Day 15: Arrival in Santorini and Oia

We got up pretty early this morning to take a shuttle bus to the harbor, where we got on a bigger ferry than last time. The ride to santorini lasted about two hours, and I slept for most of it. Once off the ferry, we climbed on a bus and went up a bunch of switchbacks to the top of the volcano’s rim, where most towns are located. We’re staying at another resort and it’s absolutely beautiful (google el greco on santorini!). We’re only a five minute walk from santorini’s capital, fira. We had a short class to listen to two presentations before leaving to check out our rooms.

A bunch of us met to walk for lunch, but I went back to the hotel shortly after getting to restaurant. My stomach hurt and it was really hot and fragrant in the restaurant. Not a good combination.

After a small nap, i met up with erica, jenna, matt, meghan, and brooke and we all took the bus to Oia (pronounced eeyuh, like i used to call andrea), which is the city in the sisterhood of the traveling pants. the city is adorable - the roads are tiny and winding and full of shops. we took a bunch of pictures with amazing views, and i bought a present for mandi. we were going to watch the sunset there, but we were getting really hungry. so hungry, in fact, that we bought gyros at the bus station instead of waiting to get back to fira. let me just say that actual greek gyros are about 10 million times better than american gyros.

we've all been sitting in the lobby on our computers (except for me because i didn't bring mine) and talking since we got back.

Tomorrow is completely free here, but I’m not really very happy with the choices of things to do. There are only two package deals being offered to us, and they’re both pretty expensive. I wouldn’t mind spending the money, but I have two things that I really want to do and one tour does one while the other tour does the other. Both are then filled with things that I’m not too interested in paying for. So I’m one of three people going off alone. I think Meghan is going to come with me, so hopefully we'll be able to find the individual things we want to do. goodnight from santorini!

Day 14: Knossos Castle

We all met in the morning in the lobby, where lisa and john distributed our bus tickets for the day. It took us as a group to Knossos castle, which was slightly disappointing because the majority of it was reconstruction based on one man’s interpretation of what he thought a minoan castle would look like. It was interesting though because the castle’s first floor, which is believed to be relatively accurate, is completely crazy. Hallways seem to be placed at random. This was the supposed labyrinth of crete that housed the minotaur. It was also impressive to see the ruins of a castle that spanned 22,000 square meters. Just a side note: I think we’ve pretty much used every form of transportation at this point. Big plane, little plane, ferry, charter bus, public bus. There haven’t been any taxis or subways though.

We took the bus back to the circle where our hotel is, and walked straight to the archeological museum around the corner. It was under renovation so the exhibit was pretty small, but it was still pretty interesting. The pottery was surprisingly different from everything else we’ve seen – a lot of it had shapes protruding from the main piece. For example, there was a pot with flowers sticking out of the sides. My favorite part was at the very end – there were a bunch of marble statues. That’s nothing too special, considering the number of statues we’ve seen on this trip, but there were two next to each other that really impressed me. The first was a statue from the first century BC and the second was from the second century AD. The older one was a block of rough stone with a relief of a profile view of a person. The second was the kind of statue you expect to see – fully body, amazing detail, and doesn’t even look like rock. The juxtaposition of these two dramatically different examples of minoan sculptures was just really interesting to me.

After the museum, we had class in the lobby before splitting up for lunch. I went with a larger group, but jenna and I ended up breaking away from them and going by ourselves. we saw a lot of greek hippies who were camped out under the protest banners. we were at the same restaurant as the night before and, as we left, our waiter told us that if we came back for dinner he would give our whole table freak rocky. NO THANKS. But we went back anyway haha. After lunch, we got some gelato and went into a bunch of shops.

We met up with Erica, brooke, Meghan, and matt and all walked down to the harbor. We walked along a VERY long pier. We walked for about twenty minutes before getting to what we thought was the end. But surprise, it kept going around the corner. We decided to turn back because we were getting a little hungry for dinner. While we were on the pier we made a friend – a german shepherd who we named zeus. He would walk ahead of us and then stop and turn around and wait for us. It was really cute. We shopped on the way back from the hotel and I bought a rug since I didn’t get one in turkey. It isn’t Persian, but it’s hand-embroidered silk. It’s beautiful.

When we got back to the circle, the crowd was intense for the protest, which was gearing up again. We went back to the same restaurant an met Chelsea, lisa, and john there. John convinced the waiter to bring us free mythos (greek beer) instead of rocky, so I didn’t need to buy a drink! We watched the protesters while we ate, and they were much louder than last night. It was pretty cool to be a part of it.

I met jenna’s boyfriend aaron on skype before going to bed. He accidentally called me sally. Who names their kid sally anymore? I also met her dogs louie and buster. She was more excited to see them than aaron.

I need to do laundry pretty badly again… but tomorrow morning we leave for santorini so it will have to wait. I can’t believe this is the last week!

Day 13: The Tiny Plane and the Protest

guess what? crete's internet is free! fantastic. :]

we had another late start, which was nice. i walked back to old town with erica, jenna, matt, brooke, and meghan and we all got a little shopping done. actually, i didn't. i tried, but old town was expensive, and all this money-spending is stressing me out. after that, we all met in the lobby for class, which turned out to be frustrating for a lot of people, but i guess that's what you get when you take 13 students abroad and 11 of them are girls. after class we had a couple hours before the bus took us to the airport, so meghan, shannon, and i walked to get some postcards and relax on the beach for a little bit. i've decided that while rocky beaches are not ideal for walking, swimming, or any kind of human interaction, they do sound quite nice. much nicer than water on boring old sand.

then we all took our bus to the airport, which was only a few minutes away. we got through security pretty quickly after rearranging our bags to make sure that no one had to pay extra for their heavy bags. i was 7 kilos under the limit! by the time we were done putting other people's things in my bag, i was only 2 kilos from the limit hahaha. we waited around for a while before riding a bus across the tarmac to our TINY plane. it had 9 rows with two chairs on each side. the ninth row had five seats total and no aisle. i was in the last row on the right window and the plane's wings were on top of the plane, which meant i got to watch the landing gear go up and down like a foot from my face. it was very cool and definitely helped to distract me from the fact that we were in a miniature plane flying over lots and lots of water.

we landed safely in crete after about 50 minutes and took an AWESOME charter bus to our hotel. this thing was over two times the length of our bus in turkey. simply insane. our hotel is pretty impressive too. it's in the middle of a square, which is actually a circle, because it's in the middle of a traffic circle. that sounds confusing. we're on the outside of the circle. but there are a lot of restaurants right next door. chelsea and i got a corner room, so it doesn't look like your every day hotel room. and our balcony wraps around the corner so it's incredibly long.

after we all got checked in, all of us went to a restaurant down the circle. we sat outside and ate some delicious food while we watched two different things. first, every tv on the restaurant porches was playing the barcelona vs. man u. game. second, there was a protest going on in the middle of the circle. there were banners everywhere and people giving loud speeches on a stage. they were protesting the euro and greece's membership in the european union. it was really cool to see. after our meal, our waiter gave everyone free shots of rocky, which tastes like licorice. he cheered and took a shot at each of our four tables hahaha. i love the waiters here. they're always fun (and old, which is interesting). in turkey, they dilute rocky with water and it turns a milky color (rick steve's was drinking this on the train). but in greece, they drink it straight, and in shot form. i can't even drink diluted rocky, so i left my shot on the table. i also saw the faces of everyone else when they took their shots. i don't think i missed much. we all went to bed pretty early because this trip is starting to wear us down a little bit!

Day 12: Old Town Rhodes

we got to sleep in this morning! but erica's alarm had the wrong time so she called me at 8:30 anways. our conversation went like this:

erica: "is this stephanie?"

me: "nnnngggg YUH."

erica: "are you awake?"

me: "no."

erica: "okay bye."

me: "bye."

i got up five minutes later and showered and went down to breakfast.

we had class after breakfast, where we found out what we would be doing for the day. we don't have any more tour guides, so it's all on us from here on out.

i got with jenna, erica, brooke, meghan, and kate and we all walked to old town rhodes after stopping at a few banks. old town rhodes is completely walled in from medieval times, and has a few gate entrances. the bank quest caused us to go in through the wrong gate, and we wound up in the moat of the castle. not even kidding. we were stuck down there for half an hour and couldn't find our way out. but we saw pretty much a 360 view of the castle, which was one building we were required to see. we finally got out, but old town and its maps are super confusing. we got lost so many times trying to find the museum. after asking lots of people who all pointed us in opposite directions, we found it. we walked the museum and met a guy from new york named noah. we ended up walking around with him and going to lunch with him after touring old town.

after lunch we all went to the hotel to get towels and then headed for the beach. i don't know what's up with these rock beaches, but they need to stop. it really hurts my feet. we met jacee and eddie down there and they gave up the snorkeling gear they had just bought, so i ran back up to the hotel to put my contacts in so i could snorkel.

the water was a little chilly, but not too bad. meghan, brooke, and i walked down the beach to the large rocks and snorkeled around there. we stalked schools of fish and jumped off of tall rocks. it was tons of fun, but i did freak out a little the first few times i tried snorkeling. i just couldn't get used to breathing through that tiny tube. but stalking the fish helped. my breathing sounded like darth vader so i just imagined him stalking a bunch of oblivious fish and i was fine.

after swimming in the sea i bought some sun glasses since my non-prescription ones broke in my bag. then we went to the hotel to rinse off and get ready for dinner. we all met downstairs and a big group of us went to a place called chicken mike's. it was run by two old men who were ADORABLE and kept bringing us free wine. after a few hours, the wedding party that was there left and they gave us their leftover champagne! needless to say, we all have fun tonight.

tomorrow is another partial free day in rhodes before we fly to crete at night. noah is actually going to be on our plane, which is strangely coincidental. it's funny how many people you meet from the states and how comfortable you immediately feel around them just because you speak the same language and can relate to one another.

i'm really sleepy now and actually paying for this internet. hopefully crete will be free. goodnight from rhodes!

Day 11: The Ferry

this was probably the most uneventful day of the whole trip so far, and the mood was sad since no one was ready to leave turkey behind. we woke up early to start our drive to marmaris, the port where we were going to catch the ferry to rhodes. we all hugged sevim goodbye and watched as the hotel staff carried a sign around our bus reading, "kusadasi will miss you." we also all got a box of turkish delight from the travel agency that sevim works for.

i slept for the majority of our four hour bus ride. there's really not much else to do, especially when jenna is too tired to entertain me. :] we arrived in marmaris and had an hour for lunch before taking a short driving tour of the coast and then driving to the ferry. we waited for a while, got our tickets checked and bags scanned, and then waited some more. our bus driver didn't leave us until we had checked in, and when he saw we were okay, he drove away honking his horn and waving. at this point brooke and i gave our presentations. i think it went pretty well, but i guess we'll have to wait and see what my teachers thought.

we had all camped out in front of this giant ferry, but then we found out we were taking the one about a quarter of the size right next to it. none of us were thrilled, since we had heard it was a 4 hour ride. the inside of the ferry looked a lot like a very wide airplane. to our surprise and delight, it only took about an hour to get to rhodes. our bus took us straight to the hotel, where we found very tiny rooms with very tiny bathrooms and very tiny showers waiting for us. it's still a fabulous hotel, just in miniature.

a bunch of the girls went to dinner together - we all had gyros - before coming back to the hotel and going to bed earlier than usual.

since this is a short post, i wanted to share the story of our turkish bus driver. he was such an adorable old man. :]

when he was young, he had an arranged marriage after serving in the military. the girl's family was much wealthier than his, and they would only send a picture of the girl. she was very pretty, and the marriage was set. the first time they met, she was far away and they were walking toward each other. as they got closer, he saw that she was quite large, so he ran away. literally. so then he met another girl and fell in love with her, but her family would not let them get married because he was too poor. in turkey, especially back then, a boy was not allowed inside a girl's house unless they were engaged. he went to her house eleven times asking to be let in and for her hand, and every time he was refused. finally, he went to her house in the middle of a snow storm and waited until her grandma was outside. when her grandma saw him, she immediately invited him inside to get warm. they got married, and still love each other.

Day 10: Virgin Mary House and Ephesus

today was our last full day in turkey. i woke up even more tired than the day before. after breakfast and erica's speech on ephesus, we hopped on the bus and headed to the Virgin Mary House. this is the place that Mary spent the final years of her life. it was very small, but very moving. you could light candles for prayers, write a wish down and attach it to the wall, and drink water from the fountain. the legend is that drinking the fountain gives you happiness for the rest of your life.

after that, we drove to ephesus. i think a lot of us were building this up in our heads because everyone kept saying how much better than perge it was. the most impressive things to me were the library, which is the most well-known image of ephesus, and the fact that only 15 percent of the city has actually been excavated. there were tons of cruise passengers again, and i know that we are all getting tired of the crowds. that is one thing we will definitely not miss.

we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of a golden statue of Mary and the fault line that supplies the fountain at the top of the hill before continuing on to lunch.

after lunch we went around the back of the restaurant to a rug place. we got to see them spin the silk from the silk worms, watch women actually make the rugs, drink free drinks, and then see an amazing rug show. they continuously roll rugs out on top of each other. after that i wanted to buy one, but the place was very high quality. the only one in my budget was natural colors. it was very beautful, but i really had my heart set on something with color. i wasn't going to spend my maximum price on something i wasn't in love with. so i left empty handed and pretty disappointed.

but once again, texas was a great point of conversation. the man who was showing me rugs and taking me from room to room asked where i was from. he got SO excited when i told him. he said that his fiance was from beaumont and that he always gets excited to meet texans. he also told me he would send me a christmas card if i bought the rug hahaha.

after we left, we went to the selcuk museum, which had a lot of ruins found at ephesus. we weren't there long, and on the way back to the hotel we stopped at the ruins of the temple of artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. there is only one column left out of 127, and there was a bird's nest on top of it.

sevim told us goodbye on the ride back to the hotel. we are all so sad to see her go, and to leave turkey behind. i know i'm not the only one who wants to come back here some day. even though we were all dragging quite a bit today, the beauty of this country never ceased to amaze me.

i spent the rest of the night accidentally falling asleep on my journal at my desk and finishing up my project because i'm presenting tomorrow on the ferry from turkey to rhodes. i don't think i've mentioned it before, but i'm required to give a speech and write a paper on the topic of my choosing that has relevance to the course. i chose the seven wonders of the ancient world. maybe i'll get the chance to post something about my topic - it's been really interesting to research. and now i should have more time since i'm getting this over with fairly early!

goodnight from turkey for the last time. <3

Day 9: Aphrodisias

I was super tired this morning, but we had a lot of driving to do. so the first thing that happened was i passed out in the back of the bus on the way to kusadasi.

we went to the city of aphrodisias, or aphrodite. we got off the bus and then hopped on a cart on the back of a tractor so we could be taken to the start of the city tour. it was not nearly as impressive as perge, and it was difficult to imagine it as an actual, functional city because everything was much more dilapidated and there was a lot more rubble. but there were still a few impressive columns and gates. after seeing so much, i STILL can't get over the detail that these people carved into marble. oh and there were a lot of cats. again.

after lunch, which included a singing and guitar-playing old man with a dancing parrot that i got to hold, and some more bus riding, we arrived at a leather shop. we were served apple tea while models put on a fashion show for us. it was so cool, and a few people from the group were pulled up to model more leather jackets. after the show, they showed us around there shop and tried to get me to buy leather jackets. i met the designer for burberry's leather line and he tried to convince me to buy his jacket. i loved it, but it was still too much (even after his offer of 75% off!). he called me a spice girl and a charlie's angel and then i took a picture with him.

we arrived at our amazing hotel on the beach and immediately tried to go down to the pier that has hammocks and a diving board, but they were closing it up for the afternoon. so instead of swimming in the sea, a few of us lounged in the pool. after a yummy buffet dinner and ice cream bar, i worked on my speech for a few hours before going to bed. i could hear the waves crashing outside our balcony door as i fell asleep. :]

Day 8: Pamukkale

this morning we got up and got on the bus. again. the bus rides are starting to get a little rough, but we only have a few more days of it. personally, i'd gladly take more bumpy bus rides over a ferry ride. we'll see how that turns out in a few days! the bus ride was about four hours. we stopped a little over half way to get lunch. i bought two chocolate bars but i didn't know how much they were before i paid. they were the freaking most expensive chocolate bars i've ever bought. and then they melted in the bus. and then i lost half of one. bad chocolate day.

denizli is a town located in a valley in the mountains. before andrea gets all excited and starts envisioning colorado, the mountains aren't quite that big. only a very few have snow on them, and i don't think we're deep enough to be around those right now. we crossed town pretty quickly and went straight up the other side to pamukkale.

i'm going to try to explain it, but you should probably google it too because it's very strange and pretty looking. pamukkale is a limestone formation of staggered pools down the side of a mountain. the shallow water that collects in the pools and flows down the white rock is bright blue and very warm. i would know because i got to walk down the pools. there were a lot of people swimming, and even more people wearing inappropriate swimwear. no one was naked, but there were a lot of speedos and a lot of old ladies in bikinis. but the rest of it was pretty haha. there is something similar at yellowstone.

the same area is also home to the hieropolis, another ancient city. it was a lot more destroyed than the previous city, and everything was very mossy due to the hotsprings in the area. there's an amphitheatre that i didn't get to see, but i did get to walk along the biggest graveyard in the world. there were rock sarcophogi that had been unearthed everywhere.

we left the hieropolis and pamukkale and came to the hotel, which is so much nicer than the last one (and it's only 4 stars instead of a 5 star like the gross one...). too bad we're only here one night. we all went down to the pool for a swim after a super hot day, but the water was freezing so we bailed for the natural hot springs. the one pool was too cool so we got in the nasty yellow colored one. it had lots of algae in it that's supposedly good for your skin. it was hothothot. we met an old man who is the chief physician at the university of arkansas and other people from australia. they asked us all sorts of questions and we all talked about the constitution and politics and all kinds of things! it was very interesting. oh and everyone loves texas. when they ask where we're from everyone always says illinois and the person will say, "ohhh." and then i say, "i'm from TEXAS!" and the person always gets really excited! i even talked about the red river rivalry because one lady had two daughters who went to UT and the man from arkansas had one too. they thought i would be happy so they were holding up their longhorns so i quickly made a face, turned it upside down, and reminded them who won this last year.

i don't think i've mentioned this, but i also met an older man from lousiana a few nights ago and a girl from las colinas on the second night in istanbul. and no one from illinois. southerners are the best travelers, i guess. :]

Day 7: Perge and the Waterfall

today was another fun day! we got up early (again) and drove about half an hour to an old amphiteatre. it was only half of a circle, but still very impressive. we had fun climbing up and down the eroded steps and taking pictures all over. while were leaving, we spotted four little kittens underneath a gate! naturally, being girls, jenna and brooke and i picked them up and played with them. so cute :]

after leaving the amphitheatre, we went to the ancient city of perge. it was destroyed but earthquakes over thousands of years, but there are still walls and columns standing . we walked down the stone road just like people did many years before. we saw beautiful examples of all the types of columns. i couldn't believe the detail in the leaves on the ionic ones. we posed on pedestals that had lost their statues and climbed all of the rocks. apparently ephesus is much more amazing... i can't wait!

after this we went to the anatolia museum and saw the majority of the marble statues that were missing from perge. later on in class, john told us about part of the hercules statue we saw. he said that the leg that was missing was recently found in the collection in boston's museum. turkey and the u.s. are now negotiating the return of hercules' leg.

then we went to lunch on the coast. we had a beautiful view while we ate fish (whole with the head and bones!). very tricky.

the last stop was the best of the day. we drove to a waterfall and hiked down to it. it was absolutely breathtaking. we stayed for quite a while and took SO many pictures. we even convinced our tour guide sevim to get in one! we all like her a lot. there was a small stone bridge crossing the river so you could see it from all angles. there was even a little platform behind the water. jenna, brooke, and i got drenched taking pictures back there because we took so many!

we came back to the hotel, had class, and then jenna and i were going to go to the beach and then eat dinner. we went down to the restaurant to give her roommate the key, but got suckered into eating right away because they were serving watermelon. after dinner, we recr uited a few more girls to walk the few minutes to the beach. it turned out to be nothing but rocks, which was hard and slightly painful to walk on. there was a slope down right at the water's edge. naturally, i was the first one in the water, but it was cold so i tried to run back up the hill and up of the water. let me just say that big, loose rocks are impossible to climb. i was on my hands and knees trying to get out of the water. it attracted a lot of stares and laughs from the locals.

i came up to jenna's room and, after a while, we heard lots of cheering and honking. there were even fireworks in the distance. we were out on her balcony watching when a huge group of people flooded the street in front of the hotel and started setting off fireworks and sparklers. they were waving flags that looked israeli or something else and for a terrifying moment i thought they were burning them. they even started rocking a car back and forth on the street. we were videoing it because we really thought we were witnessing a riot. apparently people were just really excited about a soccer match though hahaha. it's been over and hour and the incessant honking and blinking hazard lights of cars driving by still has not stopped. guess they liked the outcome of the game.

tomorrow we drive to pamukkale. only a few more days left in turkey! greece has been my number one destination for so long, but i feel like i would give it up to stay here. goodnight!

Day 6: The Bus Ride and Rumi

yesterday was slightly less eventful. we woke up early and piled all of us stuff onto our bus to drive over 8 hours to antalya, a city on the coast. the ride there were full of sleep and beautiful scenery.

halfway there we stopped in the town of mevlana, which is the most conservative city in the turkey. mevlana was named after the first whirling dervish, who is also known as the poet rumi. we went into an old mosque that was converted to a museum in the 30s where many dervishes, including rumi, are buried. it was packed, like everywhere else we have gone, but the difference here was the people. they weren't tourists... they were muslims. and they were very angry that we were there. we were all elbowed, pushed, shoved, and kicked. we were also stared at, talked about, and laughed at. it was very frustrating for all of us, especially to learn about how important rumi's philosphies are to their religion. he said that everyone should come to this place - people of all religions - because everyone deserved God's grace. how ironic that he is so important to them but they were so unhospitable to people of another culture.

this has been the first time that we have felt singled out. everywhere else, even in the smaller, less touristy towns, people have been overwhemingly friendly and helpful. this isn't going to ruin my perception of the turkish people, but it does show me a side that i don't want to encounter again.

just a little bit about dervishes: their longs, white skirts symbolize the world, which is forever spinning; their short jackets symbolize burial garments; and their tall hats symbolize tombstones. they spin endlessly with their right hands open toward Heaven and their left hands open toward the Earth to channel God's grace to mankind.

we got back on the bus after lunch in mevlana and then stopped at a small rest stop in the mountains a few hours later. the air was cool and fresh and it was hard to believe the change in landscape. from there we drove to antalya. it's literally as if the mountains just rise out of the sea. and there are palm trees!

while we were meeting for class, two turkish men sat down and listened to our conversation. they actually ended up contributing to our discussions, which was really cool. after class, they invited us to get drinks in the lounge, which a bunch of us ended up doing. we asked questions about everything turkish while they asked us questions about our lives. it's so fun getting to meet local people and hear their opinions and about their lives.

p.s. never stay at the falez hotel. they may be 5 star, but they are RUDE and HORRIBLE.

Day 5: The Underground City and Turkish Night

lessons learned in turkey today: people don't pay attention to traffic signs. our bus driver frequently speeds right through stop signs (which actually say DUR, which i find hilarious). he also drives down the middle of the road. if there's a median, he drives straddling two lanes. so does everyone else. what's the point of more than one lane then? it's great.

today has been my favorite day so far, no competition. here's why!

when we got up this morning, we headed straight for the underground city, which is 11 stories of man-made caves that christians used as safe houses when they were being threatened. we went to the largest one, but there are 36 known cities throughout cappadocia. there were parts of the tour that were very cramped and uncomfortable (good thing i'm not claustrophobic), and i couldn't even imagine walking those tiny little hallways in the dark.

after our tour, where i hit my head at least once, we went to take pictures of pigeon valley, which is basically a canyon that looks similar to mesa verde, but it has little square holes carved into the rock for the pigeons who populate the area. it started to rain a little, but we were only outside for a few minutes.

across the street, we went into the onyx factory. we got a tour of the place and then got to look around in the showrooms, which have a LOT more than onyx. they also talked about the number one stone in turkey: turkish turquoise. i bought quite a few presents here, plus a coral rose necklace for myself.



at some point we stopped at a pottery factory, where we got another demonstration. the majority of their products are hand-painted and absolutely stunning (and expensive!). we even watched a man make a pot who has been making pottery for 24 years. he made it look so simple! one of the girls, jacee, got to make something. it was hilarious watching her try while the potter, who didn't speak english, gave instructions and the owner, who spoke english but didn't make pottery, translated. at one point the potter said something in turkish to the other man and they laughed. our guide later translated it to mean, "what the hell is she doing?" but it still ended up perfect! with a lot of the potter's help, of course. i also bought a few presents here. :]

one of our last big stops for the day was another set of wall-carved houses. we toured small churches with beautiful frescoes and carvings. amazing views.

there were quite a lot of ten minute stops to take pictures of rocks along the way, and i can't remember what happened when. i can't even remember when we had lunch! all i know is it was very tasty. there were also a couple camel rides today. jacee and eddy weaved through a bunch of buses, which looked really awkward. i didn't ride a camel because they kept on looking at me weird. i thought they were going to spit on me. so i kept my distance and decided to save that for another day.








after we got back and had class and ate dinner, my group of friends went to turkish night. it was an optional thing that cost extra, and we were the only four people willing to go. so it was us, one of my professors, and our guide sevim. girls' night! this was such an amazing experience. the room was underground and circular, with 8 archways. each archway had booths for people with unlimited drinks and appetizers. first to perform were whirling dervishes. these men spin in flawless circles for minutes on end to achieve a transcendental state. it was so beautiful to see, and it made me have a sort of out-of-body experience as well. very amazing.


after them came a lot of traditional turkish dancers, including belly dancers. there were a few times that brooke and i got pulled out to dance, shortly followed by erica and jenna (and even lisa one time!) and we had so much fun. at the end, they kept playing music (some turkish, some spanish) and just let everyone dance. after a few songs we decided to head back to the hotel. and here i am, exhausted after a wonderful day of sight-seeing, picture-posing, lots-of-money-spending, laughing, and dancing.

i hope everyone has a fantastic friday. tomorrow we head out on an 8 hour bus ride ( :[ ) to the mediterranean coast. hopefully i'll have internet at the next hotel, but i doubt i'll have too much to say. i love you all, goodnight!