Today was interesting. I looked outside for the first time at breakfast (since there is no window in my room!) and we were stopped! We were parked in a little cove with houses on either side within view! A few jet skis were traveling right past us and we waved, we were that close! As I am typing this, we can see people swimming a couple hundred yards away… too bad we can’t join them! So anyways, we immediately went to the GPS map of the ship’s location and noted we were only 2.3 miles away from Varna, Bulgaria! At global studies, the dean said that we made real good time on the Bosporus, which can take a long time because of the winding and windy/wave-y nature of the canal, so we arrived a full day early! So we have been sitting a mere 2 miles away from Bulgaria taking classes and sitting inside! LAME. What a tease, right? So when we went to lay out on the deck to sleep/ pass the time by not studying, the no wind aspect made us literally DRIP with sweat. Super. But yes, we should be at Varna at 8am!

At our preport informational, it was basically all warnings. Always ask for a governmental official’s ID (scams), make sure a local uses an ATM before you (scanned cards= bad news), don’t go to a club with fancy cars outside of it (thugs and pimps), ect. So yay! Not to mention the bombings a few days ago in the capital (where I won’t be going), the increased political unrest, and the still steady human trafficking, prostitution, and black markets! So, maybe I’ll get a good story out of this country! The alphabet is even MORE complex than Greek (what on earth does a backwards n or upside down y sound like?!), they legit dislike Americans (Anderson is kind of British right? hahah), and the public transportation is even worse than Italy! So we are expecting more taxi/bus/metro woes and a few mishaps. Should prove to be vettty vettty interesting! I legit cannot wait :)