Here's another Bulgarian in London's take:
The culture is toxic. Especially if you are a student in your 20s. Violence is not uncommon and people generally look at you in a dominant way, even if you're not frail. I am not part of the minority but I believe if you were an evident homosexual it would be easy to get beat up/bullied.
Envy, especially prevalent outside the "big" Sofia, is everywhere. From my experience, people are very materialistic in Bulgaria - perhaps it is the lack that causes them to be such.
Small, close-minded people are very prevalent too. It is very hard to find open-minded people who believe in possibilities. Lots of pessimism.
Quality of life is bad - there is no Amazon where you can "just" order what you want, copies of services like UberEats/Deliveroo are awful and do not offer high-quality food. In fact, the food is generally of low quality here in Bulgaria - a ton of cheap bad-quality imports. Finding quality food means going to local farmer's markets and special shops which is very time consuming. No Uber/Lyft but an awful Taxi system where I can swear every driver is a horrendous human being. I always cringe and try to keep my mouth shut as to not engage in a conversation when I am riding in a Bulgarian taxi.
I recently traveled from Madrid to Sofia on a road trip and I immediately noticed the horrendous customer service in Bulgaria compared to all the other countries I passed. Many people are miserable and cannot break a smile even if you made them. Not to say they're not justified but from my point of view I would rather not be surrounded by it.
Nobody in the comments mentioned how incredibly dirty Bulgaria, and especially Sofia, are. In the winter the snow never gets cleaned and walking places becomes very difficult - a real drag. Roads are horrendous and full of mud, dirty snow, etc. The air pollution in Sofia is one of the worst in Europe - I've lived there for two years and depending on the region, you can be forced to have your windows at home closed during the winter in order to avoid your house smelling like dirt.
And as somebody else had said, as a native, it is incredibly easy to get dragged back into the negatives of the country. I almost feel as if this place has been ruined for me permanently because I disliked living there for so long during my childhood.
Bulgaria is not all bad, obviously, every place has some good and some bad. Perhaps it is not a bad place to try out as a foreigner - other foreigners seem to like it and there are constantly news in the Bulgarian media of how "X" Australian family moved to live in a small rural village and are enjoying life to the fullest.
One thing that stands out to me in Bulgaria is the quality of women. This may be because of my nationality, but I find most Bulgarian women very attractive. Further, a lot of them have been taught the right beliefs and are not after money/attention but are rather looking for a stable decent man to fall in love with.
That being said, I don't think I can ever come back and live a full life here. Perhaps I can hang out in some mountain village when I want a break from society, or rent a summer flat on the beach when I want to have some fun, but I never see myself living the normal life of working a satisfying 9-5 in this country - the environment is just not conducive to that.