Bliss

Skater girl

2011-05-13T14:51:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was pretty fun, and it's been a while since I've had a really fun day- i learned to skateboard! and learned how to drop in on a ramp! I loved it and can't wait to improve this summer! Speaking of summer, I just received an internship offer for The Price Group! I am about to become a sponge for knowledge.

Photos

2011-05-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Easter Bunny

2011-05-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks Mom for allllll of the Godiva chocolate! Happy Mother's Day :)

Call to Prayer in Istanbul, Turkey

2011-05-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

This was the "Call to Prayer" that was played 5x a day in Istanbul- pretty amazing. The audio doesn't sound that great on my Flip.

Athens View from the Acropolis

2011-05-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Blog Explanation

2011-05-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so many of you were wondering what this blog was- it's from my Summer 2010 travels to eight countries with an AMAZING program called Semester at Sea. (Canada, Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco)

This was made for friends and family to read while I was abroad for three months.

But it's been a while since that trip (almost a year!!) so I might just turn this into a photography/writing/random blog!

:)

2010-08-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

favorite food- Italy and Spain
place I'd go back to- Croatia
favorite people- Turkey
best shopping- Greece
worst traffic- Egypt and Turkey
favorite culture shock - Morocco

Eeyore

2010-08-12T09:27:00.001-07:00

August 10

This morning I woke up congested with allergies from the squeaky clean beds… Not to mention that there were praying mantis, spiders, and flies everywhere! The henna on my hands had gotten all over me and the orange spots are still fading…

Breakfast was on the roof and it was the same thing- mint tea, bread, honey, and my favorite- fig jam! Mmm, I miss that. We all sat on the roof for a while then started packing up the donkeys again. We had about a 2-hour hike to get to the vans that would take us back to Marrakech. The hike (more like a walk) was much different than the days before. We went through a few villages but mainly stayed on the edge of mountains looking down at the river. Once we got to the bottom, we crossed the river, along with the donkeys. There were jeeps at the top of the steepest slope and we loaded our stuff and said bye to the donkeys! We named one Eeyore, he carried our stuff the whole trip and we have plenty of pictures with him! The car ride to Marrakech was about an hour and a half and once we got to the hotel and unloaded, we ran across to the supermarket. I bought some snacks and drinks to take back on the ship and for the train ride. We walked to the train station in a hurry, and then ended up waiting there for an hour or two. We went in little shops and got coffee, then the 5 of us girls all got matching bracelets to remember this amazing trip to the Berber Villages! Once we got on the train, we quickly found out that it was the wrong cart. We picked up all of our heavy stuff, dripping sweat, and moved to another one. It was the wrong one again!! We had trouble finding the right one, which had NO air conditioning!! We sat in the 90F room for 4 hours to Casablanca… I can’t tell you how much cooler it felt outside than in that little cart, and how miserable/hilarious the train ride was. We hoped on some more vans and then headed to the ship. Once we entered the port, we waved bye to Morocco and stood in a longgg line to get back onto the ship one last time!
BYE MORROCCO!!!

Charizard and Ken

2010-08-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

August 9

We woke up around 5am during sunrise, rooster noises, and loud hee-haw donkey noises! The sunrise was beautiful over the Atlas Mountains, but it started to rain on us so we quickly moved our mattresses back down! For breakfast, we had mint tea of course! We also had hot water to put instant coffee and hot chocolate in- yum! There were slices of bread and bowls of honey and fig jam (best jam ever). It was a really good breakfast! I just love their mint tea and fig jam!! Something funny happened- bees were getting stuck in the honey! I bet it was their honey anyways, sorry bees!

So we packed up all of our stuff on the donkeys and started our hike to the next village. We were told that the hike was about 4 hours away… it ended up being a 10-hour hike!! We walked through the huge riverbed since it was completely dried out. We passed many villages filled with women working and a lot of dogs and sheep! One big mountain had a village on a steep slope and we got some great photos! There was an old women in one village who had a huge bundle of sticks on her back while she was hiking up the mountainside, I bet she was 70! When we passed by some grazing sheep, the locals were putting two of them in a donkey basket and the donkeys were carrying them away as they were baa-ing. The guide said they were taken away to be slaughtered for dinner… sad but true! Our guide picked some more figs for us up in a high fig tree and I think I ate about 50. They are just so delicious! I will definitely miss hiking in Morocco and stopping to pick fresh figs whenever I want. On part of the hike, we would find mule shoes that had fallen off. We collected them and clipped them to our backpacks! It’s a nice little memory of this trip and it was free, no bargaining involved. :)

We stopped under some trees after hiking for an hour in the sand and dirt with no shade or breeze! It definitely felt like Africa.. We kept getting higher and higher and the views just got better and better. In the distance you could see valleys and hills for miles, we were so high up!! They guides brought dried figs and mixed nuts with little biscuits as a yummy snack every time we stopped. What took us 10 hours to hike was that we stopped whenever we wanted just to hang out and relax. We were in no rush and just wanted to soak up the views; it was perfect!

We stopped for lunch in a forest. It was shady and cool, and filled with tall pine trees! For lunch, they prepared big trays of tomatoes, onions, olives, corn, and all that other stuff mentioned before! This time we got big juicy oranges too! We had mint tea, bread, and the typical meal stuff we’ve been getting. We had pasta this time, along with potato soup! Yum. We sat under the trees for a few hours and a few people took naps. It was so relaxing! There was a lot of thunder the entire day and it was overcast- making the weather PERFECT. It sprinkled for about 5 minutes but we just got super lucky that there was no heavy rain. I still can’t believe how lucky we got because the thunder was so loud and the clouds were very dark!

We left the first village around 7:30am and finally made it to the next one at 5:30ish! It looked very similar to the last place and the bed/room situation was the same, but much more dirty… It was quite the experience. As soon as we unloaded the donkeys and put our bags in rooms, it quickly started to POUR rain! Perfect timing! We all sat under the roof and felt the cool mist from the rain outside while we drank hot mint tea and played cards! As soon as the rain passed, it was much cooler outside and we wandered around the village. A few of us hiked up a big hill and found a man’s farm with a lot of goats! He tried talking to us, but it was unsuccessful, so we just took pictures and showed him- he loved it! The sun started setting (and it was BEAUTIFUL) so we headed back to the place where we were staying for the night. We all went up to dinner on the rooftop (couldn’t sleep there this time…) and ate these delicious, fresh hot sopapia things! They were identical to sopapias actually, but we had no honey. It was tasty. While we were all sitting in a circle, Mikey had the greatest idea every- a massage train! We all had sore backs from hiking with bags and such, so it was wonderful.

It started to rain a little more so we all went inside the dusty rooms and played Mash! While we were playing and watching the rain out of a beautiful painted window, the guides and locals were playing drums and singing some songs. There was also a strange game being played. A man would tie a string around his neck and at the end was a spoon, almost touching the ground. He would stand over a board with a lit candle and try to put it out with the spoon without catching his pants on fire! It was entertaining and a strange game that they made up. I’ll be writing about it for part of my project in intercultural communications!
There was a family that lived in a house on the roof and the little girls brought out henna. I asked her to trace over the one I got last night and she had no idea what I was saying, so I just let her do her thing. She started on my wrist, covered my entire hand and all of my fingers, and then continued it on the palm of my hand! After both sides of my hand were covered in beautiful flowers and swirly designs, she grabbed my other one! Luckily, she only did the top of my hand so I could have one free hand to brush my teeth and stuff. I had to sit on the roof for about an hour and let it all dry! Everyone got henna that night because it was so pretty!

We had more melon for dessert again and then headed down for some much needed sleep! About every 30 minutes someone will yell, “We are in AFRICA!” and everyone cheers. Haha I miss that, I miss Morocco!

Berber Shuffle

2010-08-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

August 8

In my last blog- I meant to say ‘couscous’ instead of ‘kouskous’… oops.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ doctor is cutting off my toenail tomorrow! First and foremost, I have another major foot injury- this is the worst one. Hiking in Africa made each foot's big toenail go into my skin. BOTH of my big toes are infected and ingrown. I cannot walk normal!! They are both red and inflamed and gross. Gross white stuff started coming out of both wounds and everyone steps on my feet. This morning someone stepped on my toe and it basically exploded. I decided to go to the doctor today (who is the doctor for the Pittsburgh Steelers) and she cut around each big toenail, drained it, bled everywhere, and STUFFED cotton under it, I can't describe the pain I am in right now. I was screaming, there has never been worse pain. My toes are severely infected and tomorrow she is cutting off part of my right foots big toenail. I have to get a shot on the top of my foot numbing my toe because it will be so bad. I have been in excruciating pain and can’t do anything about it.

Anyways, back to Berber…

Today we had a wonderful 6 am wake up call! Breakfast was served by the pool and was quite an interesting buffet. The only thing that looked decent enough to eat was these greasy tortilla bread things; I had about 5 covered in honey, what a great breakfast :) We hoped on 3 vans (holding about 10 people each) and started the hour-long drive to the base of the Atlas Mountains. Let me talk about the terrain- there were rolling hills with green bushes randomly spread out, fields with crops, some plateaus, tall trees randomly in desert parts, cactus, and just really unique landscapes- sometimes I thought I was in Odessa, but with more green. There would be valleys full of sheep and little mud brick houses next to fields of cactus and sand; oh and 4-wheeler rental places everywhere! Half way, we stopped in a small village at a shop and loaded up on snacks and water, which was super cheap! I bought 3 big water bottles, chips and cookies, and some band aids all for about 40 Dirham ($5)! We made it to the base of the mountain range and unloaded the vans. We were standing in a field next to a few adobe houses while little children were running up to us and donkeys were everywhere! I put sunscreen on, put essentials in my backpack, and put everything else on a packing mule! We loaded the donkeys too and then started our 3-hour hike to the first Berber village. It was cloudy and cool at 10:30am and we knew it would get much sunnier and hot! We walked down a steep hill passing houses with children and women peeking out of the windows. They didn’t come out but a few men were out waving at us. Once we got down in the valley the terrain changed to dry, cracked mud filled with bamboo and corn stalks. We walked up and down some more hills as the donkeys and mules began to pass us. There were locals on top of our luggage, on top on the donkeys. They would sing songs to us as they passed, clap, and make noises with sticks. It was really fun each time they passed us! The wonderful thing about this hike was the pace- we weren’t in a rush to get anywhere and the weather was perfect. We could stop if we wanted, sit and take a break, and take pictures whenever. It wasn’t rushed at all which was so nice. Most of the time SAS trips are rushed and fast-paced, but that is completely opposite of this trip. It was not SASsy at all! Haha.
We stopped under some trees for lunch, not knowing what to expect. I knew we had a personal chef hiking and staying with us but I wasn’t sure what kind of food they could serve us that was fresh after traveling on the hike with us. Surprisingly, this trip provided the best food EVER. The donkeys were let loose and were just chillin’ in the field eating hay while we laid out big mats to sit on, with bed cushions around the edges to sit on. We took off our shoes and all gathered around several mats. The guides brought us metal pots of mint tea. This mint tea was INCREDIBLE. It was so minty and natural tasting! They gave us sugar from their sugar canes to add to the steaming hot tea. Even thought it was nearly 90F outside, hot tea has never tasted so good! A few of us fell asleep under some trees for about 30 minutes then lunch was ready! We were served massive trays piled with sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, bell peppers onions, and oranges lining the sides. There were loaves of fresh bread along with bowls full of white rice. There was also this lemon zest sauce that I put on everything! We all got metal plates and loaded them up! It was DELICIOUS!

We cleaned everything up, flicked tics off of the mats (they were everywhere), and loaded the donkeys again! We had about 1 more hour to get to the villages, and it was a hard, steep hike. We went through valleys, over hills, crossed dry rivers, and went up some steep, slippery slopes. When we would walk down steep slopes, we would have to shuffle sideways to get down and it was pretty funny. The tour guide called it the ‘Berber Shuffle’ haha, so it stuck the whole rest of the trip! Every time we were in a bind somewhere, we would say ‘just do the Berber shuffle’! Haha. We stopped in an abandoned village that was filled with working wells. We soaked our hats in ice-cold water straight from underground! It was so natural and clear, but we didn’t drink it since our immune system isn’t used to it. The guides drank it but advised us not to; it was so tempting but not worth getting sick! Some more donkeys passed us and one had my bag! I kid of felt bad for the donkeys carrying all of our stuff, but that’s what they were for and they were used to it. The guide said these donkeys carry groceries up to the villages daily because there is no way a car or truck can get to them, crazy!

After hiking further and walking through a few more villages, we arrived to the one we were staying in! There was one small dirt road that went through the village, lined with mud brick houses. There were no plants, no color, no nothing, just secret doors the led to people’s homes. We turned one corner and went through a big metal gate, covered in pink flowers. Inside was a dirt courtyard with red walls and blue windows and doors. We walked into a house with an outdoor patio in the middle, splitting off into 4 big rooms. In the center of this place, there were plastic and wooden tables and chairs. There was a small bathroom (hole in the floor with a door) and one sink with a broken mirror cemented into the wall! In each of the rooms were foam mattresses covered in colored sheets (no comforters or blankets) and old dusty pillows. While we were picking beds ad dusting them off, a tiny black kitten came in and greeted us! It was the cutest little kitten and kept meowing and trying to cuddle! It looked pretty clean and the guide said it was their pet, so I gave it a scratch behind the ears. I usually don’t pet any animals out here but it was just so tempting and cute!! Once we all got situated, we were served more mint tea as we sat in the courtyard and relaxed after hiking in the hot heat. The locals started to prepare dinner and a lot of the guys helped them cook. We headed out through the big gate and we wandered into a farm. There were donkeys, cows, chickens, bunnies, and turkeys! There were baby turkeys everywhere and they would follow us as we fed them bread crumbs- so precious! A few of us decided to walk around the village and explore past the farm. We walked down a pathway that was lined by trees and vines. Behind the tree line were open fields full of fig trees and sheep! While I was looking at the vines full of honeysuckle, I saw a HUGE, bright green chameleon!!! I remember in 3rd grade I did a report on chameleons and fell in love with them. I also remember reading a book by Eric Carl about a chameleon. Ever since I was little I have always wanted to see one in the wild instead of in a zoo or something. I can’t believe I found a wild chameleon in Africa!!! What a crazy memory that made! There were several more chameleons on these bushes and boy they were fast! I took several pictures but most are blurry. I touched a few but I wasn’t fast enough to catch them. There was a black trash bag stuck in the bushes and on it was a black chameleon! Ahhhh it was amazing. I still can’t believe that the day came where I found wild chameleons, I never thought it would happen! Throughout this summer I haven’t seen much ‘wildlife’ because we have been in cities, so I loved this aspect of this trip. We saw all sorts of wild birds, some sort of wild dog, cobras, monkeys, etc! I loved it.

So once we made it to the main part of the village, women and children were everywhere. It was so strange not seeing any men, and we never really saw any until it was late at night. Our guide (who is a Berber) told us that the women stay in the village and do all of the work, while the children go to a small village school. The women, cook, clean the house, work in the fields, do the laundry, and do everything. The men go out into Marrakech for their jobs. He also said the men usually do not say they are Berbers because they are seen as second class. He said that he still tells people he is a Berber because he is not ashamed of his village, unlike most of its inhabitants. Berber also has 3 dialects, additional to speaking Arabic! We walked into a little hole in the wall where a local kid was selling snack and drinks so we stocked up on bottled water. We couldn’t buy too much because they need it for the village and the donkeys can only bring up a certain amount each week. In the village, there was a little boy by a well washing clothes, and some other women washing clothes in a bucket with scrubbers singing beautiful songs and harmonizing! It was so beautiful. The second they see a camera they shake their heads, so we respected them and didn’t take pictures or videos. We walked past a pretty blue painted wooden door with an Australian Sheppard and a little boy sleeping in front. I took some pictures and then we continued walking. On the way back, it started to rain and we had our cameras so we started running back. On the run back, we stopped by the same blue door, ducking under a small ledge until the rain stopped. Directly behind the door that we were leaning on, several women were peeking through and it made me jump when I heard someone breathing and staring through the cracks of the wood! We felt bad for intruding and standing in front of their door so we started to walk into the rain to find somewhere else. When we were walking away, the women came out of their house and were waving at us to come inside! This was the perfect opportunity to interact with the people and see how they live. Annie, Lauren, Kelly and I walked inside and there was the little boy and his dog! It was the perfect scenario. There was a grandmother, a mother, and her two kids- a 15-year-old girl and her 9-year-old son. Walking in, there was a courtyard with plants. To one side I peeked into a room and saw shelves with pots and pans and a small sink. There were no doors and some of the rooms had roofs. The grandmother led us into a small, cool room that had beautiful rugs along the floor and many pillows. Keep in mind that we don’t speak ANY Berber and they speak NO English. Lauren knew a little French and we could communicate slightly with the daughter who had learned French in school. What we got out of the broken French was that this was her home with her mother, grandmother, and brother, and the dad worked in Marrakech. The little girl was MARRIED and had a picture of her husband, who I think was about 18. They still practice arranged marriages and it was crazy seeing this young girl with a wedding ring on and a husband who she never sees. The mother came into the room with coffee and sugar cubes. She also brought these little biscuits and nuts that were toasted and delicious! I think the room we were in was where they sleep, but I’m still not sure. There was a small TV surrounded by flowers and a picture of the dad and son. It was so interesting being inside their home and being served coffee in their bedroom! What a crazy experience. The daughter put the TV on their music channel. It was like MTV but it was playing music videos in Arabic. We sat and didn’t talk much, but it was still easy to make hand signals and tell by expressions that they were happy for us to visit and we re surely thankful that they let us in! When we left, we hugged and said bye to the family. The daughter and son came with us and walked us into a pasture full of fig trees. The little boy would climb the trees and pick the ripest figs! We sat in the field and ate so many, feeding the peelings to their pet sheep that the dog was herding! It was an amazing experience that I will definitely not forget!!

We strolled back down the alleys and saw some more chameleons (!!!) and headed back into our little courtyard. When we got back, dinner was ready! We had plates full of couscous, carrots, tomatoes, and many other cooked vegetables! We also had this delicious soup that I have no idea what it was; I think potato and beans. Along with all of this deliciousness, we had more lemon zest sauce with fresh bread! For dessert- mint tea and melons! Mmmm. There was a small hamam (sauna/bath) inside the courtyard so we all went and took baths by pouring buckets of hot water over us and then we sat in the sauna. This little room had a fire underneath that was making the room super hot and almost burning our feet! The floor was covered in beautiful blue and green tiles with little windows where the sunlight came in. It was very relaxing!

After cleaning up and hanging out. We wandered some more through the village. One lady led us up some steps to her roof where her children were playing and she was making dinner over a fire. The lady and little girl brought out henna and started decorating our hands! I got ‘bliss’ written in Arabic on my wrist from the little girl. The mother was illiterate and could only make designs. She wasn’t very good at it, and it turned out to be pretty funny. Casey asked for a dragon and 10 minutes later there was a huge blob on her ankle! Haha we had to act like it was beautiful... When we went back, we wiped it off with wet wipes and it made a huge orange stain on her ankle haha, it was so funny! We all decided to move our mattresses to the rooftop to sleep.
We laid them all out and star gazed while drinking more mint tea and eating little butter biscuits! I saw so many shooting stars and the Milky Way looked like a giant cloud! We told ghost stories then we all fell asleep pretty quickly!!

Cobras and Monkeys on the Loose!

2010-08-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

August 7th
This morning I quickly ate breakfast, packed, and met my group to head out to Casablanca, Morocco! I usually know most of the people in all of the groups I’ve been in, but this time I only knew one or two! We left the ship from deck 5 this time, so we had to go down some really steep stairs carrying all of our bags! There was a bus waiting for us at the bottom that took us about 15 minutes out of the port and then to the train station. Casablanca reminded me of Egypt, but less chaotic. It had the same crowd of covered women and robed men, with little kids everywhere too. The street traffic was much more calm and all of the traffic lights worked and were followed! It was also a lot cleaner than Egypt and there weren’t nearly as many random pedestrians weaving around. We pulled up to the train station and it was beautiful! The entrance had all sorts of designed carved in it and it was very clean. Inside was very nice, marble floors, restaurants, air conditioning etc. It was so much nicer than any train station I’ve been to this summer. Also, there were French announcements after the Arabic ones. In Morocco, everything is either in Arabic or French. There were 34 people in my group and 3 tour guides. They passed out our tickets and we hoped on the train! It made me think of the Hogwarts train from Harry Potter. The hallways were super narrow and there were little rooms on the side where 6 people could sit. A man would walk around with a cart selling cokes and candy while we rode 3 hours to Marrakech! The hallways of the train were as hot as outside, but the little cabins had AC, which was nice since it was around 90 degrees outside! When we arrived to Marrakech, we walked about 5 minutes down the (organized) street, which was very convenient! The hotel was called Hotel Oyuda and it was definitely a resort. It was really nice and decorated beautifully with traditional Moroccan designs and rugs. There was a huge courtyard with shops inside the hotel, and a big swimming pool with caves. We put our stuff in rooms then headed out to the market for our one day to shop! I met a few girls on the Egypt trip I took and they were on this one too! They are all from Colorado and go to UC Boulder- Annie, Kelley and Lauren. I plan on visiting them in Colorado sometime!
We got a taxi ride to the market because it was a far walk and we only had a few hours. I am a pro at getting a taxi and negotiating prices after all of this practicing in other countries! It’s crazy how much you get used to everything, which seemed so different and strange in Spain when we were still figuring out how to manage ourselves! When we walked up to the markets, there was a huge open space (like a giant parking lot) filled with entertainers. There were monkeys, women doing henna tattoos, and snake charmers!! We saw a huge crowd gathered so we went to check it out. It was several older men playing instruments and charming cobras! There were so many huge snakes everywhere, just slithering around! There were also these huge vipers that looked like rattlesnakes. These were some of the biggest vipers I’ve ever seen! The men would ask for money every time you take a picture so I would take as many as I wanted and then pay at the end when I was finished. Sometimes you have to be strict back with them or they will charge you each time you put your camera to your face! The men started bringing the snakes towards us and putting them around people’s necks. The cobras had their fangs removed but I still squirmed when they came near. We kind of ran away when they would bring snakes towards us. The old men thought it was funny and kept chasing us with snakes… what a scary memory that was!! Once we passed the massive crowding of people and cobras, we started shopping at all of the stands. At the first few places, things were picked though, expensive, and not that great. We decided that we would walk 10 minutes deeper into the market and then start browsing and bargaining! The market had the same atmosphere as a few other countries but very different things inside. One of the things that you can find everywhere here is the hand of Fatima (or something like that). It is the hand that represents good luck and everyone wears them in all sorts of forms- earrings, necklaces, hennas, shirts, bookmarks, paintings, anything! I bought some bracelets, shirts, and a few gifts, the typical market purchases! There was a local who was working in his shop with a Texas Rangers shirt on so I got some pictures with him. It’s always so strange seeing shirts from Texas and other places while we are in Morocco and they have never been to America. Women were everywhere selling yummy treats and nuts. There was one woman who we bought cookies from. The cookies were some sort of coconut that was roasted or something- delicious. Her face was completely covered so I had no idea where to look or how to communicate! I put a few coins in her henna-covered hand and she handed me several cookies, they were amazing! I bargained some more (which I LOVE doing). What I’ve started to do is when they give me a price, I say no and then name half of that price. They laugh, say no and I start to walk away. Then, I will get called back in with them saying, “Ok, what is your lowest price?” and I will say something lower than half of the price! It takes a good 10 minutes to get something at the price you want, but so far everything I’ve bought has been less than half the price that they started me off with! It is definitely a game and they try to take advantage of us. When the pick up the fact that I’m not some dumb bargainer who will pay a ton of money for something cheap, they realize they need to make a sale and I end up getting so much stuff because they work with me! I loveeeee bargaining, it is so much fun! One store had a pet chipmunk and it was crawling all over everything and doing tricks, so cute! I was in one shop and there were turtles and chameleons in wooden cages. I asked the worker if they were his pets and all he said was, “Kous kous”.......... He eats chameleons and turtles in his kous kous I guess!
So we walked around this market for a few hours and then it started getting reallllly windy. The spices were blowing everywhere and making us all sneeze and have itchy eyes. The bamboo roofs had pieces flying off and it started to sprinkle a little bit. We headed out of the market and into the giant area where the snakes were! As we were starting to run a little bit to avoid the heavy rain, oranges from the fruit stands flew off in front of us and were rolling everywhere. It started thundering pretty loudly too! We safely made it to the street and hoped in a taxi. When we were telling people about the rain ‘storm’ we were in, we said, “Snakes were on the loose, monkeys were running everywhere, it was pouring rain, a palm tree fell in front of us, oranges were everywhere, horses were getting loose!” etc…. Haha we told this story to everyone and exaggerated it so much each time! We still laugh about that one time there was a tornado in the market... with wild animals and falling trees…. Haha.
Once we made it back to the hotel, we dropped off our purchases and walked around the corner to a little café. I knew I’d be getting local, real Moroccan food when I went to the Berber villages so I decided to get a chicken Panini and French fries for dinner because I was craving it!! Another thing, I never get cokes at home but it just tastes so much better when you are in another country and tired and hot! Plus, their cokes and stuff come in glass bottles that make it taste so much better and it’s cheaper! The placemats for the table were pieces of butcher paper and there was a stack of smaller pieces on the table. We asked the waiter for napkins (not that he spoke a drop of English…) so we figured that the small pieces of thick paper were napkins… it was pretty funny and awkward to use as napkins, we laughed every time we used one! We got some Dirham at the ATM and headed back to the hotel. Outside of Morocco, you can’t get Dirham or trade it in anywhere. They have strict rules about their money and you can’t trade Dirham for American dollars or vice versa unless it’s inside a bank; thought that was interesting.
In the hotel, a few other SAS trips were staying there too so we all hung out in the courtyard and then went to Africa’s largest club- Pasha! It was about a 20-minute taxi ride and a little more expensive because the prices go way up at night and they won’t bargain. When we got there, the entrance was massive! It was like an adobe house, but much bigger with fire torches lining the top and a big fountain with stairs next to a long line to get in. It was pretty remote around and no other building was in sight, which I found strange. I would think that Africa’s largest club would be deep in the city in Marrakech and not 20 minutes outside of it! When we went in, it was huge! It was really nice and cost about 400 Dirham a person ($50). Yes, we all paid a lot, but I kept telling myself- when would I be in Africa again with all of my friends??? Inside was nice too, it was very modern and there were crazy decorations and lights. The crowd was a mixture of half Arabic, a third French, and a third Semester at Sea students, haha. There are so many French people in Marrakech! The DJ was amazing and played some great songs that we have been hearing all throughout Europe and some American music mixed with Arabic words. There must have been some glass on the floor and when I walked by a table, I accidentally kicked some. I ended up getting glass in the bottom of my toe and it wouldn’t stop bleeding- another foot injury, but this time in Africa! Each country is something new…. what did I tell ya. We left Pasha (and we got some cool t-shirts) and went back to the cozy hotel for a 6 am wake up call!
I was so anxious when I went to sleep because I couldn’t wait to wake up and head to the Berber villages!!!!

?Yella bina, meshi meshi!?

2010-08-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

July 30-Aug 1:

July 30
We slept in finally, until 6am.. which was sleeping in for us! We packed our rooms and went to breakfast for one last meal in the amazing resort. I had an omelet; excuse me, a DELICIOUS omelet! There was a chef who was making them made to order, flipping the eggs high into the air and doing tricks. The omelet was big and browned on the edges, perfection to me.
We then loaded the buses and stocked up on water, and headed to the Karnak Temple, a few minutes away from our Egyptian resort. Our tour lady said, “Yella bina,” meaning ‘let’s go’ in Arabic! She also says, “Meshi meshi,” meaning ‘okie dokie’ in Arabic. Fun phrases!
We arrived at the Karnak temple and went through some shops to get to a huge concrete parking lot with palm trees everywhere. The sun was slowly rising so it was a nice temperature outside! One thing- I haven’t put sunscreen on ONCE in Egypt, and I haven’t gotten burnt. Maybe because I’ve been wearing pants, sleeved shirts, and a hat! I figured it would be too much sun and heat, but it actually was enjoyable and no stress with the weather! I loved that.

So this temple had no tourists or anyone, maybe because it was early in the morning. This entire trip there has been absolutely no crowding of people, which is amazing. At the first few pyramids, there were no people except for us. At the sunrise at the Great pyramids, we were the only ones!! When we went to the Sphinx and temples, there were few people! I couldn’t ask for a better turnout.
This temple was huge and I liked it better than the Luxor Temple (which was a lot smaller, but still amazing). By ‘temple’ I mean big walls surrounding sculpted columns and rocky floors, all covered in hieroglyphics. It’s not like a building or anything with a roof, It is all statues and broken, fallen down columns; beautiful in its own way. In the entrance, there were the mini ram sphinx that went all the way to the Luxor Temple (remember, I wrote about this in the other blog). None of them had heads because they all fell apart. Inside the temple, there were many dogs and men with robes trying to show you all of the cool things inside the temple walls. There were a TON of columns. I could see all of the smoothly finished columns that were build, and towards the end of the row, there were a few columns that were square rocks stacked on top of each other! These were columns that didn’t get finished! It was cool to see how the columns looked before they were sanded down and shaped. There was a sacred column that was placed in the middle of an open area, covered in more hieroglyphics, including the Key of Life and the lotus flower. It is said to walk around it 3 times clockwise, then 3 times back and make a wish! If you walk around one extra time, you get pregnant. So, we cautiously counted to 6!!! There was a cute calico cat following us around, and she did some circles around the column too, haha. We saw the Sacred Lake, which was a small body of water under a bridge with trash in it…
The sun was finally out, and it was getting pretty hot just in time as we left! We headed to the airport and our flight got delayed. Luckily, there was FREE INTERNET!!!! This is the first time this entire summer…. besides one night in Rome. So I used up my time waiting for the flight by uploading pictures and trying to email friends and family. Then, we got on a shuttle bus and headed out in the middle of a parking lot to a TINY plane, the smallest I’ve been on, which was kind of scary. Once we were in the air, there was a burning smell and smoke was flowing down from the front of the plane. We all started FREAKING out and people were pulling out their video cameras and such. I was getting pretty nervous too. Then, the flight attendant announced that she was cooking food for the pilot and she burnt it……….. WHEW. I kid you not- I thought our plane was goin’ down. What a scary experience.
We landed safely (and roughly), and took another coach bus to the same hotel where we had lunch in Cairo. As we entered the hotel, the same band from last time was out front performing music- but this time they were playing Jingle Bells! Haha I don’t think they understood the concept behind jingle bells… There was also a small restaurant next door called “Laredo Tex Mex”! Haha, we definitely got a picture in front.

3 hours later, after sleeping on the bus, we made it to Alexandria and waited in a huge line to get back on the ship. Four coach busses were in front of us in line and customs had to search every bag, and then the ship had to search every bag before we get on; it took forever. Walking into my little cabin after a long, hectic week in Egypt never felt better. The cleanliness, the comfort, and the air conditioning were so nice to come back to! We were gong to stay in and sleep/unpack… but we heard everyone was going out for the last night here in Alexandria.. so we started getting ready! Before we headed out for the night, we stopped at a bunch of outdoor shops in the port. There were about 10 different ones, but they all had the same stuff! It was really fun because you could walk back and forth telling each store owner how much lower the other offered for. I bought some jewelry, shirts, and gifts! One in particular, there was a man who was very friendly (and a little crazy) who said his name was Jimmy Green, haha what an Egyptian name.. We bought stuff from him because he gave us the best deals and diet cokes! It was pretty fun!
Outside of the customs building there were blue taxis that are allowed into the port for cruise people (us). The yellow taxis outside of the port are hard to trust and they cost too much, we learned this from fellow SASers. What you do is walk up to the blue taxis, tell them your price, and when they say no you walk away and tell them that the yellow taxis are way cheaper. They instantly say, “No, come with me! Ok ok 20 pounds!” Haha we got around for about 1 dollar a piece! The taxi drivers are so nice and protective. They will sit outside of wherever you are and give you a two-way ride for $5. We went to a bar called Mermaid and it was ALL Semester at Sea students- so much fun. The DJ was really cool and let us plug in our iphones and play music that we’ve picked up from Spain, Turkey, and other countries! We had a great time there and then headed to the 4 Seasons hotel (super fancy). We went up to the 8th floor and there was a huge lounge with big ‘sultan’ chairs. The view of the city was beautiful and it was on the edge of the water too! We hung out there the rest of the night, got mcflurries at McDonald’s, and then went back to the MV Explorer!

July 31
We slept in until noon- yay!
I wanted to try a chicken pesto pizza at the pool deck bar so I got one and it was AMAZING. Why haven’t I discovered this earlier??
Ben, Jerome (Ben and Jerry), and Shea and I went out and got a blue cab and went to the Alexandria Library! We had to buy tickets down the street, then register our laptops to bring in. Once we got inside, it was huge! It was very modern and new looking, with a few museums inside, along with many international people. It basically looked like a really nice library, nothing super special. We had our laptops and a few hours until we had to be back to the ship to leave, so we facebooked and emailed, of course, then got gelato (first Italian gelato café in Egypt), then headed back to the ship!

August 1
Today is Sea Olympics! Remember I wrote in one of the first few blogs about how each floor has a ‘sea’? My sea is the Caribbean Sea, and we are pink! We have been letting the ship now just how loud and crazy we are with our cheers and surprise stomp performances. Well, today is the Olympics. There are many games and events going on and all of the seas compete. I’m in a competition where you pick up ice cubes with chopsticks and fill the bucket as fast as you can! I got second place… The other events include, pull ups, relay race, basketball, dodgeball, crab soccer, pie eating, flip cup with water, donut on a string, synchronized swimming, and lip sync! The whole day everyone just runs around and cheers their team on and wears their colors. Our color is bright pink and even the boys were covered in it. I watched the pie eating and it was sick. Jerome ate an entire lemon crème pie and then I saw it fly overboard… ew. We had delicious ribs, burgers, and hotdogs with corn and beans for dinner then the synchronized swimming! It was so funny to watch and some people’s routine was serious, most were just cheesy. We were close to last place during lunchtime, then around dinner, we became first place! I don’t know how, but we did. The finale is the lip sync, which wins the most points. Every group did such a funny job of picking songs and making dances/acting parts. We got third in this, but since we were first overall and received a lot for lip sync.. WE WON THE SEA OLYMPICS!!!! We cheered and screamed/jumped up and down in front of the entire ship. They started playing loud music and we all started dancing and cheering some more. All of the other seas left the Union and we had a big dance party! We all went in our hallway and just hung out and celebrated. We get a private party in the faculty lounge (oh lala) and we get bragging rights of course. The best part is- we get to get off of the ship first when we get home!! How awesome is that?!
“Caribbean Sea?! YA MON, WE BE JAMMIN!”

Luxurious Luxor

2010-07-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

July 29
We had a wake up call at 3 am. For breakfast, Shea and I had delicious fig jam on bread! Mmmm. We headed to the airport in the pitch black, sleeping the whole way on the bus. When we got there, it was empty! It was a huge, nice airport with a Burger King and Starbucks. We didn’t get any but if we weren’t in such a hurry, I would’ve loved to have a caramel frap! I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m back in America because I’m sure the Berber village doesn’t have a starbucks…
So in the airport, Shea accidentally left her passport on the desk. We were in the terminal and wanted to go get a snack, so we started to exit and we were going to bring our passport. Right then, Shea realized exactly where she left it, thankfully. We walked pretty quickly/ran to the desk and on the way, every other SASer was telling us that a lady in a green dress named Susan had it. We walked around looking for ‘the lady in the green dress’ and got her passport back! Scary thought.

The airplane was a pretty good size, I was thinking it’d be smaller. We got on, and Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson were playing, haha. There were a few magazines and I read one on the 45 minute flight to Luxor. It was really a cool magazine and I read all about the Valley of the Kings and other discoveries, which we were going to visit, so I tried to retain all of the information! I fell asleep after reading a little, and the flight attendant kept waking me up to give me juice! It was a little annoying and afterwards, everyone was saying how she kept waking them up and making everyone keep their windows open, haha. She also put my tray down while I was asleep and put like 5 juices on it, I don’t know what that was about! Haha we all laughed about our experiences with this one crazy flight attendant.
When we got off, we took a little bus to another big bus. The Luxor airport is much smaller than the one in Cairo, but just as nice. There was a big sign that said, “Smile, You’re in Luxor!” It was funny. We headed out and drove around before the first stop. Luxor seemed much nicer and cleaner than Cairo; I don’t know if we saw the ‘dirty’ part of Cairo or not, but Luxor was definitely prettier and well kept. By the way, Egyptian people are SO nice. They love Americans, and are just very helpful and considerate in general.

We went to the Valley of the Kings- WOW this was a highlight. It is a massive valley that is filled with tombs. There are 26 kings that have been discovered in their tombs so far, and 2/3 of the valley HASN’T EVEN BEEN DUG UP. Wow, again. That is just crazy. 26 other smaller tombs have been found- inside were workers for the kings; architects, doctors, scribes etc.
We took a trolley thing (like at a wildlife park) up the hill to the entrance. The sight of the valley is a different landscape than anything I’ve seen. It’s all one color- tan. It’s hot, there are mountains of dirt and limestone, and it’s basically a boring-looking valley. What lies beneath is what was incredible… We first went into the first discovered tomb. We walked into a doorway that led to a tunnel sloping down into the tomb chamber. The tunnel was covered in hieroglyphics and then the tomb at the end. This one in particular wasn’t that big, actually it was the smallest; but it was still big to me! I can’t believe how it feels to be digging and find this incredible underground structure full of history and a tomb with a king inside!! We walked back out into the heat and on to the next. I’m not sure how many tombs are available to visit, but we saw 3. While we were walking to one, we saw men in robes with white towels on their heads excavating a new tomb! They were carrying out buckets of dirt and other artifacts! It was so cool and surreal to see these Egyptians digging up history and still to this day finding new tombs; crazy. The next tomb we went into was MASSIVE. You first walk in down a huge hallway (like in a school) covered in hieroglyphics and artwork. Then, the hall turned and continued even deeper into the ground. We went down several of these and arrived towards the end (couldn’t go to the end because it wasn’t finished). If I remember correctly- when a king is crowned, his tomb begins to be built. It tells a story about him all the way down the tomb and when he dies, they stop the tunnels and put him in the tomb, as a mummy. So this king was reigning for 7 years, which is why his tunnel was so long and full of art! Can you imagine what these Egyptians went through? They would work hard on these intricate tombs and if there was a small crack in the making, they would stop and start over somewhere else! It blows my mind how they made these. In some of the beautiful art in this tomb, it showed levels in the tomb, with water pushing a boat with a tomb on it up a hill and down into the ground. It was showing how they used the flood of the Nile and a boat to get these heavy, SOLID GOLD tombs to where they were now; ridiculously amazing!

Next, we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This was the temple for the only woman pharaoh, so you can imagine how big and beautiful this was. It looked like we were in the middle of no where. To one side, you could see all of Luxor, to the other was this giant temple that blended in with the backdrop of the mountain terrain. We looked at some hieroglyphics (which I never get tired of looking at), and there was an Egyptian man walking around in his little robe, smiling at everyone. The little man said “look, a shish kabob” and was showing us everything and was so excited. We thought he’d ask for money but really he was just showing us how wonderful the stuff was and he was proud of it.
Went then went up a lot of stairs to the top of the temple and looked at some statues.

We went back to the hotel for lunch, and it was delicious. It was like a Disney World themed palace, but it was the real thing! It was the same food that we have been seeing everywhere, but it was way better and the desserts were too! We had a good 4 hours to hang out at the hotel and rest. Most of us went to the pool, which was amazing. The pool was huge, because it was a nice resort. There was a bar in the water, palm tree umbrellas, lounge chairs, and the NILE! We had a great view of the Nile and it was very relaxing! This was the most beautiful sight of the Nile that I’ve seen so far. I forgot my swimsuit for this trip so I went back to the room and napped. I got to watch Animal Planet for a little bit. I’ve been tv-less for a few months, and I’m ok with that, but I was so glad to get to watch something!

Around 6 we went to the Luxor Temple, a must-see. Thankfully we went this late in the day because any earlier and it would be way to hot to function! This temple was build by two pharaohs dedicated to their god. It was beautiful! There were several giant statues of some gods and other people, and many more hieroglyphic artwork. There was an avenue of mini-sphinx that go all the way to the Karnak Temple (which is in the next blog). The mini-sphinx run for 1 mile, and many were damaged and had missing pieces. I love the Sphinx, I really don’t know why, it’s just a beautiful sculpture. We were standing in front of one tall statue and started chatting with the security guard. His name was Mohamed, of course, and he was really nice! He had a huge rifle with him, which was a little intimidating, haha. He wrote our names in Arabic on basil leaves and was telling us facts about the temple. It was fun talking with him! The next day, we ended up seeing him again at another temple being the guard, haha! We saw more hieroglyphics and something about Alexander the Great (which was AWESOME because I bought a nice gold ring with an Alexander the Great coin on it in Greece!) One ring is meaningful in two countries. I’d say I made a good purchase.
We hung out at this temple for a while and it was a beautiful sunset, making great lighting on the columns and statues. The pictures turned out really nicely because of the ideal lighting from the sunset; not too dark, not too bright! When we were done there, Shea and I wanted to run across the street and try out an Egypt McDonald’s, just for fun. We started walking towards it and realized that we had about 5 minutes until we had to get onto the bus! We were CRAVING French fries, but we decided we didn’t need the calories, and we’d be late!
Every temple, museum, park etc that we’ve been to have the prettiest tickets. They are all similar but have pretty pictures on them of the places we visit! I’ve been keeping them as a memory maybe for a scrapbook or something just for fun.

When we were sitting on the bus about to leave, there was a figure on a wire that looked like a giant bat! Everyone on the bus was arguing whether it was a bat or not- and I say there’s no way it was a bat, it was trash. It was really funny and people were arguing and just joking around. Our tour guide said in a heavy Arabic accent, “Maybe bird got electrified.” Hahaha we laughed soo hard! It was just funny the way she said it and how she thought maybe a bird was just hanging there, hahaha I’m still laughing!
We went back to the hotel for dinner, and thankfully it was something DIFFERENT! WOO! We were pumped because we were getting a little sick of the same ole meal every single time… But tomorrow, we go back to a hotel in Cairo and get the exact same lunch again… surprise! After dinner, a friend had about 5 minutes left of internet time and let me get on and check facebook, of course. It was nice having internet since it’s near impossible to get anywhere! There were a few small stores in the resort and I bout 2 pillow cases made from Egyptian cotton. One is an ancient Egyptian with a pretty bird, and one is 3 little birds in bright colors! I love them and can’t wait to add it to my room! I went back to the room and slept!
What a great day in EGYPT!!!!!

Sunrise and Camel Rides at the Pyramids!

2010-07-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

July 28
Cairo, Egypt day 2

We woke up at 4:15 and had a nice breakfast (yummy bread with fig jam) at the hotel with delicious chocolate milk! The oranges were really good too, we don’t get these on the ship! We rode on the bus to the Giza plateau to see the pyramids, and it took about 15 minutes to get there. We slept the whole way because it was so early and dark outside! When we got there, we walked up a sandy hill and could barely see the pyramids. They were beautiful and the sun wasn’t even rising yet. The sun finally started rising and it was extraordinary! It was a little foggy so the pictures didn’t turn out as well as planned, but seeing it in person just took my breath away. We were all sitting there, silent, just staring at the sun rising behind the 3 pyramids. Just sitting there looking at these massive structures, thinking about all of the history behind it, and wondering about their time, it made me realize how amazing this trip was and how incredible this opportunity was. We took a lot of pictures and hung out there until 8 or so, then the camels showed up! We had the ENTIRE pyramids to OURSELVES. Just our group, no sellers, no locals, no tourists with us, no one. It was absolutely amazing. We walked down to the pyramids, because the pictures were from far away, and we sat in awe. Some guys were doing back flips off of rocks and getting cool pictures. So once the camels showed up, men with their little table shops came as well! They sell little statues of camels, pyramids, and other Egyptian figures like the Sphinx etc. All of the camels lined up and we each paid $10 to ride! The camel ‘drivers’ were in robes with white things around their heads, and the camels had pretty fabric over them; they were fancied up for us! She and I walked up to our camel and climbed on! Camels are way bigger than I thought, for the record. We hoped on and watched other camels stand up as people held on for life! As our camel started to stand, I held on so tightly to the knob in the back and the camel leaned far forward to where we thought we’d fall off! We were laughing so hard through all of this. Finally the camel made it up, slowly and scarily, and we gained our composure from laughing so hard! The camel driver was laughing too, I mean, it was pretty funny. We attached in a line with other camels and started walking towards the pyramids! The camel behind me was a little close and started making these weird grumbling noises. The driver started making a grumbling noise back at him and it made the camel stop and move back! So cool! The weather was actually perfect, the sun had just risen and it was a little cloudy. We walked down by the pyramids and the ‘driver’ (who walked the camels with a rope), took our pictures and then we stood for a while and walked back to the top of the sand hill! Some of the drivers were on little donkeys leading camels galloping. It was SO fun and I can’t believe I rode camels at the pyramids in Egypt!!! After we took some more pictures and everyone got a turn, we headed out! What an unbelievable experience.

We headed to the other side of the pyramids, which was nice because it was the side that the sun was on, so I got a few more irreplaceable photos. Behind us was the Sphinx, which we were going to next. 4 months ago, 4 MONTHS AGO, they found a tunnel/chamber connecting the Great Pyramid to the Sphinx! That blows my mind. They also found treasure chambers that will be opened some time this year when they finish excavating! Can you imagine what they will find?! And I was there!!!

So next we headed down to the Sphinx of Giza. Let me remind you- the weather is PERFECT. I don’t understand how lucky we got being in the desert in the summer and sweating slightly; perfect. We walked down a ways and there was the Sphinx. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or pictured. It was massive and beautiful. We took silly pictures that looked like we were kissing it, haha! We could see the pyramids behind it so you can imagine that it was pretty astonishing. I love the Sphinx. I want a shirt or jewelry or something with a Sphinx; I just LOVE it.

Next, we headed to the Egyptian Archeological Museum. Our guide gave us earphones so she could narrate throughout the museum. She majored in Egyptian history or something like that, so she knew a LOT about it all, which was so incredible to hear and comprehend; so much to take in! She would say, “Put your whispers in Sunshine!” referencing to the earphones, and she called our group ‘sunshine’, haha. We went in, and it was beautiful and massive. This was the prettiest structure of a museum that I’ve seen. I don’t know if this is right or not- but I think she said it was build over 100 years ago, which is why it was so ornate and beautiful. We weren’t allowed to even bring a camera in so I can do my best to describe! First we saw old boats that were re-build for display. The Egyptians would use these during the Nile floods to assist their strength in lifting and building things. We also saw pottery (rooms full of it) and tables, beds, more boats, and jewelry. We walked into a jewelry room and it was air conditioned, unlike the entire museum, which really wasn’t that hot. There were queen’s and king’s jewelry. There were bracelets with the lotus, the beetle, the Sphinx, and many other Egyptian symbols made into bracelets, necklaces, bangles, earrings, and arm bands! Shea and I wanted it all, it would make great jewelry today. The Egyptians had good taste!! We then walked into another part and saw a fetus that was recently found in a tomb. This tomb was probably 4 feet long and solid gold. Inside was another decorated casing, containing the fetus, which we actually saw. It was weird but so amazing at the same time. If the fetus has this big of a gold tomb… you can imagine what King Tut’s looked like! We saw bows and arrows, and many other archeological artifacts that are still being found to this day. We then went into King Tut’s room. There were 3 giant gold chambers that were all inside each other, Tut’s tomb in the middle. All three gold rooms were on display, along with his tomb. Let me tell you something- this was incredible. I was 3 feet from King Tut’s tomb. It was massive and solid gold, with turquoise and other precious stones and decorations all over it. I bet that thing weighed so much. It was about 8 feet long and 5 feet wide, laying on it’s back (does that make sense?). I can barely put it into words- amazing, incredible, breathtaking, astounding, ridiculous! Whew. Google it, and look how amazing it is!! What a memory.

We then left the museum and headed to the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque. On the way there we were stopped on the street next to a prison bus. The prisoners were all hanging out of the metal barred windows and reaching towards my window and the bus. It was really scary and there were guards with huge semi-automatics were surrounding the truck. I quickly closed the curtain!! Creepy feeling- let me tell ya.
We arrived at the entrance to the Mosque of Mohamed Ali, the founder of modern Egypt, and made our way up a steep hill in the high, dry heat! We took off our shoes and put them in little bags. There were Egyptian kids on a field trip and they were all smiling and saying hi to us, it was cute! Inside was the most beautiful mosque that I’ve seen so far! The courtyard outside of the mosque was huge and beautiful too. We all sat down inside and rested, while our tour guide was throwing out facts and people were on the ground praying left and right.

Our tour guide sells jewelry through a company, and she showed us her catalog and samples. It’s like Mary Kay for Egyptians, she probably gets a pink camel if she sells a lot! Shea and I each got a gold pendant that has our names on it in hieroglyphics. I got my middle name because the symbols look pretty together and I never use my middle name on things so it was a fun change! We chilled there for a while and walked around some shops, then headed out.

We ended up on a bridge crossing the Nile and stopped for lunch! We walked up to this big gold entrance saying ‘The Pharrohs’ and it was very touristy decorated like the Egyptian times; it was really neat! There were mini statues of the Sphinx, pyramids, and other figures. We got on a pretty double-decker boat that was very resort-looking. It was decorated for tourists and was definitely a money maker! Inside was a huge buffet with great food, and a stage! We all sat and ate while we cruised along the Nile! Then, the musicians came out and set up the stage. There were a few men with drums, a keyboard, a singer, and an accordion. The music started playing and a belly dancer came out! It was so cool! Then a man came out in a very big dress-like thing and he was spinning in circles, and he has sparkly boots! When he would spin, his dress would poof us and make cool shapes. He would spin really fast and do cool moves! Then, the band played some more and we had desert while watching this entire show. It’s neat to think about the Nile and the part that we were on- this was the same waterway traveled by pharaohs, queens, and other people thousands of years ago. It was really fun and I met some girls that are going on my trip to Morocco so that’ll be cool to know some people going on the same one as me.

We went back to the hotel and had a few hours to hang out and rest. I tried to buy internet but something went wrong on my computer so I got my money back, thankfully. It’s so hard to get internet.
After resting, we headed to something really amazing- the light show at the pyramids!! It was at the Giza Plateau. There were chairs all lined up and a few cafes facing the pyramids and Sphinx. We took pictures as the sun set and then took our seats. Under a star-studded sky, the sound and light performance brought the magnificent history and achievements of the Ancient Egyptians to life as the illuminated pyramids and the mysterious Sphinx dominated the darkness! There was dramatic orchestral music playing in the background as a British voice would narrate things. It was amazing!! Some people decided not to go because they thought it wouldn’t be good, but I was not going to miss out on this. Yes, it wasn’t a Disney World light show, but it was pretty incredible! I loved it. We headed back to the hotel to sleeeeeep, my favorite. We have to wake up at 3 to drive to the airport to fly to Luxor!!

Hello Sunshineee

2010-07-31T06:09:00.000-07:00

July 27
We woke up and met with our group for the overnight trip to Cairo and Luxor and headed out in Alexandria! We went through customs, which was an empty, nice big beautiful building that looked like a palace inside! There were guards everywhere with semi-automatics, this was the first time that I‘ve seen a bigger-than-normal weapon around and it was a scary feeling, kind of made me realize real quick that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We stepped out of the building into a courtyard with a pretty fountain, greeted by coach busses. We loaded our bags and met our big Egyptian tour lady. She was decked out in hieroglyphic jewelry and other Egyptian stuff. The weather in Alexandria was very hot and humid, because it’s a port city (8 million people). When we got to Cairo it was much more dry/bearable. The bus ride to Cairo was very freighting! No one stays in a lane, everyone honks, people cross while we go fast towards them, donkeys are everywhere, there are herds of goats and sheep crossing sometimes, no one obeys ANY sort of rules; it’s chaos. There were fruit stands everywhere, bread sellers on the streets, palm trees (produce figs), people with baskets on their heads walking around, donkeys pulling carts full of watermelons and tomatoes, and many other cultural sights! Not one single woman was uncovered. All had head to toe black dresses and a majority had their faces covered, so much different than anything we’ve seen, even coming from Turkey. We passed bright green fields with people in the garden working and donkeys pulling things around. We thought we were seeing the poor side of this part but really it was the rich side. The ‘rich’ can afford land and the poor live in small mud brick houses or just on the streets o in empty buildings. There were a few really nice Egyptian-looking houses on pretty land, and those were really rich people. People were out everywhere, and the towns we drove through were simply something you’d see out of a national geographic magazine; everything was so natural and old. I had a hard time grasping the fact that I was in Egypt and I was seeing the way people live, it was so shocking and interesting at the same time. They have no technology, no electricity, no clean water, no real buildings, just barns with hay roofs and a few donkey carts. Now this was only a part of Egypt on the drive to Cairo, where it different than the rural side we passed through. When we arrived in Cairo, we went across a big bridge over the Nile! It was cool to see, but muggy and run down. I didn’t know what to expect when I saw Cairo, but it wasn’t what we saw. It made me think of the movie Wall-E, when Earth is just dirty, muggy, and everything is a shade of brown with little to no color. We went by a few big red brick buildings, which were schools. You can go to school up until age 15, then you decide if you want to continue or not. We also went by a military camp, which was a big wall with houses behind it, and men carrying huge guns guarding the walls. Women aren’t allowed to join or go in. Our tour guide said, “It’s a man’s world over here,” and told us not to look men in the eye for a long time.

First, we went to lunch at a really nice hotel, overlooking the pyramids! When we got off the bus, we were greeted with a band of men dressed as ancient Egyptians, playing fun music. The lunch was a yummy buffet. It was pasta with red sauce, chicken with bell peppers, potatoes, eggplant cheese casserole, French fries, chic peas, mixed vegetables, bread, rice, humus, beef, and all that stuff! It was delicious. For dessert there were many cheescakes, chocolate mouse, baklava, almond bread with honey, and bread pudding! It was a filling meal and got us read for the day.

We then headed to Mit Rahina Museum. We pulled through a driveway passing men in shacks selling pottery, camel rugs, and many other souvenir treasures. There were also guards and police carrying big guns on their shoulders. We walked into a building that was a statue that had fallen over and was on display; it was massive! It was the statue of King Ramses II, made out of limestone. Shea and I asked these guys to take our picture and they said they go to Bama, and weren’t on SAS, thought that was funny. We then walked over to the Alabaster Sphinx, a small one, but really neat! There was a small group of Asians that were taking pictures posing like cats in front of it, we took pictures of them taking pictures, haha. Then we went to Sakkarah to see the Titi Pyramid, Mereruka Tomb, and the Kagemnj Tomb. We walked through sand in the HOT heat to get to these. The king was buried in the small pyramid, and the women and children of the family were in the tombs behind him. This is how it always went with royal families. We learned all about it on the ride here, and it was so cool to finally see! They have found 114 pyramids total, and recently found one under the sand. It was so amazing seeing our first little pyramid! It was crumbling because they didn’t use anything to hold it together, but it was still pretty awesome. We first went into the mastaba (tomb for family) and saw many hieroglyphics and some still had color! It was mind-blowing to see these paintings and structures that they worked so hard on. I’ve seen so many Egyptian pictures in school and movies, but seeing it in real life was indescribable. Then, we walked out of the mastaba and across the sand into the King’s pyramid. While walking across, men in robes with white towels around their heads try to sell you postcards and Egyptian hats. They wont leave you alone! I was taking a picture of the pyramid and one guy tried to make me pay him for taking he picture, he wouldn’t leave me alone, but finally he gave up. We all lined up and started the descent into the pyramid! It was a steep, slick wooden ramp going down into the ground, with raised metal planks to help your step, which didn’t help much. We had to hunch over (4 foot tall ceiling) through tunnels to get to the tomb in the middle of the pyramid. Once we could stand up, it was beautiful. There were hieroglyphics covering the walls, and a large tomb at the end. It had been emptied during excavation and the body was taken to put on display in a museum, so we just looked at the big tomb and crawled through some more tunnels to see more hieroglyphics. We weren’t allowed to bring our camera in, because the flash can ruin the colors of the hieroglyphics. They were beautiful and it still amazes me how this all happened, and how there are many more things to be discovered and figured out. It was much cooler underground in the pyramid, but we had to crawl back up eventually into the dry heat! We trekked through sand and were greeted by some local dogs as we got on the bus to head to the next site. We drove over some hills and could see all of Cairo. It was covered in palm trees and then a definite line where the desert started, and the pyramids were in sight! We went up to another mastaba, with big pillars and columns. There was a camel by the ‘water closet’ so Shea and I walked over to take a picture. We noticed a man running towards us while we were walking to the ‘WC’ and then we quickly realized that he was going to make us pay to use the restroom. You can’t go for free around here, or anywhere we’ve been this summer! Thank you America for free bathrooms. So we walked through these pillars and out into a big field of sand (field of sand?)! There standing was one of the first pyramids ever built! It was beautiful and pretty big. We took jumping pictures in front and stayed there in the sun just staring at it! Some guys bought the long sleeve robes and Egyptian hats, so we got pictures with them, they looked like locals haha. There were men walking everywhere selling big turquoise and coral necklaces, but I’m pretty sure they were fake, so I resisted. After hanging out there for a while, we hoped on the air-conditioned bus (thank goodness) and headed to the hotel for a small break before the bazaar. On the way back, our bus driver was seriously honking every 5 seconds, we couldn’t even count to 6 before he honked again! We saw a lot of nice buildings that said ‘carpet schools’ and ‘papyrus schools’! We pulled into an electric gate, which was big with scary guards/gun. The hotel was beautiful; like a giant resort! It was funny seeing this nice place because on the other side of the walls, it was poor and dirty. The hotel had two part, an old part and a new one. I was put in the old part, which was very nice and antique looking, and I was on the 8th floor over looking the pyramids! Shea was in the new building, which was a little further away, and just as nice but more modern looking. The pool was huge, like one you’d find at Schlitterbaun or something. There was music, bars, palm trees, and people everywhere. It was all men and there were no women, so we decided not to go. When women swim, they were a body suit and still cant show their hair! We then got ready for the bazaar, and took a far drive to get there. It was a cool drive, because we saw the sunset through the great pyramids while seeing more of Cairo! It was so hard to soak in and realize. I actually got one of my best pictures through the bus window- two pyramids with the sun directly in the middle, perfectly round and visible! We passed a lot of brick buildings that had concrete pillars and metal chords coming out of the top. Our tour guide told us that it’s just as cheap to build one floor as it is two, so builders leave the tops open, in hopes that someone will buy it and build more. No one ever buys it apparently because every single building had concrete pillars and metal coming out of the top. We crossed the Nile again and saw some crummy apartments that had a good view of the Nile for $200,000. We passed by pottery lots, more fields, and more poor housing. When we got to the bazaar, it was already dark, making it a little more scary. It was not as touristy and safe-feeling as Istanbul’s. There were all men dressed in pants and long sleeves, and women again covered head to toe in black. There was absolutely no way of fitting in. There were shops after shops so I bough a few souvenirs, everything is SO cheap, it’s unbelievable! I didn’t get to do much shopping/bargaining as possible because we were all trying to stay together; it was scary actually. Then, we went and met our tour guide as a café before getting on the buses. I ordered hot hibiscus tea (recommended) and it was delicious! There were little boys that kept bugging us and trying to sell us jewelry and things while we were sitting. They were cute, but got annoying after 20 minutes. I would tell you the name of the place, but everything is in Arabic! Right now I can hear the call to prayer. This happens 5 times a day and I’m starting to get used to it and not realize when it happens! Anyways, we paid in Euros, American dollars, and Egyptian pounds; they take it all! They especially love $1 dollar bills. Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner. The dinner was really nice and was the EXACT same as lunch from the other hotel (this meal appears in every hotel this trip), haha. We went to sleep in our massive suit, overlooking the pyramids, and slept for a good 3 hours. Our wake up call was 4:15am to go see the sunrise on camels at the pyramids!!

At Sea, passing Crete and Cyprus

2010-07-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up and ate a big breakfast and a drank a big cup of coffee so I could focus in class! Yesterday I was having trouble focusing and staying awake from the crazy week we just spend in Istanbul with little to no sleep! In my 8am, we had a group presentation about Egyptians, Muslins, and Ramadan. It was really interesting and then in Global Studies, we talked about it too! It all related and intertwined, which made it more interesting because I was a little more familiar with it. I had a music test after those 2 classes, and it was actually a little tough! It was held towards the back of the ship, and today it has been rocking so much that it didn’t help taking a test in the rockiest part!
Tomorrow we will be in Alexandria, Egypt! That’s crazy. I can not wait!
We will wake up early and head out to Cairo and then Luxor! I don’t know what to expect… but tonight in the pre-port seminar, they will fill us in on everything we need to know.
By the library there is a sign that says something in Arabic, and it looks like a bunch of fancy cursive letters that all connect. It translates to ‘Hi You Are Here’. Wow how on earth am I going to read Arabic! It’s no even the same alphabet, it’s completely different!

Today in Global Studies we learned about Egypt, the past wars with Israel, and issue with the Suez canal. We talked abut the current president, Hosni Mubarak, who has been in his position for 30 years.
The issue with the Suez Canal is that Egypt built this with the French in 1869. This caused Egypt to go into great debt because it was such a massive build. The British stepped in and intervened and didn’t let the Egyptians operate it freely.
British then granted Egypt its independence in 1922 and Egypt was the first major country in its region to gain independence.
Nasser became president (1954-70) and was a socialist. He used state policies to control rents on land to poor peasants and created free health care and education. He had a strong agenda and vision for Egypt.
The Suez Canal became nationalized (which was a crisis with the British), and Nasser and all of the Egyptians now had complete control over it. The British and the French were upset when Nasser took complete control over the canal so they became allies with Israel to become enemies against Egypt. Nasser was going to invade Israel to take it over but the United Nation intervened. In 1956, Israel decides to make moves and invade Egypt and succeeds. They started moving towards Cairo but the United Nations stopped them, so they drew back to Israel. In 1973, Nasser and Egyptians attacked Israel, but they lost. These wars between Egypt and Israel caused land shifts to go back and forth. The Gaza strip was a settlement zone, full of Arabs and poor people. These wars have been a huge factor in relations between Egypt and its neighbors.
When Nasser died, Anwar Sadat took over the presidency and decides to sign a peace treaty with Israel, which shocked all of Egypt and caused major controversy. Through all of the hate and controversy towards Sadat, he got assassinated. Hosni Mubarak became the president in 1981 and is still the president to this day!
This is just a little taste of what we learned today about the country we will be arriving in tomorrow :)

Turkish Bath- gotta love it!

2010-07-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

July 23/24

Today (25th) we are passing Iraq. That blows my mind and puts it into perspective just how far I am from home and how big this world is. Everyday I look at the giant world map on our wall and just think about everything. I want to travel so many more places after this!

I noticed my tan has faded from Croatia and Mykonos :( but my hair is still super blonde! I need a trim but I don’t know if the salon hair cutters are any good…

Today we went back to the Grand Bazaar one last time. We took some girls that hadn’t been before, so we wanted to help them out! It made such a difference having Torros help us, so we did the same for others. It saves you time and money when you go with someone who has been, and you wont get lost (even though that can be fun!). After shopping, we took them to the same coffee place that we went to on the first day. I was glad to go back because it was delicious and a fun place to sit for a while and watch everyone walk past you in the Bazaar. After that, we kept walking around and some of the girls bought belly dancer outfits for Halloween, which were kind of expensive and not my taste, haha!

We went down a passage way on the edge that was full of little restaurants that were quick stops. We sat down at one and I had a chicken and cheese crepe, with amazing spices on top! It tasted so fresh and was so yummy I wish I had one right now! We stayed at the Bazaar for half of the day, and then we headed just outside the corner to try out a must-do, a Turkish bath!! The one we went to was called Cemberlitas (with strange accents that I can’t type in), The Historical Turkish Bath. When we walked down some steps and inside, it was so much more quiet than the loud street above. It was also a giant sauna, we instantly started dripping with sweat while we purchased our Luxury Style treatment, which was not expensive at all. We got these two little dominoes that were red and yellow, and a new bar of soap. One domino was for the bath, the other was for the massage! We were lead into the women’s side and up some windy stairs to the dressing room. We were given small red checkered dish towels, white slippers (like Crocs) and a locker. They told us that throughout this entire process, you can stay as long as you’d like. Once you were inside, you didn’t have to leave, ever! One by one a large Turkish woman would come and get us and lead us into the bathing part. They give you undergarments to wear that are brand new, thankfully. Picture a huge dome with a giant marble slab in the middle, about 3 feet high, that is a perfect circle. On the ceiling of the dome were cut outs that were in the shape of stars that let in the sunlight. It was pretty dark but since there was fog and steam, the beams of light were visible and it was so cool to be in. You lay down on the edge of the circle and we were all lined up on the edge. The Turkish lady that bathes you gets your soap bar, fills up buckets of hot water, and uses a pillow case thing to make bubbled that she pours all over you! It was not awkward or uncomfortable at all because this is their way of life, it is so normal for them, so I just sat and enjoyed this crazy experience! After getting a massage, they pour cold water over you which is so refreshing because it’s super hot in there! I was sweating so much, but it was so cleansing! Then, she led me to a fountain (which lines the outer ring of the dome) and she washed my hair and scrubbed my face with some exfoliating stuff. It’s not like a nice spa where there are candles and music, it’s the real deal. After that, she led me to the hot tub and cold tub. First you get into the hot one for however long you want, then you get into the cold one before you leave. We all just hung out and talked while we relaxed! Then, we left that part and went into another part where the massages take place. They give you hot towels and you sit and wait for your turn (because a lot of us went at once). The massage was so great and was worth it! All of our bodies were in pain from traveling and not getting much sleep! After that, we sat in the sauna some more, got dressed and went up to the café on the terrace. This was still inside the bath house courtyard and it was a beautiful hidden terrace. I had a grilled feta cheese sandwich, MMM. We then got some tea and headed home on the tram! What an incredible experience I will never forget!

For our last night out in Istanbul, we went to Riddim, a very nice club! It was Friday so we knew everyone would be out, so no matter where we went, we would have a good time. We all met at Bambi on a busy corner in Taksim square, hung out outside of Quba at a little store, then headed to Riddim! There weren’t TOO many people inside, but enough to mingle and meet people! There were a lot of SASers there which is always so fun! I was on the outside patio most of the night meeting Turkish people (this is where the locals went) and I was talking with some Turkish college students the whole time. I requested Steroe Love, but the DJ said he only played hip hop, oh well. It was so much fun, and a great way to end my Istanbul night experiences. Then, when it was time to leave, we went to Bambi one last time!!

The next day (24th) Shea and I had dock time so I just went to an internet café across the street for the remaining 3 hours.
I’m going to miss Istanbul!!!!!
Tomorrow I have a music test (should be easy) then… EGYPT!
I’ll try to write postcards to everyone when I’m there. It is so hard to find stamps (the ship doesn’t have them) and then you have to find a post office, which is hard to find too, even if you have the time!

Anyways, thanks for reading and if you get the chance, visit Istanbul! :)

Rice Pudding and Precious Gems!

2010-07-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

July 22
We woke up a little late because we were out pretty late last night! Do you know what I found out that shocked me? People have never heard of Whataburger! Some girls from Virginia have no idea what it is, I had no idea it wasn’t all over America! Istanbul is so humid, basically like Houston! Anyways, the other day I ate way too much baklava and I didn’t eat any the rest of the time in Istanbul! We headed out and met Torros at the baklava place by the edge of the port (next to Hotel Odessa) and Torros was asking if I wanted more baklava for breakfast, making fun of the fact that I ate way too much of it! Then, we took the tram to the Hagia Sofia (Ayasofia), it was a far ride. We stood in a long line to get in and once we made it in, the crowd spread out. The outside of the Hagia Sofia was very historic looking and there were beautiful yellow flowers everywhere. We stood behind a tour group for a little bit listening to some facts about everything! Rachel had taken a tour here the other day so she shared her knowledge too, and Torros would tell us more! The inside was huge, and it almost reminded me of the Vatican, but with a Turkish twist. There were domes, pillars, and gold Arabic writings everywhere. There were 3 archways to enter the main dome, one for God, one for Jesus, and one for Mary. We got to see a big throne inside where the emperor would sit and it was covered in gold and decorations! Inside, there were 4 angels in each corner of this massive structure and they all had gold leaves over their faces. They used to not have faces so people wouldn’t worship icons, only fictional things. Then, once the gold leaves were placed over the angle’s blank faces, many years later someone said that one of the angels had a face underneath the gold leaf. The government didn’t want to risk losing money in removing the gold leaf and having no face there, ruining the sculpture, but the man insisted that they take it off. Somehow he convinced them, and when the gold leave was removed, there was a face! After hearing this cool story then seeing the angels in the corners just made the experience fascinating. We went up a steep rocky ramp/tunnel to get to the next floor. It was dark and cool, and pretty tough to walk up. We passed the “sweating stone” on the second floor and it was a huge column that leaked water. People were in line to touch the water and make a wish. There was a small hole on the column for you to put your thumb in. You put it in, turn your hand all the way around without bending your arm (if you can), and if you succeed, you make a wish! It looked a little unsanitary because everyone was touching it and the line was long, so I took pictures and watched these old men do it perfectly; I think they had rubber wrists!

After, we went down the street to a buffet café thing and got rice pudding! We sat on the second floor that overlooked a park and the busy street. The rice pudding was delicious and it tasted like caramel and crème, mmm! Nest, we headed to the palace that was closed the other day, we couldn’t go to Istanbul and not go to the palace! When we were getting tickets after a long walk through big trees leading to the palace entrance, there were many women covered in head to toe in black. They would all have veils over their faces and you couldn’t even see their hands. It was actually kind of scary looking because it looks like a black figure walking around, and they were everywhere. The men they were with would look normal, normal clothes, no extra features, and the children would be dressed normal with their faces showing; a very different sight to see. Once we entered the palace, there were guards everywhere. It was so beautiful inside the courtyards. There were many plants, grass sections with flowers, sidewalks through everything, a breeze, and it was shady from all of the massive trees. It’s all outdoors except for the museum parts where you walk into a stone room which is super hot, then you walk back out to the courtyards when you’re done.

The first place we walked into was full of emperors’ coats and royal attire. The outfits were huge and ornate, covered in rubies, diamonds, pearls, and emeralds and the patterns on the fabric was incredible. Through all of this palace experience, you can’t take any pictures except when you are outside, so I couldn’t take pictures of the amazing outfits and precious jewels. Next, we went into a jewelry part. There were royal boxes covered in diamonds, sapphires, turquoise and everything else! What was interesting about all of these natural stones was that they looked fake in a way. They were not cut by jewelers like you see in stores. They were chunks of diamonds and emeralds that were just jagged. It was beautiful in its own way because it was presented so naturally, and the colors were a little different since they weren’t cut a certain way. We saw many other swords, crowns, armor, and everything else you can think of, covered in jewels. It was amazing! Then, we went over to one edge and walked up some steps to a little tower that overlooked the water! We stood there for a while just soaking up the amazing views, then headed back down and out. Once we started walking back down a main street to go to the bazaar, we saw these dressed up men with a put of taffy-like stuff. It looked like a kettle drum, filled with colorful candy! Rachel got one, and I regret not getting one after I tried hers! They stake a little wooden stick and wrap different flavors on it, making a rainbow swirl! It was pretty cool.

Then Torros took us to another local restaurant where we sat and had meatballs and bread with olive oil! It was to dies for. The meatballs were rectangular in shape (meat rectangles) haha and they were spicy! Two of the girls got salads and got sick because it was washed with water that their bodies weren’t used to. I stick to the rules and only eat things that are cooked in hot temperatures or that are bottled and sealed. After that, Torros had to leave so he led us back to the Bazaar. It was so weird not having him there again with us to show us and explain everything. We got treated differently, not better or worse, just differently since we weren’t walking with a Turkish guy. Funny how that works! When we were with Torros, we wouldn’t get talked to as much by store front workers and people didn’t make many comments to us. When we were alone, we were definitely treated like tourists and called Barbie, Baywatch girls, Spice Girls (more than 5 times) and many other hilarious things. They were all so nice and complimentary, without being creepy or bugging us. One man said to us, “Excuse me ladies! You dropped something!... My heart!” haha it was funny and he knew it would make us laugh.

We spotted some jewelry the other day at this one place so we went back to bargain and get our prize! We ended up talking to the 3 workers for a long time and the owner closed it and ordered us some tea! He ordered someone to go to this little phone on the wall, where I guess they order tea, and then it came right up on a pretty silver tray! We sat and chatted in this little closet of a store for a while and the owner was telling us about all of his travels around the world and he was showing us pictures on his iPhone of him in many countries. He told us we looked “fresh” meaning young and pretty. He said he wasn’t ‘fresh’ anymore haha. It was such a great experience and we got pretty good deals on the jewelry we picked out, along with delicious Turkish tea and a good story! Then, I asked where’s the best place to find something (I can’t mention it, it’s a gift for my dad!) and he led me to his friends store and I got a sweet deal on a pretty cool gift! I stopped by some music stores to see what I might be interested in, and you get a feel right away from the owners if you want to purchase from them or bargain, or if you want to leave and find another more inviting place. I went into a really nice and quiet one and I was looking around but the owner didn’t help me at all. I don’t know if he didn’t take me seriously (because I was looking at nice instruments and he probably thought I was clueless), but he wasn’t helpful/talkative so I left. That’s the whole fun of the bazaar- talking, joking, bargaining! After several music stores I went back to one where the worker was really nice and I bargained and got something for a great price compared to the other stores (another gift, so I can’t tell you what it is!). We went into one place and we were looking at these beautiful tiles and chatting with the owner. He was the sound technician for The Cranberries who were performing that night! He showed us his tickets and everything, you always find out cool stuff when you start talking, even if they aren’t good at English!

Something awesome- I love learning languages and speaking new ones, so I would constantly be saying Hi how are you, thank you, and bye in Turkish. The Turkish people would smile so big when I would use just a few of their words, and in some cases it would get me free things (like baklava for saying hi how are you!) When I’d say ‘no thanks’ in Turkish, they would all be like “Oh my gosh she knows Turkish!” and they would smile and be really nice. It was cool to show them that I was trying to learn their language and fit in, in a way, and it made a few grumpy people smile. I loved it and I think that it makes a huge difference when they see that you make an effort to be like them instead of expecting them to know English. There was man being overwhelmed and mad because we were all crowding his store and being loud. When I bought some gum, I got free cookies (delicious ones, like Oreos) because I said thank you have a good day in Turkish! Something so small like that means a lot to them, I could definitely tell. They appreciate it so much and it makes you stand out as a nice tourists who loves cultural experiences. I know us SASers learned a few Turkish words, but I never heard anyone try to say anything, which made me sad because it’s so fun!

We finished up shopping and headed on the tram (I accidentally took us the wrong way, but we made it back) and got ready for another night out!
We met Torros and Everan and all went downtown for a nice dinner. We went to a completely different part of Istanbul than the area by the port and Bazaars. We passed through Ataturk’s palace, where he dies, and it was full of huge oak trees that lined the streets. It looked like any major city, with many lanes in the highways, huge buildings, many nice international shops, malls, restaurants, a big stadium, and anything else you’d find in a city of 15 million people! It was crazy seeing this part of Istanbul, I had no idea this is what it was like. It was so… normal. Yes, we were in Turkey, but it was so normal! I can’t get over that. The only difference was the crowd, cars, and more chaotic driving. We passed by one of the first/oldest (but modern looking) malls in Turkey, which was beautiful and covered in waterfalls made out of Christmas lights! We went to a place called Midpoint, which was in the richer part of Istanbul. The houses and condos around were for rich people, but the café we went to wasn’t super expensive, just really, really nice and a good change from places by the port. On one side of the street was the place where we ate, on a nice outdoor patio, and on the other side was a park on the edge of the Bosporus where you could see the Bosporus Bridge! After seafood pasta and steaks, we walked along the piers and boardwalk, passing by huge yachts and looked across the water at Asia! It was so close and full of bright lights and a giant Turkish flag. The Bosporus Bridge was fully lit (reminded me of the Golden Gate Bridge) and it would change colors every 5 minutes. We walked up and down the waters edge and then stopped for a Nutella waffle folded in half, filled with kiwis, strawberries, and rainbow sprinkles! Mmmm.

We headed back to the part where everyone (SASers) usually stay around, and went to Taksim Square again to the same little 5 story bar before we figured out what club to go to! We decided to go to the nicer clubs that were further away, but the taxi drivers don’t charge you much at all here! We all piled in into 3 taxis and went to a place called Crystal, a very nice club under the Bosporus Bridge. The guys had to dress nicer than normal (us girls always looked nice, so we didn’t have to go change). When we went in, it was beautiful and all white with dim colored lights. You could tell why celebrities came here. The only problem was that if you wanted a table to stand by or sit at, it would cost you about $200… just to sit down!! we left after about 5 songs because there’s no where to sit unless you pay. We walked across the street to Reina, which was closing because it was 4 am (so early for a club to close here!) so we went back across the street and down a little ways to 8th Hill, a 4 story club. We went to the very top and the owner let us sit at a table for free, shocking! We hung out there for a while then all headed home because the night was late and no one was really out.

Another wonderful day in Istanbul!!

Little Rock Texas

2010-07-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

July 21
We started the day off by walking down the port’s edge and going to Karakoy Gulluoglu, one of the well known baklava places in all of Istanbul (and there are a TON). I tried several different pieces- round ones that had walnuts on top, a traditional one, a pistachio one, and a chocolate one! Delicious. One of the workers asked me and Shea if we were from TV, Baywatch specifically… Haha. The ship has constantly been telling us to carry our passport copy around with us for hotel and banks. They said all hotels and hostels will need to see it and when you get money or exchange it, they will check your passport. This hasn’t happened once this entire summer. Rachel stopped in a cell phone store to get an international sim card and they asked for her passport! This was the first time this entire trip we’ve heard someone ask for it, ironic. We met Torros here and all headed to the Grand Bazaar! Torros is from Istanbul and we met him and his friends in Spain! I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet or not. We have been so lucky to have him in this huge city! We walked through the port area to get to the tram. It is full of hardware stores like guns, knives, walking canes, antiques, camo clothing stores (so random), vacuums; basically mini ace hardwares everywhere! We passed by a café called Odessa Restaurant and Hotel Odessa! After walking through the sketch part of the port, we got on the tram and headed to the bazaar. It was YTL1.50 and about a 10 minute tram ride.

Once we got off, we went under a tunnel below the busy streets! It was full of cell phone stores and other electronics. It was also a sauna... Once we popped out from underground, the Spice Bazaar was right in front of us! It had a huge archway with one long path that split into many different ones once you got past the beginning. People were selling grilled corn, roasted chestnuts, ice cream, fruit, bread, etc. There was a big plaque in front that said some things in Turkish and Arabic and “Spice Bazaar’’. When we first walked in, it was so crowded... I mean PACKED. There were spice stores after spice stores! There would be piles of spices, men handing out pinches for you to smell and try, lots of teas, nuts, dried fruit, and of course Turkish delights! I tried some pepper that was sprinkled in my hand, it was spicy but delicious. They also hand out samples of things, and I try em all! One spice guy said something to us in Turkish and Torros translated it to, “I want to roll a red carpet out in front of you when you walk by.” Haha what an interesting thing to say! After walking around for a good while and just visually shopping without buying, we made our way out of the other end of the Spice Bazaar. I knew we’d come back so I just looked and checked prices and tried to figure out what I wanted, plus I didn’t want to carry stuff around all day. We came across another mosque and decided to check it out and get out of the hot sun for a little bit. We went up some steep rocky steps into the entrance of the mosque. It was covered in blue and white tiles, just like every mosque here! It was beautifully designed and smaller than most. We had to cover our heads for this one (unlike the Blue Mosque) and take off our shoes on a fancy carpet. Inside it was pretty with a very soft red carpet with candle chandeliers and more mosaics and painted tiles! It was so quiet and we couldn’t really talk. There was one man praying so we had to stay towards the back and whisper. I took a few pictures (it’s allowed) but it felt awkward because everyone is so quiet and it’s noticeable. After that, Torros lead us up another busy street (filled with random supply stores) that led to the Grand Bazaar. It was a steep walk up hill and through rough sidewalks. We were definitely the only white people. Men would be passing with carts full of vegetables and other fruits, and always oranges.

We made it to a side entrance of the Grand Bazaar finally! It was basically like an indoor shopping mall, but with no doors and a nice breeze throughout the entire place! It was massive and was shop after shop! You could easily get lost in the crowd and we quickly learned not to wander to store fronts alone because when you turn around, everyone is gone! Some girls would walk into stores and when you look for them, they aren’t there! There were many colored glass lamps, bowls, mugs, dishes, hookah, t-shirts, jewelry, belly dancing outfits, clothes, tea sets, rugs, fabrics, scarves, music stores, I mean the list goes on! It is overwhelming thinking about how to describe the Grand Bazaar! We did a good amount of bargaining (which is SO FUN) and then Torros showed us a really modern Turkish coffee café. It was in the middle of the hustle and bustle of everything, but it was quiet and cool inside! We all got Turkish coffee. It comes in a tiny tea cup on a saucer and it is so strong! I put 2 sugar cubes in mine and a small piece of Turkish delight comes with it on the side, yum. The coffee was so hot and almost thick. Torros showed us how to drink it- lift up your lip and sip it from your teeth so it is hot enough to enjoy, preventing your lips from burning. It was fun and delicious! You leave the “mud” in the bottom of the cup and put that saucer on top. Then, you flip it all upside down with the cup upside down on the saucer. You feel the top and make sure it isn’t hot anymore (took about 10 minutes), and then you take the cup off and look at the design in the “mud”! It’s supposed to tell a fortune, so we just made funny things up from what we saw! After that, we went back out shopping! Once we were ready to head back, we went down the hill and through the spice market again. Torros took us on a walk through another busy part of town around the bazaars. We saw buckets of leeches everywhere for sale that people use for medicinal things, it was creepy! Then, we went to Ozturkler Bufe! It’s like a walk-up restaurant where they have grills and about 5 tables, no doors or windows, just a lot of restaurants jammed into the sides of buildings! We sat down and Torros ordered some food for us, we just said anything with chicken. First, we were brought a plate of oregano with lemons. Also, we had plates of these delicious grilled peppers! Then, we had crepe bread things filled with spicy grilled chicken and tomatoes and stuff (made me think of pico de gallo) all wrapped up inside! It was delicious!! Torros got a drink that I think is considered buttermilk, haha. I didn’t really want to try but I think that’s what they all drink here! It comes in a container that looks like yogurt and you peel the top off… I stuck to coke and water! If it weren’t for Torros, we would’ve picked some close, touristy, expensive gross food place. But, instead, we were taken to where locals go and where the owners and customers are all best friends! We decided to walk from the bazaar to the ship, which was a while, but the sunset was beautiful and we got to cross a big bridge full of fishers (Sea of Marmarar)! It was a great day and we were tired, so we headed back to the ship to get rested and ready for the night out.

We all met at the gangway again to head out to Taksim square, where you are always guaranteed to have fun! On the tramway, I let Richard take a picture of us and he dropped my camera.. the lens broke… Luckily, Shea has 2 cameras… so now I use hers with caution! We all took the tram to Taksim and met up with more SASers (everyone says “sasers”) at the corner by the big war memorial (meeting place for us every night). We started walking down the busy street (no cars, just people) and turned down one that looked inviting to find a place to hang out before the club. We found a place that had a nice deck with good music! We all sat down and just hung out. The inside of this place was 5 stories tall! Sad news, the bathroom was on the 5th floor. We had to hike up steep, windy, uneven stairs to get there! It was really cool though once you get to the top, there was a balcony that overlooked a busy street in Taksim! Shea and I just stood on the balcony for a bit soaking up the fact that we were in Istanbul hanging out and having the time of our lives. It was so fun! We stayed there for a while and met some fun French people and we all decided to walk to Quba again to dance the night away. It was a little more full than the night before so that was good. Shea and I hang out with these two SAS guys from Arkansas, Richard and Dylan, and they are from Little Rock. The DJ at Quba had on a t-shirt that said Little Rock and Texas! It was too ironic!! We went up to him and tried to ask him about it and all he said was, “I no know what you say! I bought for 9 Euro! Don’t blame me!” and he put his hands in the air like he was innocent, thinking we didn’t like his shirt haha. It was funny and then he figured out that we liked his shirt. We snapped a few pics. Then we met some really cool Germans in Quba but they were leaving the next day so we couldn’t all hang out again! After staying there for the majority of the night, we went to Bambi again (of course) and then caught a taxi home. Thanks to Torros and Everan’s Turkishness, they got all of our taxis down to YTL6! We said bye to our local friends and headed back to the ship in a crazy cab ride (should be expected every time); successful day yet again!

Mere Habba!

2010-07-22T02:13:00.000-07:00

July 20
Happy Birthday Papaw!!!!!

Fun Facts about Istanbul and Turkey:
Istanbul is considered the “center of the world” and has 15 million people. The entire country of Greece only had 12 million!
Turkey is the cultural capital of the world right now in 2010 so it’s a great time to visit the country because many efforts have been made to beautify the city of Istanbul even more and most all constructions has been taken down and stopped for this year! How perfect is that?
Turkey is the world headquarters of Media (which is awesome for me being in Istanbul because I absolutely love media).
Istanbul is the business center of Turkey and around the 16th best economy in the world.
Turkey is the #1 yacht-maker!
Ataturk’s picture is in every restaurant, school, store, etc. He is seen as the father of Turkey and I’m sure we will be seeing a lot of him these next few days!
A few years ago, someone put up a bad video about Ataturk and so Turkey banned YouTube. Crazy!
Currently, $1.00 US is equal to YTL 1.54 (New Turkish Lira)

Today FLEW by. It was incredible. This is the cultural change I’ve been thinking of. (Spain and the other countries try to be like America in some of their ways, but definitely not here in Turkey!)
This morning we had a diplomat come on board and speak to us about relations between countries surrounding us, our country, and a lot of interesting information about the world around Turkey right now. This happens the morning of every arrival in every country and it’s so cool! We get filled in on all of the political and diplomatic effects. It makes it really cool that we have this before each port because it applies to what we are about to step out into!
For my FDP for intercultural communications, Ozlem Sandikci (professor of Marketing and Advertising at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey), came to speak to us about media in Turkey and marketing/advertising. It was really fascinating! She was pale with very dark , curly hair and ice blue eyes. It was cool seeing a real Turkish-looking woman because I never really knew what to picture in my mind. She was very nice and shared a lot of interesting information about Turkey, fashion, and ads/marketing.
We left the ship around noon and walked down the town to get to the tramway. Istanbul is so amazing! It’s hard to explain because it kind of looks like everywhere else we have been, but more modern and bigger, so maybe it doesn’t. The crowd is way different too! Everyone is dark with blue and green eyes, it’s so pretty and distinctive! There are palace steeples everywhere, modern stores, Burger Kings and Starbucks, and amazing baklava/tea and Turkish delight bakeries too. It was one Lira to get to Taksim Square on the underground tram and it was only one stop away! It was on the edge of the Bosporus and took about 10 minutes to get there, but we walked slowly and looked around so it took a bit longer! The tram ride was 5 minutes. A cat that looked like Abby greeted me as I got off. I took a picture of the stray and I swear it’s Abby’s twin! When we got off at the top of the hill, it began to sprinkle a little and was windy. There were men everywhere selling clear umbrellas for 5 Lira so everyone bought them. I had my big camera and leather purse so I felt the need to get an umbrella too! It was worth it because it rained for a few hours, but I still had a fabulous day!
When we started walking around, I noticed rugs stores, tea cafes, hookah bars, leather stores, jewelry, alleys with musicians at restaurants, and so much more! It was such an amazing sight. There were women with headscarves, but not nearly as many as I thought. People were dressed conservatively and we were too, but no one really stood out as looking very Islamic, which surprised me! Our tour guide showed us several restaurants and good places to find great tea. We stopped at one of the 3rd restaurants she showed us and it was tucked away in a little alley! When you walked in, it was huge, nice, and full of well dressed business men! We were the only girls in there but they didn’t really stare or act differently. It was interesting. Shea and I ordered this rice dish which had pistachio slices, pine nuts, pieces of pork we think, and other nuts. It was warm and made your lips greasy with a very distinctive, yet delicious, taste! It came with yellow bread that tasted exactly like cornbread. I took some yummy pictures :) After that, we were walking around when this loud humming came on, filling the entire street, making you almost want to cover your ears. Then we realized it was a call to prayer! I didn’t see anyone around ay down and start praying, maybe because of the wet ground from the rain, but it was definitely loud singing through speakers throughout the square. We made our way down to a Turkish delight place with many treats that our tour guide recommended. I got a lemon Turkish delight and Shea got a random one that tasted the same as mine but with a fancy name, haha. THEN we had the most amazing thing ever that I hope to bring back home- dried figs stuffed with roasted walnuts. TO DIE FOR. And all of this was about YTL2.75 = $1.86! How perfect! We will be going there countless times this week. We sat at a table next to the café and then saw the sign that had numbers on it, meaning we had to pay to sit... We decided to order tea since we already sat down, and it would go well with our treats! I asked the waiter (who was hovering over me), “Where can I find some tea?” He said, “Ok,” and disappeared! 10 minutes later he brought us out 2 little glass cups on little decorated saucers, a small metal plate on top covering the tea, and 2 sugar cubes with a tiny spoon. I have no clue what flavor the tea was, but it was amazing!! Typically, you put a sugar cube in your mouth and sip the tea, which we tried, and it’s by far the best way to drink it! It seemed like a small cup of tea, but it ended up being the perfect amount and we didn’t want more, even though it was so good. Maybe it’s secretly filling? I don’t know, but I’ll be getting tea very often here! After resting there for a little bit, we made our way to the Blue Mosque to meet up with some girls. It took about 30 minutes to get there because we had no clue what to do! We asked store workers and they helped us out by telling us where to get on the tram and where to get off. Once we made it over the bridge by the mosque, we all met out front. There was a beautiful park in front of the mosque (mosques are everywhere), and there were flowers and fountains, along with families and many tourists! We went into the courtyard of the mosque and stood in a line to go in. We noticed that the line was all Turkish people but we stood in it anyways. Once we got to the front, they said we had to use a different entrance. I think that line was the line to go pray inside. We walked around the courtyard and out the back, and there was a small line with men handing out scarves to cover your head and shoulders. We took off our shoes. When we went in, the carpet was nice and soft, with beautiful red designs. Everyone was whisperings, there were candle chandeliers everywhere, and everyone was taking pictures. It was pretty cool inside (compared to the hot humidity outside) so we sat down on the carpet and just looked around for a while. The ceilings were huge and domed, filled with blue and white patterned tiles. All of the mosque kind of look the same inside regarding tiles, colors, and the carpet.
After that, we walked down the busy walkways to get to some palace. We were walking along an old big brick wall, which was super tall, and then we found the entrance. On one side of this wall was the busy, loud street. Once we went into it, it was very quiet and it was a forest! There were huge walkways through many statues and big old trees. Couples were everywhere and dogs were too! We walked all around in this park. It was shady from the trees and there was a breeze. We then walked into a museum and saw a ton of marble sculptures and tombs. It was pretty cool! After that, we walked outside of the walls an sat at a little café. We ordered tea and I just ate sugar cubes the whole time! We hoped on the tram for YTL1 and headed back to the ship. We all decided to meet in front of the gangway (where you exit the ship) around 10:15 for the night’s activities. We took the tram to Taksim Square and decided we’d be staying there for the night. When we came up from underground, we were in the main square! There was a huge war memorial in the middle, cars everywhere, and people flowing. We walked across to the other side and went down the main drag. it was about 5 lanes wide, full of people and street performers. There were Christmas lights acting as a roof the whole way down, it was so pretty! There are people selling roasted chestnuts, oysters, grilled corn, and pretzel things. There was an old man who had a table with a big bunny and a little baby one on it! We walked over to see this precious bunny and it picks up paper that tells you your fortune! I didn’t do it but I think before I leave I’m going to get a bunny to pick my fortune, just for fun! After walking around, we found an Irish Pub, but it was empty. We kept walking down side streets that were full of bars and karaoke places. We stopped at a club called Quba, a bar with walls, but no ceiling and trees coming out of it! It played really good music that we’ve been hearing all throughout Europe so we stayed for a while. Then, we went down the street to another one that was basically the same idea, with more people! After dancing for a long time, we went to a sit down patio bar and had fruit kabobs and just hung out. We were heading home by taxi (tram stopped at midnight) so we started walking towards the taxi part of the square. Right before we were about to leave, we saw this brightly lit place called Bambi! It was Turkish fast food. Some locals told us that it's really good and that it’s not bad for you or gross. I ended up getting a Panini- bacon and cheese. It was SO good, and we’ll be back there again. Bambi is on every street corner and it always busy. When we went back out to get a cab, the locals (who we met in Spain) bargained with a few drivers and we ended up getting home for 7YTL (around $5) altogether! On the way home, the driver sang to us in some Turkish way and it was really entertaining! I took a video to remember how cool it sounded and to show everyone! Turkish is hard to speak but I’ve actually learned more than I thought and it’s only been a day or two.
Mere habba- hello
Nassal Sinnes- how are you
Chokuzel- great
Higher sal- no thanks
Shedehfe- cheers
Hehsum- check please
Iyi geceler (pronounced strangely)- goodnight
Oh I forgot- I went into a baklava place and they were closing so they gave me a lot of free baklava. After, I found out that it was one of the nicest and most expensive baklava places in Istanbul!
What a fun first night in Istanbul!
PS In Spain, a few of the people we met have only been to Miami in the USA. In Croatia, a few guys go to school in Miami. Here in Turkey, several people said they have been to Miami or want to go! Strange!

I’m slow on blogging because there’s hardly any time to catch up!

One Nutella crepe will cost you 4 hours.

2010-07-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

After getting in pretty late the night before, I slept until 10am then Shea and I went out to shop for our last day in Athens! We walked from the port to the train station (which is pretty far). Most students take taxis but it’s not worth it. Plus, it’s exercise and fun to walk past shops and people! After getting off at the right stop, we walked up into the square where alleys shoot off in every direction full of shops and cafes. We picked one of many to walk down and just browsed. We wanted to look around and get a good idea of what we were going to be getting and then come back after we thought about everything. Towards the end of one alley, we found a cute, breezy café where we could sit in the shade and watch everyone go by. I got a pizza and Shea got a Greek salad. I have eaten so many Greek salads, I’m going to miss the real thing when I go home!

After hanging out and talking about what we want to look for in particular, we started our daily walk down all of the packed streets full of music, people, and wonderful shopping! I know I said Barcelona had good shopping, then I said Italy’s was better, but I must say… Athens shopping beats them all. There were sandal stores full of leather shoes, jewelry stores, kitchen supply stores (random, but they were everywhere), pottery, snacks, painting shops, clothes, and everything in between. I bought some tourist-y shirts that have the Greece flag on the front with some cool Greek prints. I also bought a few bracelets that have the Greek eye for friends, and a really nice gold ring that has an Alexander the Great coin on top. There were so many music stores throughout Athens and they all had beautiful, very expensive traditional instruments. Since we have a music room at home full of worldly instruments, I had to buy a bouzouki/baglama, a traditional Greek instrument that comes in many sizes and is in all of their music. I played a bigger one in my music class for fun and my teacher showed me some chords and structures. He studied with one of the greatest performers on the bouzouki so it was really cool learning from him! When I went in all of the music store, I would bargain around and try and find the best price for the best size and model. I finally found the perfect one for a great price in the 4th store that we went to. I even got a few picks that have the Acropolis on it and a case for free to go along with my new instrument! It’s a small version and is all black with white knobs. It is really pretty and I can’t wait to learn how to play it! I will bring it to class next time and maybe Dr. K can perform something on it or teach me more about this traditional Greek instrument! After shopping, we had about 2 hours to get back to Piraeus. We stopped and got gelato (you should’ve known this was coming) and I decided to get something really random for my last day- pistachio and watermelon. It sounds strange, but I think it’s my new favorite combination!

We hoped back on the train and it felt like forever to get back to Piraeus! This was probably because we were so tired and we knew it was the last time we’d be on public transportation stressing that we got to the right place. When we arrived, we saw a crepe shop and HAD to get one last Nutella crepe. I was talking about getting one all day long! We had about 30 minutes to walk a really far walk but we couldn’t resist this opportunity. Sadly, the lady making them took her sweet time and answered her phone and chatted while we waited for her to make our delicious crepe. It would have been alright if we weren’t in such a hurry! We walked pretty fast (probably looking ridiculous for all of Piraeus to see), while eating crepes with Nutella all over our faces. Once we got close to the ship, we had 5 minutes so we ran! We waited in a long line but got counted late by 4 MINUTES. This results in “dock time”, meaning we have to come back to the ship 3 HOURS early on the last day in Turkey. I think it’s a harsh punishment for 4 minutes but I can’t do anything about it. It was worth the Nutella crepe :)

Mykonos is 'croikie amazin'

2010-07-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a longggg blog post…. About 3 days worth!

We had a ferry ride around 7am on the 15th so we left the ship around 615am… It was so early!! When we got onto the ferry, there were assigned seats. It basically looked like a huge cruise ship from the outside, and a huge airplane from the inside. There were assigned seats but Shea and I quickly found a table by the café (yes, it was so big it had several cafes and a shop) and we sat there with Jerome. The entire ferry ride (3 hours) we played cards and mainly Indian poker, where you stick a card on your forehead and bet who you think has the higher card. People walking by would stare for a few seconds each time they walked by, haha. I won a few coffee drinks/gum and Shea won some food too. Poor Jerome kept losing his bets and kept buying us snacks! It was pretty amusing and we finally made it to Mykonos!

When we got off, it was chaos. I had to find the sign of the hotel I was staying in and Shea was put in a different one. My hotel was pretty far, about 30 minutes on the bus, in the middle of nowhere! It was a beautiful drive along the coast and on the opposite side were white square houses with blue shutters and doors, very picturesque. We pulled up to our 5 star scenic hotel. When I think ‘hotel’, I think of the high rise ones in cities in America. Here, it’s 1 story, with more behind it going up the mountain, overlooking the incredible pool and the coast of Mykonos! You could see the golden sand that everyone always talks about, and the water was a shade of blue that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anywhere. The roommate selection was random, but luckily I was paired with a girl I already knew! You had to put the key into a slot in the wall to start the electricity, and you couldn’t leave the air on while you were gone to keep it cool. We had a huge room with two big beds, a nice shower/bath incredibly, 2 couches, and AIR CONDITIONING!! Sad news is… I didn’t stay at this hotel! It was so far from the town and it was dead, like a ghost town. On the other hand, Shea’s hotel was right up the hill from town and everyone was staying there. Her roommate left to stay with friends so I made my journey to the other side to go stay with Shea for the night. I took a taxi with some girls to where I thought would be the right destination…. I ended up getting dropped off at the wrong place (driver spoke no English at all, and I had no address, just the name), paid way too much, and I was feeling a little nervous and lost! We waited for another taxi on the side of the rode. At least we got a great view of the ocean for 45 minutes! There are only about 35 taxis on the island so it can be hard to find one, and if you do- they have a minimum amount of miles they drive, so we walked EVERYWHERE. I finally made my way to town, 3 hours later, and then began trying to ask around for where Shea’s hotel was. 2 hours later, I kid you not, I made it to her hotel!! I was on a corner with a map and I was trying to figure out where to go, when the owner of the restaurant came out and gave me perfect directions. When I got situated in the tiny room with 2 miniature beds, I put on my swimsuit, walked out to the pool, and just fell in. I had to relieve stress from getting 20 miles in 4 hours and getting ripped off and lost!! I was a little shaken up but now looking back, it was quite the journey and I actually think it was a mini-growing experience.

After calming down from the stressfulness of getting lost (worst feeling ever), we headed to Paradise Beach. We walked to town and hoped on a bus that goes to Paradise Beach every 30 minutes for 1,40 Euro (they use commas instead of decimals for cents). This is like the main beach of Mykonos where all of the students go. There are bars and tables lined up along the coast and then palm tree-ish umbrellas and chairs covering every inch. You would think that it would be annoying and crowded, but that’s what made it so fun, the atmosphere. Music is blaring in front of every bar and people are dancing everywhere, just hanging out. We got there around 4 and our friends were leaving because they had been there all day. If we hadn’t have gotten lost, we would’ve been there way earlier. Since they left, we hung out with some other SAS kids that were still there. As soon as the sun started setting, the entire night’s ambiance changed. More ‘night time’ music was playing, people were becoming more social, everyone started dancing a little, and it just became really fun! We met so many people from all over the world. One thing to note- Mykonos is FULL of Australians. There are more Aussies there than Americans or Greeks.

Once we hung out there and had one of the best nights ever, we headed back to town on the bus to get ready for the night- to head back to Paradise for the club scene! When we got back to town, Shea and I went to a little gyro place called Unity. It was the best chicken gyro I’ve ever had, and we had it for lunch and dinner the ENTIRE time we were in Mykonos, for 3 days. I still want one right now. It was huge, fresh, and 2 Euros! Then, the most amazing discovery ever- a giant bottle of water, like the massive ones, for 1 Euro!! Everywhere else we have been, water is about 3 Euro, and 5 for a big one. This is probably why we went to Unity every chance we were hungry. We went back to the room and got ready, walked to town again (2 miles each time), and then hoped on the crazy, fun, loud packed bus to Paradise.

We got there, waited in line for a club (forgot the name, the only one on Paradise Beach), and paid 25 Euro just to get in. I think for what everyone talked it up to be, it was way over-priced and I didn’t have that great of a time. It was full of people, but they were creepy. We left after a while, bought a crepe, hoped on the bus back and slept the whole way, then had to walk up hill (2 miles..) to Petinaros, the hotel. The beds in that place were so uncomfortable but it didn’t matter, my feet were so worn out. Regardless, the hotel was lovely and so cute!!

We had no plans the next day except to sit on Paradise Beach, so we wanted to take this opportunity to sleep in. Little did we forget, check out time was 11am.. The front desk lady wasn’t the nicest and was banging on our door to wake us up. It was a great alarm… We sat on the patio outside the lobby with all of our stuff and kept trying to call taxis to pick us up and take us to the second hotel where we were staying, called Voutinious Pension. In the lobby, they had these delicious lemon and orange gummy candies. I ate about 20. The lobby people didn’t know where this hotel was, the taxis never came, and one lady pointed us in the direction she thought it was. Shea and I had no choice but to walk… I think it was 3 miles. I’m telling you- we walked endless amounts of miles this weekend in Mykonos, and I’m amazed that we did what we did. We had our luggage (which was not on wheels, big mistake), a backpack, and we had hardcore sleepyness that didn’t help the journey. Luckily, the directions were right and we ended up at Voutinious Pension!! Jackie, Rachel, Serene, and Megan were staying there so we walked in and chilled for a while because we were so exhausted from the 90 degree weather walk we had just accomplished; yes, it was an accomplishment. The owner came over and was so nice! He said there wasn’t room here and that our room was up the hill. Is this a joke? We have to walk MORE? Yep. We walked for another 10 minutes to our place. It was so cute and small, about 8 rooms. It was more like a mini-apartment than it was a ‘hotel’. There were cats with kittens, a fish pond, flowers and bird cages, and several small dogs that were the owners. The room was really nice, very colorful, and it was beautiful. It was quiet, and the view was amazing! I can’t describe it very well, but it was a really nice place- Thank you mom!! We got ready for the beach, walked to town, got on the bus to Paradise, and met our friends and stayed until about 8. When we bused back to town then walked again (see how much walking we did?), we napped. Shea and I got ready for the night, and walked (of course) to the other girl’s villa and met some Australians that were staying there too. Can I just tell you that I love Australians? Every single one that we have met have been so nice and talkative, and I wish I had their awesome accent. We all hung out there for a few hours then went to town. First, we went to a bar called Scandinavian Bar. There were narrow streets filled with people and bars/music everywhere. The entire atmosphere was so fun! After that place, we went to another one down the alley called Skybar. It was in an area called ‘Little Venice’, because it looked like… little Venice… I guess. It was dark so I couldn’t really see the way it all looked, but I could see the beach with the moon reflecting off the ocean! It was so much fun hanging out with everyone and just having a great time! In the future, we are going to visit our new Australian friends! It was an easy and quick decision for a place to have a SAS reunion! On the walk back, I got a Nutella crepe. This was AMAZING and it was my first one on this whole trip! It was so good and I was still hungry, so I got a Greek crepe. Again, it was amazing. Everyone else saw mine and decided to get one! Ouzo is disgusting by the way- it tastes like licorice mixed with nail polish remover.

Side note- So my feet are the target for injury and everyone makes fun of me for it- I got some blisters in Spain, they got infected, and they are still healing. Then, I opened the cabin door on my toe, my toenail came off (first time in my life), and my skin was missing on the end.. (sorry if this is too much detail, I have to share for the memories). Next… while cliff jumping, I smashed my heel on a rock and had to pull out some pebbles from the wound. This was in Croatia and my heel is still pretty sore. So we were walking along the alley in Mykonos the other night, and what happens? I accidentally kick a broken glass bottle and get a pretty big chunk of glass stuck in my toe. I pulled it out and it started bleeding everywhere, so a girl came up and gave me a Piglette band aid. I started talking to her and she is from Dallas, Highland Park, and we have a lot of mutual friends! Funny how things work out. AND THEN… yesterday, on the ferry back to Piraeus, Jackie set her roller bag ON MY FOOT and it is badly bruised. My feet were swollen from so much walking this weekend, so Shea came up with the lovely idea of calling them Shrek feet, haha. I can’t believe I just wrote this much about my foot, but I cant wait to see what injury happens next in Turkey!! It’s almost like a game, I’m starting to guess where on my foot the next injury will take place.

Ok back to my night- I hobbled back to the villa with everyone and we went to sleep around 7am, after watching the sunrise and listening to really cool Aussie accents! We woke up around 12 and headed to the ferry to go back to Piraeus.

Mykonos was so much fun, one of the best times, and I would definitely go back!! A popular thing to do in Mykonos was to yell, “MYKONOSSS” when you are in a large crowd. It was entertaining and funny every time! I will never forget this weekend and all of the fun stories we have! It wasn’t the culture shock that you look for when you travel, but it was definitely all that it is talked up to be- the whole party social scene.
On the ferry back, we sat on the deck outside and it was 5 hours since it was the slow ferry. We wanted to stay another night in Mykonos but we didn’t know if the ferry people would go on strike or not and then we would get stuck there and miss the ship. This has happened to SAS students several times so we didn’t want to risk anything!

We got back to Piraeus around 6pm and got ready to go out for our first ‘real night out’ in Athens. We took the train to Athens and went to really fun outdoor restaurant. When you walk by places, waiters or owners stand out in front trying to get you in. They will hand you menus, bribe you, and keep talking to you even when you shake your head and walk away. We walked up to one that looked busy and cute, and the waiter from the restaurant from across the walkway snuck up and said, “Girls, you come here and get free wine, free Ouzo, and free dessert.” This made our decision much easier all of the sudden! :) I ordered chicken kabob skewers with pita and a Greek salad. I could sit and eat their feta cheese all day long with a fork, same with the olives. Everywhere we have been has been incredible, I just cant get over that! We have yet to be dissatisfied with a meal- this applies to the whole trip in general! The waiter lived up to the ‘free’ stuff he promised us, and we didn’t pay any extra! I was going to order yogurt with honey for dessert, but they brought it to us for free! It worked out pretty well :). The yogurt was a different texture, thicker and tart, and the honey mixed in made it so good! There were pieces of peaches in mine, other fruits in others’! YUM. After that, a few girls caught the last train back to Piraeus around midnight and a few of us headed out to find something fun to do for our last full night in Greece. We found some bars and clubs (all for free, unlike Mykonos). The first bar we went to was on the roof of a pretty tall building. We had a clear view of the Acropolis that was brightly lit! It was such a fun place- meeting people and hanging out, looking straight at the Acropolis! It was beautiful. In all of the places in Athens and Mykonos, they play that song ‘hotel motel holiday inn’ and Memories by Kid Cudi- EVERYWHERE. In Croatia we heard a song being played everywhere called Stereo Love by Edward Maya. Then, it was played everywhere in Greece! I found out that this is a popular song for the summer in all of Europe. When I hear it, I instantly think of nights in Croatia- a great memory! It just makes me dance in place and think of all the fun that I’ve been having. At every place we went last night, we would request this song and go crazy when it was played. It defines this summer!

We headed back to Piraeus in a Prius, haha. Since the train stopped at midnight, and we weren’t sure which bus to take back, we caught a cab. You have to negotiate with them and get a price before you get in the taxi or they will charge a lot. We got our deal down to 5 Euros a piece for a ride from Athens to Piraeus! What a great price! Since we had been taking the train every time, it was nice riding in a car back because we got to see a totally different part of Athens than what you see on the train. It was a really fun, jam-packed day and it felt like it had been 2 days, because of the ferry ride- made my sense of time a little off.

Anyways, that was Mykonos and a night in Athens- in a blog-nutshell.

I’m eating hazelnut cookies that I bought from the farm in Tarquinia, Italy right now while writing this. Mmm, delicious!!

Piraeus and Athens, Greece: In 1 Day!

2010-07-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention a funny thing a Croatian said…
Shea and I were sitting on a bench, deciding our options and plans for the day. We asked a local guy next to us what would be the best selection, and he spoke no English at all. The only response he had when we asked was, “debatable.” He knew it was funny and we kept laughing so he kept just saying it over and over every time we tried to ask something. He said it with a heavy accent and that’s all he knew in English! It was so amusing and now when instances come up, Shea and I say, “debatable!”
6/14
We arrived in Piraeus, Greece at about 1am last night, but we had to wait until 10:30am to get off when customs cleared us! They stamped our passports at this stop which is cool because we were told no countries would stamp passports being such a large cruise. We started heading out into Piraeus, and for some reason it reminds me of Naples. Internet cafes, taxis everywhere, little side-street shops, muggy, hot (100 degrees), homeless people, dirty, and just as port-ish as a port city can be! There are way more dogs here though. We went and picked up our ferry tickets for Mykonos tomorrow, then caught a train for 1 Euro to Athens! It was really cheap and really fast. Once we got off (reading Greek is unfeasible), we started wandering around streets filled with shops. There were leather stores, clothing stores, musical instruments, fabrics, carpets, art, fruits, boutiques, hand-made leather shoes, and so much more than we’ve seen this entire summer! We didn’t have much time to shop but we looked and made mental notes. We will have Saturday and Sunday to shop away! Our plan was to go to all of the famous sights around Athens, including the Parthenon. We looked across the street at a place called Quick Pitta. We instantly ran in and started trying to figure out this menu that was in all Greek. Greek is impossible to read and pronounce. This little pita stop was delicious and cozy. I got a chicken pita with fresh red onions, tomatoes, parsley, Greek mayo, and very flavorful rotisserie chicken! We sat outside and then started walking around while eating our scrumptious pita pockets! While we were trying to find our way around and probably looking like lost tourists, a bus tour man walked up to us and started telling us about a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. It was 15 Euro a person to get on this double-decker, get off wherever and whenever you want, and get on whenever and wherever for 24 hours. This was a good deal and we were stoked that we found out about it! Right as we were about to pay and get on, a lady with the same bus tour concept, just a different company, ran up and said she’d give it to us for half of the price! We paid 7 Euro to ride a bus around wherever we wanted and we got off when we felt like touring around! It was nice sitting on the top deck (my first time on a double-decker), feeling the breeze and listening to the headphones tell you about everything you are passing. The first stop we decided to get off on was the Parthenon of course! It was SO hot when we got off and we hiked up slick marble steps to get to the entrance of the even steeper steps to the top of Athens! On the way to the top, there were dogs everywhere (most all have collars, surprisingly), Indian men selling umbrellas, and a massive group of Asian tourists with massive umbrellas. It was a sight to see! When we bought our ticket (6 Euros, student discount) we started walking to the top! On the way up, we looked down over a ledge at the Herodion Theatre. I think they have music concerts there and it looked like something was being set up for an upcoming one. It was really cool to see the old, historic marble columns and know that it’s still used for entertainment today! When we got to the top, the Parthenon was beautifully resting on top of the huge city of Athens. It was still very hot, we were drenched in sweat, and the crowd was minimal. It was so amazing to finally see this structure!! You can image how many pictures we all took in front of this and more pictures with the amazing aerial view of Athens in the background. We hung out up there for a good 45 minutes or hour, it was insanely hot. Some of the people we were with were from up north and they just about died from the heat! I’m thankful that it didn’t feel THAT bad, but was still pretty hot. By the way- there are a ton of Australians in Athens, I don’t know why, but there just are! On the way back down, at the end, we all got these delightful lemon icees and I got mine mixed with the strawberry icee flavor. It was well deserved after hiking around in the gorgeous weather viewing breathtaking scenes :)

We hoped back on the fun double-decker and got off at Zeus’ Temple (Temple of Zeus). It was interesting… I mean it was about 5-6 columns standing in a field with no grass or anything, one bench, and a column that fell over, with a lot of dogs. We were there a grand total of 10 minutes! I took some cool pictures but other than that, it was ok. We then walked to the National Garden and saw the changing of the guards in front of the Prime Minister’s house! There were even more dogs everywhere once we were inside the gardens. One in particular, named Bruno (yes, we named him that), followed us everywhere throughout the gardens and led the way a few times. When we would stop to take pictures, he would roll around and try to play with our feet! We played fetch with a pine cone, that’s all I could find… I took some cute videos and then we said, “stay,” and he didn’t leave that gardens and watched us get back on the bus. It was so precious! We also saw the Olympic Stadium from across the street and took some pictures, then we kept walking around and made our way to the National Archeological Museum. For some reason, when we got to the museum, I just didn’t feel like paying and going in, even though air-conditioning would’ve been nice. I sat on a marble bench outside and just watched all sorts of people walk by while everyone was inside. It was nice sitting by myself and just thinking about everything that I’ve done on the trip so far. A few minutes after sitting there, a man walked up and sat near me, then about 4 more people walked up. They all sat alone and quiet, and sometimes would speak Greek to each other, but they would never look at one another.

Side note- In my global music class, one day Dr. K dressed up like a ‘wandering minstrel’ and acted out their traditional behaviors and informed us about their way of life. He said that these men (and sometimes women) were loners who traveled from place to place, reciting poems or just sitting and sulking. The walk around with one hand in their pocket, one hand holding a coat over their shoulder (used for defense when they would get into underground fights), head down, and usually wear a fedora hat. They make clicking noises with their mouths and usually talk to few people. They are all members of an underground Greek society in speakeasy bars which is illegal. They carry around a string of beads called “worry beads” and they do tricks with them in their hands. Each bead represents a personality trait or a fear the individual has. Dr. K would spin them around and show us the neat tricks they typically do in their hands.

Back to my story- As I was noticing the man that sat near me, I saw that he had a bright orange string with beads on it! He was old, dressed very nice (like Dr. K did in class that one day), and was doing tricks with his beads in his hand! I got so excited that I had just seen what Dr. K had been telling us about in class! It’s a cool feeling when you relate what you learned to the actual country that it was being taught about. I got the courage to ask, “Milate Anglika?” meaning ‘do you speak English’. He had NO idea how to speak English and just stared at me, spoke in Greek, and it was a little scary. I started thinking about him sitting in a bar underground gambling and being illegal with his fellow wandering minstrels, haha. I asked him in hand signals if I could take a picture of the beads. He was so confused and I finally made sense somehow, but nothing was ever really clear. A woman walked up and started speaking Greek to me (it’s all Greek to me…) and she was talking so fast. Then the other 4 people that sat around started talking to each other and me all at once and it really freaked me out! I was sitting alone, surrounded by Greeks, and a few wandering minstrels. Who knows what kind of trouble they get in! I didn’t feel threatened, and they were all smiling. Once the talking settled down, no common words at ALL, one of the ladies pulled out her worry beads and they were stunning. I took pictures of them all and even got my picture taken with the old man while holding up more bright worry beads! When my friends walked out of the museum, they were surprised to see me sitting there, Greek words coming from all directions, taking pictures, and laughing with old creepy people! I started explaining to them the awesome situation that I had just experienced! The minstrels thought I was Russian but I kept saying American, and they would respond with, “Superman!” I guess that helps them relate USA to me? Anyways, it was awesome and I can’t wait to share it to Dr. K! I plan on buying some beads if I see some because it definitely made a special memory :)

After that, we caught the train back to Piraeus, bought some snacks, used free WiFi at the port (which didn’t really work at all), then got back on the ship! Our trip to Mykonos is in the morning (6:15am…) so I need to pack and get well rested! Today was another wonderful day in another wonderful country!

Bye Croatia, I'll See You Again!

2010-07-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 11

Funny things I forgot to add:
-Today on the ship (13th) I was warming up before class when all of the sudden, the crew ran out and started yelling, “Man over board! Man over board!” I kind of freaked out and went to the edge to see who fell off! It ended up being a drill and I didn’t hear the announcement that was said to everyone telling them a drill was about to happen… haha. The ship took a sharp turn and headed towards the bright orange dummy floating far away. The turn was so sharp that the pool on the deck above started flowing over to the lower deck where I was standing so I ran inside and watched the waterfall over the deck haha. It was an interesting experience.
-Another thing, when we told this one guy that we were from Texas, he said he would never go there and he acted a little freaked out. I asked him why and he said because he saw the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He doesn’t want to go there because he thinks the man is still alive and that Texas is scary because of that, hahaha we laughed so hard!
-We lost an hour last night, and I forgot. So, Shea and I woke up at 730 and somehow made it to our 8am class right on time! Impressive.

On the last day, we just wanted to relax with no plans and just see what happened. We walked around the Old City, shopped, looked at paintings on the streets, listened to musicians, and found a small patio café overlooking the Old Port. I had Fanta; everyone here drinks this stuff. I love orange juice and I love carbonated drinks, so Fanta is like Heaven. I had asparagus soup, which I have never had before, and it was great! Then I ordered a tuna salad; fresh tuna over fresh green lettuce leaves with capers and tomatoes, with olive oil on top… YUM! Shea and I sat there for a while just chatting and enjoying the moment we were in! Overlooking the port was beautiful, and I’m sure that it’s where the people stand to take pictures for postcards. When we were eating, I could hear kittens meowing. Underneath us, under the wooden deck, there was a cat and her little kittens! They were so young, they might have been born while we were sitting there because they all wouldn’t stop meowing and the mom cat was meowing loudly too! Haha ok maybe they were a few days old.. they were tiny!

After that, we went to the front of the Old City to buy a ticket to walk the walls. I forgot to explain what the Old City was. It is a small, cute village part with huge stone walls surrounding it. You can pay about 30 Kuna to walk around the edges of the walls on the top and see the best views of the Old Town and of Dubrovnik. the steps to get to the top were so steep and took forever to get to the top. Once we got to the top and stopped to catch our breath, the view took it away again! It was incredible. You could see everything. People walking all in the Old City, towers, Lokrum, houses, and everything in the water and everything surrounding the city. It took about an hour to walk all the way around, because we would stop every so often and take pictures and just soak up the view. It was definitely a must-do thing if you ever come to Dubrovnik! I don’t think a lot of SAS kids did this walk but they sure did miss out on the most amazing views that are straight from the postcards. I usually see postcards of places and think, “Hmm, that might be the view from a helicopter or an enhanced photo, there’s no way it’s that pretty.” But no, it’s that pretty. It is JUST like the postcards, but even better!! When we walked down the steep steps (which is harder going down that up), I saw a man in a Texas Tech shirt. I had to yell, “Go Tech!” Haha we started talking to them and they were an older couple on vacation and decided to come to Croatia for the summer! It was the first Tech shirt I’ve seen that was someone who was not on Semester at Sea.

After hanging out all day, just relaxing and wandering around in the Old City, it was time to head back to the ship to board. We went to the supermarket next to the ship in the port to spend the last of our Kuna on snacks. I bought a lot of gum, Fanta, and those amazing cookies Banks found! We were eating dinner on the deck as the ship was sailing away, and it was such a sad feeling! Everyone LOVED Croatia and it has been the best place for me by far. I miss it so much and I honestly want to come back or find another cool place to visit in Croatia. Seriously, I’m obsessed. I’m so glad this trip picked Dubrovnik, Croatia to stop in! Everyone was just standing by the rails, watching Croatia fade away, with the striking sunset on the Adriatic Sea. Like I said, it was really sad, but it was one of the most remarkable experiences ever and Dubrovnik is incredible.

Shea and I have an intercultural communications test tomorrow which should be pretty simple. Here on the ship, they don’t try and make you work really hard and stress about class, which is so nice. I’m learning useful information and enjoying it, while not having to stress so hard about deadlines and grades. In 2 days, we will be in Greece! I can’t wait!!!

Let Me Guess, Bruno?

2010-07-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 10

We accidentally slept past our alarm and didn’t wake up until about 10am, which was perfectly fine with me! About 8 of us headed to town to catch the ferry to Lokrum. Lokrum is a small island that is about a 10 minute ferry ride. It has cliffs, rocky beaches, a few bars, and is a giant forest wit hidden ponds that you can swim in. We got gelato while waiting to get on the ferry and sat and watched some kittens play, they were so cute and really young! Once we got to Lokrum, we started walking around and figuring out what we wanted to do. We ran into several guys from SAS and we all decided that we wanted to find cliffs to jump from. On the ferry ticket, there was a map of the island so it was pretty convenient to know where to go! We had head about the “Dead Sea”, a small pond with a rope swing and a big flat rock to hang out on. When we got there, not many people where there, but we saw a lot of peacocks and baby ones! They would walk up to us and just stare and come close to our feet, so cute. We put our stuff under some big, shady trees, laid our towels out on the rock, took pictures, then jumped in! It seemed even saltier than the ocean (which was already super salty) and it was so easy to float! It was so hot outside so it felt great to get in the cold water. The rope swing was kind of high and you had to pull yourself about 4 feet out of the water to get up to a small knot to sit on, so it was nearly impossible! We watched the guys jump off the cliffs into the pond but it was too shallow for me to try. Boys will be boys. After hanging out there for a few hours then hitting my heel on a huge rock and getting another foot injury… we started walking around trying to find some real cliffs.

We saw a few kids jumping off a 30 foot cliff and then a ladder coming out of the ocean onto the main parts of the island. Shea and I were the first ones to jump off the cliff! Everyone was a little scared, but 30 feet really isn’t high at all. It was so much fun and we jumped for hours. I have a few videos of everyone and a lot of pictures! It was a beautiful sight, and the water was that deep blue color with really pretty rocks covered in bright green plants, just like a painting! You could see the Croatia and all of the little houses with bright orange tiled roofs, along with sail boats, kayaks, and huge cruises. It was amazing and it definitely made our trip to Lokrum worth it! We were pretty warn out after a while because it got exhausting jumping, swimming against the waves, climbing up a huge ladder, and crawling back up the jagged rocks to the top to jump again… but worth it!! We took the last ferry back around 5pm and went to the ship to get ready again for our last full night out in Dubrovnik!

The other night we met a guy named Bruno (yes, another one) and his friend Tom told us how his dad owns the restaurant on the edge by the Old Harbor where we ate. When we were walking around, we saw Bruno working there. How fun is that to work at a beautiful restaurant on the edge of Croatia?! The restaurant was full so we ate at one just outside the city wall (everything is so close together here) called Dubrovka. At this restaurant, there was live music by an older man who was playing the harmonica, guitar, and singing with a back up guitarist. He had multicolored lights around him and a small white tent. This place was really nice and we sat outside on a deck that overlooked the water and the outside of the Old City lit up with big lights. He played songs such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Layla, House of the Rising Sun, and many more classics sung with a heavy accent, but fun to listen to! I ordered the seafood risotto again, of course, and it was even better this time. The bread was soft and fresh, along with the tomatoes and pesto sauce! Mmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Dubrovnik has a festival once a year and we happened to be there while it was going on! I’m not sure what it is for, and the locals we met didn’t really know either… While eating, we got to see a firework show that was inside the Old City. It was so relaxing to sit in the cool breeze with amazing views, while eating a delicious meal watching a firework show! Once we were finished, we walked into the Old City which was packed full of people, way more than yesterday. In the main square part, there was a huge stage with lights, it looked like a concert setting, and we thought we were heading a man sing really well with a great band playing along. When we shoved our way close enough to see, it was a woman! She was amazing and reminded us of Cher because of her deep voice. Everyone around us seemed to love her and they were all singing along. We finally found out that she is one of the most famous singers in Croatia, and here we are standing by her listening for free. It was so cool and we stood there and listened for an hour or two. After that, it was about 10pm and we wanted to go to a club called East West, which was a little past the other side of the Old City (again, about a 10 minute walk). I absolutely love how small and convenient Dubrovnik is. It has all the things necessary, doesn’t seem to crowded, and everything is in short walking distance, so you see you friends everywhere! When we got to East West, the bouncer said Americans weren’t allowed and that you had to be 21. I pretended to be 22 from Sweden and he said he’d let me in, but it was too expensive, haha. Then we all just sat on a bench that overlooked the beach that was lit up by the moon. It was perfect night weather and the stars were so bright! Next, we walked to Fuego, the only other place to go at night, and it was less crowded than the night before, thankfully. On the way there, we ran into Tom and Bruno again and they showed us how to get in for cheaper and how to get let in front of the line haha. It pays off to talk to the locals!

That’s another thing I love about this whole traveling idea- meeting locals. It helps you understand the city environment better and how they live their lives. I don’t want to act like a tourist here, I want to fit in and really see the change that I want to feel from traveling. In Spain we met locals and hung out with them at clubs and stuff and talked for a while about their country, beliefs, ways they live and do things, and anything you can imagine. In Italy we didn’t meet any locals because it was a little too scary and dirty to go out at night in Rome and Naples. I think that is why I liked Spain and Croatia so much more, I got to know locals who speak enough English and it made me feel like I got something out of being there (besides seeing great views and having the time of my life). That’s just a small thought that goes way deeper but is so hard to explain!

This trip makes me want to continue traveling and immerse myself into other cultures, meet people around the world, and stay in touch! Also, I realized that I have a talent for picking up languages and pronouncing them like they are supposed to be. In Spain, learning Spanish in the few days that I was there was such motivation to learn it more and to act on the fact that I could pick it up easily and that the locals would tell me how well I learned how to pronounce things. It’s not fun sitting in a classroom learning Spanish from an American, but when you are in a country speaking it, it can be the most fun experience of the whole trip! Opposite to what I just said, Croatian is SO hard to speak and I could barely count to ten. I kept practicing and asking our new friends and I finally got it down, but I forgot it already. They don’t use the same vocal movements and sounds made by English and Spanish words, so I was definitely not used to it. I can’t wait for other countries where I can try more languages! I didn’t realize I had such an interest in it, I guess because I’m not around it in America.

Anyways, after Fuego a big group of us walked out to the bus and we missed it (thinking it was the last one) but guess who appeared again to save us? Tom! He told us when the next bus was coming which was soon, and we were about to start the 45 minute walk back to the ship! The locals were so helpful the entire trip, basically our tour guides!

One Croatian guy was saying how he can’t wait to go to college in America because he is ready to get out of Croatia. I was telling him that to us, it’s paradise here and people would do anything to visit. He knew that we felt that way, but I guess growing up here and having it seem so normal made his country seem so casual. Then, it started making me think that way about myself. I was always wanting to go live in somewhere cooler, but America is amazing. I appreciate it so much more being away from it all and hearing foreign people all say how they want to go to America for either school, travel, or just to live there in general. This is such an amazing experience and I honestly wish all of my friends could understand it because it’s nearly impossible to explain the feelings/thoughts this trip provokes! Thanks again Mom and Dad for this opportunity, I don’t think I can every thank you enough. This is the best decision of my life and I know that it will have a positive impact on my forever. Simply unforgettable!

Kayaking in Croatia

2010-07-12T03:57:00.000-07:00

Friday July 9th
We woke up a little later than planned and went out for the day around 1pm. When we got off of the bus, there were some guys in bright yellow shirts that said, “Ask Us About Kayaking”. We asked! Usually, they take big group of about 30 people kayaking, but we did a little talking and negotiating and got a group of 10 for less! I don’t know how that worked out so well! We walked down an alley and around some buildings and then saw this beautiful cove with a little umbrella stand and kayaks. Our guide was named Bruno and he was from Split. We asked him if Bruno was a common name and he said no, but we met 3 more! It was 2 people to a kayak and Shea and I were together. We started kayaking around the Old City walls and through rocks and cliffs. It was the most beautiful scene, just like a post card! We kayaked out to an island called Lokrum, and went all the way around it. It was about 5 miles of kayaking and I was definitely sore the next day! When we went by the island, we could see people hanging out, swimming, and jumping off cliffs. We went through some small passages around the edges of Lokrum and accidentally went by a nude beach that was full of old people, big mistake. Then we stopped at a little cove when we got back to Croatia and got out, walked around in a cave, and ate yummy bruschetta sandwiches! Some of the girls in the group went snorkeling but there were no fish so I just swam and sat on the rock staring at the amazing views! After that, we kayaked back to where we started, going along the coast and watching more people cliff jump and swim. What was fun about this was that we had a small group, the weather was perfect, it was relaxing, and we didn’t go back the way we came! I’m so glad that we did this and it was a dream come true. Kayaking around a Croatian island and swimming, how amazing does that sound?! It took about 4 hours (felt like forever, thankfully) and was well worth it! We got ice cream after, hoped on the bus, and went back to the ship to get ready for dinner and another night out!

There was a restaurant that everyone recommended (I forgot the name), so Shea, 2 girls from Baylor, and I went to go find it! It was on the Old City Port and the line was really long so we knew it was good. It didn’t take that long to get a table, to my surprise, and the service was great! There were tables everywhere and huge umbrellas covering the whole place, probably about the half the size of a football field. I noticed I compare everything in size to a football field. There was live music around the corner that we could hear, but couldn’t see. I ordered he seafood risotto, which everyone recommends, and it was extraordinary! It was kind of like rice that wasn’t fully cooked, chewy-ish (the way I love it) and a really yummy sauce with all kinds of sea creatures (cuddle fish, oysters, shrimp, scallops, squid). After hanging out and enjoying the views/people watching, we started to walk around and see what we were going to do tonight. As we were walking out of the restaurant, I was telling Shea how I wish we could find the people we met last night so we could all hang out again because it was so fun. As I was saying that and we were turning the corner, there was Tom and our new friends just standing there! It was the weirdest coincidence! Then, we saw these two guys from the ship who are really funny and goofy, Ben and Jerome, so that made the night even better. We all walked to an Irish Pub and were just listening to music and watching people walk by. We stayed there for about 2 hours and I talked to my mom for a while and caught up! After that, Payton and Banks (the two guys from Whitehouse) showed us the random villa that they found and rented. It was literally next door to this Irish Pub and in the middle of the Old City! It was about a 4 flight hike (steepest steps I’ve ever seen) to get to their villa. When we walked in, it was huge! It had all new furniture, a new kitchen, huge rooms, and a massive TV. All of the furniture was white with bright orange leather couches and the kitchen was all black. There were glass chandeliers hanging everywhere with really modern, colorful paintings. I don’t know how these guys found this amazing place! We all hung out there on the top patio that overlooked all of the Old City, it was beautiful and especially at night because all of the city lights were on and you could see the starts too!

After hanging out there for a while, we all decided to go to Fuego again because no Semester at Sea people would be overcrowding it since everyone was there the night before. When we went, it was less crowded, and actually more fun because there was room to walk around and see everyone (plus it was much cooler). After Fuego, we walked back to Bank’s villa and he discovered these delicious cookies at a supermarket called Petite Beurre, butter biscuits. The next day Shea and I bought some to put on the ship and eat on the way to Greece, haha. Around 5 am we went back to the ship (sounds late but we are all getting used to this! Everyone in Europe doesn’t go out until 12 so it makes sense).

Things about Dubrovnik:
You have to come here at least once :)
You have to ask where the trashcan is, it’s impossible to find one, which is surprising because the city is so clean.
Everyone wears blue and white stripped shirts, we saw ten in 5 minutes.
Not only are there cats everywhere, just like other countries, but there are kittens everywhere too!
Most everyone speaks good English and treat us well.
It is much nicer, cleaner, no homeless people, and SO easy to get around in.

Osojnik Village and Folk Show by day, Fuego by night

2010-07-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

July 8: Dubrovnik, Croatia
I am obsessed with Dubrovnik. I want to vacation here for a whole summer or something. I can't explain how amazing this place is and how great the people are!

It’s been a few days since I have written! I’ve been so busy and having the best time ever in Croatia that I’ve put this off, but now I’m catching up!
On Thursday I had a trip to a village in the mountains of Croatia called Osojnik. I got to sleep in a little because the trip wasn’t until 1, and there was no time to do much before then! There were a few girls that I’ve become good friends with that were signed up for the same day trip to this village with me, which made it so much better! We got on the buses and headed up the mountain.

On the way up, we stopped on the main bridge. This bridge is massive and you can see some great views of the bay in Dubrovnik! You can also see little towns clustered together, waterways, and the ocean, of course! After sightseeing and taking a lot of pictures, we went up a windy mountainside to the village. This bus ride was just as steep and scary as the one in Anacapri, but the bus driver was slow and it made it less scary!! When we arrived, a little old man in a cute folk-ish uniform greeted us.

Our tour guide was telling us how the houses that used to be in this village were burned by the Soviets during the war, and that what we will see is fairly new, but not that nice, because it’s full of stonecutters and farmers (really nice ones!). In this village, there were fields of pumpkins, cherries, mulberry trees (to feed their silkworms), olives, and many more cool village vegetables! The houses were on top of barns, which were on top of cellars. The Osojnik people keep wine and olive oil in the cellars, and donkeys and chickens in the barns. Those are the only 2 types of animas that I saw, except for a little white friendly kitten! The village man walked us through their church and then down to where we were going to eat dinner and watch musicians perform traditional stuff. When we walked into the main place where we stayed all day, we were greeted with moonshine (which was disgusting) and yummy dried orange peels covered in sugar, I think. There were also a lot of fruits and nuts that they have from their farming. Oh my goodness, I forgot about the figs. They were to die for. I can’t explain how they were prepared because I don’t know what figs normally look like, but they were really soft and covered in a thin dough layer, with some powder stuff on it. I had so many, I should’ve bought some when I left but I was so full I didn’t think about it! We walked down to a patio where there were little grills with a fire. We were handed these long olive branches that were shaved and sharpened at the end. We had no idea what was going on! Then, they brought out small squares of bacon! It was raw and we weren’t sure if we were supposed to eat it or not, so naturally, the boys tried it. Then the village lady said some Croatian words really fast and then took the bacon from them while shaking her head and laughing. It was pretty funny. A village guy showed us how to cook the bacon over the fire using the sharpened branch (basically, he was a mime because he didn’t speak English). Once I cooked my piece of bacon, I put it on the fresh bread that was brought out, along with some kind of white cheese, it all melted together! I had so much bacon and cheese! The flavor of the bacon was unreal in how amazing it was! It was so flavorful and salty, and dripping with fat! Probably not the healthiest appetizer, but a good one!

Once we all played with the fire and took more pictures, we sat down at long wooden tables and starting drinking the wine that was made from the grapes that were hanging above us! It was really sweet, and an odd shade of green. For dinner we had pork pieces that were in a pot with a sauce that also flavored the potato slices. It was soooo good! The salad was delicious too, the tomatoes were picked right before we ate them; can’t get any fresher that that! For dessert, we has this bread thing with cinnamon butter spread on it. It was rolled up like a cinnamon roll, but it was much better and I could just tell that it was some home-made secret recipe, the good stuff.

After sitting and talking to everyone about everything possible, we all went up to the top porch where the old man (one that greeted us in the beginning) started playing some small string instrument with a bow. There were two village ladies in long blue dresses who danced around him, kind of slowly, with their arms in the air while snapping. It was pretty cool to watch and everyone started clapping along, and after about 5 minutes, everyone was dancing! It was really unique but so fun!

After that, we left and I was exhausted from eating so much and dancing. I went back, met up with Shea and all of the girls that live by us, and we went out! You have to take a bus (about 10 minutes, and 10 Kuna) to get to the main part of Dubrovnik because our ship is in the port part. We were just walking around the town and hanging out, and started talking to some locals. They told us the cool places to go so we went! It was a discotheque called Fuego, and was jam packed with Semester at Sea kids. We met one guy in general who is Croatian and plays basketball in America, and he told us a lot of fun things we should go do and see! We stayed there into the wee hours of the morning (I’m talking 5am) and then took the bus back, slept for a few hours, woke up, and went back out to see beautiful Dubrovnik!

Precious Pompeii Pups

2010-07-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Avatar is on! I love that movie.

Today we went to Pompeii and Sorrento! It was so fun and different; reminded me of Capri, but less expensive and bigger!
Sometimes we can go do whatever we want and not come back for days, sometimes we go on trips through the program and follow a tight schedule. Both of these options are great and I wouldn’t have it any other way! But one of the hard parts about the trips through Semester at Sea is that it usually starts super early. We got on a bus around 8am and drove 30 minutes to Pompeii. I slept on the bus ride so honestly I don’t remember the scenery, so I can’t be descriptive!

When we got off, there were stands everywhere of souvenirs, food, drinks, and most commonly, lemon stands! I guess they are known for their lemons over there? The lemons were the size of our faces! It smelt so good and everyone was buying lemon chills and lemon candy, gelato, and plain ole slices of lemon. We walked into a building where a man was carving the elegant faces into shells and jewelry pieces. I think the process is called cameo? Cameo jewelry? Anyways, it was beautiful and he was very talented. All of the jewelry was pretty expensive but luckily there was a student discount and a discount for being in a tour group, so Shea and I each bought a little necklace charm. We actually picked out the same charm out of hundreds without knowing! Once we got to look around and shop a little, we went into the gates of Pompeii. The best way I can describe it is narrow, cobblestone streets with brick walls and weeds growing out of everything. It was a little creepy knowing that so many people had died there or fled from their homes, but it was a beautiful sight. There were dogs everywhere. The dogs weren’t gross or mangy, just a little tattered and scruffy, haha. They would follow groups of people and we had about 3 follow our group! They would walk with us for a while, and when we would stop to see things and take pictures, they would sit down and wait until we started walking again! Precious Pompeii pups.
There were chariot ruts in the cobblestone from being worn down and huge rocks going across the streets at intersections. The rocks in the middle were stepping stones for when it flooded. The sides of the streets were higher than the street, which was about 6 inches lower. We walked around and saw columns, pottery, kitchens, and many more things that were left over and uncovered. There were painting on walls in the market where they had chicken and fish (according to the painting). Another amazing thing was this huge brick room, a sauna! They made their own sauna and it was for men only. There were male statues (about 3 feet tall) holding up the ceiling, bordering the walls. There was also a massage room that was very cold inside. These two rooms were right next to each other and looked the same, but were total opposite temperatures! How in the heck did they do that!! It is just incredible to see it in person and stand where they stood. There was a fountain with carvings and paintings on it where hands were washed before meals, and there were small houses with beds made out of solid rock. It was so cool and I seriously think Pompeii is one of the most unique things that I’ve seen so far. Like I said, it’s creepy in a way, but so interesting. Oh and we saw bodies that were cast in ash. The skin was obviously not there, but the bones were still in perfect contact with the entire body, and they were posed as if they were suffering. I can’t describe the weird feeling you get when you see a body made of bones that was not put back together, it was found like that. There was also a dog in bones that was solidified. It was sad but fascinating! The pottery that was found was beautiful and so were the details on the columns and walls. It is just so difficult to imagine a time that is not like ours today. It is so hard to grasp, but Pompeii let’s you do just that.

After that once-in a-lifetime experience, we headed to Sorrento for lunch and free time. It took 30 minutes or so to get there (and I slept again…) but I woke up right before the top of the mountain! The views were to die for. I can’t wait to show pictures. When we got to the top, we started roaming around and shopped for a few hours. Shea bought an apron that we saw for 3 times less than the price of the exact same one in Capri. Capri is a money trap, but worth the trip :). I bought a cute leather purse for a decent price! The owner gave me a little lemon key chain made of leather for free! The purse is pretty small, light brown, and has a metal thing on the front that says something in Italian and then ‘Made in Italy’. It’s perfect. At lunch, we had Fanta, sparkling water, pasta, ham with potatoes seasoned with rosemary (random, but delicious) and then lemon creme cake of course!! YUM. I saw a wedding going on and they were all in kilts. Someone told us that the Irish like to come to Sorrento and get married. Who knows what that’s all about! Next, we hoped on the bus and headed back to Naples, just in time for the 4th of July cookout!

Everyone was out on the deck, burger smoke filled the air, music was loud, and everyone was just having a good time! This was the first time in about a week that everyone has been on the ship at the same time. so it was nice to see people that I haven’t seen in days! Tonight we leave to Croatia so we all had to board the ship. The cookout was delightful and the cake was sooo good!! Now I have to read and study for our first test tomorrow, and classes start back up bright and early at 8am. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you are enjoying it!!
P.S. I miss the chiropractor!

4th of July!

2010-07-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July
Today was amazing!!
Shea and I headed to the ferry to travel 45 minutes to the island of Capri! I slept the whole way because I have been so exhausted, and I take every chance I get to sleep, haha. When I woke up, we were pulling up to the island. Let me tell you, it was beautiful!! It was just like the postcards (you’ll hear me say that a lot). There was the crystal clear, bright blue water, leading up to big rocks with small boats tied to docks. There were shops and houses that climbed up the hill that were painted bright colors! It was sunny and hot, and you could see the clouds surrounding the top of mountains on Capri! We got on a bus that took us up to the very top of Capri, known as Anacapri. The bus ride up was the scariest thing of my life! It was a one-lane street, a crazy man driving super fast, cars coming head on and slamming their breaks, honking, steep edges, and sharp curves. The trip back down was just as scary. When we got to the top, there were a few cafés and shops, and mainly tourists. Capri is muchhhh nicer and cleaner than Naples. We got on a chairlift (one at a time) and rode 12 minutes up to the top. You could almost see the entire side of the island from the lift, along with boats far away in the ocean and the tops of houses and buildings below. It was breathtaking and I got some great pictures! Once we got off at the top, it was incredible. It’s not like a huge mountain top where you walk everywhere with no steep ledges or anything. No, it was a small mountain top about half the size of a football field, with rails around the edge, dropping off straight into the deep blue Tyrrhenian Sea! There were some tall mountain points of Capri that were covered by clouds, which made it look so much cooler! There was a small bar that served lemon cello (which they are known for on Capri, and we tried some and it was great!) and gelato and other snacks/drinks. We sat and hung out, took pictures, and then got back on the lift down and headed to lunch. Half way down we stopped by a random set of stairs. When we walked up, there was an outdoor restaurant full of people! The view was amazing and the food was great! We had cokes in bottles (always tastes better), ravioli and pasta with basil and tomato sauce, then fish with a salad, and then sweet cream gelato! It was very filling and relaxing. We took the bus back down to the bottom, and decided to take a boat tour. It was about 15 Euros and 10 of us piled on a hydrofoil. We toured around the island and just soaked up the sun. After rocking on waves and going at a fun speed, we went under an arch formed from the rocks, went in a cave, and saw people jumping off of cliffs. We stopped for a little while and jumped off the boat and swam! The water was such a different feeling than any water that I’ve been in. It was really salty and much easier to float. It was so clear and smooth! It was also refreshing from being in the heat. We went back, shopped around and hung out. In one of the stores, there were samples of these delicious almonds covered in toffee and chocolate. I took a handful and then later we went back and snacked on them some more. I saw a small bag of them for sale and it was 10 Euros!! I think I ate about 15 Euro worth in samples… Hehe. Then we hoped on the ferry around 4:30 and headed back to muggy Naples.

After resting a little in the cabin, we went to a restaurant close to the ship. We didn’t want to walk very far and we were starving! It was called Trattoria Medina. We had the Caprese pizza again, and it was just as good as the other place! Italy’s pizza truly tastes better than pizza from anywhere else I’ve gone! I wish I could share some to those who haven’t experienced it! We aren’t allowed to bring leftovers onto the ship, only prepackaged and sealed items :(

This is the hardest experience of my life. The way I am treated is definitely nothing I’m used to or have experienced. This is all worth every penny and minute of it, but I can’t wait to get back to America and be in my comfort zone. This trip gets you completely out of your comfort zone, even if you attempt to stay in it. I miss everyone so much! This is so hard to do and it’s only the second country. It’s only going to get harder and I hope I’m ready for it. It goes by too fast to take in!! All of these changes in clothes, food, communication, money, and the general lifestyle just shake me up and make me so scared and uncomfortable sometimes. It’s an experience that I will never forget, and the things I learn on this trip will never leave me, and I will always be grateful for what I have in America. It’s like when you go to camp, with new friends and a new schedule, you adapt to a new life and you are on your own etc., but 100 times bigger and more realistic. You get a glimpse of what the world could possible be like in other countries that we won’t even be traveling to. I can’t imagine (literally, it’s impossible) what it’s like to know what’s out there in this world unless I go and experience it for myself. Thanks Mom and Dad for making this amazing opportunity possible! It has already been a learning and growing experience and it’s only the second country!

Dear Long Lost Friend (=air conditioning)

2010-07-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ah so glad to be back in the air-conditioned, clean room. I’m watching Slumdog Millionaire and Monster Inc. Lovin’ it.

This is why I love Semester at Sea: Shea and I went to breakfast on the upper deck and we sat with a random guy and girl that we have never met! Now we are all going out around Naples today! I love making new friends and getting to know everyone! Along with us, our neighbors are coming, Trevor and Ryan, from Boulder. It will be a fun group! I decide my outfit based on whom we are going with. If there are guys in the group, I can dress cuter because I won’t be afraid of being approached by creeps on the street. If guys are with us, we get left alone. If it’s just me and Shea, I try to blend in and wear stuff that is neutral-colored, because I don’t want anyone following Shea and me without guys protecting us! In Rome, two guys followed us for quite a while, so we stayed on the main street and just walked back and forth. They finally left us alone.

So this afternoon we just wandered around Naples, and checked everything out! It was a free day so we made no plans, just adventured. First, it started off with about 7 people. We walked around and found our way to town (away from the cruise ships’ port). While we were randomly walking around, probably looking lost, an old man, with really nice clothes on, walked up to us and started speaking bits of English. He was telling us to go to the top of Naples to a castle where you can see everything including Pompeii and Capri etc. He was so nice and friendly! We were thinking that he might ask for a tip once he showed us where to go, because that seems to be the expectation from everyone for us. He walked with us for about 15 minutes, all the way up to the lift that takes us to the top! He showed us where to get the tickets and explained where to get off and where to go. Right before we got onto the lift (he walked us up directly to it), we handed him a tip we gathered. He refused it and said, “No my friends, I help you!” He was so nice and we would have never found out about this or have known what to do without him! It cost 1.10 Euros, so cheap for what we saw today! We rode the lift in a little tunnel all the way to the top of the mountain, but we couldn’t see anything yet. Once we got to the top, we hoped off, and saw tons of people, cafes, and shops! It was much more of what we were looking for, unlike the base by the port. We followed some signs that led us to the entrance of Castle Elmo. Once we went through a little art museum, we went up a lot of stairs and walked the entire edge of this huge castle! We were the only ones there and we could see for miles! I could see all of Naples, the beaches, the ocean, and Mount Vesuvius! It was breathtaking, and pretty hot. We hung out on the top for an hour or so, and then headed back to the lift to take us down (the ticket was valid for 90 minutes). That was definitely the highlight of the day. The pictures we took look like the view on postcards showing the view of Naples! I wonder if any of our friends knew how to get up there or even knew it was there! If it weren’t for the kind Italian man, we would’ve missed the best view of Italy that I’ve ever seen! At one point, Shea asked him to draw his house structure (it was for a class) and I don’t think he understood. He took the paper she handed him, folded it, put it in his pocket, and said, “Niiiiice,” while smiling. We laughed so hard but we let him keep it. I wonder what he was thinking we were trying to tell him or show him… Haha.

After we came back down to the hustle and bustle (and dirtiness) of Naples, we went to a café that was outdoors, in the center of everything. It probably wasn’t the ideal place for me to eat, because no one was in it, and it was in the middle of everything (usually meaning it’s expensive, and it was). The pizzas were little round pieces of bread with tomato sauce smeared on top with a 1’ by 1’ square of mozzarella… Not my kind of pizza. The service wasn’t that great either. You can easily tell if you are unwanted, regardless of the language barrier. After that, Shea and I decided to venture on our own because the group we were with was interested in touristy things, and we just don’t like doing the normal activities. We started walking down random alleys (full of people and stores, don’t worry Mom), and walked passed fruit stands, fish markets, and cafes. There was no room for cars, just mopeds and people. We stopped at one and read the menu outside. It looked pretty good! Then, we saw a big family of locals walk in, and then some more locals. That was the deciding factor to go in; locals were flowing! Even though we were stared at by everyone, and talked about in mean tones, we sat down and tried to act like we didn’t notice. It can get so frustrating when you are absolutely sure that the people next to you are talking about you and staring at you from 5 feet away, laughing and giving mean looks, it’s still really hard to get used to, and I don’t think I’ll get used to it anyways. We just smile and try to be as nice as possible, and the nice people respond back and treat you well. We ordered the Caprese pizza (same as margarita) and it was the same price as the tiny one we had for lunch (this was our second lunch because the first one was merely a snack). When he brought it out to us, it was HUGE!! But, I ate all of mine again, to my surprise… again. It was the best pizza I’ve had so far, and I wish I could tell others how to get there, or give them samples of what a delicious pizza this was! Shea and I sat and chatted for a while and then asked for the check. I think we are getting used to this hang out-and-chill-then-get-the-bill thing! Usually, we rush and ask for the check as we finish, but today we really took it on differently, and not intentionally! It made me feel like I was living in their lifestyle a little bit, and it was a nice change of pace! After that, we went to a lot of shops and just wandered around some more, and got yummy gelato. We started walking back to the ship and we thought we were going the right way, but we weren’t positively sure. Luckily, there were these 2 dogs sleeping on the side of a building that were in the exact same spot from when we walked away from the ship! Basically, the dogs lead us home, haha. As soon as I got back, I had to shower. Naples is very muggy, humid, hot, and your feet get covered with dirt! It’s just a gross feeling. Today was really fun and I’m sure we will go out tonight!

Premonition Dream

2010-07-03T00:13:00.000-07:00

I had another premonition dream! It's starting to happen so frequently, I don't understand what it all means, and I have no control over it!!
Last night I had a dream that my friend was giving away puppy golden retrievers. I got one, and it was big for it's age and fluffy, but still a puppy. I played with it, showed all my friends, and it loved to play with other dogs! It was a fun dream.
When I woke up, I thought about getting a golden retriever one day. I told Shea about it (because she has like 3 golden retrievers) and she said that Susan emailed her yesterday with a picture of a new foster dog that was a half-grown golden retriever puppy!! How strange! I have no explanation, and I'm a little freaked out! This is random but I just felt like sharing.

Cheapest Hotel? Prison.

2010-07-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

This morning I had the lovely chance to wake up at noon!! I got a full 12 hours of sleep :) The most sleep I’ve gotten this entire trip has been about 5-6 hours, so this was a major benefit!! My feet were starting to hurt, and I was a little sick. But this massive amount of sleep made me feel incredibly better this morning. We have gone to just about every famous sight here in Rome and we’ve seen all of the buildings that we had planned! I also got all of the shopping done that I wanted, and picked up a few gifts! I don’t feel guilty for sleeping in and missing a half-day in Rome, it was needed and I feel SO much better. Shea’s cooking class was this morning, and mine wasn’t until 3. It was really nice getting to sleep in, wake up slowly, sit around and listen to music, then start getting ready at a slow pace. I liked not being rushed for time! But I’m sure this probably won’t happen much… I left around 2:45 to meet with my group to go to a family-run farm in Tarquinia!
After the 30-minute drive through hills and valleys, we arrived at one of the biggest farms in Tarquinia! It began about 200 years ago, and is still going today. There were vineyards and fields everywhere! The tour lady said each word like it was supposed to be, “vine… yards,” instead of the way it sounds- vin-yerds. Haha do you get what I mean? It was funny. We walked into a beautiful villa and a huge covered patio full of tables with cooking supplies on them. The patio overlooked a valley and there was a great view of a really cool swimming pool! After taking some picture, we washed our hands, and went two to a table. The instructor at the front spoke no English so there was a translator next to her. She demonstrated how to make ravioli, linguini, tortellini, fettuccini, and many more! We then went to our tables and started making fettuccini. I put corn-flour (not sure what it was, but it was coarse and less refined) in the shape of a circle with a hole in the middle. Then, I put one egg in the middle and the flour acted as a wall so it wouldn’t run everywhere (one egg per person eating the pasta is the rule we learned). Then, I slowly mixed the flour into the egg in a circular motion with a fork. After it was evenly dispersed, I kneaded it with my hand until it was pretty firm. It was bright yellow and looked like a handful of play dough! Next, I rolled it with a huge roller into a big circle. I rolled it up like a hotdog, without pressing it down, and then cut it into sections as wide as my fingernail is across. Then, when I finished cutting, I unrolled the sections and it made fettuccini strands! After that, we went on a walking tour of the farm. We picked sage, rosemary, and lavender; it smelt so good! I brought some back to the cabin on the ship to make it smell nice. We walked for quite a while and saw plum trees, grapes, blackberries, olives, watermelons, flowers, and many more things you’d find in a garden! Everything that this place grows does not receive any chemicals or pesticides, so it was safe to try a bite here and there! The olives off of the tree didn’t taste good at all but the grapes and blackberries did! They have a little store by the entrance that sells marmalade, jams, cookies, crackers, olive oil, olives, carrots, mushrooms, wine, rum and so much more! It was so fresh and smelt wonderful so I bought some jam and hazelnut cookies to take back! Actually, I’ll probably eat it before this trip ends… It is so tempting! We walked by some pigs (saw a cute baby one!) on the way up the hill to the villa. The reason we had picked lavender before was to smell it when we walked by the pigs. Yucky smelling, but so cute! Then, it was time to swim and hang out! We played Uno and then jumped into the pool. It was one of those pools where the edge drops off and there is no ledge! I want a pool like that one day, I always have. The view was beautiful! It was almost sunset and we were sitting in an awesome, refreshing pool in the high heat, drinking wine and about to eat a big, healthy dinner. Once we got out and stared some more into the gorgeous countryside of Italy, we headed back to the top to make dessert! There was an elderly man who showed us how he makes tiramisu. I’m guessing it was his family’s farm. First, you take egg whites and make them all foamy in a blender, and then you add sugar, the egg yolks, and some mascarpone. Then, you get the biscuits and dip them in coffee, and line the bottom of the pan. Pour a layer of the mixture, another layer of coffee-dipped biscuits, and so on until you reach the top! Lastly, sprinkle cocoa on top and put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours, yum. We then sat down on the patio for dinner time! They brought us wine, sparkling water, and regular water. In Europe, they seem to be obsessed with sparkling water. You have to specifically order “water, no gas,” then they understand haha. To begin, we had a big bowl of chicken liver, on top of a candle, surrounded by pieces of bread. I tried it just so I knew what it tasted like, and I can say that I will never eat that again. We had pieces of bite-sized bread, with tomato slices and prosciutto on top! The prosciutto was amazing, very full of flavor, salty and fresh. Next, we were served the fettuccini we made, but they added tomato sauce and chicken. You could tell by the noodle hardness and shapes that they definitely served us what we cut and made... haha but it still tasted great! Most people ate it all and thought that it was the main dish. I knew not to get full from it because Shea came back and told me that there was so much food! After that, we had chicken (from their farm) and a really good mixed salad with the olive oil that they make. The salad leaves were the best I’ve ever tasted and were dark green/perfect. I was definitely full by this time! Lastly, we had incredible tiramisu. We were each served a very generous piece, and I ate all of mine! You could easily tell the difference from this kind we ate compared to all the other kinds I’ve had in America, Spain, and restaurants in Italy. We had a great time just talking, meeting each other (the meeting never ends!) and just looking around at the amazing view! After dinner and hanging out, we headed back to Civitavecchia. On they way back Luisiana (tour lady) said, “Look to the right at the cheapest hotel in Rome.” It was the prison, haha. When we got back, I got on the ship and we had that emergency drill thing and now we are sailing to Naples! We will be there in the morning.
Today was such a great change of pace. It was so different than anything I’ve done so far. Being in the busy city in Barcelona and Rome has been a blast, but it can get pretty exhausting. Dealing with mopeds, buses, cars, honking, people everywhere, and crossing streets can be very stressful and it’s hard to find time to take a break. That’s what this day did; it gave me a much needed quite, relaxing break. It was in the middle of the nowhere, no pickpocketers, no tourists and vendors, no cop whistles and car horns, just nature and a small group. I didn’t have to wash my hands constantly, and my feet stayed dirt-free. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that I did this today. I didn’t have to wear a money belt, didn’t have to lock my backpack, and I didn’t have to pay attention to my surroundings :) It was so refreshing!!! It was such a great experience seeing the busy city of Rome, and then venturing into the countryside of Tarquinia, Italy. Naples in the morning!

Pasta, and more pasta!

2010-07-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

7/1
This morning we woke up at about 6:30 am and went to the lobby for a great breakfast! They had little packets of nutella-like stuff that I put on my bagel! (Haha, bagel… hi Jared) We checked out, put our luggage on the coach bus, and headed to the Vatican! The line at the Vatican was really, really long, but the good thing about big tour groups is that we get to cut everyone!
I wish I could use the perfect words to describe everything we saw today in the Vatican City. It was incredible and nothing like anything on this earth! We saw the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and everything else in the little city, except for the Pope himself! In the Sistine Chapel, Michaelangelo's original paintings were everywhere, including The Last Supper. It was so amazing and unbelievable. In this particular part of the Vatican, there was no talking, no pictures, and a dress attire. We saw the window that the Pope pops out of every Wednesday and the place where he sits. In one part (there were so many I can't remember which it was), there were letters made of gold surrounding the huge, massive ceiling. Each letter was taller than 6 feet!! I wish I could describe more so you could understand the detail and incredible artwork, but it's so hard to do. After the amazing adventure in the Vatican, we went shopping and sightseeing around Rome! We had about 5 hours. There were some girls on the trip with us that are from Baylor. They are really sweet and we all stuck together today! Yes, we got gelato. Then we all met back at the Vatican and took the coach bus back to Civitavecchia! When we got back, Shea and I ate our free dinner, which was more pasta. Now we are sitting in the room, blogging, charging cameras and laptops, and watching a movie! Time to sleep!! Tomorrow I have a cooking class on a farm! I can’t wait!

Penguins.. in Rome?

2010-07-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

6/30
We (usually meaning me and Shea haha) woke up pretty early, picked up our passports on the lower deck, and boarded a coach bus. We had a 2-day tour thing (this post is day 1) that was awesome! We drove about 90 minutes to Rome (train was way faster) on the bus while our guide went around chatting with everyone. Her name was Daniela and she was so funny! Her accent was pretty heavy but she was very animated and hyper, which helped us wake up at 8am. She said it was really sunny outside and that she hoped we were wearing “sunshine lotion”.

When we got to Rome, we had a guided tour of the Coliseum, the greatest Roman amphitheatre and place for gladiator fights! We saw it from the outside the day before, but I was even more excited that we actually got to go in and wander around. This thing was huge, I mean massive. The pictures make it seem smaller, but what can I do! The Coliseum held 80,000 people and today, only 40% is missing. Interesting fact that I remember: ‘arena’ in Italian means ‘sand on top’. It was called this because the sand would soak up the blood from the gladiator battles and animal fights.

The tour guide for the Coliseum was another hilarious Italian woman, friends with Dani. Her name was Paula. She definitely sounded like she’d been smoking every day of her life. When we were all hot and tired, she said, “Imagine those people in front of you are penguins! Brrr! Aren’t you cold now?!” Haha she was great, and luckily the next day she toured us in the Vatican! After the Coliseum, we went the Roman Forum, the marketplace of ancient Rome, as well as the business district. It is so hard to put into words what I saw and experienced. It’s all fresh in my head and the pictures will help me remember it forever! So will this blog, I’m so glad I decided to make one!

Next, we had some free time (=shopping) and ate lunch in Piazza Navona. We ate at another small café. I got a small margarita pizza and a wonderful Greek salad! The shopping here in Rome is significantly better than Barcelona! After all of this touring, walking around, and shopping/more eating, we went to the hotel to check in. The rooms were huge and the bathrooms were too! This was definitely a nice change from the ship cabins. Shea and I had a cute little balcony that overlooked the part of Rome where we stayed. It was much nicer, cleaner, and quieter than the busy areas. We had about 2 hours to get ready for dinner/a walking night tour of Rome. The restaurant where we had dinner was just like a postcard! It was in a big courtyard, surrounded by tall walls, covered in vines and flowers! There were also lanterns everywhere on the brick walls with fire torches; very memorable. The dinner was delicioso, as always. We had some kind of pasta with some more pasta. Then, when we thought dinner was over, they brought out this beige square with bread crumbs on top. No one knew what it was and we were thinking it might be dessert! It ended up beaing baked potates mixed with ham and mozzorella. It was incredible, and I want some right now! Then for dessert we had Neapolitan gelato with yellow cake, and a cookie in the shape of a heart stuck in the middle. There was a band that walked around with an accordion, guitar, and a few singers. It was such a great night! After dinner, we went to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. These were both very beautiful structures.

Then we went to the Trevi Fountain. I can’t even describe how massive and beautiful it was. In the movie When In Rome, they used the fountain where we were! That gives you an idea of how beautiful and famous it is. We stood in front of it (along with hundreds of other people) and just stared. Then we walked down towards the water and threw a coin over our right shoulder. Apparently that is what you do and then you make a wish! But I can’t tell you my wish or it might not come true :) After that, we walked some more and got more gelato of course! Then we went back to the comfy, big hotel for about 5 hours of sleep!
That’s basically the day in a nutshell! In the morning… the Vatican!!

"Barbie!"

2010-07-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Even thought I'm posting this today, it all happened on 6/29! I've been so busy that I am 3 days behind on blogging! Tonight I have a little free time, thankfully, so I'll try to catch up!

I just want to say that I miss Barcelona SO much. It was amazing and I hope to go back to Spain one day!

Rome, Italy, Day 1:

Today Shea and I went with a totally different group out in Rome! We are trying not to stay with the same exact people every time, but still remain close friends with the ones we make! It’s an awesome experience, not really comparable to college. We woke up in Civitavecchia, and there wasn’t much to see. This is probably because it’s where all of the cruise ships port and it’s 45 minutes away from Rome! We walked about 10 minutes to the train station, and it was packed! There was graffiti everywhere (not as pretty or as skilled as Barcelona’s graffiti…). We went in a little convenient store to buy the train ticket and we saw a HUGE jar of Nutella. Picture the little jar, but about 1 foot tall, proportional to the little jar! So cool. Trying to get a two-way ticket to Rome and back for the same day was nearly impossible because the cashier didn’t speak an ounce of English, and we knew no Italian. It was much easier in Spain because I can communicate a lot easier and get by. Italian is very different, and I can’t imagine how hard it will be in other countries when they do not use the alphabet like ours!

After getting our tickets, we walked down to the restroom. There was a long line and a guy letting people in one at a time, asking for money! Then someone told us that here in Italy, there are custodians who clean the bathroom every time one person uses it and they expect a tip! We didn’t go :)
It was a massive panic (to say the least) getting onto the train. It would make loud noises as if it was about to leave, and we were still trying to decide if it was going to the right place! There were people running everywhere, and we had a huge group. I had to keep an eye on my group so I wouldn’t get separated, hold onto my purse, watch out for creeps who say weird things, and hop on and off about 10 times getting hit by the door trying to stick together. Once we decided it was the right one and all piled on, forcing the doors open, we started to head to Rome! It was a beautiful view (through the nasty train windows) of the hills and valleys of Italy! To the other side was water, which was very blue! 45 minutes later, we arrived in Rome and walked with our friends to the hostel where they were staying at for the night. It was a funny place because it was called the “Pop Inn”... haha poppin’… Anyways. From the outside it looked a little strange and creepy, but inside it was beautifully painted, colorful, and decorated! We rode a little elevator lift where you open and close the doors yourself. Only 3 could fit snuggly at a time, but it was fun!

When they checked in, we asked for a recommendation of a place to eat. The receptionist gave us directions to a place about 2 blocks away, tucked into the side of a little street! It was called Trattoria dell Omo. She said that if we see a restaurant with ‘trattoria’ written on it, go inside. It basically means family-owned and fresh, daily baked meals! When we went in, a little old couple (both under 5’5’’) was shuffling around with huge plates full of green beans, sausages, meats, rice stuffed tomatoes, and so many other delicious looking things! Their son sat us down and took our orders because he spoke a little English. Shea and I each got this amazing ravioli. Picture the little ravioli squares, but ones the size of your plate! It took a while to come out, but that is because it was definitely home made! Oh and the bread was to die for. Hot and fresh. Molto bueno! Another strange thing that is very hard to get used to is ordering water. You have to order a bottle, which is usually about 2 Euros, and then save it to last the whole meal! It will definitely be a change going back to America and getting water served as you sit down to eat, unlimited supply. I do miss that! And meals in Italy, and in Spain too, are considered more of a social event, more so than in America. You can sit for 30 minutes before anyone walks up to you, and it’s not offensive because it’s their way of life. Every time we eat, it takes a good 30 minutes after we are completely finished to get the bill. Also, everyone gets an espresso shot after they eat, especially old men!
After our first meal in Italy, we walked through the busy streets all the way to the Coliseum. It was everything I imagined, and more. When you are up close and in person, it just makes you admire the determination. The group we were with decided to go in and tour it, but Shea and I had a tour the next day, so we waited so the surprise wasn’t ruined. :)

We walked down the main street by the Coliseum. There were stands everywhere selling fruit, shirts, souvenirs, hats, sunglasses, and whatever else you can think of. One man walked by and yelled, “Barbie!” to me and Shea. We were laughing pretty hard because these people come up with the funniest things to say to us. There were 4 guys on a bike-car and they yelled, “Cheese!” as they tried to turn around and come towards us, but they almost flipped. It was pretty funny. Ten minutes later were standing next to a family and the mother asked me to take a picture of her and her family, I thought. Turns out she wanted us in the picture. Yep, I got one too, a photo of a big Italian family, with Shea and me in the middle. They seemed pretty happy to have a picture with us. Maybe we will start charging like the gladiators do when you take a picture with them!

While we were walking around, we saw a huge building with a sign on the side that said Monet Exhibit. We looked at the dates and it was the last day! We were really hot, and tired of the sun, so we were like hey let’s go check it out! I think it’s funny how we had no idea it was there or that it was so cheap to go in, we just randomly stumbled upon it! It was incredible. My favorite part was the end, where we could walk up directly to the huge Lilly Pad painting and many more just as beautiful. I’m usually not interested in art museums, but I definitely wanted to see Monet’s! Now I’ve been to the Picasso one, and the Monet exhibit! I’m starting to like it more and more, plus it’s in a different country so it makes it a little more exciting!

After that, we went and got more gelato, of course. I can honestly say I’ve gotten gelato every day so far… and it is much better than in Spain. The place we went to was very small and colorful. The guy who gave us our gelato said, “Bye, see you tomorrow!” It was funny because we thought maybe he didn’t know what he was saying, because people don’t usually say that. Maybe he thought it just meant “see you later” or something. Coincidentally, the next day, we went back! He was right, he saw us “tomorrow”. Haha. After that, we went back to the girls’ hostel and napped, checked Internet stuff, and got ready to go to dinner. Yes, it’s one meal on to the next! We kept walking past the main street, and went off on a little side one. They are usually less expensive, and less touristy when you go off the busy streets. It was precious! I ordered a pizza called Pizza Baba (Baba was the name of the restaurant). It had fresh mozzarella, yummy tomato sauce, pear slices all over it, and roasted walnuts. Best pizza invention ever. I would never think to put that on a pizza but I decided to try it and I loved it! We had fun at dinner, just a big group of us talking and relaxing, and then they walked Shea and me to the train station because we had to get up early the next day!

At the station we asked a family where to find the train because it was overwhelming and chaotic. There were about 10 trains in a row, and no English anywhere. The family we picked to ask knew no English, but they looked totally American and were wearing clothes like us! Then we asked another man who spoke better English, which helped! Right as we started to try to find the other train, which was really far away, we saw some of our classmates! I think every time we get into a situation where we may get lost or miss something, God grants our wishes and it always works out safely! We all RAN to the train because the last one was in 20 minutes and the next one was at 5am the next morning… Rode train home and slept, got back to ship, packed for the next day’s overnight stay!!

"Pet Hates!"

2010-06-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

6/26-27
This morning there was a currency exchange on the ship for Euros, which was very convenient versus finding a bank and getting a fee! Plus, I was beginning to run out, and I still need Euros for a few more countries!
We got off the ship and just started walking. We didn’t know where we were going, what we were doing, or what we wanted to do. That is what made the day so incredible! We stayed on the mainstream streets that were full of people and shops, because we didn’t want to end up in a sketchy area and get lost. We had no map, no directions, and no suggestions! On our adventure, we saw many cafes but we like to wait it out and find the perfect one. I think some tourist’s mistakes are when they see the first café when hungry, then stop. We kept waiting and waiting to see what else there was, and then we found the perfect one. We sat outside on a patio (most restaurants and cafes have them) and watched the world walk by! In Spain, they do not rush you, and they don’t bring your check out when you are finished. Most people sit after they eat and then you have to ask for the check, it’s just another part of their life that is so different than in America. I got a bocadilla that was a fresh baguette with mozzarella, basil, y tomatoes (margarita bocadilla). The water comes in bottles and is usually more expensive than a coke!
Strange happenings- I’m thinking in Spanish sometimes! And when I talk to Semester at Sea people, I’m wanting to speak in Spanish but I have to consciously think to speak in English! That’s how immersed you get, it can happen in 3 days, but I love it.
After that, we walked some more (I’m guessing about 10 miles in one day, no joke). We ended up on Passeige de Gracia! The biggest/busiest street with shops and things everywhere! It can be compared to Rodeo Drive, but better. We stood in front of Gaudi’s buildings and took pictures, like all the tourists do. We stand out so much here... even if we wear their clothes and try to blend in, it’s impossible I’m pretty sure. Plus, even if you think you are starting to fit in, the locals will make it very obvious that they notice you… Anyways, there was a GIANT Burberry store, with a massive entrance. There was Valentino, Dolce and Gabanna, Chanel, and many more designer stores! Even though these can be found in big cities in America, what made these so amazing was the architecture; huge concrete buildings with very gothic designs and carvings. Wait until you see the pictures, it still blows my mind.
After walking from 11am-6pm, we stopped for gelato to rest our feet! It was delicious and it is every time. But…. when I finished, I noticed a “Nestle” label on the ice cream sign… I just ate gelato that I thought was so amazing and straight from locals, and it wasn’t…. It was still refreshing though! Haha.
We went to Las Ramblas when we were found our way back towards the ship. I bought a turquoise necklace charm. It was 15 Euro and I got it down to 7! Not much difference, but it was pretty cool to experience bargaining again (practice for Africa and Egypt!) Then, the best thing happened. We found a little stand by the beach that sold gofers. Gofers! You are probably wandering what a gofer is. Well, it’s close to Heaven. You watch them make a fresh waffle to perfection. Then they pull out Nutella and drizzle it all over! I’m sure it’s well over 500 calories, which makes it SO DELICIOUS! We were laughing about the name because it sounds like a gopher, the little animal. In Nova Scotia, there was something similar, but they were called beaver tails! Beaver tails and gofers are delicious. Haha that sounds funny.
After the days activities, we all went back to the ship to get ready to go out for our last night in Barcelona! First, we took a train (my first time!) and went to a huge water fountain light show. It was full of people and had a dance stage with lights everywhere! It was basically a huge night festival, just bustling with people. We asked some family (they looked American) to take a group picture of us. When I asked where they were from, they said Houston! Ends up, the daughter is best friends with Kelsey Devine, my little in high school band! I also saw Lauren Gilmore, from Highland Park. We went to camp together for about 7 years, and we saw each other on the street! You never know who you’ll see! Along with the stage with music and lights, there was a huge foam pit with hundreds of people dancing and having a good time. We were in nice clothes to go out so we didn’t hop in. If you ever go to Barcelona, you have to go to this water fountain light show. Nothing like I’ve ever seen.
We went to Chupitos again and then to a huge warehouse club called Razzmatazz at about 3am. It is so weird here, if you go to the club at 1am or 2, it will be empty! Unlike Sutton, this place played American music. I actually liked it better when they didn’t play familiar music because it made it feel more like a foreign country! It was so fun! We all met up with Sergio and friends after we got inside, we were careful about staying with a group and in a public place… but it is fun when you meet locals and become friends. I am trying to get to know their way of life, trying to expand my knowledge of the world and different cultures. You can learn so much in a few days. But, you can never be too careful. I never know what could happen next, so we all keep our group together and don’t separate or go anywhere alone. All the warnings my parents have given me become surreal when you are in the situation to decide if you should all go hang out somewhere, or if you should stay in the club with a ton of Semester at Sea students (smartest option). My parents are spot on, because you hear things that happen first-hand here, and we will do anything to prevent that! The ship announced that one person was already sent home for conduct reasons…
At about 6am, when the clubs closed, we all went back to the ship, just in time for breakfast/sunrise! We sat on the deck and watched the sunrise over Barcelona, our last day there. It was beautiful, yet again! I slept for about 3 hours, and then we all went to the beach. We decided to do the beach on the last day because we got all of our shopping done, and we only had about 6 hours. It was so crowded on the beach but that’s what made it fun! You can’t drive up to the beach, like in many places in America. It goes from the beach, to café’s on the sand, to huge sidewalks full of shops etc. The main roads are about a mile away. The water was so cold, but refreshing, and clear blue, and the sand was a little harsh on the feet! Another thing, unlike most of the beaches I’ve seen, there were little to no waves! There were Asian women walking around offering massages for 5 Euros, Africans walking around offering to braid hair, paint henna tattoos, and sold bracelets, Indian men selling sarongs, and Spanish men selling coconut pieces, beer, water, and home-made tapas. An interesting mix to watch! It was very diverse and entertaining to watch everyone sell their products. Shea and I bought a sarong. It’s blue, brown, and orange tie-dye, very pretty and authentic! Two nights ago we met a guy from New York who was quite a character, to say the least. He was a theatre major and was hilarious to talk to, and full of stories! Shea and I want to submit his name to have his own TV show, I don’t know how to describe his wit, but I took a few videos of him telling stories haha. And apparently, he is allergic to birds? Well, while we were on the beach, he was randomly next to us! Out of thousands of people! And what is even funnier is that he was getting a Tweedy Bird henna tattoo on his arm!! That’s how strange this kid is, so funny. Allergic to birds with a bird tattoo…
When people ask what we are doing here in Barcelona, it takes about 30 minutes to talk about it and answer all the questions people come up with! Every time I describe the trip to people and all the details, it sounds like a dream, and it is. I’m thinking- wow this sounds amazing and it’s happening to me right now, in this moment!! How awesome! It’s so surreal now that we have been in Spain, and we will be in Italy in the morning. Wow.
As we were heading back to the ship, for our last hour in Spain, we stopped for REAL gelato. It was very modern! It made me think of Berripop, but with gelato. I got saccriatello y dolce de leche mixed! SO DELICIOUS. I can’t wait for gelato in Italy!!
When we got on the ship, we ate another meal, because it’s free! Haha I feel like I should eat every time they provide food, because I’m hungry a lot from walking all day and being busy! In Spain, dinner starts at 10pm, and so that’s what we have been getting used to. On the ship, dinner is at 6. Sitting in my room at 10, I was wondering why I was so hungry. Then I remember that I’ve been adapting to their schedule and eating dinner at 10-1030 every night! In Italy, everything is going to change again, but I can’t wait!

"Sorry Picasso... Rest in Peace!"

2010-06-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

After about 2 hours of sleep, Shea, Trevor and I went out to Barcelona with no plans and just did whatever we felt! Trevor is our neighbor and is from University of Colorado at Boulder. He’s really cool and helped us out today when we were trying to find the Picasso Museum, some statues, and lots of other things! It was fun with just us three, and not a huge group that draws attention and is hard to keep up with! At night, you have to go with a group. It can get pretty creepy in some places.
First, we walked down Las Ramblas, and I bought a really pretty sterling sliver ring with Spanish designs. I hope to get a ring or some jewelry in every country!
Las Ramblas is a long, famous street, lined with big trees, with many vendors who sell anything you can think of, and it is notorious for pickpockets! Luckily, we haven’t experienced this yet and if we stay careful, it wont ever happen!

While we were wondering around, taking it slow and looking at everything, we walked down a small alley, out of curiosity. When we went around the corner, there were shops and restaurants everywhere! I bet it’s easy to find and everyone knows about it, but it was just really fun to know that we found it randomly! There were endless turns with a ton of shops and boutiques ranging from cheap dollar stores (euro-stores) to high fasion stores and everything in between! There were tall buildings with beautiful designs, balconies, and lots of plants hanging over the edges! We found a cute café that was empty, but had great music and a cute waiter in the front. We went in and the he made our bocadillos con pollo y queso right in front of us, was the best thing ever and no one else on SAS knows about it :) Well I’ll just pretend that no one knows about it and that it was our secret little find.

We walked around a few more streets, took pictures, shopped, and then saw a man in a park making huge bubbles about the size of a bicycle! (Weird comparison, I know, but it’s all I can think of!) Then we saw a big building that has a really cool roof, full of colored tiles and people were going in and out of it so we decided to check it out! When we walked in, it was a huge indoor market! The one everyone has been talking about and has been saying to go to! Yet again, we found another cool place, on accident. :) It was full of people, colors, spices, meats, and pastas. We walked around, took pictures,, and bought these orange smoothies that were made straight from the orange! It was basically a big glass of fresh frozen orange juice with sugar. YUM. It went well with the weather because it was 80 and sunny! Just perfect.

After that, we went to the Picasso Museum, which is full of many originals! It was only 6 Euros and there was so much to see! It was definitely cool to see. When we left, I stopped at a boutique and bought 2 pair of linen pants, hopefully to wear in Egypt and Morocco when it will be 110degrees and I have to cover my legs! Plus, they are cute to wear anyways, and this ship is so cold I’ll probably be wearing them to class daily because I only brought one pair of jeans!

P.S. There is a lot of graffiti here in Barcelona. But, the only difference from Houston is that here, it’s beautiful and creative, and in Houston, it’s trashy.

We went to dinner at a very cute café that we found just walking around Las Ramblas! You have to get off the main street to find less expensive and quieter cafes. It was called El Café de Ferran. When you walk by, it looks like a little pastry shop with a few tables. We walked in and the guy pointed to the stairs, where the dinner tables were. We went up, and it was very pretty! The ceiling was old and gothic looking, with gold plates. The tables were on a balcony that overlooked the street below. We had the seafood paella (again!) and it was even better than the first one! It was delicious and cheap.
After that we all hung out in a restaurant, full of wonderful tapas. No one really felt like going anywhere loud and crazy because we were all so tired from the day!

Nothin' like Sutton

2010-06-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Let me start off with saying that I question if last night was a dream, or if we were in a movie, because it was the best time of my life and I will never forget it. Ever.
“I look like a gnome.” -Shea. Don’t ask, I just have to put that in here to remember this great moment haha.
We started today off with a city tour with a small group. Our tour guide was an older man from England. His accent was so fun to listen to! On the tour, we went up a huge hill, Passeig Maritim, (which was very steep) and passed the Olympic Stadium. Lady GaGa will be performing there sometime this week and so will Black Eyed Peas! The view from the top of this mountain was BEAUTIFUL. You could see the Montserrat, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, and you could see for miles in every direction. As we left, we went down Passeig de Gracia, where we viewed numerous examples of Antoni Gaudi-inspired architecture. The streets were so busy and there were many shops and restaurants, it was so fun! On every street there are elaborate stone buildings and intricate iron balconies. It is endless. I can’t wait to share the beautiful pictures! We went to the Placa de Catalunya, the city’s main square, and the Columbus Monument, which is located at the sight where Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the Americas. It was HUGE and people are always around it, even at 5am. Next, we went to Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia, one of the most visited sites in Spain. It was so crowded but definitely worth it! Gaudi designed this awe-inspiring building in 1882, and should be finished by 2026!! After that, we went to Barri Gotica (the city’s old gothic quarter). It was full of courtyards, plazas and cobblestone streets! There was a winery where we tasted delicious Sangria and many types of chocolates and snacks. There was a shop where you can watch a man hand-make a guitar, and then buy it… but he was closed while we were there. Maybe I’ll go back! Then went to the Cathedral of Barcelona, a 600-year old Gothic cathedral in the middle of Barri Gotica. It was incredible inside. I can’t wait to show pictures of that too! Before we went in, I took some pictures of a street man playing the fiddle. I didn’t realize that when you take their picture, they expect a tip, and if you don’t, the get mad. I found this out AFTER I took his pick, got a mean look, and walked away. I had no idea! Next time I took pictures/videos of musicians, I tried to hide the camera, because I had no change. To get into the Cathedral, you have to wear a knee-length skirt, and cover your back and shoulders. Thankfully, I chose to wear a skirt (they didn’t tell us what not to wear) but I had on a tank top. Since the World Cup is involving Spain, and we are in Spain to watch the game, everyone bought the soccer jerseys. One of the girls let me borrow it to cover my shoulders so I could get in! It didn’t match well with my cute black and white skirt, haha. And I got some funny looks too. Once we went into the Cathedral, it was basically silent. It looked like everything was made of gold and the stained glass windows were amazing. Again, I can’t wait to share those pictures; it explains the beauty.

After the city orientation, we met up with several girls and wondered around looking for a place to eat dinner (everyone eats dinner around 10!) While walking by the harbor full of beautiful sailboats, we saw these men from Jamaica selling designer purses, like things you would find on Harwin. He would lay out a bed sheet with strings on the corners. He would set up all of their products, and when he was done, he would pick up the strings and it would make a giant backpack, and he was on to the next street! At one point, a kid lit a firecracker next to us and it popped so loudly next to us! We all jumped/screamed! I found it humorous that this little kid wanted to pick on us American girls, and I’m glad we could provide him some entertainment, and a story to tell his friends.
After walking around for an hour, we found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Restaurant Nieve. It was very small, but nice. First, we looked at a menu and we had NO idea what it said. It’s the weirdest feeling not knowing what anything is. I thought maybe we’d be able to recognize some things, or that there would be pictures. After being really confused for about 20 minutes, we realized it was a French menu! So we picked up another, and it was in Spanish, we were still confused. Then, finally, the waiter brought English ones haha, we didn’t feel very smart! We ordered the mixed paella, containing the best seafood ever, and a delicious sauce on the rice. After dinner, we started trying to figure out how to get to a club. On the way, we had gelato. I got dulce de leche in a big cone :) I easily could have gotten seconds and I KNOW that I’ll be getting it everyday! I look forward to Italy because supposedly it is even better, which is hard to imagine!

After dinner and some delicious gelato, we were going to take a train to Chupitos (bar) but then we decided a taxi would be faster and we could all split the price. I sat in the front so I could speak with the driver in bits and pieces of Spanish. He was very surprised that I new it! This was about 10:30, and when we got to Chupitos, it was about 5 girls that I was with, and several guys. It was really fun just chatting and meeting them, and trying to communicate through a language barrier! Shea and I met this one guy, Enrique, who helped us out so much! He told us phrases, good drinks to order, places/beaches to go on certain nights, and he was just a really fun guy to hang out with. He taught us how to do the 2 cheek kisses and when we go to Italy, we do 3 cheek kisses, thanks Enrique! He also said tomorrow he’d cook us the best paella we will ever try! We have his number so we will see what happens. A rush of Semester at Sea friends came in shortly after, along with many other people, and it got pretty crazy! The rumor was to go to Opium, a really cool club, so everyone started heading that way around midnight. Luckily, Enrique informed us that it wouldn’t be the best time to go there tonight and that we should go to another place that no tourists know of called Sutton. We took a taxi straight there and Enrique followed us on his Honda mo-ped! When we arrived, there were bouncers in suits at the door. It was very modern and stunning! We asked to take a picture with the bouncers because they looked nice in the outfits with earpieces and sunglasses. They said no at first because they aren’t allowed, but then when the main bouncer walked away, one jumped in a picture with us, he was funny. I’m pretty sure that this club was very expensive and nice, but I don’t know the cover price because Enrique paid for us! Let me just say, Sutton was the BEST choice I’ve made so far.
Tip if you go to Chupitos: Best drink ever = “Harry Potter”. It lit on fire, and sparkled with cinnamon, and came with a caramelized orange. My mouth is watering.

When we walked in, the music was blaring, people were everywhere, dressed very nicely, and there were dancers on a stage. All of the guys would walk up to me and Shea and try to ask us questions about where we are from and they all wanted to dance. Haha an experience I will never forget! Everyone would guess where we are from and they never guessed America! That’s how local this place was, they don’t see American girls in there. They guessed Sweeden, Norway, Finland, and a few other places, but not America. It was very entertaining.

One of the coolest things about last night (and will continue this entire summer) is communicating with people even when you do not speak the same language. It is definitely possible to understand someone when they use nonverbal communication and facial expressions. It’s hard to explain, but it is one of the best experiences ever. I LOVE not being able to speak their language very well, and I love that they do not know much English. It makes it so fun and just amazing how you can still communicate and make friends!This was by far the craziest place I have ever been. This is like nothing in America, and nothing like college. We don’t have clubs with blaring music and only for dancing. I didn’t want to leave that scene! In the restroom (there was a security guard letting people in one at a time…) Shea and I were asking every girl for gum or a brush. I guess in Lubbock everyone asks everyone, and we all speak English. After about 10 minutes of no one answering us, we started laughing at what we were doing. Here we are in Spain asking questions to girls who don’t know any English, what were we thinking! Haha we still are laughing about it, even though it might not seem that funny to anyone else!I think I’m partially deaf from last night. My ears have never hurt this bad! I’m wearing earplugs next time and I really don’t care what it looks like, it hurts.

Coincidentally, we met these really handsome guys from Istanbul, visiting here! We hung out with them for a while and got to know them a little better. They are going back to Istanbul the same time we are, and when we get there, we are all meeting up! What are the odds! We aren’t even close to Turkey and we already have plans to hang out with people we met in Spain! It just blows my mind how things work out so strangely.One guy, in particular, was an incredible dancer/very charming! I’ve never seen anyone dance as well as these boys could. Sergio was from the Canary Islands, and is visiting his cousin who just bought a really nice flat down the street. He taught me how to dance certain ways, like tango, and a few other steps I already forgot! We took plenty of pictures so you’ll be able to see them when I get Internet or find time to upload them! When we left Sutton, Sergio and Shea’s friend from Turkey (Torro?) walked us to the cab with some other SAS folks to make sure we got there safely and helped us tell the driver how to get to the ship.

On the cab ride home, we thought the streetlights were super bright, but then we noticed, it was SUNRISE. We laughed some more. When we got to the room (6am), we sat on the bed, accidentally fell asleep, and woke up at 9. Our plan was to shower, eat, drink coffee, then back to the city! Yep didn’t happen. We slept for 3 hours and missed the bus for a tour :( So today we have about 6 more hours of free time! (Which I’m totally down for). We are headed out to get some breakfast and have another great day in Barcelona!!

Bien Comida MAÑANA!

2010-06-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

We have had class for 7 days straight and today was the last day of classes for a while! In the morning we will be in Barcelona, Spain! After class, we were by the pool again, just the typical occurrence. :)

After basking in the sun for 4 hours, while eating Starbursts/drinking Mountain Dew, we went to dinner (everyday= breakfast, class, lunch, pool, dinner, hang out, sleep). Then, we had a pre-port orientation where a few people speak about when to get off, what to have with you, safety issues, health and food warnings (which get more serious towards Egypt and Morocco, not Spain) and everything you can think of in between. This will happen the night before each port.

Shea and I have a city orientation trip planned for tomorrow from 13:00-17:00. This is through Semester at Sea (you can take trips through SAS, or you can do everything on your own; we are doing a mix of both). After the tour, we will probably walk the famous Las Ramblas and just do some great shopping! On that note… Shea and I have Amy Bippus for intercultural communications… and on the first day, she announced she was gay. It was a little straight forward and awkward! She said, “If you guys would like, you can come have lunch or dinner with me and my ‘partner’, Debbie.” Yeah… it was weird. Sometimes in class, she preaches about her beliefs pretty intensely, but oh well, it’s a learning experience, right? We recently found out that of all the SAS trips planned in Barcelona (about 30) AMY will be joining us as we get a tour. Maybe we will get to meet her 'partner', Debbie. Interesting memory.

I CAN’T WAIT TO WAKE UP! Everyone is getting SO EXCITED to get there in the morning! I want to hang out with everyone tonight, but I think we are all just getting our stuff ready to go in the morning. I’m going to sleep so I can wake up in SPAIN! I can’t wait to eat tapas y paellas y mucho, mucho mas.

Mucho amore, adios!

To the right: Africa! To the left: Spain!

2010-06-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read the title of this post correctly! Once in a lifetime sight :)

6/22
Today was the best. We saw land!! On our map test, one of the things we learned was the Straight of Gibraltar (Gates of Hercules) and it is 8 miles from Spain to Africa across this body of water. After class I was laying out on the deck with everyone and we have been patiently awaiting this sight! At about 14:30 you could see Africa, and then about 30 minutes later, you could see Spain on the other side at the same time! You could see trees and buildings, with no binoculars! When do you get to hear someone say they were on a ship and to the right was AFRICA and to the left was SPAIN?! So cool, I took a video!

Then I went to the workout place and ran a few miles/ took a yoga-mat outside and worked out a little more, while looking at Spain and Africa :) It still blows my mind that it is only 8 miles apart!
**If you are bored, or just curious, go Google “straight of Gibraltar" and you’ll see where I am! (Do it...)

Movies tonight: Pan's Labyrinth, Blood Diamond, Black Hawk Down, Nanny McPhee! If you were wondering :) I usually fall asleep to the TV or music because the ship can make some strange noises at night! Also, Shea and I think that there is a storage closet or something above us because every night at about the same time, we hear rambling and metal rolling around or something. We can't figure it out but it gets a little annoying!

Shea and I are in the room right now watching a presentation on the tv that is going on in the Union right now. It's so cold in the Union, so we do homework (and blog…) while we watch it! Pretty neat. They guy doing the presentation is our age and is from Spain. He works for a program where he helps travelers when they come to the port in Barcelona. We are just lucky to have him with us to share valuable information! We personally met him the other night and he’s fun to talk to. His name is Francesco and is super nice and helpful! He is telling us where to go, what to eat, how to get around, where not to go, and right now he’s telling us about the beach! I CAN’T WAIT! Wow he just said don’t go out until 1 because that’s when everything starts up (closes at 8am). People don’t get out of dinner until 12! I can’t begin to tell you how exited I am to start this traveling.
I have a group presentation tomorrow over a really long article I read with my group. It was about Moroccans immigrating to Italy and conforming to the new culture through language socialization. We made a PowerPoint and we have to lead the class into a discussion. It should be pretty simple! (I don’t know if I already wrote about this because I can’t see my blog!)

It’s about 1am I just got back from the party deck outside. It’s so much warmer than usual! Maybe because we aren’t in the middle of nowhere anymore and we are next to Spain and Africa! It was really fun and different, and I met about 10 new people, who I’ll definitely be chatting with by the pool with tomorrow! I have yet to meet a rude or mean person, and I truly don’t think I will! Everyone on this ship is so nice and welcoming to meeting new people and I’ve had great conversations/acquaintances. It’s just awesome. I can’t explain it better than that! I think tonight everyone was so excited and energetic because we finally saw land. We were all talking about Spain and who’s going where, and making plans to all hang out. YAY!

(Hi family!)
Oh, surprise- we are losing another hour tonight…
Goodnight!

"Sauna Sunday"

2010-06-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, I was wrong, we didn’t lose an hour last night, BUT we are again tonight!....

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DAD! Thank you for the wonderful opportunity for letting me do this amazing trip!

Today is the prettiest day outside that we have had so far! Lots of dolphins too. This guy Eric called today "sauna Sunday", because it was the warmest day so far and everyone was out there, haha.
I’ll give you one fact I learned in Global Studies today. When statues were beginning, the Romans made statues of horses on 3 legs, with one raised in the air, with a rider on the back. Other countries tried to repeat this challenging task by balancing all of the statue’s weight on 3 skinny horse legs. No other country to do this! One picture we were shown was a statue of a horse with a leg in the air, but it was resting on a ball underneath. They couldn’t be like the Romans!

After breakfast, class, lunch, snacks, and more eating, a few girls and I went to the 7th deck to lay out. EVERYONE was out there and it was so crowded, but so fun! Everyone had their laptops and homework etc. The weather is PERFECT!

Ok, this may be long... but it gives you a little idea of what we do when we are in the middle of (nowhere) the Atlantic:

Today Sunday June 20:
B Step Aerobics
Time: 1700
Location: 7th Deck Outside

Career Interest Groups
Time: 1730
Location: Union
If you're engineering, pre-business, international studies, or fine arts student, come check it out!

Insanity Work Out Class
Time: 1900
Location: Classroom 3

Global Studies Map Quiz!!
Time: 2000

Foreign Language Groups/Tables
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 9

Interport Liaisons
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 4

Bible Study
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 9

Interfaith Discussion Group Organizational Meeting
Time: 2100
Location: Classroom 8

Student Activities Planning Meeting
Time: 2130-2230
Location: Classroom 2

Tomorrow Monday June 21:
Field Office Alternate Day!

Zumba
Time: 0700
Location: Union

International Students Meeting
Time: 1800
Location: Classroom 5

Insanity Work Out Class
Time: 1900
Location: Classroom 3

Hip Hop Dance Class
Time: 1900

Adjusting to Life on the Ship
Time: 1900
Location: Classroom 1 (in the Garden Lounge)

Explorer Seminar: Barcelona: A Planning and Architectural Appreciation with Dr. Warren Boeschenstein
Time: 1900
Location: Union

Explorer Seminar: Modern Spain a Clash of Titans with Dr. David Geis
Time: 2000
Location: Union

Explorer Seminar: Travel Sketching
Time: 2000
Location: Classroom 1

Travel on a Budget
Time: 2100
Location: Union
Come learn about making your dollar go farther during your time in port!

Academic Workshop Committee & Faculty/Student Social Committee Meeting
Time: 2100-2200
Location: Classroom #4
-------
So I just got back from taking the Map test, it was pretty simple and I was the first to finish in my room. That usually happens a lot and makes me nervous because no one else is done before me!

Before Shea and I went wandering around and hanging out with people, we talked about boys and relationships. She gives great advice and support! We are definitely are becoming closer, and I can’t wait for it to continue to grow!

Tonight we had ‘movie night’ with our amazing CARIBBEAN SEA yaa mon. It’s a great group and I love hanging with them! The ship has really, really good popcorn, and tonight for our movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), we had FREE unlimited popcorn :) This makes up for the fact that I brought popcorn but there are no microwaves. Great success. And I even took some back to the room for a snack tomorrow. Tonight’s movie choices on our microscopic-TV: Ulysses, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Moulin Rouge!

I’m definitely starting to miss certain foods, restaurants, my pillow, my guitar, my family and pets, friends, and Jared! It still hasn’t clicked to me that this is going to be one longgg trip. We aren’t even to our first destination yet and I’m already feeling like I’ve been here forever, and the days are all mixing together! Spread the words to everyone about Semester at Sea and tell everyone to do it if they can. There is such great chemistry with everyone, on this ship. You just know it, and I don’t know how else to explain it! Before, I read people’s stories and blogs about their trips with Semester at Sea and I wondered what they were saying or meaning; now I totally understand! And to think it’s only going to get better. :)

20:20:20

2010-06-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

6/19
Tonight we are losing ANOTHER HOUR. This is the fourth time in a row that this has happened, and we still have 2 more to loose! :( The good news is that when we sail back, we will gain an hour every night for 6 nights, which will be much needed after traveling the Mediterranean :)

In my intercultural communications class this morning, we were assigned in to small groups of 4 people and got to choose a topic from a list. The topics are things we will individually discuss with at least 4 natives in each port we go to. The topic my group got was “games people play”. This is the one I put down for my top choice! Some of the other choices were house designs, holiday, heroes, nonverbal communication, and some other categories I don’t remember. I’m excited for this topic! We came up with basic questions on what to ask and how to compare answers from across the Mediterranean. At the end of all the ports, we do a 30-minute presentation showing the similarities and differences within each country. We were recommended to take pictures of the games if possible and get a picture with the people we talk to! This is going to be fun and I think it’s so cool how we get to actually apply ourselves in the real world, and get out there talking to real locals! What an amazing assignment for this amazing opportunity :) Another group assignment is to read an assigned article (about 30 pages) and lead a 15-minute class discussion, which we are graded on how well every one participates. I started the article this afternoon and it’s about a study done in 1990 about Moroccan adolescents moving to Italy with their family and how they socially integrate and adapt. In the 1980’s a few Moroccan men moved to a small town in Italy to look for a stable job and cheap homes. They found it and in the 1990’s, the rest of their families joined them! I still have about 15 more pages to read, then I have to write discussion questions for the class.
In global studies, we focused on Alexander the Great and conquerors of Egypt; pretty fascinating stuff! I don’t have a hard time paying attention to any of the classes because I’ll be seeing it all! I still can’t get over how cool this program is, learning about where you are going, which is fun, and getting graded for it, which should be easy because it’s very enjoyable!

In global music, we went to a storage room and were each handed a strange musical instrument from around the world. Not to my surprise, I recognized all of them and knew most of the names. There is one or two other musical people in there so we were naming them all and describing them to everyone, pretty cool! We passed them all around, determined what materials they were made from, then determined what country they originated in. About 30 minutes into class, the ship took a turn! Since this class is in the very back of the ship, the room was shaking so loudly that Dr. K. stopped talking because he was yelling. This loud rumbling and shaking went on for about 10 minutes then we got back to playing around with cool instruments. Tonight we have to read an article about a term that has no real definition, “duente”. I don’t know what it means yet but our assignment is to describe it to him tomorrow!
After music I made a PB&J and hid it in a napkin, and snuck it to my room. You aren’t supposed to take unpackaged items out, but I wanted to eat it while I studied my map for the quiz tomorrow!

At dinner, everyone ran to one side of the boat, and someone shouted “whale!”, but it wasn’t. It was a pod of about 50 dolphins! They weren’t very far away and a few were right next to the ship. Finallllly we saw some after all this dolphin talk!

I just looked at my watch and it said 20:20:20! Weird.

I’m sitting in the piano lounge in the middle of the ship with Shea. We are doing some reading and studying our map some more. I bought some gummy bears :) My favorite!
Time to go to the 7th deck!

Ok, back, We just had another party on the 7th floor deck, which has happened every single night and will continue! It’s like bar night at college, everyone stands around and talks! I’m still meeting new people each night with random connections! So fun.

Caribbean Sea- YA MON!

2010-06-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

Blogging is how I entertain myself when it's late and I can't sleep or a strange/boring movie is on. I just had class then a burger and fruit smoothie while a few of us sat outside on a deck. The weather is so perfect! For the past 2 nights we have lost an hour each night and we're losing another one tonight... It's catching up and making me a little off on meals! I packed popcorn (those little yummy kettle corn mini-bags) but there are no microwaves :( I left some shirts on my bed this morning and our steward, Dante, a little Polynesian guy, folded them perfectly and color stacked them- how precious. He comes in and makes our bed every day, which is so cool! During the afternoons they don't play movies, I guess to get people not to sit in their rooms, which I'm doing right now! I'm listening to Thinking of You, while watching the TV map showing where we are in the ocean; I'll fill you in on what it says:
Latitude: 38 degrees 17.2N
Longitute 042 degrees 52.1W
Course: 82 degrees
Speed 21.3 knots
Time: 13:44:40
Date: Fri 18 Jun

Rumor has it that there are awesome stories on the backs of pictures in rooms. Shea and I just took a big, decorative picture on our wall off to look at the back. Everyone has been sharing stories of what is written on the back of their pictures in their rooms. Ours had a lot of tips and advice for ports and stuff, as well as hilarious stories/situations, we may add to it after the trip when we have something to write about!
I think I'll go to the lounge area now to hang and study my map for the quiz!

Today, while sitting outside, I saw a guy wearing a Cottages of Norman shirt. It looks the exact same as the Cottages of Lubbock one so he stood out! We started talking and he said that he goes to OU and works at the Cottages. I thought that was a funny connection, and his name was Marcus! Then Shea and I sat on a deck for a few hours reading and stuff right before dinner (which was delicious tonight except for the bread pudding dessert)

Each hallway is divided in half and everyone is in different seas. My hallway’s half is the Caribbean Sea and it is THE BEST! We are the most spirited and loud! Tonight, during our mixer, we walked around the entire ship with a stereo, dancing and clapping/being obnoxious, it was funny to see people’s reactions; they all want to be in the Caribbean Sea! Tomorrow we are doing a surprise stomp routine before the Global Studies class (which EVERYONE will attend and see us…) We went out on a front deck to practice so no one would see, it was hilarious trying to organize it (in the powerful, crazy wind) and make it serious and funny at the same time! Tomorrow, right before class, we are going to walk down to the front stage and surprise everyone with our awesome stomp routine. We also have chants/songs we sing randomly at dinner. For one, our leader Chela, shouts in a Jamaican accent "WE BE JAMMIN" and we all respond, "YA MON", it's great. Should be pretty interesting tomorrow!
After those few hours of fun, we went to another optional information seminar, for about 45 minutes. It was about the food in Spain; what to expect, when to eat, where to go, what words mean, etc. It was really helpful and there are seminars each night about the country we are headed to! Such a cool concept! After that we went to the room and got all cute and clean. We headed up to the top deck where everyone hangs out. Tonight I met a girl from UT that knows a ton of my friends at Tech and knows girls from my high school, cool connections! Then, for the most of the night, we hung out with 2 guys from Whitehouse, 2 of the nicest guys on this ship! We started planning out what we were going to do as a group in Spain and talked about making trips in other countries.
Tomorrow night is a “dance” party, nautical themed! Should be fun because now everyone pretty much knows everyone!
PS there are so many engineering guys on this ship! and so many people from Cali and Pitt! and lots of sorority/fraternity folks.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is on, so I’m going to watch it while I study my intricate map again!
Days are SO LONG but when I go to sleep at night, the day seemed so short! The days all mush together and it’s the best feeling because there’s no need to worry what day it is, the “voice” informs us at noon :)

Here is Semester at Sea’s blog, which has more detail about what goes on overall!
http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyage-blog/summer-2010/the-past-isn-t-dead.-it-isn-t-even-past.php

Rockin' and Readin'

2010-06-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

This morning (June 17) we woke up at about 7:00am to the ship rocking. It has been the most extreme rocking that we have experienced so far! All of my stuff on the night table flew onto the floor, the room was creaking, and the drawers were opening and slamming shut every few seconds! It was crazy, and not the best wake up call. We lost an hour of sleep last night so my alarm didn’t wake me up, the rocking did.
Today was the first day of classes. After waking up late, I ate a cliff bar and Shea and I headed to out Intercultural Communications class. It is a pretty small class, about 50 of us, and it doesn’t seem like it will be rough, thankfully. Since we were close to being late to class, the only seats empty were in the very front row, where we had to look up at the teacher. Hopefully that won’t happen tomorrow ☺ Next, we went to Global Studies, the class everyone is in together. Our teacher is so funny and has a dry sense of humor and great stories. He sings in random languages and it’s just hilarious. To start off, we have a quiz over the Mediterranean map (which is a great idea because that’s where we will be going!) and he lectured a little bit. We learned about the Greeks and gods. A lot of stuff that was mentioned today I learned in my Intro to Poetry class last semester, so I felt pretty comfortable. We learned about “The Mediterranean Memory” and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. He told us the story about Minotaur and how and why he was trapped in the labyrinth. We talked about certain battles and events that occurred in the places we are going. I think that it ‘s way more interesting learning about something that you are going to get to see. In regular college and high school, you learn about history from other countries that you may never go to, so it can be a bit boring. But since we are going to the place of birth of many things we learned about today, it keeps me interested and excited. For example, in Istanbul, there is a metal column called The Serpent Column. It was made by victorious Greeks who took it and placed it in their city for decoration and dedications to the gods at Delphi. It is metal and looks like two roped twisted together, standing up tall. . Lastly, I went to Global Music. It is about 30 students and I’m most excited about this class. Our teacher majored in ethnomusicology (Dr. Kaloyandies) and specializes in Greek music. Ethnomusicology is defined as the study of music in a culture. World music is defined as musical fusion from many cultures. He said that the objective of this class is to become open-minded about musical types and to overcome the judgments of certain music. In each port, we have to take notes on how we saw music and even how we engaged ourselves into musical performances. During class (which is going to be really fun and entertaining) he played a type of Greek music called “Rebetika”. It is said to be the music of the criminals and is referred to as “blues from Greece”. We will get to see people performing everywhere! As he played this really odd sounding, but pretty, music, he danced a certain dance and it was fun to watch. He seems very into this class and he seems like a great teacher. I’m most excited for this class!
Now that my classes are over (8-12pm), I just had lunch with a girl from TCU and one from Carnegie Melon. They live in my hall! I’m about to start studying my little map for the quiz and then read an article for Global Music. The article is about the first musical instrument ever found, a flute, 35,000 years ago!! After that, Shea and I will probably wonder around and just hang out with everyone. It is so fun here, like a vacation with 700 new friends. Maybe I’ll go get some chocolate ice cream or a fruit smoothie, YUM!

Bon Voyage!

2010-06-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

This morning (June 15) I woke up around 6:00 and said bye to the cute cottage I’ve been staying in with my family in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia. We packed up and drove about an hour (got lost, we missed Exit 0… go figure) to Halifax, to board my new home!
My time to board the ship (not “boat”, they stress this in humorous ways) was 9 but I didn’t get in line until around 930. The line was all the way down a street, in the cold, strong wind. It was funny because we all said they should move the line to the other side, where it was sunny. My parents and brother waited in line with me for about 30 minutes then they had to take my dad to the airport to fly back home. In line, I met a girl, whose name I forgot but I’m sure I’ll see her again, who is a Pi Phi at the University of Colorado. Interesting fact: 39 students are from U of Colorado on this thing! We waited in line together for about 2 hours. We joked that when we got to the front to go through customs, the workers would take a break. And then, as we were next to go through, a lady put a sign in front and said the workers were going on a “union break” for an hour! We sat and chatted, then got on finally! I got so lost on this huge ship, but there were helpers on every corner directing you to where you needed to go. Then, Shea and I sat in the room trying to figure out where to put everything. This room is so small but I have a feeling we won’t be in it much! It’s half the size that my dorm room was! Next, we had the emergency evacuation drill, where we stood in the dining room in bright orange bulky life jackets while the captain walked around and checked it all out. Once Shea and I settled in and unpacked, we wandered around, met some students, and ate dinner. While eating a fresh salad, chicken soup, and delicious mahi-mahi, we sat at the table rocking back and forth. It is a very weird feeling that may take a while to get used to! It’s easy to sleep through because it’s relaxing when you close your eyes. But, when you are walking down the hall and trying to drink hot coffee, you have to focus on what you’re doing; it’s a challenging task! After dinner, we met in groups and the Dean and some other teachers and staff talked about what to expect etc.
75% of the students on board are female, and the most populous state on here are students from California. It is a very interesting mix of people (708 students)! The faculty seems so great here. They all connect and seem very reliable and easy to talk to. I know that this is going to be an amazing, unforgettable experience, and this is just the first day!
There is a really funny guy who does all the announcements. He sounds like a robot then he will make a joke and it catches you off guard, making it pretty entertaining. “Hey. (long pause) Are you hungry? (long pause) Dinner is….” and he just says funny things in monotone. Earlier he said a meeting was cancelled and we thought he was done talking, and then we heard, “You’re welcome.”
So now it’s 22:39 (yes, we are learning military time) and I’m probably going to bed soon. It’s been such a long and exciting day!! Tomorrow breakfast is from 7-830, hopefully I’ll have an appetite that early, then we begin lots of fun stuff that I’ll write about later!
Ciao

June 16

I've finally got my e-mail set up and so I write an e-mail to this blog account and it posts it for me so I don't use internet minutes! This morning it was very strange waking up in a dark room, expecting the sun to wake you up. We went to breakfast around 8:00 and then meetings started around 9 and I'm just now getting back to my cabin at 5! The meetings were teachers and staff talking about codes of conduct, safety, and they provided us with some funny entertainment. The teachers and staff are all really good people and you can tell that they are full of humor. I'm starting to get my "sea legs" and I'm beginning to feel better when I'm sitting in a chair, rocking side to side, feeling a little off. Lunch was fun, Shea and I met a teacher and his family from Irving and we also met her art history teacher. We ate with a few guys and I think we've met them all (because they only take up 25%...) and next is dinner! The food is alright, but I'm still hungry after each meal (yes, after 2 servings of lunch and dessert). Luckily I have cliff bars and snacks in my cabin. Ok dinner soon, time to wander around the ship and watch the beautiful blue waves with a sunset and a sparkly reflection on the Atlantic water!

Halifax tonight, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow!

2010-06-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

I HAVE INTERNET! I'm in Halifax in Shea's hotel room using her internet/laptop.
Nova Scotia has been so beautiful and I've had a great time traveling with my family! I've taken way too many picture already (wait.. too many? no way!) The first day, we got a rental car (bright blue ghetto dodge charger..) and drove about an hour to our beautiful rental home outside of Halifax. It is surrounded by a bay on both sides with a great view of sailboats and other boats docked in the bay. There are ducks and seagulls everywhere! The neighborhood looks like a postcard and is very quaint! We've eaten great crab, lobster, and seafood chowder every single day :) Yesterday we went to ride the tidal bore (one of the 7 places in the world to do it) it's basically river rafting, but wayyyy different. It is very hard to explain it, but it was a once in a lifetime experience! Then, we went to a place called Peggy's Cove (We never found out who Peggy was...) and it is a breath taking lighthouse on the edge of Nova Scotia where all of the artists and photographers go. I wish I could upload photos but.. can't. There is so much more I could go on about but I think this is all the time I have! Tomorrow morning I get on the M.V. Explorer (which I saw a few hours ago, my stomached dropped, exciting!) and then sail away! In a week I'll be in Spain, crazy! I look forward to meeting so many people and just havin a good time with my cousin! And it allll begins in the morning :)
I miss everyone! Hopefully I'll write again soon!

2010-06-06T16:46:00.001-07:00

On June 10th, I will begin my adventure by going to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, with the family for a few days. On June 15, I'll be getting on a cruise ship, the MV Explorer, with about 600 other students, including my cousin Shea! We will depart in Halifax to begin an amazing voyage of discovery.

We will be traveling to Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, then we arrive in Virginia!

More posts once the enrichment voyage begins!