So...we're a little behind in country blogging.. our apologizes, but boy do we have a lot to share now. Let's start with Bulgaria and my random experience. I must say this is only my experience, and Matt will be blogging his experience as they are drastically different. I had the mo
st random experience. We docked in Varna, Bulgaria. This is Semester at Sea's first time visiting Bulgaria, so no one knew what to expect. The first day Matt and I went to a lecture on Human Trafficking, which was very interesting. Human Trafficking is one of the top global crimes along with guns and drug trafficking. Every minute two children are taken to be sexually exploited, and 1 in 4 women will be trafficked in her lifetime (to learn more about this issue see www.love146.com). The first day was filled with some exploring, but then came the second and third day. I started my day with high hopes of exploring the Planetarium, Sea Park, Happy's restaurant, the wineries, and any other wonderful thing that came my way. I ended up going to a Planetarium, but I couldn't figure out how to get in because there were no door handles, and once I got in everything was in Bulgarian, and it was a tiny tiny little place. The Sea Park was not a beautiful place, by a long walk way with shrubs. The Happy restaurant was okay, but not a highlight, and I never got to the winery to taste the wonderful Bulgaria Chardonnay. I was still positive, and that night I was off with friends to ride go karts. The taxi drivers were constantly trying to smog us out of money, so trying to find a ride to the go kart was the first challenge. We got there and waited 2 1/2 hours to get on the karts. People kept cutting in front of us, the lady at the front desk kept pushing us done on the waiting list, and then she didn't have change for us to pay (the whole country runs off of cash for the most pa
rt). After waiting and waiting, we had a 5 minute thrill ride. These karts would have been illegal in the US. They were so fast. They were quite a thrill, but I'm not sure it was worth the 2 hour wait. I will say throughout it all, I was in great company with ship board friends (Matt was on a three day mountain hike in Sofia), but not a fan of Bulgaria at all. The only saving grace was attending my Bulgarian cooking class. I was unsure about the cooking class at first because nothing else I tried worked out, but it was great. I will never come back to Bulgaria if I can help it, but I can say I have been here...good or bad... I can say I was there.
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