Recently, Bulgarian high schoolers celebrated the end of childhood and the beginning of maturity. Lol, jk. High school is almost over so somehow, between failing national and school exams, students chose a random weekend to dress up in pimp suits and two-strings-on-top-and-a-cupcake-on-the-bottom dresses and get hilariously drunk. Every school did it on a different day but the premise was the same. All students were paired up (boy-girl, mostly to help girl walk in hooker heels) and walked from a nearby park down the mainstreet to the town square. First day I was confused about the noise that could be heard all over town but then I realized, during their parade, they obnoxiously yell, in Bulgarian 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..and wait for it…12.
The outfits these kids wore were by far the best part of the event, at the bottom of this post I will have a bunch of  pictures from a more posh school but I swear, other schools had even worse outfits, it just felt really awkward taking pictures of random teenagers haha. From what I heard, lots of parents save up for a year or two to be able to afford the two outfits for their kids (one for the ceremony and one for the party) and some have even taken out loans. This parade thing was definitely a spectacle, everyone was there to see them off, take pictures, after an hour or two, the students and a few select teachers went to a restaurant, danced and drank. My teachers told me that a lot of the students will not go to university so this is their chance to show off, having an amazing outfit and huge hair becomes almost a prestige thing.
I know I sound all bitter but it was actually pretty awesome to see.
Exploring Estonia 