Sunday 24:
Before we could disembark, a US ambassador came on the ship to speak to us about Bulgaria. He talked to us about Bulgaria’s government, economy, briefed us a little bit about its history and discussed its relations with the United States. When we finally got off the ship we quickly learned how little there is to do in Bulgaria. Unlike the other countries we have visited that have so many famous sites to go see, there really isn’t anything historical to view here. It might end up being nice though to have a break from all the touristy things and just chill a bit. Ever since we left the Bahamas, we have been going non-stop. Between finding time to do homework and exploring all of the countries, there has been little down time to rest and we are all pretty tired. Bulgaria might be the country where we can finally just relax!
First thing we did was hit the beach. It was yet another topless one, so we decided what the heck, why not finally try it out too? Even within the small group of girls I was with, it was just awkward to lay out topless and we quickly put out bathing suits back on. Europeans are just way more comfortable with their bodies and I realized how guarded Americans truly are. There was a volleyball tournament happening on the beach so we checked that out for a little before heading into town to eat lunch. We found a restaurant called Happy Grill, which was a chain originating in Varna. It was pretty much their equivalent of a Chilli’s. I had great chicken kebabs though that were called the Happy Lady. When we finished eating we walked around the town a bit. There was a triathlon race occurring and we watched by the finish line for a little while eating some gelato. We then continued walking around and found a really nice park where outdoor vendors were selling books. I found the Bulgarian versions of the Harry Potter and Justin Bieber books. Two of my favorite things! Haha Then we went to this outdoor naval museum which only consisted of like 4 marine vessels and an old anchor. It really wasn’t much of a museum, more like decorative objects in the park. Since that turned out to be a bust we went back to the beach…a good ole standby. There are loads of bars near the water so after some time we went to a nearby one for drinks before going back to the ship to eat dinner in an effort to save some money. At night we went back out and spent the rest of our evening at a bar along the beach.
Monday 25:
As if we didn’t get enough sun yesterday, we hit the beach once again today. This time though we went to Golden Sands, which was a resort area 25 minutes away. It kind of felt like you were at the board walk with lots of little stalls to buy things at, hair braiders and even a Ferris wheel. We spent all day there just hanging out, tanning and swimming in the Black Sea before coming back around 5:00 PM to make dinner on the ship. We all checked our bank balances the other day and since seeing the amount are trying really hard to save money now. Europe is unbelievably expensive, especially when you have to purchase things like water at every meal.
After taking naps we went back to the bars along the beach until a bunch of our professors showed up and it just got awkward. One of my professors proposed to his girlfriend in Greece so he is just basically here to have a good time. I guess he went out celebrating tonight with some of the other professors. Anyways, it was just weird to see them so we relocated and ended up going to a club called Copacabana. It was really cool and kind of looked like you were inside a treehouse. We danced for a while on the stage before being kicked off to make room for the performer. A Bulgarian rapper got on stage and all of the locals got so excited. I guess he is famous here? We had no idea what he was rapping but it was cool nonetheless and it made for a great night.
Tuesday 26:
Today I went on an FDP that took us to the towns of Balchik and Kaliakra. Balchik is a charming little town that was originally founded as a Greek colony in the 6th century BCE and is located along the Black Sea coast. It became a Romanian territory in 1913 and then the land was returned to Bulgaria later in 1940 with the Craiova Agreement. When we arrived, we first toured the botanical gardens, which are the 2nd largest in Europe. The grounds include numerous plant species, a small mosque and chapel, shallow canals, earthen jars from Morocco and the Silver Well. It was a really picturesque site and our tour guide shared with us several Bulgarian legends as we walked through the garden. Then we toured the small palace of Queen Maria of Romania, which had served as her summer residence. It is only a three-story building and there isn’t much to it but it was still pretty cool to check it out. Afterwards, we hopped back onto our bus to continue north to Cape Kaliakra, the longest cape along the Bulgarian coast. Kaliakra was an important fortress between the 14th-19th centuries. Here we saw the remains of the fortress and our tour guide shared with us even more Bulgarian legends associated with this area. It was really gorgeous and we had great views of the surrounding cliffs.
We then continued our tour to participate in a program known as “Fiesta Bulgaria.” Here we ate a buffet dinner that included a variety of salads, appetizers and typical Bulgarian entrees. Afterwards we watched a folkloric show, which started out pretty cool but then quickly turned very odd when they switched to doing more American routines. The show became more like a variety show and the performers did a can-can dance, a cowboy routine and then one number had the dancers wearing Las Vegas-esque costumes. Another routine was a girl who danced while hoola hooping and then there was a slinky performance which I will just have to explain in person but it was very very strange. At this point, all we could do was laugh. It was very obvious that Bulgaria’s tourism isn’t quite up to par yet and that this program was making an attempt to appeal to American interests by doing what they perceived to be Western performances. During one of the dances they grabbed members from the audience and picked Dakota and the grandfather of another SAS kid named Owen. Ahh it was too funny watching them try and keep up with the Bulgarian dancers! Then the show stopped and there was time to dance. The DJ alternated between playing American and European music. When the macarana played, however, both Americans and Europeans were familiar with the song and everyone danced together. Later the YMCA came on but none of the Bulgarians knew that song. They watched as we motioned with our arms the letters and after about 3 times, finally caught on and joined in to dance. It was really awesome to see the two cultures come together. Although we couldn’t understand each other’s languages, we connected through the music. A little bit later on, the dancing ended to clear the performance area for the fire dance. We listened to traditional music while watching a man and woman dance with their bare feet on hot coals. It is a dance typical of Bulgarian culture so it was cool that we got to experience it. On the bus ride back to the ship, our tour guide decided to sing to us the Bulgarian national anthem. We he finished singing our professor, who is from the Czech Republic, then decided to sing her anthem which was then followed by our Executive Dean singing his national anthem of Italy. This ended up becoming a karaoke session, mainly led by Tommy (of course!) and we got back to the ship around midnight singing songs from Disney, Backstreet Boys, Britney and others all along the way.
Wednesday 27:
This morning we woke up early to take a service trip to a disabled center for children. The center is open for the children from 7AM to 7PM and can hold up to 40 kids. We learned when we got there that half of the children are orphans and those with families are put in this center because their parents can’t provide for them daily. The center is state owned, understaffed and the building is very small. The workers only receive 200 American dollars a month so it is essentially volunteer work and therefore is difficult to find people to care for the children. The kids aged from 5-35 years and had several disabilities including different forms of mental retardation, cerebral palsy and autism. We spent the day just playing with all of the children and spending time with them. I did arts and crafts, colored, played volleyball and ran around the backyard with them. Then the director of the center put on music and all of the kids sang and danced for us and eventually we joined in the dancing with them. I was really sad to leave them and wanted to adopt them all. How would you have liked some Bulgarian children as souvenirs Mom and Dad? Haha As we walked out, I asked our guide how long the children are allowed to stay at the center. She said that after the age of 35, if they do not have relatives to live with, they are transferred to an adult facility but essentially this means “the end of their life” because they are not provided any support or assistance and are expected to live on their own, even the ones with disabilities. It was so heartbreaking and now I want to start a foundation or something to provide care for these orphans.
When we got back to the ship, we found out that Semester at Sea had made the front page of their newspaper. Bulgaria hardly ever gets American tourists so to receive 800 of us all at once was quite an event for them! Overall Bulgaria was cool but I think the majority of the SAS kids were still bitter that we were here instead of Egypt. The original itinerary had us traveling there, but because of recent events, it was too dangerous for us to go to Egypt and thus the ship decided to come to Bulgaria instead. I probably will never travel back here again but I still am thankful that I got to experience the country.
Pictures: 1. Beach along the Black Sea 2. Bar along the beach 3. Botanical Gardens at Balchik 4. Botanical Gardens at Balchik 5. Cape Kaliakra 6. Cape Kaliakra 7. Cape Kaliakra 8. Fiesta Bulgaria 9. Fiesta Bulgaria 10. Disabled Center for Children
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