Hello all!
Wow...I have not been updating this thing. So much has happened in the past week it's been hard to find time to even sleep!
Well, I guess we should start with midterms. Bleh. Studying for them sucked. Taking tests for 5 hours reminded me of the SAT. But enough of that...
Moving on to the more interesting news...this past weekend, eight other girls and I went to Dublin, Ireland, aka the land where pale people like myself are welcomed with open arms! After a long trip there (two train rides and a very uncomfortable plane ride), we got to Dublin at about 11:00 on Thursday night. We took a cab from the airport with the most stereotypical Irish cab driver! His name was Angus, was wearing a wool sweater, and asked us where our "lovely accents" were from! He was so sweet...so different from cab drivers you find in the States, or even in Italy for that matter. He gave us a lot of advice on things to do, most of which we did. He took us to our hostel, which was literally in between the River Liffey that runs through the center of the city and Temple Bar, which is the street where all the pubs are. We really couldn't have picked a better place to be!
The next morning, we decided to take a Hop On-Hop Off bus (because of Angus' advice!) that went to all the major sites of the city. It went by the Dublin Castle (pretty self-explanatory), Christ Church Cathedral, which in addition to being a beautiful church was also a site for a Viking settlement, St. Patrick's Cathedral (where Jonathan Swift is buried and where he wrote a lot of his famous works, like "A Modest Proposal"), and a bunch of other places. We decided to get off at the Guinness Storehouse (again, thanks Angus!), which was pretty awesome. It was eight floors all devoted to telling you how they choose the perfect combination of hops, barley, yeast, and all the other stuff that goes in beer (I guess it's a good thing that I don't know that...haha!). The top floor had 360 degree windows that gave you a bird's eye view of Dublin - it was absolutely amazing! After picking up some souvenirs for Athens friends, we decided to move on.
By this point, we were all pretty tired, so after taking a looooong nap we decided to find a pub somewhere to have dinner. Wanting to experience some true Irish food, we found a place that served fish and chips (aka fish and french fries). Apparently Irish people really like vinegar and put it on everything, which was fine with me. Literally every single sauce had some kind of vinegar in it. But it was awesome!
Later that night, we decided we wanted to take advantage of our amazing location near Temple Bar and wanted to find a place that played real Irish music. Angus had pointed out a place near our hostel, so we decided to go there. The name of it was...get ready...Oliver St. John Gogarty's. It doesn't get more Irish than that. The first floor was just your basic bar, but then each floor beyond that was a little different. The floor above that was more of a restaurant-quiet drinking type of place, and the top floor was devoted to live Irish music and dancing! The first night, we saw riverdancing and heard a band playing traditional Irish music (including the Galway Girl song Gerard Butler sings to Hilary Swank in "P.S. I Love You"...anyone?). It was so amazing! We could tell that a lot of locals went there, which basically proved that it was awesome. All the girls found out that I had been in an Irish play in high school and had to learn an accent, so we thought it would be funny to pretend that I was their Irish friend, Molly Malone, when we went to the pub. The first person I tried my accent out on immediately asked if I was American. Dropping my ruse, I said yes; he said he could tell because my accent wasn't that great. Fail. Oh well, at least the judges weren't Irish!
The next day we got up early to catch a bus tour that went up the northern coast of Ireland. We got to go inside the Malahide Castle, where the same family had lived there since the eleventh century! Oliver Cromwell even stationed his troops there at one point. It was so beautiful! Each generation had added its own touch to the castle, so some rooms were more modernized (in Europe, "modern" means post-fifteenth century). It was cool to see a real Irish castle! The only unfortunate thing was the weather...it was cold and pouring down rain the whole time we were there! So we didn't really get a chance to see much of the coast. But it was still worth it! After that, we decided to hit up Trinity College, which is basically where anyone who is anyone in Ireland goes to school. James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Alfred Tennyson, Francis Bacon, and a bunch of other famous people went there. It's also the home of the Book of Kells, which I'm pretty sure is the oldest surviving copies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Trinity College also has a bookstore that sells extremely warm and moderately priced sweatshirts to poor American tourists who were ill-prepared for the traditional Irish weather...haha! Unfortunately, we couldn't get in to see the Book of Kells because of long lines to the ticket counter. We had a few other things we wanted to do, so the majority of the group decided to skip it (unfortunately I was in the minority, but I definitely wanted to see other things in Dublin as well).
After that, we walked to Christ's Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was cool for me because a) I love going through cathedrals and b) I got to see Jonathan Swift's grave! Being the literary/political dork that I am, Jonathan Swift is one of my idols, due to the fact that he was one of the lone voices to speak out against the injustices the British committed against the Irish. He single-handedly stopped Parliament from inflating the Irish currency for England's benefit by simply writing anonymous letters to newspapers and legislators. He was amazing. So yeah, I basically loved that.
That night, we decided to find a relatively cheap place to eat that was close to Temple Bar, and we stumbled upon the most American restaurant I have ever been to in my life. We walked in and there were American flags and signs for American baseball teams all over. They even had (gasp!) "American hamburgers" on the menu! It was nice to have a taste of home. We decided to go back to Oliver St. John Gogarty's again that night to hear some more Irish music, which was amazing! Because our flight back to Italy left really early the next morning (we had to be at the airport at 5:30! yuck!), we decided not to book a hostel for Saturday night, thinking that we could stay out all night and be fine. False. We stayed at the pub until 2ish, and then we decided to just head over to the airport and sleep there until our flight. Again, false. We didn't take into account the fact that apparently the Irish airport staff don't believe in central heat. The airport was so cold that no one could sleep, and of course no one could sleep on the plane. Then, we had to wait at the train station for a while because the normal trains weren't running on Sundays. By the time we got back to Verona, we had been up for 40 straight hours! Not a great idea. We were planning on doing the same thing for Barcelona this weekend...needless to say as soon as we got home we booked a third night there.
As I was expecting, I was so sad to leave Dublin. I have always felt such a connection to Irish history and culture because of my ancestry, and the fact that I think it's so cool. I felt so at home in Ireland. The locals are so friendly, and life is so much more relaxed there. Dublin is the perfect combination of an Americanized city with a European feel. In the States, people in big cities are always rushing to get from place to place, not even looking at anything else that is outside their destination. People in Dublin would just talk to you on the street, and everyone we asked for directions or anything else was so friendly, and they would joke around with you even though they didn't know you at all. Obviously Irish people love to drink, so there were cool little pubs all over town where you could meet people and enjoy a good bowl of stew. Also, they love Americans, which was a bit different from other places we've been (Italians are surpisingly snobby!). Almost everyone we talked to had either been to the States or really liked the States, especially Bill Clinton! Apparently Clinton had a lot to do with settling the bitter disputes between Ireland and Northern Ireland, so they feel really indebted to him. But anyway, I could definitely see myself living in Ireland someday. Next time I go, I definitely want to see the Book of Kells and do some traveling outside of Dublin to see the picturesque Irish countryside. One thing I definitely miss is the music - I've always loved the Irish fiddle music, but it was just so cool to see all the locals getting into the music and singing/dancing to it. It was such a cool experience!
Next weekend we're going to Barcelona, Spain. I've had such a great time in Salzburg and Dublin, I don't know how next weekend can top it! It's definitely going to be a different kind of experience, but I'm really excited about it!
Last night, a bunch of us got to go to see The Killers at the arena in downtown Verona. And by arena I mean coliseum that was built in 76 AD. It was so cool - we sat down on the old stone seats, watched The Killers perform AMAZINGLY (hearing everyone, Italian and American, singing "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" was absolutely epic), and look at the beautiful full moon over the stage while a cool breeze cooled us off. It was so surreal; I really felt like I was living someone else's life! One girl actually got to meet the band and go on the tour bus. Guess I should have been sitting with her...but yeah, everyone agreed that the concert experience was definitely worth the 40 euros.
Well, I guess I must go - got to get up at 7am for class! Hope you guys are doing well Stateside!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
So remember that time we slept in a tent?
I never thought I would EVER include the words "slept in a tent" in any of my blog posts, but there's a first time for everything!
This past weekend, seven girls and I went to Salzburg, Austria (aka Mozart's hometown and the setting/filming location of The Sound of Music!). I had been to Vienna before, so I was thinking I knew what to expect. Not so. Salzburg is probably one of my top 3 favorite cities right now. It is exactly how I imagined a small Alpine town in Germany or Austria. And by "Alpine," I mean literally smack dab in the middle of the Alps. Salzburg is a lot smaller than I was expecting, but it's extremely quaint, and the people were incredibly friendly! Even nicer than the Italians.
Since we don't have classes on Friday, most groups left on Thursday afternoon. So our group (Becca, Jackie, Rebecca, Hilary, Kaitlin, Lee, Megan, and myself) literally had the place to ourselves since we decided to leave on Friday morning. And by Friday morning I mean my alarm went off at 4:45. After going to be at 1:45am you can imagine my excitement. We caught the 7:00 train from Verona, and after connecting in Innsbruck (another incredibly beautiful town in Austria), we got to Salzburg around 2:00. I thought I was so smart in checking the weather before I got there. I was happy to see that it was going to be in the low to mid-60s the whole time we were there with a slight chance of rain both nights. Weather.com, you fail at life. When we got there it was in the low 50s and pouring down rain. To add to the excitement, everyone except one person only packed flip-flops. The warmest jacket I had was a jean jacket (I committed the unforgivable fashion faux-pas of denim-on-denim...don't tell Tim Gunn). Even more exciting was the fact that, due to the fact that all the good hostels were booked by the time we got there, we got to sleep in a tent. Outside. Something I thought I would never do. By most standards, the campsite was pretty nice. Our tent was basically one giant tarp held up by poles with another piece of tarp for the floor, four cots, a picnic table and a teeny tiny lamp. Hoping it would warm up, we decided to go into town to explore a little.
When we got off the bus stop, we decided that since we hadn't had any lunch, we would stop at a nearby pretzel stand for a quick snack. Little did I know that I was about to have the best experience of my life. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. But seriously, these pretzels were HUGE, and they had all different varieties. Needless to say we went back the next day. Since most of us were about to freeze our butts off in the rain and cold, we decided to try to find some shoes and jackets. Realizing that we were poor college students, we decided to just rough it and go in our flipflops. As we meandered the streets of downtown Salzburg, we decided it might be a good idea to find somewhere to eat dinner. Since Rebecca was smart and brought a "Top 10 Things To Do in Salzburg," we decided to try the alleged "Oldest Restaurant in Europe." As we were walking to it, we stumbled upon a beautiful cathedral right next to the restaurant, St. Peter's. Since the restaurant didn't open for 30 more minutes, we went inside. We got there as the choir was practicing - it was absolutely beautiful. After the choir stopped, we heard the monks chanting in a back room. The cathedral was so beautiful that we all stopped to sit in the pews and reflect. I think every single person in our group was moved in some way by the beauty, majesty, and peace of the building. I wish I could have taken a picture that showed you the entire thing, but it was way too beautiful and awe-inspiring to even put in a picture.
After we left the church, we decided to wander around the back of it to explore the graveyard. It was HUGE! Some of the graves there were from the early 1700s, and I'm sure there were some earlier. As we wandered through the beautiful gardens, we found a line of tombs that were nestled in the mountain and covered by beautiful wrought-iron gates. We all commented that they looked just like the gates that the von Trapps hid behind at the end of The Sound of Music when they are on the run from the Nazis when Rolf betrays them (we later found out that the director of TSoM saw this very same graveyard and based that scene from the movie on this same section of the graveyard! Cool right?). It was incredibly beautiful - the graveyard was literally right next to this huge mountain on top of which sits the great Salzburg fortress. It was astounding.
We decided to head over to the restaurant after this. When we got there, we were told that it was founded in the year 803...how cool! The part of the restaurant we sat in was the original wine cellar, and it was absolutely beautiful! It looked like a grotto on the inside, and it was so beautiful! We had 3 and 4 course meals with the most amazing food. It was pretty expensive, but definitely worth it!
We were all so tired that we decided to go back to our campsite. It was so cold, windy, and rainy that we all dreaded going to sleep. When we got back, we all threw on every single item of clothing we brought with us, got under our two blankets that the campsite owners gave us, and tried to sleep through the rain and the cold. We were so tired we all slept pretty well, but it was a struggle getting out of bed the next morning. However, it was totally worth it, since we got to do the Sound of Music (hereby known as TSoM) tour!!!
After a breakfast of a pretzel from that same amazing place, we loaded up TSoM bus and headed off to sight-see! Our tour guide, Peter, was a little odd, to say the least. He had the typical tour guide personality - cheesiness with a side of cheesiness. He was absolutely hilarious though (in an awkward eccentric way). The first thing we saw was the lake where Maria and the children fall out of the boat when they greet Captain von Trapp and the Countess. Apparently the little girl who played Gretel (the youngest one) almost drowned during that scene! Sad! There was a house next to the lake that we all thought was the house from the movie. Sadly, it wasn't. But apparently they based the back of the house and the rooms on the inside from that house, so that was kind of cool. We also saw the mountain, the Untersburg, that Maria sings on at the beginning of the movie and that they cross into Switzerland at the very end of the movie. Apparently, the Untersburg actually divides Austria and Germany, not Switzerland. So, the von Trapps were actually heading TOWARD the Nazis instead of away from them...FAIL. But it was still cool! After that, we saw the gazebo where they filmed the Sixteen Going on Seventeen scene! That was really cool, and of course we all went picture-crazy there. After that, we drove up to the little town where St. Michaels, the church where they flimed the wedding scene, was. There was actually a wedding going on there at the time, which was cool. The inside of the cathedral is even more magnificent than the movie leads you to believe. It was astounding! After that, we drove up into the lakes and mountains region and saw the most beautiful scenery you can imagine! Apparently they filmed the panorama montage from the beginning of the movie up here, and it is even more beautiful than the movie tells you. There are tons of lakes and little towns nestled between the mountains. If only it hadn't been so cold and rainy! But no one complained - it was just that beautiful.
After the tour was over, we headed to the Mirabell Gardens, which is where the majority of the Do Re Mi sequence was filmed. We skipped through the tunnel/arbor singing the song, marched around the fountain, and stood on the stairs (the end of the song where they do that cool jumping thing? Watch the movie if you have no idea what I'm talking about). That was probably my favorite part! Check Facebook for pics.
After we got our von Trapp fix, we headed to the Fortress of Salzburg, built in the 1100s. You can see it from anywhere in the city, since it sits high on one of the hills. After a shuttle ride up the mountain, we got to go inside and see all the rooms. The coolest part was definitely the view from the top. We could see all the sights that we had already seen from the air...it was so cool! Again, no one complained about the rain and the cold. Apparently the Salzburg government pays artists to live in private apartments in the fortress today to encourage the culture of the arts in Salzburg! So much for starving artists...
After that, we decided to find the "Beer-Garden" that our tour guide had told us about where we could have dinner. When we got there, we found that it was more of an upscale food court where all the locals went - it was pretty cool! Ironically, we sat at a table right next to people from Alabama (who were all Crimson Tide fans...), so we had a good laugh about that. They cheered Roll Tide, while we called the dawgs. Apparently a bunch of Italians across the room thought we were challenging them to a cheer-off so they started to compete with us. They had clearly never been to a UGA game before, and we owned them in every way possible. We talked to the people from Alabama for a while, and it turns out they live not too far from Verona! (the husband works for "human resources for the government," whatever that means. Covert operations, anyone?), and they invited us over to their house/chateau for dinner! It was so nice to hear that good old Southern accent again. Then we met some other college kids from University of Ohio. After we made fun of their lame state (actually we just made fun of Ohio State...), we were told by the security at the restaurant that we were "being too loud," aka we were being just as loud as everyone else in the restaurant but because we were Americans we were being too loud, so some of us left in a huff to go to the Italian place across the street. Irony? I think so.
After a long night, we decided to head back to the campsite, again sleeping in all of our clothes. We got up the next morning and headed to mass at another beautiful Catholic cathedral. We stayed for an hour of it, and even though it was all in German it was an incredibly moving experience for all of us. After mass, we headed back to the train station for our ride back to Verona. We were all so sad to leave Salzburg. You know it must have been a great trip when we were sad to go back to ITALY. I hate to sound cheesy, but it was such a magical place. Something about the city captivated all of us, and it's hard to figure out exactly what it was. Our explanation was that "the hills really WERE alive with the sound of music," but of course that is merely conjecture.
This trip was everything I hoped it would be, but even better. Our group meshed so well, and we had the best time. We had so many inside jokes, funny quotes, and great stories at the end of the weekend. I'm sure the other groups that went to Paris and Munich had great stories too, but I think we had the most entertaining stories. I'm incredibly excited about going to Dublin and Barcelona, but they are going to have to be pretty flipping awesome to top Salzburg.
In other news, we have midterms on Thursday. Blah. Of course I decided to be an overachiever and take the two hardest classes on the program, but I think they're also the two most interesting classes. So that will be an experience, one that I'm sure I will never forget...boo. But on the other hand, I've made so many great friends on this trip! It really is like "Friends"...European style. A bunch of people came over for dinner again last night. And by dinner I mean eat and then talk for three hours when we should be studying. But it's so much fun! I can't imagine how I am ever going to leave this place.
Well, that took FOREVER, and I probably should have been studying. But I wanted to write it all down before I forgot! Hope you guys could get through that.
As always, love you, miss you, and thanks for keeping up with my blog!
CIAO!
This past weekend, seven girls and I went to Salzburg, Austria (aka Mozart's hometown and the setting/filming location of The Sound of Music!). I had been to Vienna before, so I was thinking I knew what to expect. Not so. Salzburg is probably one of my top 3 favorite cities right now. It is exactly how I imagined a small Alpine town in Germany or Austria. And by "Alpine," I mean literally smack dab in the middle of the Alps. Salzburg is a lot smaller than I was expecting, but it's extremely quaint, and the people were incredibly friendly! Even nicer than the Italians.
Since we don't have classes on Friday, most groups left on Thursday afternoon. So our group (Becca, Jackie, Rebecca, Hilary, Kaitlin, Lee, Megan, and myself) literally had the place to ourselves since we decided to leave on Friday morning. And by Friday morning I mean my alarm went off at 4:45. After going to be at 1:45am you can imagine my excitement. We caught the 7:00 train from Verona, and after connecting in Innsbruck (another incredibly beautiful town in Austria), we got to Salzburg around 2:00. I thought I was so smart in checking the weather before I got there. I was happy to see that it was going to be in the low to mid-60s the whole time we were there with a slight chance of rain both nights. Weather.com, you fail at life. When we got there it was in the low 50s and pouring down rain. To add to the excitement, everyone except one person only packed flip-flops. The warmest jacket I had was a jean jacket (I committed the unforgivable fashion faux-pas of denim-on-denim...don't tell Tim Gunn). Even more exciting was the fact that, due to the fact that all the good hostels were booked by the time we got there, we got to sleep in a tent. Outside. Something I thought I would never do. By most standards, the campsite was pretty nice. Our tent was basically one giant tarp held up by poles with another piece of tarp for the floor, four cots, a picnic table and a teeny tiny lamp. Hoping it would warm up, we decided to go into town to explore a little.
When we got off the bus stop, we decided that since we hadn't had any lunch, we would stop at a nearby pretzel stand for a quick snack. Little did I know that I was about to have the best experience of my life. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. But seriously, these pretzels were HUGE, and they had all different varieties. Needless to say we went back the next day. Since most of us were about to freeze our butts off in the rain and cold, we decided to try to find some shoes and jackets. Realizing that we were poor college students, we decided to just rough it and go in our flipflops. As we meandered the streets of downtown Salzburg, we decided it might be a good idea to find somewhere to eat dinner. Since Rebecca was smart and brought a "Top 10 Things To Do in Salzburg," we decided to try the alleged "Oldest Restaurant in Europe." As we were walking to it, we stumbled upon a beautiful cathedral right next to the restaurant, St. Peter's. Since the restaurant didn't open for 30 more minutes, we went inside. We got there as the choir was practicing - it was absolutely beautiful. After the choir stopped, we heard the monks chanting in a back room. The cathedral was so beautiful that we all stopped to sit in the pews and reflect. I think every single person in our group was moved in some way by the beauty, majesty, and peace of the building. I wish I could have taken a picture that showed you the entire thing, but it was way too beautiful and awe-inspiring to even put in a picture.
After we left the church, we decided to wander around the back of it to explore the graveyard. It was HUGE! Some of the graves there were from the early 1700s, and I'm sure there were some earlier. As we wandered through the beautiful gardens, we found a line of tombs that were nestled in the mountain and covered by beautiful wrought-iron gates. We all commented that they looked just like the gates that the von Trapps hid behind at the end of The Sound of Music when they are on the run from the Nazis when Rolf betrays them (we later found out that the director of TSoM saw this very same graveyard and based that scene from the movie on this same section of the graveyard! Cool right?). It was incredibly beautiful - the graveyard was literally right next to this huge mountain on top of which sits the great Salzburg fortress. It was astounding.
We decided to head over to the restaurant after this. When we got there, we were told that it was founded in the year 803...how cool! The part of the restaurant we sat in was the original wine cellar, and it was absolutely beautiful! It looked like a grotto on the inside, and it was so beautiful! We had 3 and 4 course meals with the most amazing food. It was pretty expensive, but definitely worth it!
We were all so tired that we decided to go back to our campsite. It was so cold, windy, and rainy that we all dreaded going to sleep. When we got back, we all threw on every single item of clothing we brought with us, got under our two blankets that the campsite owners gave us, and tried to sleep through the rain and the cold. We were so tired we all slept pretty well, but it was a struggle getting out of bed the next morning. However, it was totally worth it, since we got to do the Sound of Music (hereby known as TSoM) tour!!!
After a breakfast of a pretzel from that same amazing place, we loaded up TSoM bus and headed off to sight-see! Our tour guide, Peter, was a little odd, to say the least. He had the typical tour guide personality - cheesiness with a side of cheesiness. He was absolutely hilarious though (in an awkward eccentric way). The first thing we saw was the lake where Maria and the children fall out of the boat when they greet Captain von Trapp and the Countess. Apparently the little girl who played Gretel (the youngest one) almost drowned during that scene! Sad! There was a house next to the lake that we all thought was the house from the movie. Sadly, it wasn't. But apparently they based the back of the house and the rooms on the inside from that house, so that was kind of cool. We also saw the mountain, the Untersburg, that Maria sings on at the beginning of the movie and that they cross into Switzerland at the very end of the movie. Apparently, the Untersburg actually divides Austria and Germany, not Switzerland. So, the von Trapps were actually heading TOWARD the Nazis instead of away from them...FAIL. But it was still cool! After that, we saw the gazebo where they filmed the Sixteen Going on Seventeen scene! That was really cool, and of course we all went picture-crazy there. After that, we drove up to the little town where St. Michaels, the church where they flimed the wedding scene, was. There was actually a wedding going on there at the time, which was cool. The inside of the cathedral is even more magnificent than the movie leads you to believe. It was astounding! After that, we drove up into the lakes and mountains region and saw the most beautiful scenery you can imagine! Apparently they filmed the panorama montage from the beginning of the movie up here, and it is even more beautiful than the movie tells you. There are tons of lakes and little towns nestled between the mountains. If only it hadn't been so cold and rainy! But no one complained - it was just that beautiful.
After the tour was over, we headed to the Mirabell Gardens, which is where the majority of the Do Re Mi sequence was filmed. We skipped through the tunnel/arbor singing the song, marched around the fountain, and stood on the stairs (the end of the song where they do that cool jumping thing? Watch the movie if you have no idea what I'm talking about). That was probably my favorite part! Check Facebook for pics.
After we got our von Trapp fix, we headed to the Fortress of Salzburg, built in the 1100s. You can see it from anywhere in the city, since it sits high on one of the hills. After a shuttle ride up the mountain, we got to go inside and see all the rooms. The coolest part was definitely the view from the top. We could see all the sights that we had already seen from the air...it was so cool! Again, no one complained about the rain and the cold. Apparently the Salzburg government pays artists to live in private apartments in the fortress today to encourage the culture of the arts in Salzburg! So much for starving artists...
After that, we decided to find the "Beer-Garden" that our tour guide had told us about where we could have dinner. When we got there, we found that it was more of an upscale food court where all the locals went - it was pretty cool! Ironically, we sat at a table right next to people from Alabama (who were all Crimson Tide fans...), so we had a good laugh about that. They cheered Roll Tide, while we called the dawgs. Apparently a bunch of Italians across the room thought we were challenging them to a cheer-off so they started to compete with us. They had clearly never been to a UGA game before, and we owned them in every way possible. We talked to the people from Alabama for a while, and it turns out they live not too far from Verona! (the husband works for "human resources for the government," whatever that means. Covert operations, anyone?), and they invited us over to their house/chateau for dinner! It was so nice to hear that good old Southern accent again. Then we met some other college kids from University of Ohio. After we made fun of their lame state (actually we just made fun of Ohio State...), we were told by the security at the restaurant that we were "being too loud," aka we were being just as loud as everyone else in the restaurant but because we were Americans we were being too loud, so some of us left in a huff to go to the Italian place across the street. Irony? I think so.
After a long night, we decided to head back to the campsite, again sleeping in all of our clothes. We got up the next morning and headed to mass at another beautiful Catholic cathedral. We stayed for an hour of it, and even though it was all in German it was an incredibly moving experience for all of us. After mass, we headed back to the train station for our ride back to Verona. We were all so sad to leave Salzburg. You know it must have been a great trip when we were sad to go back to ITALY. I hate to sound cheesy, but it was such a magical place. Something about the city captivated all of us, and it's hard to figure out exactly what it was. Our explanation was that "the hills really WERE alive with the sound of music," but of course that is merely conjecture.
This trip was everything I hoped it would be, but even better. Our group meshed so well, and we had the best time. We had so many inside jokes, funny quotes, and great stories at the end of the weekend. I'm sure the other groups that went to Paris and Munich had great stories too, but I think we had the most entertaining stories. I'm incredibly excited about going to Dublin and Barcelona, but they are going to have to be pretty flipping awesome to top Salzburg.
In other news, we have midterms on Thursday. Blah. Of course I decided to be an overachiever and take the two hardest classes on the program, but I think they're also the two most interesting classes. So that will be an experience, one that I'm sure I will never forget...boo. But on the other hand, I've made so many great friends on this trip! It really is like "Friends"...European style. A bunch of people came over for dinner again last night. And by dinner I mean eat and then talk for three hours when we should be studying. But it's so much fun! I can't imagine how I am ever going to leave this place.
Well, that took FOREVER, and I probably should have been studying. But I wanted to write it all down before I forgot! Hope you guys could get through that.
As always, love you, miss you, and thanks for keeping up with my blog!
CIAO!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Another Average Day...in ITALY!
Hola! (I decided to switch the language up on you guys...)
So, we started classes two days ago...yuck! Actually, I'm really enjoying the classes I am taking (I know I'm a dork...don't be a hater). I'm taking Comparative Legislative/Electoral Systems and Strategic Intelligence, which are the two hardest classes to take here. Both of the professors, Dr. Bullock and Dr. Johnson, are two of the best teachers in the School of Public and International Affairs (where I will likely spend the next four to six years of my life, depending on where I go to grad school) at UGA, and they are extremely hard to get into on campus. They are both going to be extremely challenging; I'm in class from 8-12:45 Monday-Thursday, and I have at least 15 chapters to read each week! But I'm really enjoying them, which makes it easier to pay attention. Plus I have friends in each of my classes, so it will be nice to have someone to study with for my midterms that are NEXT WEEK.
Let's see...the past few days have been pretty chill here. We have been trying to decide what weekend trips to take, and we finally figured it all out! This weekend I am going to Salzburg, Austria, which is where The Sound of Music was filmed/where the von Trapp family actually lived, and where Mozart was born (shut up, I told you I was a dork!). 8 of us girls are going, and we're staying at a hostel. And by hostel, I mean campsite. Luckily with all of my camping experience (NOT) this will be easy for me. We're doing a Sound of Music tour, including the field where Julie Andrews sings at the beginning, the abbey where Maria lived (and hopefully going to mass there on Sunday), and seeing the mountains that the von Trapps climb over at the end of the movie! I am so excited.
Then next weekend, we are going to...drumroll please...DUBLIN, IRELAND! I am thrilled about this. I have always wanted to explore my Irish heritage, aka the land where pale is the new tan. Six of us are going, which will be a nice small group. I can't wait to visit the actual home country of "Dancing at Lughnasa"! The next weekend, we are going to Barcelona, Spain, which I've heard is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It's right on the water, and apparently there are cathedrals and palaces and plazas (oh my!) everywhere you go. It should be really fun!
Speaking of trips, the other day a bunch of us went to the train station to pick up our train tickets to get to Salzburg. While we were waiting at the bus stop for the train, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, and some guy was touching my shoulder! Needless to say I was a little freaked out, so I pulled away. Then he came over and started touching each of our arms and grabbing our hands. We realized that he was mentally handicapped, but it was still pretty creepy! All of a sudden, all of my harassment training kicked into gear, and I just started saying "No! No! Stop. No." ("just say no" has a whole new meaning now!). The group was pretty freaked out, but he finally left. Then, we all realized that the situation was pretty funny overall, and it's been an inside joke ever since. We later regretted that our guy friends weren't there. Then again, the situation was so funny that they probably wouldn't have been able to do anything but laugh anyway! Now you know the reason for my apparently puzzling facebook status...
This afternoon/evening, we loaded up the tour buses and went to a winery about 20 minutes away from Verona. We toured the actual winery and then we were served dinner and got to sample a white wine that goes with appetizers, a red dinner wine, and a sweet dessert wine. It was so much fun, and I felt so sophisticated! Definitely a unique experience.
Fortunately, the weather has cooled down A LOT. It has been in the 90s since we got here, and it was 97 yesterday! But today, it finally cooled down to the normal May temperature of 75. I had forgotten what it was like to not be dripping with sweat 24/7.
I can't even tell you how much fun I am having. First, it's a surreal experience to even be in Italy in the first place. I can sit on my double-wide balcony, look at the river that snakes through the city, and see the snow-covered Alps in the distance. Apparently we got the best room in the place (top floor, living room and kitchen, two bedrooms, double-balcony, etc...), so everyone loves hanging out with us! Which is pretty cool. We are able to cook for ourselves, so the past few nights everyone just brings over their dinner and we all sit on the balcony, eat our pasta, drink our wine, and look at the Alps. It is so cool! I love everyone on this trip. I have made so many good friends so far. I went from casually knowing only two people on the trip to having a ton of really good friends who I'm going to jet-set all around Europe with. I am so incredibly fortunate to be able to go on this trip, and I can't wait to experience the rest of it!
Thanks for keeping up with my blog! Love and miss you guys!
Arleta
So, we started classes two days ago...yuck! Actually, I'm really enjoying the classes I am taking (I know I'm a dork...don't be a hater). I'm taking Comparative Legislative/Electoral Systems and Strategic Intelligence, which are the two hardest classes to take here. Both of the professors, Dr. Bullock and Dr. Johnson, are two of the best teachers in the School of Public and International Affairs (where I will likely spend the next four to six years of my life, depending on where I go to grad school) at UGA, and they are extremely hard to get into on campus. They are both going to be extremely challenging; I'm in class from 8-12:45 Monday-Thursday, and I have at least 15 chapters to read each week! But I'm really enjoying them, which makes it easier to pay attention. Plus I have friends in each of my classes, so it will be nice to have someone to study with for my midterms that are NEXT WEEK.
Let's see...the past few days have been pretty chill here. We have been trying to decide what weekend trips to take, and we finally figured it all out! This weekend I am going to Salzburg, Austria, which is where The Sound of Music was filmed/where the von Trapp family actually lived, and where Mozart was born (shut up, I told you I was a dork!). 8 of us girls are going, and we're staying at a hostel. And by hostel, I mean campsite. Luckily with all of my camping experience (NOT) this will be easy for me. We're doing a Sound of Music tour, including the field where Julie Andrews sings at the beginning, the abbey where Maria lived (and hopefully going to mass there on Sunday), and seeing the mountains that the von Trapps climb over at the end of the movie! I am so excited.
Then next weekend, we are going to...drumroll please...DUBLIN, IRELAND! I am thrilled about this. I have always wanted to explore my Irish heritage, aka the land where pale is the new tan. Six of us are going, which will be a nice small group. I can't wait to visit the actual home country of "Dancing at Lughnasa"! The next weekend, we are going to Barcelona, Spain, which I've heard is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It's right on the water, and apparently there are cathedrals and palaces and plazas (oh my!) everywhere you go. It should be really fun!
Speaking of trips, the other day a bunch of us went to the train station to pick up our train tickets to get to Salzburg. While we were waiting at the bus stop for the train, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, and some guy was touching my shoulder! Needless to say I was a little freaked out, so I pulled away. Then he came over and started touching each of our arms and grabbing our hands. We realized that he was mentally handicapped, but it was still pretty creepy! All of a sudden, all of my harassment training kicked into gear, and I just started saying "No! No! Stop. No." ("just say no" has a whole new meaning now!). The group was pretty freaked out, but he finally left. Then, we all realized that the situation was pretty funny overall, and it's been an inside joke ever since. We later regretted that our guy friends weren't there. Then again, the situation was so funny that they probably wouldn't have been able to do anything but laugh anyway! Now you know the reason for my apparently puzzling facebook status...
This afternoon/evening, we loaded up the tour buses and went to a winery about 20 minutes away from Verona. We toured the actual winery and then we were served dinner and got to sample a white wine that goes with appetizers, a red dinner wine, and a sweet dessert wine. It was so much fun, and I felt so sophisticated! Definitely a unique experience.
Fortunately, the weather has cooled down A LOT. It has been in the 90s since we got here, and it was 97 yesterday! But today, it finally cooled down to the normal May temperature of 75. I had forgotten what it was like to not be dripping with sweat 24/7.
I can't even tell you how much fun I am having. First, it's a surreal experience to even be in Italy in the first place. I can sit on my double-wide balcony, look at the river that snakes through the city, and see the snow-covered Alps in the distance. Apparently we got the best room in the place (top floor, living room and kitchen, two bedrooms, double-balcony, etc...), so everyone loves hanging out with us! Which is pretty cool. We are able to cook for ourselves, so the past few nights everyone just brings over their dinner and we all sit on the balcony, eat our pasta, drink our wine, and look at the Alps. It is so cool! I love everyone on this trip. I have made so many good friends so far. I went from casually knowing only two people on the trip to having a ton of really good friends who I'm going to jet-set all around Europe with. I am so incredibly fortunate to be able to go on this trip, and I can't wait to experience the rest of it!
Thanks for keeping up with my blog! Love and miss you guys!
Arleta
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Ole, Ole Ole Ole! Chievo, Chievo!
Hello all!
Well, the last few days have been super busy! On Friday, we walked all over town on an historic tour. Our progam coordinator lives in Verona, and his son walked us all around the old part of town and told us all about the history of the city. It was really interesting to learn about all the different stages of Verona's history! Some structures, like the arena, have been standing since the Roman days (before 100 AD), and others were built as recently as the 1400s (which is considered modern to the Veronese). We got to see all kinds of sights, like "Juliet's balcony" and a square dedicated to the poet Dante. It was absolutely amazing.
Yesterday a huge group of us got up early to catch an 8:30 train to Venice. When we walked out of the train station, we literally walked right up to the edge of the Grand Canal. I had always heard that Venice was smelly, dirty, and overrated. Well my friends, none of those things are true. Venice was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Epcot actually did a pretty good job of replicating it, but it doesn't even come close to portraying how beautiful it is. We didn't get to go on a gondola because they were pretty expensive, but we did take a water bus down the canal and got to see the old basilica and the Guggenheim museum there. Most of the day we just walked the streets, since it is very hard to get around in Venice. Most of the side streets dead end at the water or at a "water alley," so it's easy to get lost. But it was more fun that way! We decided we wanted to eat somewhere close to the water, so we found a really cool restaurant that was right on the Grand Canal. We got there before the crowds, so all 11 of us got to sit together right on the water! It was absolutely beautiful. On our way home, we got on a train that we thought went straight to Verona. Little did we know that the end of the line was Vicenza, which is a 25 minute ride from Verona...
By this point it was about 11:00, and we were told that no more trains were going to Verona that night. After some mild panicking, we found a sleeper train that was coming by on its way to Munich that stopped in Verona. However, we had to stand in the tiny corridor of the sleeper train for the entire 25 minute ride back. It was a tad uncomfortable, but it makes for a great story!
Today we actually got to sleep in for once, and we decided to go to a football game that our program coordinator told us about. It was a playoff game between the team from Bologna and a neighborhood team from Verona called Chievo Verona. Apparently they were a team from a small neighborhood that wasn't expected to even get to the playoffs, and they've been slowly advancing in the playoffs in the last few weeks. We stood in line for tickets (in the 90 degree weather), some people bought jerseys, and bought hamburgers outside the stadium. This whole time, I've been thinking that one thing America has over Italy (Chinese food, ice, and free refills) was that we make amazing hamburgers. Well, I was wrong - this was probably one of the best hamburgers I have ever had! We actually had pretty decent seats in the stadium, and we cheered along with the rest of the Italians, even though we had no idea what they were saying. Chievo Verona ended up tying with the other team, so they got to advance to the next stage! It was so fun, and such a great experience!
Well, tomorrow we start classes...at 8 am. That's going to be rough, but I guess that's what we're here for...it is called STUDY abroad after all...
CIAO!
Well, the last few days have been super busy! On Friday, we walked all over town on an historic tour. Our progam coordinator lives in Verona, and his son walked us all around the old part of town and told us all about the history of the city. It was really interesting to learn about all the different stages of Verona's history! Some structures, like the arena, have been standing since the Roman days (before 100 AD), and others were built as recently as the 1400s (which is considered modern to the Veronese). We got to see all kinds of sights, like "Juliet's balcony" and a square dedicated to the poet Dante. It was absolutely amazing.
Yesterday a huge group of us got up early to catch an 8:30 train to Venice. When we walked out of the train station, we literally walked right up to the edge of the Grand Canal. I had always heard that Venice was smelly, dirty, and overrated. Well my friends, none of those things are true. Venice was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Epcot actually did a pretty good job of replicating it, but it doesn't even come close to portraying how beautiful it is. We didn't get to go on a gondola because they were pretty expensive, but we did take a water bus down the canal and got to see the old basilica and the Guggenheim museum there. Most of the day we just walked the streets, since it is very hard to get around in Venice. Most of the side streets dead end at the water or at a "water alley," so it's easy to get lost. But it was more fun that way! We decided we wanted to eat somewhere close to the water, so we found a really cool restaurant that was right on the Grand Canal. We got there before the crowds, so all 11 of us got to sit together right on the water! It was absolutely beautiful. On our way home, we got on a train that we thought went straight to Verona. Little did we know that the end of the line was Vicenza, which is a 25 minute ride from Verona...
By this point it was about 11:00, and we were told that no more trains were going to Verona that night. After some mild panicking, we found a sleeper train that was coming by on its way to Munich that stopped in Verona. However, we had to stand in the tiny corridor of the sleeper train for the entire 25 minute ride back. It was a tad uncomfortable, but it makes for a great story!
Today we actually got to sleep in for once, and we decided to go to a football game that our program coordinator told us about. It was a playoff game between the team from Bologna and a neighborhood team from Verona called Chievo Verona. Apparently they were a team from a small neighborhood that wasn't expected to even get to the playoffs, and they've been slowly advancing in the playoffs in the last few weeks. We stood in line for tickets (in the 90 degree weather), some people bought jerseys, and bought hamburgers outside the stadium. This whole time, I've been thinking that one thing America has over Italy (Chinese food, ice, and free refills) was that we make amazing hamburgers. Well, I was wrong - this was probably one of the best hamburgers I have ever had! We actually had pretty decent seats in the stadium, and we cheered along with the rest of the Italians, even though we had no idea what they were saying. Chievo Verona ended up tying with the other team, so they got to advance to the next stage! It was so fun, and such a great experience!
Well, tomorrow we start classes...at 8 am. That's going to be rough, but I guess that's what we're here for...it is called STUDY abroad after all...
CIAO!
Friday, May 22, 2009
"In Fair Verona, Where We Lay Our Scene..."
Bonjoirno! (hope you all caught the not-so-subtle Romeo and Juliet reference in the title...)
I have no idea if that is spelled correctly, but you know what I mean! I am finally in Verona, Italy, where I will be for the next four weeks. Yesterday we flew from Istanbul to Venice, and from Venice we took a two hour bus ride to Verona. This city is so beautiful - it's just like I imagined it. There is a beautiful river running through the city with beautiful old stone bridges. The roads are cobblestone/some other stone and are worn down from centuries of walking. They took us to an "Italian fast food" place (along the lines of a pizzeria that we would find in Atlanta) for dinner, where we met an older lady who was an opera singer performing in "Carmen" at the arena! We asked her to sing, and she did! She had the most amazing voice, and she just started singing in the middle of the street! Oddly enough, none of the locals really acted like it was out of the ordinary. Even though she didn't speak a lot of English, she was so happy to see us and was so sweet.
After dinner we were free to do what we wanted with the rest of the evening. A group of us decided to find a cafe to sit at for a while and then we decided to walk around the streets after it got darker and observe the nightlife. We stumbled upon a younger section of town, where we met two girls studying from Chicago. They had been in Verona for four months and last night was their last night. They gave us advice about places to eat, places to shop, and things to do here. One of them was even from Marietta originally! Only in Verona...
It seems that a lot of the people who live here are families with younger children and older people. It seems to be a very tight-knit and friendly community where everyone watches out for everyone else. The weather is extremely humid and temperatures in the 90s...yuck! But because it's Italy I am going to excuse it...
Today we had an orientation about what to expect here at the residence and in the neighborhood. We were taken to the grocery store and stocked up on groceries - if you think buying groceries in the States is hard, try looking for coffee filters when you don't speak Italian. My friend, another coffee lover, and I almost had a mild heart attack when we thought we couldn't buy coffee. But the day was salvaged when we realized we could use paper towels...
This afternoon we have a historical tour of the city, which I can't wait for! Stay tuned for more from fair Verona!
I have no idea if that is spelled correctly, but you know what I mean! I am finally in Verona, Italy, where I will be for the next four weeks. Yesterday we flew from Istanbul to Venice, and from Venice we took a two hour bus ride to Verona. This city is so beautiful - it's just like I imagined it. There is a beautiful river running through the city with beautiful old stone bridges. The roads are cobblestone/some other stone and are worn down from centuries of walking. They took us to an "Italian fast food" place (along the lines of a pizzeria that we would find in Atlanta) for dinner, where we met an older lady who was an opera singer performing in "Carmen" at the arena! We asked her to sing, and she did! She had the most amazing voice, and she just started singing in the middle of the street! Oddly enough, none of the locals really acted like it was out of the ordinary. Even though she didn't speak a lot of English, she was so happy to see us and was so sweet.
After dinner we were free to do what we wanted with the rest of the evening. A group of us decided to find a cafe to sit at for a while and then we decided to walk around the streets after it got darker and observe the nightlife. We stumbled upon a younger section of town, where we met two girls studying from Chicago. They had been in Verona for four months and last night was their last night. They gave us advice about places to eat, places to shop, and things to do here. One of them was even from Marietta originally! Only in Verona...
It seems that a lot of the people who live here are families with younger children and older people. It seems to be a very tight-knit and friendly community where everyone watches out for everyone else. The weather is extremely humid and temperatures in the 90s...yuck! But because it's Italy I am going to excuse it...
Today we had an orientation about what to expect here at the residence and in the neighborhood. We were taken to the grocery store and stocked up on groceries - if you think buying groceries in the States is hard, try looking for coffee filters when you don't speak Italian. My friend, another coffee lover, and I almost had a mild heart attack when we thought we couldn't buy coffee. But the day was salvaged when we realized we could use paper towels...
This afternoon we have a historical tour of the city, which I can't wait for! Stay tuned for more from fair Verona!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Final Day in Turkey
So this is our last night in Turkey, and I think everyone is ready to leave the land of kebabs and move on to the wonderful world of pizza, pasta, and gelato. I have really enjoyed Istanbul. It is so different from anything I have ever experienced (in a good way). It was definitely something I never would have thought to do on my own, but I am so glad I got to come here.
Today we got to go on a cruise down the Bosphorous Strait, which separates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side. The other day we got to actually cross over and spend some time at a university on the Asian side, so that was pretty cool! I can actually say I have been to three continents in the last five days. We also got to go the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar, which are two of the oldest markets in the modern world (we´re talking like the 16th century). There were a lot touristy things that you would expect from a market like that, but there were a lot of surprisingly expensive things, like rings for 4000 lira and Arabian carpets for 2000. And it was a cool experience that you pretty much can´t get anywhere else.
Tonight there is a HUGE football (or for all you uncultured Americans out there, soccer) game tonight between Russia and Germany, and the entire city has been crazy all day. There are tv screen set up on a ton of the buildings, and everyone is wearing some kind of jersey. They told us not to go out late tonight because they take their football VERY seriously. And I thought drunk fraternity guys at UGA really hated the Florida Gators...
Tomorrow we are flying to Venice and from there taking a train to Verona. This part of the trip has seemed so far away for so long, and it´s finally here! Verona is definitely a much smaller town than Istanbul, so it will be an interesting contrast. We have an orientation about our classes and such on Friday, and then we actually start classes on Monday. Being in class from 8-12:45 Monday-Thursday = not my idea of a vacation. But it will be worth it!
Thanks for reading these. I´ve been reading the blogs of some of the other people on the trip, and theirs are SO much funnier than mine! But I know you love me, so thanks for still reading mine! You know I love you and miss you all! Stay tuned for my exploits in Italy!
Arleta
Today we got to go on a cruise down the Bosphorous Strait, which separates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side. The other day we got to actually cross over and spend some time at a university on the Asian side, so that was pretty cool! I can actually say I have been to three continents in the last five days. We also got to go the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar, which are two of the oldest markets in the modern world (we´re talking like the 16th century). There were a lot touristy things that you would expect from a market like that, but there were a lot of surprisingly expensive things, like rings for 4000 lira and Arabian carpets for 2000. And it was a cool experience that you pretty much can´t get anywhere else.
Tonight there is a HUGE football (or for all you uncultured Americans out there, soccer) game tonight between Russia and Germany, and the entire city has been crazy all day. There are tv screen set up on a ton of the buildings, and everyone is wearing some kind of jersey. They told us not to go out late tonight because they take their football VERY seriously. And I thought drunk fraternity guys at UGA really hated the Florida Gators...
Tomorrow we are flying to Venice and from there taking a train to Verona. This part of the trip has seemed so far away for so long, and it´s finally here! Verona is definitely a much smaller town than Istanbul, so it will be an interesting contrast. We have an orientation about our classes and such on Friday, and then we actually start classes on Monday. Being in class from 8-12:45 Monday-Thursday = not my idea of a vacation. But it will be worth it!
Thanks for reading these. I´ve been reading the blogs of some of the other people on the trip, and theirs are SO much funnier than mine! But I know you love me, so thanks for still reading mine! You know I love you and miss you all! Stay tuned for my exploits in Italy!
Arleta
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Day 2 in Turkey!
Hey guys!
So you´ll have to forgive me, since I am at an Internet cafe and the keyboard is a little different than in the states...
Today was really busy! Jet lag + getting up early = a lot of unhappy campers, but they had coffee downstairs so I was good to go. They took us to the Old City, aka the part that used to be Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empireş until the Roman Empire fell and was then then the capital of the Ottoman Empire. We went to two mosques today. One, the Hagia Sofia, was originally a church in the sixth century but was made into a mosque when the Turks took over. The other one, the Blue Mosque, is absolutely breathtaking. As the name would suggest, the inside was filled with blue tiles that cost an insane amount of money. We had to take off our shoes, and the girls had to cover their shoulders and legs. There were a lot of people inside doing their prayers. Interestingly, this mosque was viewed as a house of God, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims were invited to pray. Pretty cool stuff. We also saw an old palace where the sultans and their nobles used to live. Inside, they had all kinds of old artifacts from various sultans and religious figures. They had a lot of things from Muhammad´s tomb. However, the coolest part was seeing John the Baptists arm and hand that were cut off by Herod, and even the top of his skull was there. They had part of the bronze covering moved away from John the Baptists arm, and you could see the bones and stuff. Pretty cool. They even had a bowl that allegedly belonged to Abraham and a staff that belonged to Moses. And to think that we in the States consider a tissue that George Washington may or may not have sneezed on to be a historical artifact.
The food is better than I thought...lots of bread, beans, potatos, fruit, and weird meat stuff. And lots and lots and lots of kebabs! Fortunately they have coke, coke light, etc. The tap water is not safe to drink, but we just buy water bottles for brushing our teeth and drinking.
Well I must go now...it is almost dinner time here in Turkey! Hope things are going well in the States!
Arleta
So you´ll have to forgive me, since I am at an Internet cafe and the keyboard is a little different than in the states...
Today was really busy! Jet lag + getting up early = a lot of unhappy campers, but they had coffee downstairs so I was good to go. They took us to the Old City, aka the part that used to be Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empireş until the Roman Empire fell and was then then the capital of the Ottoman Empire. We went to two mosques today. One, the Hagia Sofia, was originally a church in the sixth century but was made into a mosque when the Turks took over. The other one, the Blue Mosque, is absolutely breathtaking. As the name would suggest, the inside was filled with blue tiles that cost an insane amount of money. We had to take off our shoes, and the girls had to cover their shoulders and legs. There were a lot of people inside doing their prayers. Interestingly, this mosque was viewed as a house of God, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims were invited to pray. Pretty cool stuff. We also saw an old palace where the sultans and their nobles used to live. Inside, they had all kinds of old artifacts from various sultans and religious figures. They had a lot of things from Muhammad´s tomb. However, the coolest part was seeing John the Baptists arm and hand that were cut off by Herod, and even the top of his skull was there. They had part of the bronze covering moved away from John the Baptists arm, and you could see the bones and stuff. Pretty cool. They even had a bowl that allegedly belonged to Abraham and a staff that belonged to Moses. And to think that we in the States consider a tissue that George Washington may or may not have sneezed on to be a historical artifact.
The food is better than I thought...lots of bread, beans, potatos, fruit, and weird meat stuff. And lots and lots and lots of kebabs! Fortunately they have coke, coke light, etc. The tap water is not safe to drink, but we just buy water bottles for brushing our teeth and drinking.
Well I must go now...it is almost dinner time here in Turkey! Hope things are going well in the States!
Arleta
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