The Most Epic Day

Well, I accidentally just lost about half a page of what was going to be the blog post for today, so now I'll have to retype it all. =(

     This morning began very similarly to yesterday, so I won't go into too much detail. Ryan and I both woke up at 4:00 (again) and then tried to go back to sleep into around 5:30 (again) at which point we both just lay awake, unable to fall asleep, until 6:00 (again) when we finally decided to get up, shower, and waste thirty minutes until breakfast opened. Talk about deja vu. Breakfast and the green apple juice was as delicious as yesterday (we love the green apple juice so much that we even named our chaperone group after it, “The Green Apple Squad”). After breakfast, we drove off to our rehearsal. Though the rehearsal was slightly frightening because several things were definitely not where they should have been, we managed to get through in one piece.

     Back at the Grant Hotel Sophia for lunch again, though this time we ate inside (yesterday we were on the patio). Lunch consisted of (gasp) more vegetables, some meat with a strange, slimy texture, fried calamari (only some ate that), and a pudding-esque dessert. Several tables had some more fun making the crystal glasses ring, even experimenting with different liquids. After lunch, we picked up earpieces and short-range receivers to aid us in the upcoming walking tour to the Nevski Cathedral. Although I'm positive that our guide had many wonderfully educational things to say, unfortunately we were equipped with short-range receivers, and as such Meri, myself, and the rest of the people towards the back of the group heard choppy audio or nothing at all for about three quarters of the walk. Despite this minor obstacle, we reached the Nevski Cathedral, which happens to be the second largest cathedral in this geographical area. Our guide gave us a brief overview of the exterior and the painstakingly detailed interior. When we headed back to our waiting buses, it started to rain lightly, giving us another prime example of Bulgaria's unpredictable weather.

     We headed back to the hotel, where we had ninety minutes until dinner and the evening's concert. It was during this period that I learned an extremely valuable life lesson. Due to the absence of an iron in our room, I attempted to purify my concert clothes from wrinkles by steaming it in the bathroom (turning on hot water and letting the steam take out the wrinkles). When I came back twenty minutes later, not only did I find my clothes still wrinkled, but the steam had condensed on everything in the bathroom, leaving it covered in a think shell of water, and the tub half full of water (due to a bad drain). After this adventure, Ryan and I headed down to dinner where we got stuff that you can probably already guess (pretty similar to last night's dinner).

     In concert attire and with instruments in hand, the whole group once again made their way to the buses to be shipped off to the concert hall for the opening concert of our tour. When we arrived, huge TV cameras, mics littered around the stage, and the news that the concert was sold out was slightly intimidating to say the least. Fast forward two hours and the concert is finished. I can't even fully describe how excited the audience was. Here's a few examples: both sides of the hall were packed with people who, because there were no more seats, had still bought tickets so they could stand through the entire concert, several kids in the balconies started dancing when we were playing Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean, and after two encores the audience was still standing in ovation after we had left the stage. It was pretty amazing. And, if all that wasn't good enough, it turned out that the son of the composer of a piece we played was in the audience, as well as several members from the U.S. Embassy, as well as (to top it all off) the King of Bulgaria. Wow. During the reception, I was able to secure an audience with the King along with Ryan where we not only shook his hand, but also had a quite lengthy conservation about PSYO in general and our plans for the future. After so much excitement, we got back on our buses and came back here, to the hotel. It's now fifteen minutes past 11:00 PM and today has got to have been one of the most incredible days of my life. Off to bed.

-Philip

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