Today was an interesting day to say the least.
We were woken up early by the Assistant Executive Dean blasting her token "Attention please! Attention please!" over the loud speakers to inform us that we have arrived in Varna. After eating some breakfast, we had a diplomatic briefing from the Bulgarian US Ambassador. He gave us an interesting presentation on the country and on the US-Bulgarian relationship. The average income per person in Bulgaria is only 13,000 Leva, which is very low in our eyes, however they have a virtually perfect economy with their national debt at only 13% GDP (a striking comparison to Greece's 145%). Also, the US and Bulgaria's relationship is the best it has ever been. I had no idea that we had such strong ties with this country. After the briefing we each had to go through immigration one by one, which was interesting because usually they just hand over everybody's passports and the ship is cleared as a whole.
I did end up going on the "Wonders of Bulgaria" field program. It was pretty neat. Our fist stop was to the Aladzha Monastery. It is no longer a functioning monastery, but a museum and an attraction. It was beautiful. Tucked away in a forest, you would never have realized it was there. It was so green and so lush. I definitely felt a sense of calm in the nature. The really neat part was the fact that the rooms for the monastery were carved into a cave. We got to climb through the caves, and there were even some catacombs!
Our next stop was at The Stone Forest, which was a "forest" of giant rock formations. Scientists have determined that it was not man-made, but they have not discovered the cause. It was so cool! Some of the rocks look like different things. There was one that looked like a face, one that looked like a poodle, one that looked like a heart, and one that looked like...well, let's just say it was called "The Stone of Fertility." In the middle of the forest, there was the "magic circle," which supposedly has healing powers. We all put our hands on the stones and were barefoot in the sand. I didn't really feel the positive energy, but it's a nice thought. At the gift shop I bought some postcards and some authentic Bulgarian rose oil. Rose oil is a very special Bulgarian product. Not only does it have a wonderful fragrance, but it also is supposed to help with sleep, stress, health, etc. I thought that was a very uniquely Bulgarian item to get!
After the trip, we headed back to the ship for dinner. My friends and I decided to go out to the Bulgarian Summer Music Festival, which was a free outdoor concert...IN A ROMAN RUIN! How cool, right? Tonight's performance was entirely percussion, and they were very talented. On our way to and from the concert, we ran into a baby kitten who couldn't have been more than 4 weeks old on the sidewalk, and it tore my, Lindsay, and Caroline's hearts apart to leave it alone on the street. It was so cute and so little.
We came back to the ship, and I decided to stay in for the rest of the night. Bad news #1...I think I left my camera on the bus on my trip. I'm so disappointed in myself. I am always so anal about making sure it is with me at all times, and I swore to myself that I would not lose anything on this trip. I suppose worse things could happen though. My roommate got her credit card stolen in Greece and they made charges on her card. My friend has an extra camera with her on the trip, so luckily I can just use that for the rest of the trip. Also luckily, I had just uploaded my pictures last night, so the only pictures I lost were the ones from today, and I can steal Amanda's pictures from the trip. I am very sad that I lost it though. I'm going to keep checking at the purser's desk to see if anyone found it and turned it in.
(Kind of) Bad News # 2...I got my first B of the voyage on my Race, Class, and Gender paper. My teacher tore it apart. The funny thing is that on my last paper my TA tore it apart, but my teacher gave me an A, and then on this one, my TA liked it, and my teacher tore it apart. Oh well. As bummed as I am to end the A streak I had going on, it had to happen at some point. Constructive criticism is always a good thing. I turned in my Photo Essay (where we had to take pictures based on a theme in our class and write about them) today for that class, and I'm happy with it. I chose the topic of the breaking of gender roles in the countries we have visited. I got pictures of female police officers, men with children, a male dancer, and a female coast guard officer. I think I tied it together nicely. Hopefully she doesn't tear that one apart too! Even though technically it doesn't matter if I get A's in these classes because they don't factor into my GPA, I just get the credits, I still want to get A's because 1. it will help when I apply for the Spring 2012 Voyage, and 2. It will look really good for grad school applications to have all A's on a UVA transcript.
Bad News #3...I had a mini breakdown tonight. Finally the exhaustion and the stress of everything came down on me, and I just started sobbing. I suppose it was good though because I haven't really cried in a very, very long time, and it needed to be let out. I'm really homesick too. I miss my parents and my cat a lot. I wish I could call them, but I don't know where wi-fi is to Skype them, and a phone card costs $20 for only 13 minutes on the ship. Being on this voyage has made me realize how much I appreciate my parents and how much they mean to me. I love you, Mom and Dad.
I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted right now, watching Crash, and getting ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new start. I think my friends and I are going to try to go swim with dolphins! I really hope we can!!!
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