prague

so prague is amazing. last night, after i got to my hostel and settled in a bit, i went to the old town to check it out and take some pictures. i stumbled upon a food stand that was selling hot dogs and sausages. i got a hot dog. then i stumbled upon another food stand that had a big grill with slabs of ham spinning over a fire. i got a slab of ham.

today i went back to the old town for a bit. then i went to the jewish quater. there are about 6 places that are part of the jewish museum. one was the jewish cemetary which was huge. and burials there stopped in the 1700s, so i cant imagine what would have happened had they continued burying people there.

after that i climbed one of the towers on the charles bridge. i got a really good view of the city and of the bridge. i spotted a big important looking building across the way and so i decided to try to find it. i walked and walked and walked. found a little sqaure with a statue and a big church that people seemed to be gravitating towards. for whatever reason, i moved on without looking in the church. i kept walking a ways up a big hill. i finally got to the top for another good view of the city. then i found that big important looking building. its the castle of prague. i had planned to do that tomorrow. so i checked prices and then walked back down the hill. i was too tired to do the castle today.

on my way back i decided to stop by the church. i am very happy i made that decision. i have no idea what the church is called, but the interior was ridiculous. you will have to wait for pictures to see what i mean. its like a mini version of the vatican or something.

after the church, i hopped on the tram and came back to the hostel. europe is exhausting.

no worries. its safe here.

im in prague

i made it to prague safely. went to the old town tonight just to catch a glimpse. its pretty amazing. i will probably be meeting up with my friend tomorrow night after some sight seeing.

in other news. i didnt get the critical language scholarship so i will be home for the summer. ill be home june 17th.

if you need to reach me this weekend, my turkish phone is still working. the number is +905543902904.

here are a few pictures from istanbul and olympos:

I have now been in the Hagia Sofya three times.

Its still pretty cool.

This is Chris posing next to a group of Asians at Topkapı Palace. Notice the two ladies on the right who know what hes up to.

This is the beach at Olympos. You can barely see the castle in the trees on the mountain.

This is the view of the beach from that castle.

hi

im back from a few trips. istanbul with chris was awesome. we had many opportunities to pose with the mechanicsville local, but unfortunately chris left his in austria. we represented mechanicsville well anyways. kapadokya was the same. program sucked, but i got to do some biking and exploring. olympos was awesome. i swam in the mediterranean a few times, slept a lot, ate a lot, and explored an ancient city. now i am trying to catch up on work and planning my prague trip. ill post pictures later. görüşürüz

plans for the weekend and beyond

tomorrow: I have class in the morning but I am leaving halfway through to head to Eskişehir for the night.

saturday: I will leave from Eskişehir to go to Istanbul. Chris gets in at 1030pm that night, but I should be getting there around 4 or 5pm. I may be having dinner with some fellow NSEP'ers before picking him up at the airport.

Chris and I will return to Ankara either Monday or Tuesday, then he will go back to Austria on Thursday.

My group is going to Kapadokya next Friday (March 14th?). I have been there before, but like Istanbul, its free. And there are plenty of places down there I didnt see last time.

Then, on Sunday (16th), when the rest of the group heads back to Ankara, a few of us are heading to Olimpos. My host sister and her boyfriend (from America) will be there until Weds. but I am planning on staying around that area for the rest of the week. I need a vacation.

Then I will be back in Ankara for a few days. Theeeeeeeeeen, I will be heading to Prague (March 27-30!)

So, I dont know how often I will be posting on here over the next couple of weeks, but I will try to at least let you know when I come and go. Görüşürüz!

a story from turkey

so i had an interesting (to say the least) experience today. i live in an apartment building that is surrounded by other apartment buildings. right down the street, however, there is still a plot of land that has not been developed yet. its about the size of 2 football fields and there are maybe 5 houses left. there is also a huge amount of trash there. the land is in somewhat of a valley, and a major street is above it. theres a flight of stairs leading up to that street. anyways. i went running today and decided to run to the stairs. i turned onto the dirt road that goes through the middle of that area. halfway to the stairs, ten wild dogs coming running towards me, barking and showing their teeth. i stopped running because i had no desire for them to start a game of chase and attack (at least no more than they already had). so i walked the rest of the way to the stairs while the dogs continually ran after me, all the time barking. as this was happening, a big crowd gathered on the street above to watch the spectacle. it was like i was in the ancient roman coloseum fighting the wild animals to my death and they were the toga clad citizens waiting for the kill. i got halfway up the stairs and one of the spectators shouted down "yeh natasha!" as some of you may already know, natasha is not the most lovely of terms here in turkey. it is used as a reference to russian prostitutes. and who is associated most with russian prostitutes? pretty blonde foreign women. i finally got to the top of the stairs and another passerby said something to me, but i did not catch it. i turned down a street and passed another group of people. one said "ooo yabanci!" yabanci means foreigner. more was said but i didnt listen. i just went straight home after that. the worst part of it all is that the majority of the people watching me get chased by dogs were middle and highschool aged kids. school had just finished for the day. sometimes it really sucks to be a blonde girl here. i am pretty used to it nowadays. i can usually ignore it, but not when also being chased by wild dogs... i dont know if i will ever understand the turkish fascination with foreigners. i mean we have all looked in wonder at something that is new, different, foreign, etc... but i have seriously almost been the reason for car accidents. girls and guys stare at me. i have come to realize that it is generally just out of wonder, and there is no malicious intent behind it, but there are also times when the stare obviously is not purely out of wonder. i dont mean to tell you all this story to make you worry about me. i have learned my lesson about running through the old neighborhood. and the other stuff, well like i said, i am used to it. its a daily occurance and i cannot change it. just think, in three months ill be home again.

So you can see where I went...

The first day we went to the village of Gümüşlük (on the left side in the middle). The second day we went to a place called Yahşi Beach, which is down the road from Bitez, directly below Ortakent (move right from Gümüşlük).

Bodrum

So after a 12 hour bus ride, my friend and I arrived in Bodrum around 830am. We walked down to the marina and ambled around for a bit.

Then, we found the castle which houses an underwater archeology museum. The actual museum was kind of puny, but the views from the top of the castle were great.

And of course, there was a mosque within the castle walls.

And the Aegean was as blue and clear as I remembered.

This is the other bay. The castle kind of splits the bay into two halves.

There were also many peacocks in the castle.

And the classic Turkish museum reenactment, complete with what seemed to be cardboard figures.

After the museum we found a place to stay, got some fruit and snacks, and headed to a village which apparently had a swimable beach. Lonely Planet is not always right....But, I can say that I climbed to the top of Tanvaş Island where the last remains of Mindos...remain.

I was planning on swimming to this spot until I found out how hard it was to get into the water (too many rocks and sea urchins).

We did find this terrific pup though who was fishing for like ten minutes.

Next to this guy cutting up some bait.

The next day we decided to go to a different village (one not listed in Lonely Planet), and it was much better, aside from the rain...

So we went back into town for lunch, and waited for the clouds to disappear, then went back. It was much better and warm enough for a cold dip in the sea.

Later we walked around the marina for a bit, found some dinner, then headed to the bus station for another 12 hour long bus ride.

Even though the journey was long and not the most fun, the destination was worth the trip. Especially since its off season and there were no tourists in sight.

This saturday I am heading back to Istanbul because my friend Chris is coming to visit me. He is studying in Austria this semester and has a two week break. So I will be in Istanbul for a few days, then back to Ankara for a few, then we have another group trip to Kapadokya. From there, I am going to Olimpos with my host sister and some friends. Then maybe a day or two in Antalya at my friends place... Turkey is quite a big country...