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Bulgaria Week 12

April 2-9, 2018

Monday, April 9

11:30 p.m.

 

What a week! Of course I didn't do any blog entries during the week so I will try to remember as much as I can now.

 

First of all, we celebrated Maddie's 19th birthday on Monday!!!<3 

 

This week was really stressful for me because I had lots of big assignments due and a midterm exam in Bulgarian to study for. I got it all done in the end, but Wednesday was a very busy day of working! I did make time to attend an event about international languages where students and faculty shared songs and dances from their cultures. Toni from Germany sang and my Bulgarian teacher danced! I attempted to learn the Bulgarian dance but it got a little too complicated for me.

 

I finished another project for my Writing for the Ear class, which you can listen to here:

After a stressful week, I was able to enjoy my weekend without any stress. It was wonderful! Thursday was almost 80 degrees, so we laid in the grass until it was time to leave for BUCHAREST!! Ana, Lea, Eliza, Amy and I rented a car in Sofia and drove there, which was about a six-hour drive. Our Airbnb was in the Old Town, which was a really convenient location. We were close to some really nice restaurants and an antique market. At night we found an AMAZING kebab and a lot of super sketchy nightclubs and terrifying people that we didn't want to associate with. Plus we had a car, so we were able to see a lot of the city!

 

We arrived in Bucharest around 3 a.m., so we didn't see much on Thursday. When we tried to cross the border into Romania, something went wrong and we ended up just turning back into the Bulgarian border control line. It was something that only we could end up doing!

Friday we planned to have a full day of sightseeing, but since we were so tired from our long drive we ended up sleeping in pretty late and having a late start to the day. We got lunch at a restaurant that had great smoothies! 

 

The day before we had casually brought up that maybe this weekend would be the weekend we got the tattoos we had been talking about, but since we didn't have appointments anywhere and it was Orthodox Easter weekend, we didn't really expect the plan to work. I messaged a tattoo shop that had really good reviews asking if they would have any openings, but since there were five of us I figured they wouldn't. As we were ordering our milkshakes at the restaurant, we got a call saying they would fit us in!! It was a really spontaneous decision and I knew my parents probably wouldn't be too happy about it, but we went through with it!

Soo over waiting for these tattoos
Revel [ревел] verb: to enjoy oneself in a lively and noisy way, especially with drinking and dancing.

The tattoos took a lot longer than we expected, so we spent almost the entire day inside the parlor. We knew Bucharest had Taco Bell, and Amy and I (classic Americans) needed to get our fix. Taco Bell in Europe tastes a lot healthier than in the states, and it was so great!

We were told the Old Town had good night life, but that was definitely not true if you were a group of five girls. It was not our scene at all!! But we did end up finding those great kebabs I mentioned, so that was something.

 

The next day we got to properly explore the city. We walked all over to see the “umbrella street,” Parliament and lots of other really beautiful places. I think I enjoyed Bucharest so much because it had such a variety. There were palaces, French-inspired architecture,  some modern buildings, communist-era buildings and lots of intricate churches. Everything seemed to be very over-the-top, no matter what style it was.

"Why is the 8 like that? Because he's infinity or something?"
Parliament, former Soviet building
Adorable, giant bookstore Amy found

We went on a walking tour, which focused a lot on the more current history of Bucharest and the revolution in 1989. We learned a lot about how the street art was used to jump-start the revolution and how it has brightened the city. The tour had a perfect balance of history and current events! It made me feel very empowered as a young person to hear what young people had done to change their country.

Looks safe
Potato on a stick

We got back from the walking tour around 8:30 at night and we were really in the mood for Asian food. Ana found a Thai restaurant, but after driving FOREVER to find it, we learned it was closed. We found another restaurant, but that was also closed! I’m assuming it was because of Easter. We ended up going back to Old Town and going to a restaurant there. I had veggie pasta (because health) but then got lava cake for dessert.

 

Sunday, which was Easter here, was our ROAD TRIP to Transylvania! Since we had a rental car, we could easily get to two different castles. We first stopped at McDonalds (#health) then we went to Peles Castle. It was the summer home of Carol I (Caroli if you ask Ana), who was the first king of Romania after the Ottoman rule. The interior was closed because it was a holiday, but the outside was so beautiful!!

Ana's face after four days of our music playlists
People don't know how to take pictures: a thrilling three-part saga

Next we went to Bran Castle, which is known as Dracula’s Castle. That is FAKE NEWS!! Vlad the Impaler never used that castle, and Dracula was a book character that has only been speculated to be based on Vlad the Impaler. The castle itself was like a maze! And all of the hallways were really tiny with low ceilings. I was a little underwhelmed by the castle, but it was also 800 years old. I know if I lived there I would constantly be lost!

We ate at a restaurant in Bran, then headed back to Bucharest. It was about a three hour drive. We were pretty exhausted when we got back, so we just hung out on the terrace of our Airbnb for the rest of the night.

 

We left at 10 this morning (Monday), and we arrived back in Blago at 8:30. It was a long day!! I think we were all ready for a break from each other because we were getting #TRIGGERED by everything. But we still love each other!!

 

Overall, Romania was one of my favorite countries I've visited so far!! There seemed to be elements from almost any country I could think of. There were a lot of instances where I forgot I was in Europe and just felt like I was back in the states. But at the same time the combination of all the different cultural traits was what gave the city so much character and what made me love it so much! I would definitely go back.

 

Now, I'm watching What We Do in the Shadows (a vampire comedy that our trip inspired us to watch). Tomorrow it's back to facing the reality of school, but the long weekend for Easter was such a great trip! Even though I didn't get to celebrate Easter at home, I got to spend the weekend with my lil study abroad sisters :) <3

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Love from Bulgaria,

Laura

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