[Richmond, VA]

I had originally planned to drive to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello today, then visit Shenandoah National Park and maybe even take a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But the weather turned today – the temperature plunged to the 40s from the high 70s yesterday, and it’s supposed to rain – and Ramon will be done with his sessions after lunch, so I don’t really have time or the desire to do all that. It’s ok though. It’s pretty much my MO to try and pack too many activities into the time I have, and I always end up not being able to do everything on my list, so this change of plans was pretty much expected.

Instead of driving all over the place today, I took it easy and met up with another Bulgarian friend of mine, Krassi. She was a high school exchange student in Danville when I was going to college there, and we met totally by chance. My college friend Teresa went to the same church as Krassi’s host mom, which is how we found out about each other. Even more bizarre was that when I introduced Yana and Krassi, they discovered that not only were they from the same part of the country but they were distant cousins! Small world, eh?

Krassi came to Richmond to go to college after she graduated high school in Danville and has been living here ever since. We figured out that we hadn’t seen each other since 2005!!! She is currently doing her PhD at Virginia Commonwealth University, where we met up for coffee. We caught up over caramel macchiatos before she headed back to her lab and I headed back to the hotel. Next up – Maryland for the weekend!

With Krassi at VCU

Along Broad Street in downtown Richmond