WANDERINGS

Guatemala, Again!

2011-02-08T22:34:00.003+02:00

I am heading back to Guatemala next month to complete another stove building trip. Highland Support Project is a non-profit here in Richmond which promotes transformational development through various programs with villagers in the highlands of Guatemala. They base their projects on the idea that poverty is a process, not a condition; therefore, they developed “transformational” programs that will break the cycle of dependency that the villagers have relied on for decades. They support market-oriented solutions while focusing efforts on assisting communities in such a way that they maintain their independence and confidence.

What will I do? I get to help build wood burning stoves. Mayan women traditionally do all of the cooking inside over open flame. The smoke from these fires is harmful to their health as well as dangerous. The stoves help funnel the smoke out of the building while also providing a level cooking surface. To help offset the loss of trees, HSP plants ten trees per every stove built. The communities are taught how to care for and nourish these trees so they continue growing.

Wish you could help? You can :) Use the widget below to make a donation to the Highland Support Project. If you would like to help me fund my trip specifically, just write in the memo "For Carolyn Morris's VCU Spring Break Trip." Thanks!

Address

2009-09-06T19:07:00.001+03:00

Here is my address at the Embassy. You can only send envelopes to this address.

Carolyn Morris

American Embassy

Nicosia

PSC 815

DPOAE 09836-9998

Volleyball with the Marines....

2009-08-20T21:11:00.003+03:00

This picture looks a little better than the real life version..

So last night was the volleyball and swimming party. I played volleyball all night because i joined a team of marines that refused to lose. We lost one game, and then, because of the loss, we had to win at least two more games in order to regain our glory.... By the end of the night, there was a knot growing on my palm and I could not move my thumb. I iced it a bit, which helped a lot, and now its just some nasty looking bruising. It was fun though. I got to sweat a little bit, which is something I cant seem to stop doing here...

Work is going well. We are usually busy in the morning, taking people's visa applications and such. The afternoons are more relaxed, sometimes with nothing to do.

Tomorrow I get to attend a press briefing. Pretty excited to see some action in the other sections. Consular is fun, but not exactly thought provoking. The people I work with are being really nice though and trying to let me see all of the Embassy operations.

Today I found out what would happen if there is ever a dangerous situation at the Embassy. One of the guards accidentally hit the button that sounds the 'Duck and Cover' alarm. It was lunch time and I was in the cafeteria when all of the sudden I hear 'Duck and cover. Get away from the windows' along with a siren. I assumed it was a drill, but apparently you get an email warning about those. The other people that moved to the hallway with me were all saying things like 'interesting, did I not get an email or something?' or 'must be something really happening..' For me, hearing this kind of thing is not exactly reassuring, but they did not seem to be too worried. And, in the end, it was nothing. Just a little extra entertainment for the day.

Tomorrow is Friday and I could not be happier. I am greatly looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning. Sunday, the marines are going to a local go-kart raceway and having some sort of race there. That should be interesting. Apparently the place is called 'Daytona Raceway' or something like that. Its amazing how much American stuff is here.

And one last picture for you guys. This is the view from the back of my hostel. You can see the Turkish side of the island. That block of lights is actually the Turkish flag on a mountain side. You can find that kind of thing all over Turkey, but I think this one was strategically placed so as to be a flashing reminder to the Greek Cypriots..

First Day

2009-08-17T20:16:00.003+03:00

Today was my orientation day at the Embassy. The coordinator came and picked me up, which was awesome because otherwise I would have had to walk. I only had two hours of sleep thanks to heat and pesky little flying bugs that kept biting me (my windows are now closed, so should be better tonight).

When we got to the Embassy, the coordinator took me on a tour and introduced me to everyone. She introduced me as Caroline...so I guess that is how I will be known. Whatevs..

After the tour, I headed over to my department: consular. We get to deal with all the people applying for visas to enter the United States. You know when you get a visa in your passport? Yeh well someone like me stuck it on there for you, perhaps for no pay...So appreciate it!

The consular section also deals with issues American citizens may have while overseas. Such as...ending up in jail for an extended period of time..

So my duties will consist of reviewing visa applications, printing and sticking visas, passing out passports, answering the phone during call hours, and helping out during the morning open hours. Otherwise, I get to just hang out and talk with the people in my department. Thus far, they seem pretty cool. Today they 'initiated' me by making me drink Cypriot coffee (ie Turkish coffee, but 'better'). That coffee today will mark my SECOND ever. The first? Turkish coffee in Turkey.. That whole 'don't want to offend when offered' etiquette rule sometimes bites in the you know where.. The second part of the initiation is having your picture taken after your first taste. For most interns, it is apparently their first time drinking it because there are indeed some pretty funny pictures of people pulling back in horror. My picture, however, will not look so horrifying. I knew the disgusting liquid concoction that I was about to ingest. It will be emailed to me soon, so I will load it here.

The rest of the day was spent in various briefings. I got told what not to do while on the internet, and met the woman who coordinates various Embassy events. The next one coming up is on Wednesday: volleyball and swimming with the marines at the Embassy. The pool happens to be the Ambassador's. He is away on vacation ;)

Anyways, the results of the first day are promising. I could totally live this life. Granted, Cyprus is not exactly a hardship post, but still...

Here are a few pictures from my apartment/room thing:

The coordinator is really nice and keeps giving me menus from places that deliver and such. My little fridge is quickly filling up. Off to sleep now. 7am bike ride to the Embassy tomorrow...

Back in Europe

2009-08-16T14:34:00.002+03:00

So I am finally in Cyprus and mostly settled. No pictures as of yet, but here are a few things that I have learned about Cyprus thus far:

1. They drive on the other side of the road, thanks to huge British influence
2. I have been told by everyone I have met so far that the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots have no issue with each other and are quite amicable
3. It is HOT. Temperatures in the 90's with humidity (though not as much as Richmond), but the nights usually bring cool breezes
4. You can't really see the island without a car
5. Cyprus has one of if not the highest car crash rates in Europe - due to EU entrance a few years ago, everybody got lots of money and bought real fancy cars that they love to drive and race

Thus far, I have spent my time in my room, trying not to move, but still somehow sweating entirely too much, and catching up on tv that I haven't watched since I left Italy. Work starts tomorrow.

New Travels...

2009-08-03T18:31:00.002+03:00

So I am leaving America once again. Getting ready to head to Cyprus for a ten week internship with the US Department of State. I will be working at the Embassy in Nicosia. Hopefully I will have some time to check out the rest of the island while I am there. Look for an update in about a week or so.

Venice

2009-06-07T01:40:00.003+03:00

Went to Venice today. It was awesome. I splurged and bought a really beautiful mask. I also bought a bunch of souvenirs for people, something which I have yet to be able to do. Anyways, here are pictures:

PICTURES

Kristin and I stayed up all night in order to try and knock our terrible sleeping habit of going to sleep at 6am. We had very little sleep on the 2.5 hour train ride to Venice, then walked around for 7 hours or so until we were exhausted.

If you ever go to Venice, and want to see everything, give yourself more than one day.

Rich Life in Milan

2009-06-05T23:38:00.005+03:00

So here in Milano, there are a few canals. The neighborhoods on the canals are considered fairly rich and well off areas. They are also well known areas for going out; lots of good restaurants and bars. One of my friends lives in an apartment building on one of the canals and yesterday she threw a birthday party for her and her sister. Here are a few pictures from the night.

What happens when you have nothing to do?

2009-06-05T23:20:00.002+03:00

You entertain yourself in any way imaginable... Including playing with mattresses.. Pictures can be found here:

PICTURES

There are also a few videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOPsEJ4yv6c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0r7CD32n-Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4zilk6HL_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e1O4fb95lg

Yes, that really did happen...

Pictures from Geneva

2009-06-04T20:35:00.001+03:00

Can be found here:

PICTURES

Awkwardness of last post...

2009-05-21T03:37:00.001+03:00

Sorry to all. Apparently this website does not like it when you copy and paste from Word. So in reference to the post below, the items in parenthesis are supposed to be under the pictures. The text should not look so retarded... I do not feel like fixing it, so you just have to live with it.

Richmond in Geneva

2009-05-21T03:05:00.003+03:00

So I have just returned from a visit to nearby Geneva, Switzerland. It was a bit of a reunion as I met up with 4 friends who know Richmond, VA very well. One friend, Catherine, who’s blog is linked on the right side of this blog, actually lives in Geneva. She graciously allowed me to sleep on her couch (THANKS YO!). We met a few years ago at VCU before Catherine graduated. Cat, who’s blog is also linked here, rode the train up from Chambery, France (there’s no accent, deal with it). She is currently studying abroad there, but attends VCU with me (If you do not

remember, Cat is the one who came to Turkey

(Tammy and Tiffany) with me). Lastly, my friend Tammy, whom I worked with at Red Robin, flew in from Virginia, along with her sister, Tiffany. Their mom surprised them for a graduation present with a trip to Geneva, so I could not pass up the chance to see everybody while they were so close.

I boarded the train in Milano early Monday morning, and proceeded to sleep the entire four and a half hours. I did wake up at one point, however, and looked out the window to see giant mountains and quaint houses, and thus realized I was no longer in Italy. Passport check? Customs? No sir. Switzerland is one of them Schengen countries, ie borders do not really count. So even when I arrived in Geneva, there was no sort of passport control or customs.

(THE jet plus boat)

Catherine found me and we headed down to the lake and walked around for a while. We passed lots of important buildings which house various international organizations such as WTO, UNICEF, etc... We also walked by part of her school, which happens to be situated right on the lake. Yeh, on breaks from class, they go swimming... Jealous.

After wandering for a while, Tammy called me and we met up with her and her sister. We walked a little more, and then got dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I was quite excited for my burrito and the guacamole. Four months sans Mexican food is harsh, so paying the expensive price was totally worth it. Geneva is not exactly the cheapest city to live in, but the people who live there, are paid quite well to make up for the high cost of living.

After dinner, we headed to a local Pub where you can get a ‘column’ of beer. Debauchery ensued. Catherine and I headed back to her house (Me, Cat, and Catherine) and crashed for six hours, maybe less? Then, we had to go pick up Cat from the train station.

After finding Cat, we headed to Starbux for caffine fix. We proceeded to talk about VCU and various members of the VCU community for about three and a half hours. No seriously, we sat and talked in a Starbux in Geneva for three and a half hours. Months away from home does silly things to you sometimes.

We finally motivated ourselves enough to walk a little, and headed to the ‘old town.’ We ran into a small protest, but were able to walk around it. Our goal was lunch, involving chicken and potatos for cheap, so I was not about to let anything get in my way. And the chicken and potatos were like fireworks in my variety deprived mouth. Mexican food? Chicken and potatos? Things I have not had for months. Pasta gets old after a few months guys, just trust me on this one. No matter what you put on it, pasta just loses its appeal eventually. Unfortunately, we are students, studying abroad, in expensive countries. So we had pasta for dinner. And breakfast/lunch the next day...

After a delicious lunch, we headed over to Calvin’s church. It was closed :/ At least I can say I have seen it, sat on it’s steps, walked around it, etc.. We then proceeded to walk around various streets. We saw Catherine’s old living quarters: a

(Green prettiness of Geneva) Catholic boarding house. Saw a few beautiful parks as well. Everything in Geneva is green. And clean, or sterile as Frommer’s likes to say. We eventually met up with Tammy and Tiffany again, but at that point, Catherine, Cat and I were too tired to move. We decided to head back to Catherine’s house and just made some dinner and watched hours of CSI Miami (in English!). Horrible show, but like I said, being away from home for months does silly things to you. We also decided to Skype Jeff Wing, the scholarship advisor at the Honors College. He knows all three of us fairly well, so it is okay that we pretended to need some money to pay off the local police.

Sleep came rather quickly, and heavily. We got out of ‘bed’ around 12:30 the next day, ate some, or rather all of the left over pasta and then headed back down to the lake. We made a stop at an American store and oogled at all the American products. I bought a box of pop-tarts, reses pieces, a mini reses peanut butter cup, and a cherry 7-up. Again, fireworks in my mouth. It took a lot of self control not to buy various other items such as corn bread mix, betty crocker cake mix and frosting, peanut butter, chex mix, mac n cheese, blow pops, etc.. We ran into a guy from Louisiana there. Perhaps foreign service?

Tammy and Tiffany arrived shortly after, and we walked around the lake to the massive jet of water (supposedly the biggest in the world). Funny waste of power in the town that houses the UN and such.

Afterwards, I had to head back to the train station to catch my train. Said good-bye to Tammy and Tiffany (they were heading to the chicken and potato place) and went to grab some food in preparation for my four and a half hour train ride back to Milan. Got back half an hour late, and finally got home in time to say goodbye to another roommate. Tomorrow, after the roommate leaves around 6am, I will have the house to myself, at least until midnight or so when the other roommate returns from Paris. This last roommate, however, is leaving sometime this weekend. The house will be all mine after that! Kristin arrives the 25th, so I will not be alone long, but I can live with her.

(THE jet)

Travel Time

2009-05-18T02:25:00.000+03:00

So my friend, Tammy, is coming to Europe. I worked with her at Red Robin. Her mom surprised her and her sister with a graduation present: trip to Geneva, Switzerland. It is only a 4 hour train ride from Milan, so I am going up there tomorrow. I have another friend who actually lives in Geneva, so I will be staying at her house. Another friend, Cat (the one I took to Turkey) will be arriving on Tuesday. Then, Wednesday, I will be following Cat back to her house in Chambery, France. Then, either Thursday or Friday, I will head back to Milan. Its really nice to have friends all over the world. Makes for cheap traveling. Anyways, expect pictures sometime this weekend.

Big Adventure - Pictures

2009-05-13T04:39:00.002+03:00

You can find the rest of the pictures from today here:

PICTURES

Big Adventure

2009-05-13T04:04:00.008+03:00

So today, I went on a mission with two of my roommates. The mission: find bagels and cheesecake.

I saw an ad for a place called California Bakery. It was promoting a new addition to the menu: Philadelphia cream cheese. Needless to say...I was in the mood for a little taste of America. So, we set off.

We took the bus from our house to the metro (a normal, daily activity). Then, we got off the at the metro stop that happens to be where the US Consulate is, so I know it quite well... We had to find another bus, so I asked the Consulate police. I am pretty sure they remembered me. We finally found the bus stop, and waited (and took some pictures).

We got to the Bakery and literally "oooh"-ed and "ahh"-ed. Among various other items, we saw pancakes, chocolate pie, double chocolate cake, banana chocolate cake, chocolate pear pie, cheery pie, etc... There were also quiches, sandwiches and hamburgers. Even though the goal of this trip was bagels, none of us got bagels... There was a delicious looking sandwich which we all got a piece of, along with some sort of chocolate dessert.

The sandwich had fresh mozzarella, tomatos, eggplant, lettuce, and pesto. It was very, very tastey. I think I ate it too quickly, but it was just so delicious. I also had a piece of chocolate pie, which I must say pailed in comparison to Ukrops chocolate fudge pie. I was a bit disappointed, I have to admit.

So after we had lunch, we decided to try and do a little suovenir shopping. For those of you who do not know, Milano is not a very touristy city. The stereotypical Italian tourist stuff just can not be found here. Makes life a little hard for those of us who cannot afford to travel all over Italy.

Anyways, we headed to the most touristy spot available, the Duomo. There are usually little kiosks selling fake jerseys and Venetian masks and such. I was going to buy some key chains, but...they were 3 Euro a piece (about 5 dollars). I am hoping I can find cheaper else where.

Needless to say, souvenir shopping failed, so we resorted to the next best thing. Shopping for ourselves... I finally splurged and bought a pair of shoes. They happen to be bright yellow and I attract a lot of attention, or I attract more attention than I normally do, but they are totally worth it. I decided that since I missed out on the ticket to America, I could stand to spend a few dollars on a new pair of shoes.

We also decided to play in the sculpture near the Duomo. There are lots of mirrors in there. Makes for great photo opportunities.

In other news, I have one more exam and then I am done for the semester. I have not heard anything new about the internship. Hopefully I will know something in another week or so.

Sunny Days in the Countryside

2009-05-03T17:50:00.003+03:00

So yesterday I spent the day in the countryside, about 100 km outside of Milano. I went to my friend's house, the same friend who took us to Sardinia. So I woke up really early, met my friends, and rode through the country. We finally arrived and needless to say, I was once again shocked by the beauty of the house and the landscape. We pulled into a dirt/gravel driveway, came to an iron gate that opened for us, and parked the car in front of a water tower... Yes, they have their own water tower.

The house looked like a mini castle thanks to the castle tower in the front. Part of the house actaully was designed to look like a castle tower. You can climb up to the top and everything. So after the initial shock of the front of the house, we walked to the back. Bigger shock. The house is on top of a hill, and below is farmland. Theres a pool over looking the farm... Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. You can see all the pictures here:

PICTURES

There are also a few videos.

So we sat around waiting for lunch to be prepared, ate, and then Arseniy and I decided to go for a drive.. We took our friend's keys and took one Italian with us, then just drove through the Italian countryside. Yeh. It was awesome. Totally renting a car soon.

Then, after returning, we all put on bathing suits and sat around the pool. The girls got in, but I only made it up to the arms. The water was a bit cold..

So the afternoon was spent laying in the sun, reading, sleeping, etc. Then, dinner. Grilled peppers, steaks, and roasted potatoes followed by homemade almond gelato. Yeh...delicious.

This is us waiting for dinner:

After dinner, we filled the car and headed back to Milano. I finally got back home around 12:40. I was really tired, but it was a great day.

I got to watch the sun set over Italian countryside. Mhmm. My life is grand.

My friend invited us back so I am sure this is not my last trip to the countryside. :D

Sunny Days

2009-05-03T17:04:00.003+03:00

So we finally got some sunshine here in Milano. On Friday a few friends and I went to the park and lay in the sun for hours. It was a nice relaxing day.

My friend decided to take some pictures:

See the bug on the blade of grass? Its really out of focus...

You can kind of see the red on my face...

I have a feeling that visits to the park will be a staple event in the next few weeks. Classes are over on Thursday, with my first exam that night. The other two exams are the following week, then I am done.

Interview tomorrow...Will update as soon as I know anything.........

Finally have my wallet back, sort of...

2009-04-30T20:25:00.003+03:00

Today, I received my new bank and credit cards. As most of you know already, upon my return from spring break travels, my wallet was stolen. Today, I also went to get a new public transportation card, so its like I have my wallet back, although senza the wallet.

The public transportation system in Milano is extensive and quite efficient, at least most of the time, but sometimes seems a bit faulty. For example, I have a card which I can recharge each month. It costs me 17 Euro for one month, but then I have unlimited rides on all buses, metros and trains within the Milano system. The strange part, however, is that I must carry my receipt as proof that I paid the 17 Euro. My first month here, before I was informed of this information, I threw out my receipt. The next time I rode a train, the transportation police came around to check tickets. I showed my card and he said something in Italian which I did not understand at first. Eventually, I gathered that he was asking to see my receipt. I managed to lie and say it was at home, and the guy was nice enough to let me go without a ticket, but I was lucky. For people who do not have one of these electronic cards, they must buy paper tickets for each time they ride any form of transportation. So for me to go to and come back from school, it technically takes 4 tickets, or 4 Euro. The metro, however, is the only transportation where you have to use a ticket in order to get on (unless you jump over the turn style, which I have seen people do). The trains and buses are basically on an honor system. There is a machine on the bus and at the train station, but a lot of people take the risk and do not use their tickets. Thus, why they have transportation police. I have been taking the risk since I lost my wallet because it was actually cheaper then recharging my card for April again. The monthly recharge on the transportation card goes by the literal month, versus 30 days, so if I had immediately asked for a new card, I would have had to pay 17 Euro for only 2 weeks. Long story short, it was cheaper for me to buy the regular tickets when I needed them instead of recharging a new card. But, now that the first of the month has come, I got my new card (replacement fee of 15 Euro) and charged it (17 Euro) for the month of May. I feel a lot more secure now that I have this card back. Dodging the transportation police is doable, but not exactly easy. These police, however, are what I find faulty about the whole system. It takes a lot of money to pay these guys and it takes very little money to install the ticket machines at the front of the bus and make people get on only in the front.... This is how it works in Turkey. You must get on the bus at the front door and swipe your ticket or pay the fee (some buses have a guy sitting behind a change counter selling the tickets). Why on earth would you pay 1000s of people to patrol the transportation system when you could get rid of them so easily?? I would not have to carry my receipt around either....that would be nice.

Anyways, thats my rant of the day...

One more week of classes here, then 3 exams and my semester is over. Shortest semester EVER.

My interview got rescheduled for Monday due to the fact that tomorrow is Labor Day in Europe, so the Consulate is closed.

No real other news currently. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and post those. Apparently I am going to have lunch with my friend in the 'country' on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. Ciao

Sardegna Pictures

2009-04-22T11:04:00.001+03:00

Finally posted the rest of the pictures from Sardegna:

PICTURES

I just added them to the Sardegna album, so you will have to scroll down to find the new ones. Also, don't miss the video of Sam jumping into the ocean. It is the last photo.

Turkey Pictures

2009-04-20T21:56:00.001+03:00

PICTURES

There are a lot...Perhaps too many...And you have seen most of the places before.

Finally back in Milan

2009-04-20T16:18:00.004+03:00

So after a crazy two weeks full of travel on all kinds of transportation, I am finally back in Milan. It will take ages to describe the past two weeks, so expect a few posts.

So the first trip was to my friend's house in Sardegna. I left Milan on Tuesday, April 7, around 8am. The airport, however, is about an hour bus ride away from Milan. And since transportation here in Milan does not open back up until 6am, it was a bit of a challenge to get there. I went to Sam and Arseniy's house Monday night. We left there around 3am. Walked to a bus stop and waited about half an hour for the bus that runs all night, around the city. It should have taken us directly to Central Station, where the bus to the airport leaves from, but unfortunately...It stopped.. So we get off, having no idea where we are or how to get to Central Station... Fortunately, there was a car riding behind the bus, trying to follow it to Central. The two guys in the car got out and went to ask the bus driver how to get there, and when they came back, we asked for a ride. They graciously agreed to take us and we finally got to Central around 430am. Got on the next bus to the airport, checked in, and waited. Sam and Arseniy's flight left an hour before mine because they went to a different airport on Sardegna. Finally arrived in Sardegna and called my friend to find out how to get to her house. She told me to take a bus, which didnt leave for 45 minutes. Took the bus, got off, waited an hour for the next bus. Got off, waited another hour for the next bus, and finally arrived in Palau, Sardegna. From there, I had to take a ferry to La Maddalena, the island where my friend's house is. So after 14 hours or so of travel, I finally arrived. Arseniy and sam arrived a few hours after me. They flew into the airport at Cagliari, while I flew into the airport at Alghero. If you look at the map, you can find Cagliari in the south, and Alghero is in the north east (look for the airport symbol). Unfortunately, my Italian friend failed to tell us that there is an airport directly south of her house, which would have made our lives so much easier. Anyways, so looking at the map again, I had to go from Alghero to Sassari, to Tempio (in the middle of the northern half) to Palau (not listed but on the north western coast. La Maddalena is one of the islands off that coast.

After finally arriving and having a good nights sleep, we did a little exploring. The weather was not so nice, really cold and only one day of sunshine, but the beaches were really pretty. You can see most of the pictures here:

PICTURES

Then, on the way back to Milan, another fun filled travel adventure. Our flights were for Sunday, April 12.. ie Easter. Silly us planning to travel on Easter Sunday in Cattholic Italy. My flight was at 6am, so I had to go to the airport Saturday night, without a doubt. There was no way I could travel back across Sardegna in time. Arseniy and Sam were also flying out of Alghero this time, but their flight was not until 5pm. So technically they would have been fine, but it being Easter Sunday, the bus schedule was not normal. So instead of risking it, they came with me Saturday night. We got to the last bus stop 45 minutes too late and had to take a taxi to the airport (40 Euro). We got to the airport around 930 or 10... and 4 other travelers joined us for the long night. The benches at the airport were impossible to lie on, thanks to seat dividers. The floor was too cold to lay on.. Needless to say, it was another sleepless night. I finally got back to my house in Milan around 10am, so an even longer travel time if you include the time at the airport.

So in the end, it was really great to see Sardegna, but the trip could have been better. I have more pictures, but they are on my other camera which I let Arseniy borrow. I will post those as soon as possible.

After spending a night in Milan (not even 24 hours actually), a very nice friend took me to the airport at 5am the next morning. My flight to Turkey left around 7am. I arrived in Turkey around noon or 1pm, and waited for my friend, who arrived around 530pm. We spent one night in Istanbul, one night on a bus, two nights in Olympos, one night in Ankara, and then another night on a bus and in the airport. It was a very rushed trip, but I wanted to show my friend more than just Ankara. I think she had a good time, but she may have been a little bored for some of it. I generally speak Turkish with my friends there, so she was left out sometimes. Overall though she enjoyed herself and I got to see most of my friends, though for a very short time.

Pictures from Turkey will be up soon.

Spring Break Plans..

2009-04-06T21:37:00.002+03:00

Tomorrow I am heading to Sardinia. I will return to Milan on Sunday. My phone should still work there, but I am not sure yet. Then, next Monday, I am heading to Turkey. I will be back in Milan on the 19th. When I get to Turkey, I will be using my Turkish sim card again. So if you want to call, use that number. It is listed on the right side of this page. I promise many pictures upon my return. Ciao

Turkey

2009-03-25T02:52:00.002+02:00

I bought tickets to Turkey for one of my Spring Break weeks :) April 13-19th. I am going with a friend from VCU, too. Half of my spring break is officially planned. I still have to buy tickets for the other half. ..

In other news...

2009-03-22T20:00:00.002+02:00

I do nothing here.... Absolutely nothing..

Quite bored.. Waiting patiently for my birthday and spring break..

Gelato Discovery

2009-03-22T19:50:00.002+02:00

I was looking on the internet for places to see in Milan and stumbled across a list of the "best" gelato places here in town. I took one of my roommates to one of these places and we were quite impressed.

I had two scoops, one of Cassata, which is kind of like fruit cake, and one of a vanilla-ish ice cream with caramelized almonds, maybe?

But, as you can probably see, it was not a very easy choice..

They also have cakes and gelato balls?

It was definitely worth the 30 minute public transport ride ...

First Cooking Class

2009-03-22T19:29:00.002+02:00

So I am in a class taught in Italian, about Italian cooking. We finally had our first session in the kitchen. We have to go to a cooking school which happens to be down the street from my house (like the only thing that is near my house). This woman in this picture is my regular teacher, and the blurry man is the chef we work with. Hes cooking meatballs for us.

The chef was actually born in England, but moved to Italy when he was ten or so. He seemed like a pretty cool guy. He is teaching one of my classmates how to make risotto here:

The finished product, with some extra sausage on top:

I helped make these roasted potatoes. They were very delicious. Roasted in peanut oil with garlic and salt.

And the evidence that I helped make the potatoes:

Snowboarding Pics

2009-03-22T19:05:00.003+02:00

So the snowboarding trip was fun, but a bit disappointing because I could not do very much. My leg started hurting again, so I decided not to push it too hard. I did manage to get out on the slopes each day, though not for very long. Weather was great, almost hot.

I stayed in an apartment style hotel with these two Russians and a French girl. It was definitely an interesting weekend. The French girl, who is actually one of the trip organizers, spoke little English but she was very nice.

This is another one of the trip organizers. He is a very interesting character, and always very well dressed.:

One of the slopes:

This is the French girl and the other guy. We had a pizza night our first night of the trip. We got there at 9pm and finally got our pizza at 11pm. Apparently it takes a while to make 50 pizzas..

So all in all, it was a good trip, but I think I will have to give up on snowboarding. At least until my leg is completely healed, if it ever gets to that point..

Around Town

2009-03-12T01:51:00.004+02:00

So I decided to bring my camera along tonight on my way into town. I was heading to a pub to watch the Manchester United v. Inter Milan soccer match. (For those who care, Inter Milan lost, 2-0, but they also played really poorly). So here is the entrance hallway to my apartment building:

And this is where I catch the bus. I lovingly refer to my neighborhood as Turkey/Morocco/Egypt, take your pick, because there are literally like five Italians. And you can always spot them because they look really scared. My neighborhood is very ethnic...

And this is the front of the bus...:

So if I ever want to go into town after about 6pm, I have to ride the metro. To get to the nearest metro stop, I ride a bus for 5 or 6 stops. Then I walk down to the metro:

And wait for the yellow metro to come. Later at night, the metros come about every ten minutes, but during the day, they are pretty regular. After the yellow metro, depending on where I am trying to go, I have to transfer to the green metro..

And finally I get to where I am going. This is my friend Costanza:

And another friend, Elizabetta:

Tomorrow I am heading to Bardonecchia for some snowboarding. I will be back on Sunday. Ciao

My Apartment

2009-03-12T01:40:00.002+02:00

Finally got around to taking some pictures of my apartment. This is the basement:

The pullout sofa is a lot more comfortable than my bed...and also not surrounded by lots of girls waking up early, so I sometimes sleep there...

This is my "room." As you can see, the walls do not actually reach the ceiling...:

This is the kitchen/dining room/living room (along with two of my roommates):

And this is my messy bed:

Address Correction

2009-03-09T03:21:00.002+02:00

So I was walking down my street the other day and saw a building with the number 64 on it...soo... the address I posted last time is not correct... Here is the CORRECT address:

Carolyn Morris
c/o MIL Service
Via Brusuglio 67
Milan, Italy 20161

Once again, if you send anything, use Fedex or UPS, etc, otherwise I will likely never see whatever you send me.

I have missed calls from lots of people this weekend and I apologize for that. Hopefully we can connect some point this week.

Heading for a snowboarding trip on Thursday. Will try to have some more pictures up before I leave. Sleep now.

Address

2009-03-01T19:52:00.003+02:00

I have a post box at my apartment, but no key to it... Apparently the door man is supposed to give us our mail, but here is my address if you need to send anything. Italian post service is terrible, so if you send anything, you have to use Fedex or DHL, etc..

Carolyn Morris
Via Brusuglio 64
Milan, Italy 20161

OK - I do not know which address is right, because the apartment website lists 14, but I have always known it as 64... So... send it to 64 because I think it is correct..

Carnevale

2009-03-01T19:37:00.003+02:00

So this weekend was Carnevale here in Milan. It is apparently mostly for kids, but some adults also participate. It is kind of like Halloween, because kids dress up in costumes, but they also throw confetti and silly string EVERYWHERE. There were shows and parades as well. Most of the celebrations were in front of the Duomo, a big church here. Here is a picture of the facade:

And part of the Duomo square:

Another part (if you go through the archway, you can find big, expensive brand name stores):

And here are some of the costumes:

I don't know if you can see, but the ground is covered with confetti:

A friend of mine from VCU came to visit this weekend for he birthday. She is studying in France, about 3 or 4 hours away from here. It was nice to talk about home with someone who knows what I am talking about. We are both waiting to hear about the Critical Language Scholarship for this summer..

Nothing much going on here really. I signed up for a ski trip in a couple weeks. Hopefully I wont injure myself again.. Otherwise, just kind of hanging out and trying to get into the Italian society. It is a bit harder when you live with 7 other American girls, but I have managed to find a couple of nice Italians. Hopefully I will find more...

I hear snow is coming towards Richmond...Watch out for the flurries

Orange Fight

2009-02-22T23:12:00.004+02:00

So today I went to a little town called Ivrea. It is West of Milan, close to Turin. Every year, they have a giant festival which involves a LOT of oranges being thrown at people.. Heres a video:

It was truly an amazing experience... A giant waste of oranges, but I am very glad I got to see it. And I may have thrown an orange or two.. Also had lots of juice everywhere and got hit with an orange in my back. And had to block one from hitting my face. :)

I was supposed to go to Venice yesterday for Carnevale, but unfortunately I was really sick with a sinus infection I guess. But my friends were nice enough to buy me a mask.

I will post more pictures once I have uploaded them.

Ciao!

2009-02-14T02:52:00.002+02:00

So the first week of classes is done. Not really interesting, just learning some Italian.

I finally took a walk around for picture taking. You can see all the pics here

They are mostly around my university, but I was just wondering around with a couple friends, so there are some random pictures as well.

Gonna try to go to Venice tomorrow. We'll see what happens..

Forgot Pictures...

2009-02-07T14:09:00.003+02:00

It rains a lot here... This is the train stop.

More pictures to come..

Milano

2009-02-07T14:02:00.003+02:00

So I have been in Milan for about 6 days now. I am in a new apartment with 7 other girls, and one boy for the time being. Yes there are nine people living in my apartment right now. We have one shower, and two toilets. Its fun.

Went to orientation and such on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I had nothing to do while most other people started the beginners intensive class. So I slept, worked on my paper, and yeh...just did nothing basically. Its good.

I have an aggravating cough right now, but hopefully it will clear up soon. Today and tomorrow I am going to try to finish my paper. It is due really soon and I am still only on the 12th page. Its not hard, I just have no motivation. I am in Italy... Writing a paper is not exactly the number one thing on my to-do list..

Turkey Pictures

2009-02-02T23:25:00.002+02:00

heres the link to the rest of the pictures:

pictures

Italians do not understand Turkish...

2009-02-02T21:22:00.003+02:00

So I made it to Italy. I am in my apartment, which is really messy :( Apparently there are two boys already living here, and two more are supposed to come... There is one other girl, and she already wants to go home. She is going to ask if she can move. Tomorrow is orientation, but I am not really sure how to get there.. Anyways, first I need to upload the pictures from Turkey.

So I went to Ankara and my friend, Ahmet, helped me find a place to stay and helped me out a lot. His family is originally from Adana, a city in the southeast. They have wanted to take me there for a long time, so last week I went with my friend's littlest sister, Nalan. We saw all the family and did a lot of traveling. This is Ahmet:

This is Nalan:

This is Ahmet's aunt, his dad's sister:

And his cousins:

And his dad's parents:

I also met his mom's parents, his dad's brother, and a couple other people, but not sure of their relations.

So we traveled 7 hours on a bus on Monday to get to Adana. That night, we went to the aunt's hours for dinner. The next day, we returned for breakfast, then spent the day traveling around Adana. I saw a huge mosque, a rock bridge from ancient Roman times, and the family.

The next day, we traveled to Mersin, Tarsus, and Kızkalesi. Mersin is a harbor town, Tarsus is where Paul is from, and Kızkalesi has a castle in the ocean and the caves of heaven and hell. There is also Asthma cave there. So we spent 11 hours driving around and exploring. Then we went to the uncle's house for dinner.

The next day, we rode the bus back to Ankara (another 7 hours). I spent a night there, then the next night I went to Eskişehir to pick up some papers. Then waited until 2am at the bus station to catch the bus to Istanbul.

Saturday, Ahmet picked me up from the bus station at 8am. We met his friend, then went to find breakfast. We ate at this really neat building on the shore of the Bosphorus. It had an old elevator and a little roof top tower. We went to the top and it was a really goood view.

After breakfast, we picked up Ahmet's cousin who flew in from Adana. Then we drove around all of Istanbul, then up to the black sea coast. We returned to Ahmet's friend's house, ordered pizza and waited. Then Ahmet's other cousin came and then another of his friends came. We ate pizza, hung out for a little while, then drove to Taksim square. Its a really busy place. Something like 3 million people walk around there every night. We hung out there for a little while, then drove to a cafe and hung out til the wee hours of the night.

Finally, we went to Ahmet's cousins house. I met yet another aunt and uncle, then slept for 3 hours. Then, it was time to head to the airport. My bag was 35 kilos and the lady said anything over 32 was not accepted. So I took out a few things and got it down to 31.8. I got out of the charge, but not really sure how.

The plane to London was 4 hours, then an hour or so wait, then 1.5 hour flight to Milan. Finally got to my hotel around 7pm and met a guy from my program. We tried to find dinner, but almost every place was closed. Its a bit odd going from a Muslim country to a Catholic country. You have to change your scheduling a little bit. i.e. do everything before Sunday when in the Catholic country.

There are a lot more pictures to load, but I will put them online and post the link later.

Internet Problems

2009-01-20T15:33:00.003+02:00

Internet has been shaky here. I think its ok now, but I dont want to get my hopes up.

I have not been doing too much the last couple of days. Just trying to get my independent study done. I am now on page 9, so I have at least 16 more to write. And those next 16 will be the tough ones, less about introductions and more about analysis. Hopefully I can get this done before I leave for Italy on Feb. 1st.

My friend Kristin came to visit this past weekend. She was here last year on the same program with me. It was nice to have an American to talk to again, especially one who knows Turkey. She flew back to England today. She is on a bit of a multi-country winter break trip.

So I found out today that my summer internship will be in Cyprus. I am a little disappointed because I thought I would be in Turkey, but I am also excited to see Cyprus. Unfortunately, it is an unpaid internship, but it will do wonders for my resume.

I am about to head out and get some food and hopefully get some work done. I will try to post more now that it seems internet is back.

Brillant News!

2009-01-12T00:31:00.002+02:00

I got a summer internship! I am not sure where I will be working yet, but most likely I will be in Turkey. Once I know for sure, I will let you know.

It snowed today, but all of it melted before the afternoon. I woke up around 9am and everything was covered in snow. I went back to sleep until noon, and then all the snow was gone so I could not take any pictures. It will likely happen again, though, so next time there will be pictures.

I have not done much on my project, but tomorrow I will be scheduling some interviews. Hopefully after that, I can get some more writing done. It took me like 2 hours to finish a page, and I am still not sure if its how I would like it to be.. Coming out of a semester where I was writing 5 page papers in like an hour, this paper is very slow going for me... This topic is probably too complex, but hopefully it will turn out okay.

Two Weeks??

2009-01-09T13:22:00.002+02:00

So I have been in Ankara since Sunday night. I have a great place to stay and I am working on my independent study. I met with four big time gurus on terrorism and they all said they would give me an interview. One also gave me some articles he had written, only one of which was in English...

I have been here for about two weeks already and I had no idea. I still have three more though, which should be plenty of time to finish my paper.

I met with an American girl who was in the same program as me last year. She is leaving on Saturday to go back to America. Another friend of mine, however, is probably coming sometime next week. She was also here last year.

Not much interesting stuff happening really. Just trying to get this project out of the way.

Lots of Snow

2009-01-03T17:23:00.002+02:00

I am currently in Eskişehir watching lots of Law and Order. Snow has been falling all day, and a few hours last night. According to weather.com, it will snow here until next Saturday. One of my friends invited me to go skiing in a week or so, so hopefully the snow will keep up.

Not really doing much but watching movies and sleeping. I am blaming jet lag.

I hope everyone had a good new years!

Happy New Year

2008-12-30T23:47:00.002+02:00

So I made it to Istanbul relatively unscathed, but with only one hour of sleep. I had some sort of bug Saturday night with a bit of a fever, but slept all day Sunday which seemed to help.

I am now in Eskişehir, a city about 3 hours away from Ankara. There is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and it keeps snowing. I think its like 15 degrees outside.

Tomorrow I am heading to Ankara for New Years Eve. I will get to see a lot of my friends and see my favorite band play. Probably will be back in Eskişehir on Thursday, but not entirely sure yet.

Otherwise not much going on here. Hope you guys enjoy your holiday.

Landed

2008-12-27T19:24:00.001+02:00

Im safe in istanbul. will write more later

Magic Jack

2008-12-24T18:51:00.004+02:00

I just extended my magic jack number for another year and changed the number to a Richmond area code. The new number is 8047238168. You can call that number at any time and if I am not online at the time, you can just leave me a voicemail.

New Travels

2008-12-16T09:35:00.001+02:00

Getting ready for more traveling here. Decided to update the blog. Look for more posts in a few weeks.

vacation time

2008-05-30T12:22:00.002+03:00

i am off for a week long vacation with no internet. when i get back i will have less than two weeks left in turkey. look for me stateside june 17th :)

sorry...

2008-05-27T20:20:00.002+03:00

first off, sorry for lack of postings lately. a lot has happened in recent weeks.

main event: i moved. i am now living in a dormitory in the middle of the city. long story short, my host mom got angry with me because i "refused" to speak english with her and she repeatedly "directly" asked me to help her speak english. she ignored me for about two weeks. my theory that she was angry at me was confirmed when i told her i got followed home by two men and she said nothing. (no worries, nothing happened) anyways, that is when i got my director involved. my host mom claimed to have not understood me when i told her about being followed, yet she didnt see the connection between that misunderstanding and my misunderstanding her. she claimed that if i had really wanted to help her, then i would have understood her "clues." and her ignoring me was a) her revenge on me and b) her way of showing me that i am like a daughter to her because that is how she treats her own daughter... so i moved.

other events:

classes are finished. i finished my university class last week. i dropped my last turkish class today because i cannot concentrate anymore.

i went to istanbul one last time this past week to shop for souvenirs. my friend and i bought 25 scarves between the two of us. we walked around the grand bazaar for about two hours trying to bargain for a good price. we finally found a guy that agreed to 7 ytl a piece. thats about 5.50 or 6 dollars. so we picked the ones we wanted, then he gave us a price of 185ytl. for those math wizards, you know those two numbers do not match. "you said 175 ytl..." "no i said 7.5 ytl a piece and you said 'ok'" ........... jerk. that was still the best price we had gotten the whole day. i also saw the new indiana jones movie while in istanbul. wasnt too impressed though.

my favorite band here is called Soul Project. they play at local clubs four times a week. my friend is the saxophone player. they play a mix of american classics such as "mustang sally" and james brown and even some justin timberlake and santana. i went to see them last sunday and they played "geek in the pink" which is a song by Jason Mraz, who graduated from lee-davis. pretty crazy coincidence. shows how small the world is getting when someone from mechanicsville, va can make a pretty big impact in turkey.

what else...

i am going on vacation on saturday. there is a beach that i keep seeing on tourism posters here. it looks like it could be in the bahamas, but i havent figured out its name yet. if i can find it, ill go there. otherwise, i will just have to settle for one of the many other beaches on the Mediterranean or Aegean seas.. yeh, pretty hard decisions to make :)

i may or may not post here again over the next couple of weeks. the internet connection in this dorm is not very good. so my magicjack is unusable here. ill try to go to a cafe with wireless or something so i can make some calls, but if i dont call, dont worry too much. ill be home in less than three weeks.

ps. the day i get back is free chicken sandwich at chick-fil-a day :)

lots to say...

2008-04-14T19:53:00.007+03:00

I have been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks. Also a little lazy. Sorry for the lack of posts.

While I was in Prague, my Achilles tendon started to swell again (I have had tendonitis for over a year now). When I got back to Ankara, I tried to do the stretches and exercises that my physical therapist gave me, but afterwards it just hurt a lot more. So, the next day, I went to the medical center on campus. I arrived around 9am and left around 12pm. I saw the doctor for maybe 10 minutes. She said "well its a chronic injury." Yes, thank you. Then, she prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine and put me on the list for physical therapy. Today, I got an email saying I could come in for physical therapy. I went in and had ultrasound and electro therapy done (which feel amazing for tendonitis) and then ice. I have another appointment on Wednesday. I am not sure if the therapist I saw spoke english or not, if she did, it was minimal. So we spoke Turkish instead. I am pretty proud. All of this is free for me, too, which is really awesome.

This weekend my group took a trip to the north. We did a lot of bus riding, but also got to see some really amazing places. Our first stop was a town called Kastamonu. This town is where Atatürk banned the fez. We stopped there for a few hours in which time I got some lunch, found an old Selcuk hamam, got a nice lady to yell at a pack of school boys following my group, and ran up to the clock tower. The hamam was probably the coolest part of the town, mostly because it was not a real tourist spot. There was only a window to climb through because all other entrances were barred.

(The hamam. Through that door on the left there were 4 more rooms)

After lunch, we headed to the castle above Kastamonu. It was a pretty simple castle, Byzantine I believe, but still a neat site.

After the castle, we headed to a small village about 20 kilometers away. We got to see what is apparently the oldest wooden mosque in Turkey. It was built in the 1360's. The outside has been renovated and looks brand new, but the inside is still original. I saw my second turkey in Turkey in this village.

(the original doors)

We then went to our hotel for the night, which was outside of a town called Pınarbaşa. The hotel is in an area considered a "hot spot" by the world wildlife foundation. Its very mountainous and green and amazing (I get really excited when I see grass these days due to the serious lack of it in Ankara). Our hotel was basically like a log cabin in the woods. We had trout for dinner. I went into town with two other girls that night to get some water and snacks. It was a classic Turkish town. The cafes filled with men drinking tea and talking; no women in sight, except for us of course.

The next morning we headed to another little village. We took a short hike down a very muddy pathway to a little waterfall. The water was too cold for swimming, but a few people decided to get wet anyways (ie. they fell in). After washing our shoes and changing clothes, etc..., we headed to back towards Kastamonu.

As we were leaving, we found our way blocked by a giant tree that had fallen down the cliff. After moving a pile of rocks and dirt, we were back on the road again.

We stopped at a place called Boyabat for lunch. On the way there, our bus driver got pulled over twice (it is pretty routine to have random police and jandarma checkpoints along the road). He only got a ticket the second time, for speeding. Buses in Turkey have radar systems which record their speeds so if they get pulled over, all the police have to ask for is a print out of that record and bam, speeding ticket. Apparently the driver only had to pay 10 or 15 YTL though. After we had our lunch, we were back on the road again towards Sinop, on the Black Sea coast. We arrived around 6pm and went straight to the hotel. The hotel was on a cliff above the sea and was kind of 1970's haunted hotel. The building was in the shape of an octagon or some other shape with lots of sides. The rooms smelled of mildew and were a bit damp.

We were given the option of staying at the hotel or going into town for a few hours. Most of us went into town. I walked around a bit and got some ice cream, then went back to the hotel. The next day, we went back into Sinop for a few hours. I walked around a little, found the castle and an apparently famous jail that is now a museum, and then sat on the beach for a little while. We got some food and then drove for 15 minutes to another area on the coast and had a picnic.

(my lunch)

We finally started on our way back to Ankara around 3pm. We stopped in Kastamonu again for dinner, then got back to Ankara around 1130 that night. Like I said, it was a lot of bus riding, but it was definitely worth it to see all the places.

I have a Turkish exam on Thursday and a midterm for International Organizations next Monday. Then, another group trip to the Southeast.

prague

2008-03-28T15:35:00.002+02:00

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

2008-03-27T23:43:00.002+02:00

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.

2008-03-24T13:22:00.002+02:00

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

2008-03-22T11:32:00.002+02:00

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

2008-03-06T21:31:00.004+02:00

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

2008-03-05T20:59:00.002+02:00

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.

2008-03-03T20:29:00.003+02:00

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).