In Bulgaria, the ball is called "abiturientski bal" and is held at the end of 12th grade, when you are aged 18/19. Preparations for the ball begin at the end of the 11th grade, because students are supposed to organize the whole event. It is celebrated in May, mainly on the 23rd, 24th or 25th, after finishing exams. Students can bring a date to the event which is usually held in a restaurant or a club. Usually, before the main event there is a big gathering in front of the high school's building, where graduates count to 12 (as in 12 grades) and take photos with each other before going to the restaurant called "izprashtane" (“farewell send off”). At the main event in the restaurant/hotel, there is music, usually pop and retro. Students are free to dance with whomever they want, even if they have come with a date. The school director and the 12th-grade teachers are also sometimes invited. There is usually an afterparty at a dance club. Some people even organize a second afterparty. After the prom night, students usually go on an excursion together for 3 to 5 days. The popular destinations are the Black Sea coast and Turkey. The event is often associated with excess in drinking, drugs, sex, and lavish nouveau-riche style of dressing and parading (there are families that would spend as much as a year's salary on their son or daughter' s night). The media regularly criticize it, deploring the decadence of morals.