2024 年 8 月 4 日上午 11 时许，站长收拾好了全部的行李，打车前往宁波火车站：这是与宁波诺丁汉大学 (UNNC) 的永别，因为 9 月开学时站长将前往英国诺丁汉大学进行剩余两年的本科学习。12 时 10 分左右到达火车站，吃饭后不久即开始检票，连在候车大厅内的三角钢琴上最后弹一首 Alla Figaro 的时间都没有。
At around 11 AM on 4th August 2024, the operator packed all the baggage and rode a taxi to Ningbo Railway Station, which is a farewell to the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), since the operator will go to the University of Nottingham, UK campus to continue the remaining two years of undergraduate study in September. Railway Station was reached at around 12:10 PM, and the ticket check began too soon after lunch to play Alla Figaro on the piano in the departure hall for the last time.
2024-08-04 G7514 (CRH380BL)
1319 宁波 Ningbo -- Shanghai Hongqiao 上海虹桥 1517
二等座 Second Class CNY 144
抵达上海虹桥火车站后要乘坐接近两个小时的上海地铁 2 号线前往浦东机场。站长并未一次性乘坐全程，而是在世纪大道（该站距离虹桥火车站与浦东国际机场均为 14 站）的商场内吃晚饭后继续乘坐剩余部分。并未使用磁悬浮列车，由于时间不紧张，车票太贵，且 2023 年 9 月已经以观光性质乘坐过了。
Once arriving at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, nearly two hours of Shanghai Metro Line 2 train has to be ridden to go to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). The operator did not ride it as a whole, but took the remaining part after exiting at Century Avenue (which is 14 stations far from both Hongqiao Railway Station and PVG) for dinner in the mall nearby. The operator did not use the maglev train, since there was plenty of time and experience of riding it as tourism in September 2023, and the ticket price is too expensive.
约晚 7 时抵达上海浦东国际机场。带队教师与队员也于晚 8 时前悉数抵达。接下来就是候机了。候机过程中，大家讨论了一则数学问题：如何证明可逆矩阵的左逆等于右逆？
The operator arrived at PVG Airport at around 7 PM, and all team members and the team leader reached there by 8 PM. A math problem was discussed during waiting for the departure: how to prove the left-inverse of a invertible matrix equals its right-inverse?
2024-08-05 Qatar Airways QR871 (B777-300)
UTC+8 0035 PVG -- DOH 0450 UTC+3
卡塔尔航空的航班服务质量很好，唯一的问题是只提供一个小时的免费无线网络。飞机餐和饮料绝佳，此时大家还不知道这是整段旅程中“最好”的饭。
The flights by Qatar Airways generally have a great quality of service, the only drawback was only one hour of free Wi-Fi was provided. The flight meals and drinks were excellent, but all team members didn't know these could be the "best" meals (for Chinese tastes) during the whole trip.
早点抵达极尽奢华的卡塔尔多哈机场，里面物价极高。幸好由于转机时间较短，并未在内就餐，但购买了一根 Mars 巧克力棒，非常甜。
We arrived at the top-luxurious Doha International Airport, Qatar earlier than scheduled. Everything is expensive there. Fortunately we didn't have meals there because of short transfer time. The operator purchased a Mars chocolate bar -- it was very sweet.
三个小时之后，我们又乘着摆渡车离开了多哈机场。接下来的飞机没有点播屏，甚至没有插头！
We took a shuttle bus again and left Doha Airport three hours later. The following plane has no multimedia screen, even no place to charge!
2024-08-05 Qatar Airways QR227 (A320)
UTC+3 0735 DOH -- SOF 1230 UTC+3
不管怎样，我们安全到达了索非亚机场。到达层有穿着 IMC 工作服的人热情欢迎我们，并告知我们预订的去往布拉戈耶夫格勒的巴士将于下午 2 时 30 分出发。
Anyway, we arrived at Sofia Airport safely. There were persons with IMC T-shirts welcoming us in the arrival hall, telling us the bus to Blagoevgrad as we booked would depart at 2:30 PM.
巴士实际于下午 2 时 40 分出发，于下午 4 时 20 分抵达布拉戈耶夫格勒的保加利亚美利坚大学 (AUBG) 的生活区 Skaptopara，用时 100 分钟。在等巴士的过程中，我们与一位瑞典参赛者交流了不少。巴士则是清一色的 Setra 品牌。
The bus actually departed at 2:40 PM, and reached the living area, named Skaptopara, of American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) in Blagoevgrad at 4:20 PM. The journey was 100 minutes. We talked a lot with a Swedish participant when waiting for the bus. The buses were all Setra.
天真蓝啊！
How blue and clear the sky was!
到达之后就是排队领名片、分宿舍的过程。站长和一位同校队员住在一起。两人间的面积很大，但唯一的也是最大的缺点就是没有空调。放完行李后，我们又去了一楼。有 IMC 赞助者的摆摊，华为的摊位上提供零食、数独游戏、T恤——全部免费，以及华为主办的线上数学竞赛 IMC Challenge 的宣传单；金融科技公司 Pinely 提供帽子、实习就业机会的传单，以及大量的金属陀螺。墙上张贴着很多公告，说明本次竞赛的时间和考场安排。Skaptopara 只是生活区，考场在离宿舍一公里的教学区！
Once upon arrival, we waited in a long queue to take name card and for dormitory arrangement. The operator shared a room with a team member from the same university. Despite the huge space of the twin room, it has no air conditioner. After unpacking the luggage, we went to the ground floor again. There were indoor stands of sponsors, one of which was Huawei, with its stand snacks, sudoku games, "IMC Challenge" (online mathematical competition powered by Huawei) leaflets, and T-shirts for free; another being Pinely, offering hats, leaflets promoting its jobs and recruitments, and many spinning metal tops. There were also many pieces of notice on the wall, mainly about time and exam venue arrangements. Skaptopara is only a living area. The exam venue is in the teaching building one kilometer away!
生活区有两幢宿舍楼，分别为 Skaptopara I 和 Skaptopara II；由于参赛者太多，带队老师们被安排到了生活区外的旅馆（有空调！）。还有一个图书馆，但是不开放；一个学生活动中心，有自习区域、咖啡厅、纪念品商店、室内运动场，二楼张贴着东欧各国社会主义时期的宣传画，还有一张毛主席语录。食堂位于活动中心三楼。活动中心南面也有室外体育场。
There are two dormitory buildings in the Living Area, namely Skaptopara I and Skaptopara II. The team leaders were all arranged to a hotel (with air conditioners!) outside of the Skaptoparas since there were too many participants. There is also a library, but closed; a student center, with self-study areas, a cafe, a souvenir shop, and an indoor playground. There are posters from communist periods of Eastern Europe on the wall, including a piece of saying from Mao. The canteen is on the top floor. There are also outdoor sport facilities southward in front of the student center.
大体熟悉地势后，晚饭开始了。不报太多期待的话，还是比较好吃的，没有网传“白人饭对中国胃”那样接受不了。因为保加利亚实行夏令时，天黑得特别晚，要到晚上九点以后，所以晚饭也至少要从晚上七点半开始。
The dinner started after we were familiar with the geography of Skaptopara. It was acceptable for Chinese stomachs, and even tasted good, if your expectation was not too high. Due to the 1-hour summer time shift (Energy Saving Time), it went dark very late, and it was still bright at 9 PM; thus the dinner was also no earlier than 7:30 PM.
晚饭后大家去了生活区南面的超市 Kaufland。酸奶、汽水、巧克力都非常便宜：一大杯（400 克）酸奶有的不到 1 LV（约合人民币 4 元或 0.5 欧元），虽然不添加任何糖分，酸到难以下咽；一大瓶汽水（2 升）有的只有 1.5 LV，比瓶装水都便宜。但即使汽水比纯净水便宜，观察下来的肥胖率也不高。
We went to a supermarket named Kaufland southward to Skaptopara after dinner. The yoghurt, fizzy drinks, and chocolate were very cheap: the price of a big cup (400 g) of yoghurt could be lower than 1 LV (~CNY 4, EUR 0.5). However, it didn't consist any additional sugar and was extremely sour and extremely hard to drink directly. And a large bottle (2 L) of cola could be as cheap as 1.5 LV, even cheaper than bottled water. Despite this, the obesity rate of that city was observed not high.
Kaufland 晚上九点关门，我们几乎待到最后一刻；在扔掉实在喝不下去的酸奶后，我们回到了宿舍休息。
Kaufland closes at 9 PM, not until nearly which we did leave. After dropping the awfully unacceptable yoghurt into the bin, we were all back to dormitory to rest.
...
热，热啊！洗完澡后，还是不停地出汗。虽然晚上室外并不热（每日最低气温一般低于 20 摄氏度），但白天剧烈的阳光、苏系房屋的保温效果以及较低的通风率使得入睡成为每天最难熬的时段。虽然如此，由于向西倒时差，相对提前的生物钟还是使我晚上不到 11 点就进入梦乡。
HOT! VERY HOT! Sweating continued even after shower. It was cool outside after sunset (the lowest temperature of the day was generally lower than 20 degree Celsius), but the sharp sunlight during the day, the heat-keeping feature of Soviet-style buildings, and the low air change rate, all together made it the hardest time of the day to fall asleep. However, since it is going westward from China to Bulgaria, the jet lag had made the biological clock relatively earlier, and thus I still fell asleep before 11 PM.
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