so, on the 2nd day in morocco, brittney left, and steve left, so it was just colyn, sara, and i. we knew it would be really hot, so we decided to just go to the medina (old city) in the morning, come back for lunch, then lay out/hang out. we thought about maybe going to rick’s for dinner that night, but we weren’t sure. ya know..rick’s of casablanca…except that’s only in hollywood…this is just a replica, aka a tourist trap. so anyways, we get up, eat breakfast, and go. simple, right? so we catch the shuttle to the port gate and start walking, attempting to find it..by the time we get there it’s about 10, and we’re sure places will be open…except they aren’t. it’s ramadan, so most places stay closed until the afternoon. i suppose when you’re half starving yourself you’ve gotta sleep most of the day away. so we’re walking, not really seeing much, and this guy sees us, and he’s like oh, come see my shop! you’re friends came yesterday! so we went…sara and colyn bought pants, but i didn’t really see anything i liked. the guys who owned the shop were great though…they spoke fairly good english, and they joked around a lot. sara “sold” colyn for 25,000 camels…colyn should be brought back in a year to marry the shopkeeper’s son. and i was renamed fatima ishmay? something. because of my blond hair or sometihng like that. and they joked we all needed tattoos on our lower lip, to show we were single. so that was fun. anyways, so after he warned us about pick pockets, we were sent on our way to more shops, and we walked around for a bit, looking here and there, but i wasn’t really in the mood to spend money, and i couldn’t find an atm anyways, and neither sara nor colyn saw anything they liked. so we get out of the medina, by accident actually. we were on the “main road” outside the port…i say that, but i don’t actually know what the road was…but it was there, and it’s a way to remember where i am, so it works. so yeah, we knew where we were, and we couldn’t decide waht to do…it was still early, but there wasn’t much to do. so we just decided to head back, knowing we’d ahve most of the day friday to see casablanca, or what else there was to see. so we came back, which took awhile to grab the shuttle, and we ate lunch. from there, we all decided to go lay out, and we did that, me for about 5 hours…it wasn’t too hot, and it was just nice to be out in teh sun, all alone virtually. after taht, we grabbed dinner, and after dinner grabbed some snacks, casue the food just wasn’t good enough to eat more of. after fries (i was really craving salt) we sat around talking to one another for a bit, until it was advantageous to return to my room (we needed sizzors, a tide to go pen, and snacks). after that, we talked for a bit more, but around 830 we all cleared out. and then there really wasn’t much to do. that’s not true…i was content, not exactly bored, because i had plenty of options, but not really happy either. soi read, did a little of this, a little of that…ya know, stuff. the real problem was my internet wasn’t working in my room, so i really didn’t ahve tons of stuff to do. but i relaxed, and went to bed around 930…so early for me! but then i woke up throughout the night, as usual, incluidng 5, when i usually get up. i decided to sleep as much as i could though, and i got up a little before 7 for breakfast. i ate with karyn and geoff, said my last good byes to them, and then today, i’ve just been hanging out in my room…first with sara, and then we wasted time in the library, and then we ate lunch with brody and osme other girls. she’s off to do something in rabat for the afternoon, and i’m just here, relaxing, hopefully writing some papers. i’ve got tons of stuff do as soon as we leave casablanca, and i don’t want to be struggling wiht it then, but who ever does homework early? :)

right, so i’m skipping the 5 days between turkey and morocco for now, becasue iwant to try and keep up to date on where i actually am. so yeah, morocco kinda sucks. i mean, that’s a little harsh. but really. first of all, i was already in the mood to just skip morocco completely…turkey was great, and i was ready to sail home. i love sailing, i was all ready for it. so anyways, i came into morocco and the first day i was doing a city tour with interior visit to the hassan 2 mosque (3rd biggest in the world) with colyn, brittney, and steve. so we went…the mosque was really cool. it reminded me a lot of st. peters in rome, but it was definitly not the same. i ust mean it was guilt to accomodate hundreds of thousands of people, and there was a giant square right outside. other than that, it ws really different. it was actualy built half over the water, but it doesnt really feel that way…only when you’re kinda far away do you see that there might be water underneath the whole thing. no big deal though…it was really big and open, and a little stuffy. i think the most peculiar thing, is that we all thing of islam as being a really backwards not modern religion, yet this building wa so technical. there were speakers, etc. and an elevator to go to the top of the minaret (tall tower where there’s the call to prayer…tallest in the world, bigger tahn the washington monument). my favoritest fact though, is that the roof is retractable. yeah, like what? but they do that becasue when 25,000+ people are all in there it’s really stuffy and everything. but some of the doors are automatic, and there are other sorts of technical things all throughout that place. and, they ahd real toilets. i mean, something to sit on, not just a hole in the floor (yeah, i’m serious about that. morocco, in general, just doesn’t have running water…especially in the smaller cities. so there’s a bucket with water and you pour it..and yeeah, it’s nasty.) ANYWAYS, so after that we drove through the city, visitng their equivalent of old town hall, which was beautiful, especially since we learned that it’s all hand carved. and we visited the royal palace, and by that i meant we just saw the outer door. yeah, the royal family doesn’t live there, but it’s still there for trhem to use. we also saw the palace and guest palace of the king of saudi arabia…not sure why he’s got a place there (well, actually, i do, but it’s only so he can get more islamic followers) but still…i guess that’s chill. lots of white walls and black cameras. nobody aruond though. it’s still the month of ramadan (started last week) so everyone in this country is fasting…which means no food or water or anything. people even spit their own spit out, to show they are consuming nothing. lots of spitting, especially when you consider the camels. anyways, since everyone is basically starving themselves, they try to sleep as long as they can during the day, so no one really gets up until after lunch, around 3 or 4…then they only ahve a few hours of being awake and out and not eating, rather than the full day. so not a lot of people around. the markets were open though, and so we first went to this little market like place that actually wasn’t far from the ship at all…just down the street. but it had lots of different stuff, very cool….my friends and i are going back on teh last day to spend the rest of our money. but after a few mintues there (20ish) we went to a food market for the locals. as i’m getting off the bus, i look through the windshield, and right in front of me is a truck. and the doors are open, and inside the truck are just 2 hanging carcasses. i got pictures. they were beef i think…or whatever you call it when it’s still alltogether…yeah. so as we went through this place, we see flowers, tehn some fruit, and then meat. lots of meat…cows hanging, (no pigs…islam) and horses, and all types of birds…turkeys and chickens and stuff…and we see lots and lots of it. some are cut up, but otherwise it’s jsut like they killed the thing, took the meat out, and then just hung it on a hook. i, a vegetarian, wasn’t creeped out at all…it was even a little cool to see it like this. but this other really annoying girl (my friends and i call her negative nancy) was like “omg, i’m going to barf, that’s so nasty, etc.” i’m sorry, but if you’re going to eat it, you might as well realize where it’s from. they weren’t slaughtering it in front of us…so whatever, she was annoying. but then we went through the fish section, saw pics of the royal family, and then we left…we needed to get back quickly to make sure we got lunch and stuff. yeah, the guide we had was freaking wonderful…she was so great. she told us all about her family, and useful phrases, and she added just enough history without being overbearing. i gotta say, of all the tour guides i’ve had this entire trip, she was by far my favorite. so so nice…just overall a good one. she also taught us how her berber tribe “says” certain things. for instance, if a man comes to you and asks for your hang in marriage, you serve him tea. if you put no sugar in it, that means absolutely no, leave me alone. if you put a little in, it means give me time to think about it. if you put way too much sugar, that means yes, of course. she said with her husband she put so much he couldn’t drink it…i don’t know that’s just a sweet story. and, for her tribe, the way you show excitement, is by sticking your tongue out a bit, so it’s level with your lips, wagging it back and forth really quickly, and emitting a high pitched sort of sound. yeah, that’s how they show happiness or excitement or whatever. we had a really fun time learning it :) it was grea! :) yep, so that was taht. we headed home, got lunch really quickly, then sara, colyn, and brittney decided to go out and back to that store that i spent too much money in. so i just stayed in, wrote some emails, and then layed out for a bit, where i actually fell asleep. then we ate dinner, watched salt, then hung out, then went to bed. the end!

so i wake up bright and early, becasue of course, it’s a french toast morning. brittney and i met around 8 for breakfast, and we were done by 815, no lie. we just ate, without much talking. that was as simple as it could get. so anyays, so get off the ship around 820, with the inention of getting to the grand bazaar. i thought she knew where she was going, as she had already been there, so i didnt bring a map. as soon as we crossed the galata bridge though, she couldnt exactly remember where to go. so we kinda tried one way, then another, then another, until finally we get across the street and possibly headed in the right direction. we just kept walking though, found this huge hill, which we knew would lead us to thr bazaar. after asking a couple people for directions (boy, that was fun, trying to speak english with someone only really speaking turkish) but we get there at 901, when the bazaar opened at 9. :) so we walk in, and i’m amazed. not by what i saw…lots of places weren’t even competly open yet, but about the feel of the place. it was covred, which i knew, but i was thinking of like an aladdin market scene…dirt floor, peolpe sitting on stools yelling loudly across the way at their neighbors. instead, it felt more like a mall, with stores selling the same things over and over again. erally…that fake lighting, store fronts made of glass rather than just wooden stalls. it was a little disconcerting, but it’s been a long time since i was in a mall. i felt good being there…we finally made it, no big deal, etc. so anyways, we jsut start wakling around, buying things…i won’t say what i bought, as many of them are gifts, but i did buy tons of stuff…ran out of money, had to get more out, etc. i had a fun time though. from there, we started walking back, probably 1.5 hours later (note…i’ve never spent that much money on so many things in so little time…it amde my stomach hurt :/) anyways, so around 930 we started looking for the spice market..not too hard, jsut asked for more directions. once there, we literally walked straight through, stopping here and there to buy stuff. we amde it out fairly easily though, and with our new stuff started the fairly short walk to the bridge, and then the long walk to get back over the bridge. after we made it though, we stopped at starbucks, becasue i had 10 lira left (grande frap was 9,75…planned it well, huh? :) ) so we grabbed drinks, sat for a few mintues before heading back to the boat. we were both tired then, so we ended up laying out for a bit, but onyl after discovering that 3 out of the 6 hand made cups i bought were broken :( i’m still really upset about it, but i suppose i’ll get over it. yeah, so we layed out, then relaxed then ate dinner, then relaxed…can’t really rember what else happened, but the main thing is that we didnt do much as the ship sailed away from istanbul…

so i wake up at 630, and i take my time getting ready, using facebook one last time before i went back to the land of no interet. i uploaded more photos, chatted a bit, did this and that…before long, it was time to get dressed and pack up, and meet everyone downstairs. i already knew that i wasn’t going to eat breakfast, so i was in the room around 720, 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave. rather than getting a wake up call, i decided to wake brittney up, as she really did need to pack, and i didnt want her to be rushed. she woke up, she seemed fine, and i headed downstairs with all of my stuff, thinking i could meet everyone and maybe ahve a little bit of juice. a few minutes later, as i was leaving the dining room, i saw brittney on the stairs, and i asked her increduously if she had fallen down. laughing, she told me yes, and i realized two things. 1) she was still drunk. 2) this would be a long morning. so i got her together, and we joined up with the group,and she was no problem throug the rest of the day. other people, however, made life a bit difficult. we were supposed to grab the 8AM ferry, get in the bus, then get home during lunchtime, so we wouldn’t ahve to worry about finding lunch on our own. at 745 though, we were still missing 5 students. we thought they were in the hotel, but dead to the world, possibly so drunk they wouldnt be able to answer the phone or door (yeah, we’ve all been there). anyways, so karen and geof decide that the majority of us will all head to the ferry and wait there, leaving the guide behind to leave instructions for the kids in case they didnt wake up. 2 more girls ended up cathcing up with us, which was good, but by the time we got to the ferry, we ahd lost karen and geof…they ahd hung back for whatever reason. so picture this…we’re at the ferry terminal, none of us no where to go, we’re with the drive who only speaks turkish, and all of us americans only speak english. so we’re basically just hanging out for about 20 minutes, when karen and geof come hurrying along, saying we should jsut get on the ferry. so we do, and jsut as the boat is taking off, we see the guide and the 3 missing students, all of them still very much drunk. we ended up getting to europe then hanging out at the bus/coffee shops nearby for about an hour until the ferry showed up again. from there, we all got on the bus and started the long drive back home. everybody slept for a bit, but i can never sleep on buses, especially traveling long distances, so i watched the road for a bit, then we took a bathroom break. then, i sat up near karen for about 2 hours, and we just talked. about her life, about mine, about her farm that burned, about being sick and traveling, about raveling in general, about staying in touch….just one of those really great expereinces. i know in many years i’ll forget a lot of what happened…how bad the food was, what i did in certian countries, but i don’t think i’ll ever forget that conversation….it was one of those types. karen reminds me of diane and someone else, all roled up together into one. we also arranged a visit the next time she’s in boston, which will be early november of next year. she really is a truly amazing woman..i wish all of you could meet her. also, during one of the pitstops, i found doritos!!!!! i was so so so excited, i haven’t even eaten them yet!! :) it’s times like these that i really miss the comfort of american food…just being able to eat whatever i want, when i want to. anyways, no matter. i still have them now :) and my chewy chocolate chip cookies from home…yeah, just opened them…one a day til boston baby :) anyways, so we finally get home, and i’m fairly exhausted and very hungry. britteny and i drop our bags off (she’s no longer drunk, just a little tired) and we run up and grab lunch, almost an hour past the time it usually ends. so we eat, and we eat a bit, but it wasn’t very good, and they took the food away before long. so brittney and i head upstairs to the 7th deck, with the intention of getting some fries for me and a burger for her. lo and behoold (i always wanted to say that) we find sara and colyn! so we talk to them, eventually get some food, and just hang out for a bit. sooner rather than later, we all go inside, brittney to nap, colyn to do something else…and sara and i decide to go get starbucks, becasue it’s right besdie the harbor. besides, she wanted to get on the internet, which i really didn’t need to do, but i agreed. when we get there though, we get drinks (yay double chocolate-y chip frappucino!) but when we try to use the internet, neither of our computers would connect. so after a little while we head back to the ship, me drinking the remains of my drink, and before long we’re back in air conditioning, that i will never again take advantage of. we go our seperate ways, but soon enough it’s dinner time, and i am thoroughly not hungry…i had basically just eaten since 230, when we got back from the tirp. i had a little bit though, and i was happy enough to just be on the ship, especially after such a long trip. sara and colyn then went to the sufi dervish dance thing, and britteny and i stayed in. all i know is i went to my room and watched she’s out of my league (really? playing on a ship with kids?) and wrote something or other…maybe an email? certaintly not a blog post. :) anyways, around 10 they called me and asked if i wanted to stretch, which i agreed to, and i met them up on the 7th side deck. we stretched for a bit, and then i went to bed, probably before 1030. i really was exhausted and worn out, and by that time i was starting to get hungry again, which is a clear sign (when there’s nothing to eat) to go to bed. so i slept.

also on the first day that i forgot to add…that night, when i was hanging out in my room i was able to get on facebook and upload some pics! and then after that i was able to skype my parents! it was really really great…i’m glad i was able to talk to them, and to see my puppy! oh, my little dusty girl :) it oddly enough made me less homesick, but more eager to simply get home. it’s not just aboue being in my own bed, but seemingly small things. i wnat to decide what i want to eat, not just have somehting put before me. i want to eat hot food, not semi-warm buffet food. and i want kraft zesty italian dresssingggg!!!! but that’s mostly just comfort stuff. on the other hand, i am a taurus, and i love comfort. anyways, it’s fine, i’ll be home soon enough. so anyways, day 2…i woke up early, ate some breakfast, and then we all got back on the bus to ride the ferry to europe. yeah, lots of backtracking, but it was ok. so once in europe, we all drove a bit and went around different monuments from the gallipoli campaign. it was really beautiful, but still…i am totally tired of tours. all the same, we did the very very short tour, and we were done by lunchtime. conveniently, we ate lunch at this little place right down the road, which was alright. not a lot of vegetarian food (again) but still…at least there was bread and turkish tea :) then we went to this little beach for 1.5 hours. i thought that would be absolutely no time at the beach, but as soon as we actually got on the sand i was ready to leave. it was so freaking hot…i literally felt like i was baking. but i got in the water for a bit,and that was hot…very warm water, but it was better than just sitting on the sand. so then i got out of the water…sat for a few minutes, and then i was completely done. a few of us went and sat in the shade, which was marginally better. but thankfully, we soon used up all our time, and so we went, grabbed the ferry, then went back to asia. karen and geof found some locals and started playing backgammon. i wanted to stay, but i didn’t want to sit around feeling all yucky and gross from the sand. so my roommate and i headed back, then we both took showers and relaxed for a bit. then a few of us went for a walk on this boardwalk thing right outside our hotel, and we found a dominos! so we made a plan to eat dinner at the hotel, then afterwards we would order pizza and eat it while watching gallipoli (think of a bunch of australians, plus mel gibson before mad max, plus 70’s techno music..that type of movie…). anyways, so grabbed a drink until dinner, then headed back to get some food…all of us were wicked hungry. anyways, so we get there and dinner is so much better than the day before. the day before i ate pickles and rice. but that night, i ate plain pasta, and rice, and about 15 pickles…they were so good, and they tasted a bit like home! and cheese, and chocolate pudding for dessert!! yeah, it was a good meal, and i ate a ton. and i wasnt hungry at all, but i made sure the guide would be able to translate the menu for us during the movie. so after dinner we all decided to catch the 8am ferry in the morning to get back to the bus to start the 5 hour drive back to istanbul, so we’d make it back for lunch. then about half the ppl went out, and the rest stayed in to watch the movie. we ended up ordering pizza, and let me tell you, eating dominos was one of the best things in the world..just having american food. let me tell you though, it didn’t taste anything like it…i’m pretty sure they’re on the old recipe, not the new one. sad face…but it was still wicked good! :) so anyways, after eating this much, i was so freaking full. i just sat there, watching the end of the movie, holding my little food baby and thinking it’d be really nice to sleep. more ppl kept trickling out of the movie, making their way out into the night, the last night before ramadan started. anyways, so the movie ended, and i went to my room and relaxed…uploading photos and things like that…i also watched the swan princess on youtube, becasue everyone needs some princess action once in a while. :) i went to bed around 1, knowing i would need to get up at 630 the next morning. i was woken up around 230 by my roommate, who was more than a little drunk. no matter…we went to bed, her kinda just falling into bed, and that was the day.

so by the title, i hope you have deduced that i went on a 2 night overnight in turkey! we went to canakkale, troy, and gallipoli, in basically that order, with a couple stops inbetween. right, so day 1…i really didn’t want to go. i knew i had already payed for it, but this really irritating woman was leading it, and i didn’t want to try to explain to her that i was sick and everything. i did that on the first trip i took, and she was really mean about it…suggesting that if i don’t feel well maybe i should jsut skip the trip. she has no right to make me feel bad about something i can’t control…i get really angry just thinking about her telling me that. really angry. so anyways, i decided to give her one more shot. we were all supposed to meet 20 minutes befroe departure in the union, to make sure we all had our passports…while there, i would ask to speak with her privately, tell her, and if she reacted in a similiar way, i would hand over my ticket and tell her to have a nice day. so i get there early, hoping to find a time to talk to her before the while thing started. i’m sitting there, and 2 of my favorite people walk in….karen and geof, the really famous lifelong learners. so who are these people? well, geof used to be in an 80s semi-famous band…can’t remember the name though. from there he went into advertising, doing most of the famous commercials for amazon and nike, etc. commercials for famous things, not for actual products. so, anyways, the reason why he ahs so much money and all? so the last taco bell commercial you saw…what was their slogan? “think outside the bun,” right? yeah, that was him. so everytime that’s used, he gets a ton of money. yeah, i met THAT guy. made me happy at least, and i don’t even eat taco bell :) anyways, so that’s geof…karen is even more fantastic really. now, she’s a famous travel writer/photographer that works for various cruise lines…but before that she had a fantastic life. she’s traveled since the 60s, and she was a really well-known tour guide. she was in the soviet union when the americans landed on the moon..she was behind the eastern bloc when the wall fell…she’s lived through all these experiences, and instead of seeing them from the standard american point of view, she saw them from the opposite side. just a really unique experience if you ask me. so anyways, she owns planett farm in california…the site of the really really bad fire a while back…couldn’t tell you what year though. she also knows all these mad famous people. not only does she know the richest woman in norway, but she also knows that her computer was stolen, about a week before the shootings/bombings. the police apparently seem to think that they might ahve something to do with one another…or that the accomplices might know all the information on her computer. whichever..but still. she is friends with a member of the egyptian parliament…and not just any member, the one whose daughter is married to one of mubarak’s sons. yeah, she knows tons of people like that…it’s crazy. i love them. anyways, so in teh union i was talking to karen, and it turns out she’s leading the trip! the first woman was sick, and so she’s not coming. that moment right there is when i decided to go on this trip. i told karen about being sick and she gave me a couple hugs and wanted me to tell her if she can do anything to help. we came up a code phrase and everything. anyways, so then we all get on the bus, and by all i mean teh 20 or so ppl that showed up. how many were there supposed to be? 40 people. so yeah, 1/2 the people just slept through it, which is weird because we caught the bus at 830. anyways, so then we drive for 4 hours. we took a bathroom break about 1/2 way through, and then we drove some more until we got to this ferry. then we drove the bus onto the ferry and took the ferry to asia. no big deal :) from there we drove a bit into canakkale and went to an archaeological museum. it was boring, it sucked. but, we did a self-guided tour, and we left within 20 minutes. my kinda tour if you ask me. :) anyways, then we went to troy…and it’s absolutely nothing like the movie. really. so it’s not on the beach…and the tallest wall is about my height. i understand that they probably fell with earthquakes, and it was toppled by invaders, etc. you can’t judge a place by a movie, but still. and, you cant even see the ocean from there. but whatever. so we walked around, took pics, etc….i dont know what else we did…nothing special. but then we came out of hte dig part and went to the tourist section and bought gifts and stuff, and took pics inside the big horse thingie…it’s not the one from the movie though. oh, and then, i bought a magnum ice cream bar, intending to take it back with us to the hotel….so we drive 30ish minutes, and i’m really excited, cause it still feels hard and frozen! so we get to the room and my friend brittney and i are rooming together, and she watned to take a shower. so we’ve got free time til dinner, and i decided to eat my chocolate bar! so let me describe this…it’s chocolate ice cream, covered in a hardened hot fudge, then covered in a chocolate covering. so so so so so so so so so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah, so i got it everywhere…my skirt, my hair, my face, my hands…everywhere. but it was totalyl worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so yeah, then we ate dinner, which didn’t have many vegetarian options. so then a big bunch of us went out to get a beer, then 4 of us got some food, mainly pizza for me and fries/onion rings for them. then i went to bed. yeah, that was the first day….really good, in my opinion :) espeically the magnum bar!!! :)

right, so after turkey day, we all went to bed, and when we woke up we were in turkey! we were literally right there…maybe a block away from the galata bridge. it was really cool. you could virtually walk to the blue mosque and the ayasophia. and, yeah, right outside my window was topkapi palace, and the ayasophia, and the blue mosque. so yeah, we were right there, in the middle of action. yay, yay, yay. anyways, after we ate breakfast there was a diplomatic briefing with hannah draper, who works at the us consulate in istanbul. she told us a lot about the city in general and the people inside it, as well as the political situation al around turkey. it was really enlightening, especially when i went over afterwards and asked her about secularism in turkey, and about the ban on the islamic veil. she knew a lot of information, which will hopefully help me on one of my field assignments. after talking to ehr i did notice that i approached watching people, especially women and couples. so anyways, my friend steve and i had a (7 hour) city tour at 11, so we all just kinda hung out until then. afterwards, we picked up our boxed lunches, and then we were off! we drove up to the top of this hill, but i don’t know why. then we drove over to the hippodrome, which is now this really nice park like thing…it had a really nice stone layout sort of thing, which was really cool too. so then we saw the obelisk, and the serpentine column, which was cool, and then we were given free time for lunch! i didn’t eat then, as i wasn’t really hungry, but i did find an atm. it ws really relaxing to just sit down on the side (right beside the blue mosque btw!) and people watch. so then we took a walk down to the ayasophia, and then we went inside. it really is that simple, as we automatically skip all the lines since we have a virtual reservation. and then we went in. and the guide talked for forever. espeically in places like this i value the information the guide has to offer, but sometimes i jsut need to be let go and be able to go explore by myself. i finally just kinda wandered away, still listening to my headset, but letting the magnificence of the place get in me. i mean, really…i’m in this place built in only 5 years, finished in 537CE. that was nearly 1500 years ago,and it is simply huge. i don’t know how else to describe it, but it’s ginormous. i mean, really. i think i posted pics on facebook…simply the hangng lamps are wider than i am tall, and there are dozens and dozens of them. anyways, it was great and really cool. i went up to the 2nd floor gallery, and looked out on the lower floor, and all i could think of was that scene from anastasia…you know, at the beginning, when anya breaks into the old palace and starts imagining beautiful ghosts dressed to the nines, and she’s singing and dancing and all that. yeah, so i completely saw that scene up in the gallery. the lamps hang fairly low, so it really looked like the glimmer of ghost jewels. you know, it was really awesome. anyways, from there we went to the basilica sistern, which is right across the street…it was really nifty…just underground…dark and cool. the light was actuallly really red from the lamps, and the fish under the water were glowing orange. i didn’t know we were going, but just to see this huge underground cavern, completely sculpted to look roman was really fantastic. from there we walked back up to the blue mosque and after a short talk about proper etiquette and stuff, went in. i had never been to a mosque before, especially an active mosque, and i truly didn’t know what to expect. after removing my shoes and covering my hair and arms (i felt like a harem woman, which was kinda nifty) we went in, and it’s huge. there are tons of native people in there, just hanging out it looks like, but some of them were praying. so yeah, there are these huge columns, called elephant columns, and theyre literally 15 ft in diameter. they’re huge. i put up at least one pic on facebook i know. but anyways, the only other thing i really have to say is that it doesn’t really feel blue to me. but anyways, it ws really peaceful afterwards, as we stood around for a while after that. then we went to sulimaniye mosque, aanother working mosque. i was a little surprised…i thought it would be a really big deal, i mean, this mosque was built by suleyman! but yeah, it was almost completely empty. it was wicked peaceful though, and just a really nice looking place. the same sort of design as both the blue mosque and the ayasofia, so it wasn’t anything new. most of us ended up sitting down though, and seeing it from an islamic perspective, which was a nifty sort of thing to do. after that, we just went back to the ship…and i think that was it that day. my other friends decided to go out to a party, but i needed to get up early the next morning, and i really just wanted a day (or evening) to relax and pack, and just kinda have a good night to myself. so yeah, good tour, good day, good evening. check plus on that.

right, so on day 4, we were all pretty much exhausted. sara and i got up and had french toast (cause its awesome) and after that i think i took a nap. i really can’t remember, becasue i was really tired and it was a while ago. so anyways, i think then i went to lunch? and then for sure brittney, karla, and i went to the beach for a bit. it was wicked hot though, so we didn’t stay very long, but we were at least there for a bit. i went in the water and everything :) after that, both brittney and i had a bunch of Bulgarian lev left to spend but we didn’t want to walk all the way to the shopping area. it was maybe a 20 minute walk, but we were both really tired and stuff. so, we decided to go to Captain Cooks, right there in port. we were level with about the 5th deck, and once inside we saw so many SASers trying to get internet. no matter, so we order american food, and for me that meant a coke light, milkshake, and fries. the coke came out wicked fast, but the milkshake took about 15 minutes. yeah, i timed it. anyways, so then she ordered barbecue chicken, and we were literally waiting there for over an hour for our food. when it finally came out the chicken was good, but not barbecue, and then my fries werent fries. they were strips of potatoes that weren’t really cooked. so yeah, it wasn’t that great, and we ended up just eating quickly and going back to the ship and eating a bunch at dinner, which was about an hour or so after our meal thing. so yeah, that was that day. turkey day dawned bright and boring…we only had one class that day, global studies, and it was mandatory. i guess it awsn’t so bad, we had a few stretch breaks, but a 2 hour class is just mad long. after that nothing really important/special happened. i wrote a paper, which took a long time to write because i was really disorganized. yeah, then we went to dinner, then preport, then nothing happened until we all went to bed. it sounds like a boring day, but it was really needed for all of us i think…just a day to chill out and relax, and not worry about everything.

so my first overnight happened in bulgaria! i woke up around 5am on july 25, ate breakfast, then went with a group to the varna airport. it was a little rinky-dink sort of thing, absolutely nothing like logan or richmond international. when we got through security we had to board these buses that then delivered us to our little russian plane. the layout was a little weird…i mean, the wings were up above the passenger seats, so i was sitting right in the middle of the plane, underneath the wings. no big deal though…it was a short 45 minute flight, compared to a 6+ hour bus ride. i gladly payed that extra little bit of money to not spend an entire day in a bus. besides, as soon as we touched down in sofia (which was also mad small) we boarded a bus and traveled 2.5 hours to rila monastary, which was in the heart of rila mountain. it was a great little monastary…a huge courtyard with a church right in the center of it. this place was so peaceful…not nearly as hot as varna or our other ports, and it was nice to not sweat. i mean, i know that sounds a little gross, but especially getting on and off buses, and all of us packed into little buildings and stuff without air conditioning…it gets wicked hot and everyone starts reeking. this wasn’t like that though, we had a short little talk as soonas we went into the complex, and after that we went into the church for about 45 minutes. it was nice, we walked all around. on our way out, this old woman starts tugging on my arm and starts yelling at me in bulgarian. i’m just standing there, completely not understanding what she’s saying (obviously). so the tour guide, atenas, starts yelling back. they yell for a bit (we’re still in the otherwise silent church) until the old woman calls a security guard, who escorts atenas completely out. the old woman makes the whole group leave, and we find the secutiry guard, the old woman, and atenas right outside, still yelling, apparently about the 3 girls in our group wearing shorts. soon enough, 2 orthodox monks, in full monk garb, meaning black robes down to the ground and a little black brimless tall (5 inch) hat, come over. look them up on google, they’re pretty legit. anyways, so they start talking to atenas, who apparently started insulting them. he is then escorted out of the entire monastary, and he tells us he is not allowed inside the monastary, ever again. so the 3 girls and i all traipse out after him, all expelled becasue we have on shorts. i would have put on something longer, but i didn’t bring a skirt or anything like that. usually the trip description says we need to cover our knees or whatever, but there was no mention of any sort of description. so i wrote in my journal, then started writing a paper, and about an hour later everyone came back out, done with the visit. from there we went a little ways back down the mountain, and ate lunch at this cute little place. then we drove 2 hours back into sofia, where we were given free time (about 1.5 hours) till dinner, and then free time until the next morning when we were doing a tour of sofia. so my roommate, this cool girl from LA named Jaime and i decide to walk over to the open air market…it was only a 10 minute walk, and we figured that’d be better than just hanging around the hotel. besides, it was overcast and pretty cool by that point, and after traveling for half the day we thought it might be nice to get out and stretch our legs. we make it there, and i decide to buy a long brown skirt, to have for the monastary visit. we haven’t even made it half way through when it starts raining. no, not raining, pouring. it was like a never ending shower, until the storm started. so neither of us thought to bring an umbrella, so we decide to just turn around and head back to the hotel…we’re completly soaked by the time we get back, and we hadn’t even walked that far. so then we spend about 45 minutes trying to dry our clothes/find something to wear to dinner. somehow, we make 2 outfits out of dry clothes, most of which were mine for tmrw/in case i wanted to go out after dinner. we ate a really nice buffet-style (go figure) dinner with lots of fruit, and this really good soup. i ate a good amount of food, and then jamie and i sat talking with prof butler, our guide, and the 4 lifelong learners that were on the trip with us. afterwards, around 830, jaime and i go upstairs and decide to just hang out rather than go out like the rest of our group. i put on the tv, and there was english! i watched cnn for about 30 minutes while jamie read, and after a while she turned off the tv for me, cause i fell asleep around 9 or 915.i slept until 6, when i woke up with the sun (like usual) and i had a really good night’s sleep. when i got up i ate breakfast by myself, which was really nice, and packed up a bit. then i ate again with jaime and the lifelong learners before going on our tour! the tour was an all day sort of thing. we visited the oldest church built as a church in sofia, and then we went to the church of st. george. from there we watched the changing of the guard in front of the parliamentary building. i’ll try and put up my video the next time i ahve internet. it was so great! they marched like normal, then the guy in front made a noise and they started doing the russian march…legs and arms out, etc…then the guy in back made the same noise and they switched back. it was really cool to watch. then we crossed the street and went to another archaeological museum! god, i’m even tired of writing that :/ it was huge though, and it was interesting, as all the other museums are. from there we walked a bit, found teh opera house (huge, tooks pics) and then found the place we were going for lunch. we ate some decent food, but they forgot to bring me my actual meal. most of these places aren’t accustomed to vegetarian people, so i didnt really miss out on much. i did have this excellent gezpacho! it’s this spicy cold summer tomato soup. it’s usually pretty thick, and this stuff tasted like salsa! it was really great, espeically with bread, so i had a decent meal. then, we went to another monastary, but i forget the name. it started with a b though…it’s written down somewhere. it was wicked small, but really old, with great preserved icons. super chill…from there we went back to sofia (the monastary was on the outskirts of the city) and went to the cathedral, this beautiful building that was designed just like the ayasofia in istanbul…not quite as big though (learned that when i visited the ayasofia…see a later post about that!). from there, most of us started the free time, but i went with prof butler and 2 of the lifelong learners to see the saint sofia, the namesake of the city. this might have been my favorite. i saw a real baptism take place, and the icons were all really detailed. the best aprt was that they were excavating the crypt underneath the church. on the floor above the excavation they constructed glass panels so you could see what they were doing. it was really nifty to look into the crypt and see what it looked like from the top. i saw some pretty worn down crypts too! :) anyways, then we were given over an hour of free time, so i went to this little amrket thing, right in front of the restaurant where we were going to have our last meal in sofia. i looked around, met up wiht jaime, deduced there really wasnt anything to do, and decided to to go the restaurant and have a drink before dinner. lo and behold, we found the lifelong learners, and so we sat with them until prof butler and the guide showed up. then we hung out for a bit til dinner, and instead of not eating i got to order a pizza! it was the first time i decided what i wanted to eat in a long time, rather than having a set meal, like on the ship or on trips. it was great! :) so i got this vegetarian pizza, which was good except for the onions…i hate onions. but it wsa great, and i ate plenty of that and a fruit/veggie salad and then it was time to go! we drove to sofia airport, then boarded a bus to the plane, and before i knew it, we were in varna again. it was a really great trip…i learned a lot, plus i made a new friend! when i got back on the ship, i grabbed some food…i was starving! then sara, brittany, and i decided to go out. it was really nice…we went to this little bar on the beach and met up with some other SASers, and just generally had a really nice relaxing time. it was really great to just have a night like that :)

i keep promising to write in my blog, but i can never find the time or energy or anything. so i’ve got an hour and a half before i’ve gotta be somewhere, and instead of doing homework, i decided to write. i think the last time i wrote was right before bulgaria, so i’ve got this much information to cover… july 24—varna city orientation, walked on beach july 25—rila monastary july 26—sofia july 27—beach, captain cook’s july 28—“turkey day” july 29—hippodrome, ayasofia, basilica sistern, blue mosque, july 30—overnight day 1—traveling, arch.museum, troy, skyped july 31—overnight day 2—gallipoli, beach, dominos august 1—overnight day 3—traveling, starbucks august 2—grand bazaar, spice bazaar, layed out of course i’ll do seperate posts for all this. it’ll be tons of information and all that, so i might as well make it easy on all of you. and yeah, i do put line spaces between each paragraph, but i somehow lose those when i email each post in. i try to make it look cleaner/more organized though! so yeah, july 24: the ship pulls into the varna port, one clearly unaccustomed to a virtual cruise ship. it’s a small little port thingie right on this wall that runs to one of the public beaches. it’s not the most popular or prettiest, but it was right there. anyways, so after breakfast and a diplomatic briefing by the us ambassador to bulgaria (yeah, big deal, right?!) anyways, he was alright. so i hung around the ship until the afternoon, and after lunch my friend sara and i went on the varna city orientation. that was alright. we saw these huge roman baths, and then we went to a couple different museums…one being about bulgarian life. we saw traditional outfits, real agricultural tools, stuff like that. we also went to the archaeological museum of varna…it was in a really big building that used to be the girls highschool, but only a couple exhibits were open. i guess my problem is that i’m really done with museums and all that, especially archaeological ones. they just have the same stuff, and i’m tired of looking at the descriptions and not being able to read them, or them having something really non-descript. “coins, dating from the 4th century,” etc. but it was alright…it was hot in the museum, but they ahd the windows open, and the breeze coming in was really nice. after that we went to the cathedral…a really huge really beautiful building. sara and i spent a bunch of time was there, including some of our free time. after that we just sat right outside the building for about 30 minutes and had a really nice talk. she talked about her dance company and things like that, and i talked about my poetry and how weird it is to be on the ship versus at home or back in VA. it was a really nice talk in a beautiful peaceful area. from there we just went back to the ship, but overall it was just a great way to spend the rest of the day. that night, a few of us decided to go walk on the beach and get a drink at one of the little bars. nothing big, as i had to get up early the next day (read the next post!) but i miss just hanging out on a beach, especially when the sun is setting. the beach faced east, so the sun was behind us, but i love how there’s still plenty of light but no glare. the sky is just so pretty at that time, and it was great getting our feet wet in salt water and all that. i really really love the beach, and i love living on the coast in salem. salt air is just so healthy for you i think!