Names:Ruzhitsa Bogeska (right)and Bilyana Ermanoska

From: Prilep, Macedonia

Age: 22

THOUGH they grew up in the same Macedonian town, Ruzhitsa Bogeska and Bilyana Ermanoska didn't meet each other until they came to Bulgaria four years ago to study molecular biology. Since then they've been inseparable and have now made history by being the first joint Expat of the week interviewees.

Neither felt very welcome when they first arrived here, and both murmured negatively when I asked if they felt better now. "We were known simply as 'the Macedonian girls' by our Bulgarian classmates," Ruzhitsa recalled. "They made very little effort to get to know us, and even now they get our names mixed up." There is definitely no love lost between the two nations, she agreed, admitting that Macedonians don't think much of Bulgarians either. "It's all about politics," she said. "I'm not a patriot and I soon got very bored of everyone telling me I was really a Bulgarian - I just had to say 'stiga bay!' (enough)."

"On our first field trip we were with a Mongolian friend and the three of us were left outside the group because we were foreigners," Bilyana said. "We didn't speak Bulgarian so well at the beginning although our languages are very close, and few people tried, or wanted, to understand us." Ruzhitsa added that she feels Bulgarians don't just have a problem with Macedonians, but are xenophobic in general.

"I never expected this from a city like Sofia," she said. "I hoped there would be such a mixture of people here, but I found day in day out that we were stereotyped and people kept repeating the same things to us about Macedonia being part of Bulgaria."

"Macedonia is called Western Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Northern Greece, and even Albania depending on who you speak to," said Bilyana, "but it's simply the country where I grew up. What bothers me is that when people say 'You're Greek', or whatever, they attack your identity. I feel Macedonian, I speak Macedonian, I'm like a tree that grew in a particular place and everyone wants to cut my roots."

Both girls acknowledged that the problem has a long and complex history, which will take years if it can ever be solved. Bilyana told the story of her two great-grandfathers that were killed during the Balkan Wars - one by Bulgarians and the other by Serbs. "They were both Macedonians but fought for different sides," she explained.

Asked what their message would be for both Macedonians and Bulgarians, Ruzhitsa agreed with Bilyana's answer that people should see with their hearts rather than with the minds of their leaders, or through history.

There was, however, a spark of bright positivity from the two girls, who manage to have great fun together with their close friends despite their challenging environment. Two weeks ago, they were invited to visit their Bulgarian roommate's family in Drianovo, Central Bulgaria. "It was really great," both enthused. "Her parents were so hospitable and there was no discussion of politics - they didn't give us less food because we were Macedonian!" Bilyana said. "That was when I first saw the similarities between Bulgaria and Macedonia," she continued. "We sat at the table together, drank, ate and talked. We are nice people with a lot in common, but politics separate us."

Other positive aspects of the country, according to the girls, are its natural beauty and its seacoast, which Macedonia lacks, though neither Ruzhitsa nor Bilyana have managed to reach the sea in four years despite many plans to do so. "We do hope to go before we leave," said Ruzhitsa. "It's been a combination of lack of time and money, as well as laziness that's stopped us so far."

As for the future, they both expect to return to Macedonia after their studies. "I think that foreigners in Bulgaria will always feel like foreigners," Bilyana concluded. "You can be accepted to some extent, but you'll still be a foreigner."