I woke up and looked at my watch next to the bed. It said it was 7:30. 7:30! What had happened? I went through my head to figure out the situation. I was supposed to take the GRE at 9 in Sofia, and here it was 7:30 and I was still in bed in Silistra. As I normally do in these panic situations, I leapt out of bed, went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. While I was brushing, my heart about to break through my ribcage, I wondered whether, since I wouldn't be taking the test in Sofia, I should go in to school to teach. I was wondering if I could call-in sick to the testing service and take the test later. Then I decided it might be a good idea to look at my watch again. 19:35. Somehow, 19:30 had instantly gone through my brain as 7:30 AM. I still had 4 hours before I even had to catch my bus to Sofia.
I still have no idea how my brain functioned then. I can't imagine the neurons that were skipped over, but I was awfully happy when I realized what was going on. I'd woken up from a two hour nap and brushed my teeth. Phew. Back to bed I went and slept until 10:30, when I got up and got ready to leave. Cat taken care of and backpack stuffed I left and got on the bus.
As usual, Ruse proved to be a hassle. The midnight bus gets into Ruse at about 2 in the morning and always fills up. In Silistra, I'd picked a seat next to the window so I could have two seats of my own until Ruse and not sit right next to the person next to my real seat, which would have, of course been odd with an empty row laying there right next to us. In Ruse, an ugly couple woke me up and started pointing at their tickets, saying that I was in one of their seats. In sloppy, 2 AM, Bulgarian I asked them if one of them could take my old seat since I was comfortable and the only change in their lives would be their being separated by an aisle. They said "no" and demanded I get up.
So I sighed, cursed Ruse under my breath, and got down into my horrible aisle seat, which coincidentally, also had much less legroom. The two lovebirds on the other side of the aisle spent the rest of the trip leaning away from each other. SIGH. So the remaining five hours of the trip was a little like being in surgery and being slightly knocked out. I kept going in and out of a haze, not really acknowedging being asleep, but understanding that the trip didn't feel nearly long enough to justify my being awake the whole time.
The naps and the fitful sleep meant that after I got into Sofia's bus station, washed up, and had a cup of coffee and a croissant, I was feeling pretty peachy and ready to take a test. So I hopped in a cab, gave him the address and in a couple of minutes we were there at about 8:15, a full 45 minutes early. Also peachy. So I went in and relaxed with a group of Bulgarians waiting to take the TOEFL and GMAT. And at ninish I got to sit down at a computer and take the test.
Didn't seem like any time went by. It started and it was over. And because it was computer-based, I got the scores that weren't writing related right away. 700 Verbal, 610 Math. It should be noted that the only thing that seems to have changed since my SAT days is the math score, which has lost 50 points. Oh well, life goes on. If we want percentiles, and these are unofficial, the Verbal puts me at 93% and the math around 85%.
I'm disappointed in the Verbal. Even though it's enough to put me near the top of any English Dept's score requirement list, I really feel like I've botched a gimme. I had a prime, Grade-A chance of getting an 800 on some kind of test. And, because I only made an educated guess on two or three questions, the 700 means I missed a question or two I was confident in.
Anyway, I'm satisfied. I didn't pump my fist when I saw the numbers, but satisfaction sums it up. Now: More studying, the GRE Literature test is on Saturday. But I might also try to catch a movie while I'm in town. I saw Collateral in Silistra and wound up reading Bulgarian the whole time because the audio completely drowned out dialogue. Bad times.
Posted by Rob at December 9, 2004 02:18 PM