Bulgaria: a random combo of interpretive dancers, babies, and Belgium boy scouts

So, Bulgaria is nothing like I expected. I thought it would be small towns with cute houses, big gothic castles, and cloudy. I got the cloudy aspect, but not much else! It's a pretty normal town, just not many tourists. Literally, every time we have walked to and from the ship, there are like 20 locals taking pictures of it! We made the news a few days before we came and all the taxi drivers knew us hahah. We were famous. I guess this isn't a touristy town? Hahah but yeah. Varna, Bulgaria is a really cool place. Everyone is way nice and the city is pretty normal, if not extremely random. 


We got here on day one and it was cold outside at breakfast! Like so cold we had to go inside. So I was pumped for not sweating my face off everyday! Everyone was going on the jeep safari (close friends AND backups!) so I HAD to get on it. After we were cleared I literally bolted down to the loading area and was 2nd on the waitlist to get on if people didn't show up (since the tour was completely full) behind McKenna. After a period of tedious waiting and making sure the lady in charge knew we were first, a girl randomly came up to me and handed me a ticket saying she was sick. I, of course, gave it to McKenna because she was ahead of me. So I was first in line. Turns out I didn't get on because stupid idiot girls hopped on jeeps before we were allowed and then the brat lady in charge basically screwed me. So I was livid... I still can't believe that happened. So I told my tale of woe to Emily (the Sr Frogs girl) while I waved them away (they had a blast and took adorable pictures in sunflower fields). I snagged on to their group and knew a total of 2 people ... Oops hahah. We started walking and Emily went to the beach and I kept going with part of the other group... I was crashing them big time hahah. So we walked around a bit, had a blast doing absolutely nothing, and ate at the happiest place in the world--Happy Bar and Grill. It's basically the Chili’s of Varna, so it was pretty dang good. Also, the lev ($$) is like how we were to the euro so everything is so cheap! 5 lev meals with a drink=$3.50!!! It's awesome.

After that they wanted to go to the mall and since that didn't seem fun in the least, I went to the Archeological Museum which is supposed to be one of the best collections in the world. It was awesome to be by myself, I could do what I wanted when I wanted. So I was in and out of so many places that it took me over an hour to walk a mile to the museum. One thing about Bulgaria is that the museums and other places are not marked very well, they look like houses and completely blend in! So I missed it a few times. Inside I didn't see a ticket booth so I walked right in! And it was EMPTY. Completely empty of people and of artifacts. They must've been renovating because there were like 4 rooms- 1 of old coins, 2 of icons, 1 of rocks. Very disappointing. There were lots of closed doors so I thought maybe there was stuff in them, but I got yelled at (I think? Bulgarian is hard) by an old lady. Then I talked to this old man for like 30 minutes about coins (a very strange convo) and walked over to the casino/shopping strip. It's so random but there are like 15 casinos in Varna! I didn't go in (should've played some blackjack!) and then got back to the ship at like 4. I sorta took a nap while I waited for everyone to get back from the jeep safari. When they did, they said they made super good friends with their tour guide and she was going out with us that night.

Nia is super duper cool. She is only 18 and still in high school, but she is awesome. She took us to her favorite bar, which was a super swanky, like couches with mood lights-style. I felt like I was in Sex in the City. Randy was with us and I think he was enjoying it more than us! It was awesome. It was weird because there was this little boy, probably like 5 or 6, running around with a glow stick looking to play with someone. Obviously, he camped out at our table for like 45 minutes. Super cute, but strange to encounter in a bar. Amanda, Nikki, and I went to a bar to get a beer and the owner basically gave us the stink eye. By the time we finished our drinks, she invited us out to dinner! She was old (probably like 30-35), but that just shows how awesome and friendly Bulgarians are (nothing like we were told!!) After that, Nia took us to the club (which every single SASer was at) and got us in. She went home but we stayed out and had so much fun. Then, when we got back to the ship, Nikki and Kellie each got their cameras and money stolen! Ay yi yi!!


The next morning, Nikki, Kellie, and I got up and went to walk around. And boy did we walk! We probably walked 10 miles and I am NOT exaggerating. My calves felt like they'd pop right through my skin! So painful. We were in the Sea Garden, basically a garden by the sea (durrr), when we noticed the babies. They are everywhere!!! So many cute kiddos. Literally, I think like 15 kids ran into me that day... it was an adorable overload! As we were walking we saw a random greenhouse-style hut place, which said terrarium on the roof. We went over and it was a hut full of snakes in what looked like 10 gallon aquariums! They had like 20 and he let us hold all the nonpoisonous snakes (not really all of us, I was the only one who would hahaha). There was a huge boa that I wanted us all to get a hold of and take a pic, but they wouldn't :( we did all hold a gecko though! He had a spitting cobra (what we shall see in Morocco!!) and when I asked about it, he got out a toy sand shovel and started hitting it! It was cool to see it spit, but it was really sad how mean he was.  After that we just walked around some more and headed back to meet Nia at dinner at 8. We got there and noticed she had invited the LLCs (basically our RAs and the higher ups who aren't really supposed to drink or party with us) so we were like ehhh. But we had a good dinner! Everyone got sushi and I got Bulgarian-style smooshed meatballs with potatoes (said Nia), yummmm.

After that we just walked around in the downtown area and saw the most random things. First there were fire dancers, which was kind of cool. But then we ran into a group of Native American people who were interpretive dancing. One dude, in full feather headdress and deer skin coat, was really bad fake playing the little flute thingy while a baby boy, who was probably 5, was banging those rattles. Then, three other people, a man and 2 women (dressed up!) were interpretive dancing to the music around a campfire and teepee. It was hilarious!! Then, Nia ran into her friends Jung and Alec and we went to a bar with them. They started talking about Barack and politics like they knew all about it, so all of us kinda got rubbed the wrong way. They were only 16, which we later learned!!! Pedophiles hahah. The bar was just as swanky as the other one except Indian/ Buddhist style (they sure know how to make bars cute in Varna!!). We left and were so tired that we went home and I was in bed by one. It was great!


We were supposed to wake up and meet Nia for bungee jumping that morning, but literally everyone bailed. It made me so mad. I can handle it if people just don't want to do something, but if you call my room 15 minutes before we are supposed to leave saying you don't wanna anymore, I'll be pissed and livid all day. So yeah. We had to text and ditch poor Nia that day. We went to the beach and helped this Bulgarian girl with her English homework (“collaborate means”... Hahaha). It was alright but jumping would’ve been wayyyyy better. Then we ate at an all Bulgarian restaurant (literally we pointed at some random word and said "da") and saw the main orthodox cathedral (which we didn’t go in because they didn’t want to spend the money). We took a taxi to the Dolphinarium (like a Sea World without the World and only dolphin shows) and they went in while I went to the Museum of Natural Science. It was closed (even though it should be open till 4 but whatever) so I bunkered down at a café for an hour till their show got off. Then we took a taxi home to the ship and got dressed up for dinner. We decided since it was our last night we should eat somewhere nice. We were walking on the coastline by all these cute and swanky restaurants and heard Backstreet Boys playing… so you know where we ate! It’s so random that they only listen to 90’s music in all these countries! I love it, but it’s so strange! We got appetizers and salads and main courses… our nice meal cost less than 10 US dollars and it was super tasty! I love using levs, thank goodness everything is getting cheaper and we no longer have to use those crappy euros! Yay for saving money and getting stuff for cheap!

After that, we decided to get happy fruity cocktails at a place that is in the Guinness Book for having the most selections in the world. We saw some friends and hung out there for a while. We moved on towards the ship and somehow met a guy named Yosef from Istanbul who we are going to hang out with tomorrow (I got his number!) and a group of Belgium boy scouts! So random, but we had a blast with all them.
The last morning I had an FDP at 8:30. I woke up early with Nikki because she wanted to try to get on the trip, but didn’t have a ticket. She got on and we headed to Nessebar, a UNESCO town on the sea that is prized for it’s Byzantine churches and ancient city walls. It was adorable there. We went with our Global Studies prof who knew all about it, so we learned a lot! The churches were awesome. They are all richly decorated with gold paintings… and I mean everywhere. On the walls, the roofs, the columns… it is amazing. You had to pay a fee to take pictures, so I didn’t get any (which I am now regretting), but it was amazing. After all the history stuff, we had free time to do what we wanted… so we shopped. We found nesting dolls and I nearly got the Harry Potter ones but didn’t. I regret that too! There were thousands of tourist shops… that is probably all they had. Nia had told us that Nessebar was about to get taken off the UNESCO list because it is getting too touristy, and I now understand. Every road was jammed pack with the same shop of magnets, postcards, wooden trinkets, and tshirts. I loved it… but it was a tad much for a “preserved” medieval town. But it was fun! On the drive back I actually stayed awake somehow and saw the countryside. It was exactly how I imagined Bulgaria to be like… broken down houses, fields of sunflowers, donkeys… I even saw a pack of hogs in the field! It was crazy, but beautiful. The rolling hills…. So pretty. After that it was time to get back on the ship, so we got on and passed out nearly immediately after dinner. Such a long day.

Today was Turkey Day. Since there is only one class day between Bulgaria and Turkey, we only go to Global Studies class. The lecture was so interesting! I almost wanted to skip out so I could start researching Istanbul, which I think I already love. It was just so cool to learn about a place I had never studied! So now I’ve been holed up in the library for a while just researching palace after palace, mosque after mosque, bazaar after bazaar. I don’t know how I am going to see all these places in 2 days!! I signed up for a trip to Cappadocia and Ephesus (which I am completely STOKED for!!!) but I am just freaking about seeing Istanbul. Hopefully it all works out! I think I am already running out of space under my bed for all the stuff I’ve picked up in my travels, so hopefully there is enough for all the carpets and purses and clothes and lanterns and slippers and jewelry and…. Well, you get the idea. EEEEK we shall see!!