an instrumental role in his professional growth and international engagement.
In the reflections that follow, however, Judge Georgiev turns to another dimension of the Fulbright experience—the transformative power of cultural immersion, authentic intercultural dialogue, friendship, and cooperation across places and generations. As we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Fulbright Program, we are honored to share his account as a testament to the program’s enduring legacy and its profound human impact.
By Judge Evgeni Georgiev
While few people in Bulgaria know much about Missouri, almost everyone knows something about New York. I was no exception.
Before embarking on my second Fulbright experience, my knowledge of the Show-Me State was limited to Jesse James and Mark Twain. Yet thanks to my friends Dora and Kevin Fichter and Professor Paul Ladehoff, who hosted me at the University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law), I not only discovered the state—I began to identify as a Missourian hillbilly and genuinely took pride in that new identity.
I arrived in St. Louis in late August and continued on to Jefferson City, the state capital. The wide plains immediately reminded me of my birthplace, Dobrudzha. That unexpected resemblance created an instant sense of belonging. As I approached “Jeff City,” the plains rose into rolling hills covered with oak trees and crossed by rivers—rivers that, though as wide as the Iskar back home, were simply “creeks” to Kevin.
Dora, a Fulbright alumna, and her husband Kevin opened their world to me with extraordinary generosity. They took me to a bull-riding rodeo, floating on a nearby creek, and the unforgettable pumpkin festival in Hartsburg. We visited Hermann, founded by German settlers in the nineteenth century, and Fulton, where Churchill delivered his famous “Iron Curtain” speech. Kevin introduced me to his pork barbecue—my favorite item there being A.B.T.s—as well as pork rinds and even fried pickles. On some Saturdays, we worked together in the yard, and our proudest achievement was fixing the zero-turn mower.
I immersed myself fully in Missourian life, helped in no small part by “the Wild Beast”—a 1995 Chevy Silverado pickup truck Dora and Kevin generously lent me. During my fifty-minute commute to Columbia, listening to Kat Country radio, I felt an unexpected sense of freedom. Somewhere along those open roads, I began to understand what it meant—at least in spirit—to be a Missourian hillbilly.
Professionally, Missouri proved just as rewarding. As a pioneer in court-connected Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mizzou Law offered not only expertise but intellectual generosity. It was the ideal environment to deepen my research and learn from practitioners who helped shape the field.
By late October, I left my Midwestern nest for New York City. The transition was striking: from forested hills and pickup-truck commutes to skyscraper-lined Manhattan, home of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and to the bustling, predominantly Asian neighborhood of Flushing, Queens, where I lived in the apartment of Fred Rooney, a fellow Fulbright alumnus who generously provided me with a home.
At first, transforming from a hillbilly into a New York Yankee was exhausting. The pace was relentless, the energy electric. Yet I soon found myself captivated by the city’s diversity. Each morning, I watched people from across Latin America and Asia rushing toward the subway in a city that never sleeps. At Cardozo School of Law, my hosts, Professors Andrea Schneider and Robyn Weinstein, supported my research with warmth and enthusiasm. My friend Hue Yang introduced me to the rhythms and flavors of Flushing’s Asian community, expanding my understanding of a culture both vibrant and intricate.
My sense of New York as a global crossroads was sealed during a Thanksgiving dinner with more than twenty people from four countries and three racial backgrounds, speaking four native languages. It was a celebration not only of gratitude but of coexistence. Slowly, I was becoming a Yankee. Yet I kept my Missourian straw hat on the refrigerator at home—a quiet reminder of the hills and open roads I had so recently left behind.
Beyond Missouri and New York, my journey also took me to San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Annapolis, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Midway, Utah, where I reconnected with dear friends and formed new professional partnerships. Each encounter added another layer to an already rich experience.
I returned to Bulgaria energized and inspired to continue my work in ADR. For this opportunity, I am deeply grateful to the Fulbright Commission in Bulgaria. I am also thankful that I was able to visit the grave of my dear friend, Judge Steven Plotkin, who was an important mentor during my first Fulbright in New Orleans way back in 2002. I miss him deeply, and I carried his memory with me throughout this journey.
Somewhere between the rolling hills of Missouri and the subways of New York, I learned that identity is not something we leave behind when we move—it is something we build, layer by layer. I returned home not only as a scholar, but as both a Missourian hillbilly and a New York Yankee—enriched by the people, places, and partnerships that define the Fulbright experience.