Santorini!

I arrived in Santorini on Tuesday, glad to be leaving behind the memory of Athens. I was off to a fresh start. Kinda. I booked a hostel called Youth Hostel Anna that had only 1 rating on hostelworld.com the time I booked it. It was 8 euros for a 4 bed ensuite, really really good. And they picked up from the port for free.

I got to the hostel with a girl I met on the ferry named Margarita who is studying in Wales. We walked around after settling, looking for something to eat. There was nothing. I felt like I was in a place that had seen no humans for the last year. Not only was nothing open (which is understandable seeing that its not excatly peak season) but there was nothing around. No shops, stores... we were in the middle of nowhere. We did find 1 resturant and I had Mousakka (an egg plant Greek dish).

After eating we got back to the hostel and discovered it had no water. Yup, no water. No water. I still can't believe it. The lady eventually called someone to fix it but Margarita and I decided we would find a place close to the city center the next day.

The next day we found a hotel and then went on a tour of Santorini-- the volcano, the hot springs and sailed by Therissa because the weather was too bad to dock. We later went to Oia with another girl we met named Bilie and watched the sun set beyond the blue domed white churches. Oh yes, at the hot springs, I was adventerous and jumed out of the ferry, into the water, with the intent on swimming to the springs. I changed my mind though and climbed back into the boat :). It was a lot of fun. Margarita took a pic which I shall hopefully have soon. I also rode on a donkey, up the 700 steps from the port at Fira to the top.

Santorini is amazing because its like being in a dream. The houses are of such a simple, geometric design, yet they are so unusal it feels surreal. In addition, the scenery is so beautiful it doesn't seem real. I felt like I was in a movie like Lord of the Rings with amazing views and scenery.

My last stops will be Crete and then Rome.

<< Fast Forward

Internet in Greece is quite expensive which is why I haven't posted for a while. Since my last post I went to Pamukkale, then took a ferry to Samos, got stuck on Samos for 2 days because of bad weather, then went to Athens, which was the trip where everything seemed to go wrong, and then took a ferry to where I am now, Santorini.

Pamukkale was one of the highlights of my trip so far. Its about 3 hours away from Ephesus by bus. It means "cotton castle" in Turkish because of these white terraces. They don't look like cotton to me but they are so white it looks like someone bleaches them every morning before the tourist come. The city is formed by hot springs from the city of Hierapolis which flows over limestone, eroding it into carbon dioxide and calcium deposits. So the area of the terrace is white and has pools of water which stay warm all year round.

The city was also really cool because there is also ruins. It is in the middle of all these mountains. It is a newly excavated city and its so amazing because all these ruins are lying all around the grass.

After I left Pamukkale with the tour group I went back to the hotel and took a ferry the next morning to Samos where I was to catch a later ferry to go to Athens. Well, the weather at Samos was really bad. It was a sunny day but it was so windy. As I boarded the ferry I felt as though if I lingered, I would have been pushed into the sea. And the ferry workers yelled "quickly!" to all of us as we were boarding and threw us in.

So we sat in the ferry all night long. I was luck to cross paths with a group of 3 Austrialian girls who are super nice. I had seen them first in Istanbul and then they were on my same ferry. I was really tired when I boarded so I told them that I was going to go upstairs and take a nap. I woke up about 2 hours later and when I met them on the lower deck they were like, "do you know we haven't moved?". I thought, "Yeah, I'd figured you'd still be here. Its only been a couple of hours." But then they said, "No. We're still in the port. We haven't moved." I looked outside and saw for myself that the ferry wasn't moving. They informed me that the weather made it too dangerous for us to leave the port and that the crew was waiting for conditions to improve. Well we were on the ferry all night long: from 16:30 that Thursday to 9:00 the following Friday.

Friday when we "woke up" (it was hard to sleep as you can imagine) we found something to eat and went back to the ferry at 16:30. The weather was better that day and I made it to Athens the following morining at 8:00.

Athens... oh boy... it was quite a trip. One of those trips where nothing seems to go your way... I was there 2 days but it felt like I was there for a week...

A beautiful city

I will really miss Istanbul. I left the city last night at 8pm to take a bus to the ancient city of Ephesus. I am spending tonight in the cıty and will visit Pamukkale tomorrow. The pictures of Pamukkale look beautiful. After Pamukkale I plan on going back to Istanbul and then flyıng to Athens where I wıll hopefully be able to meet up wıth my flatmate Elena. Then I think I wıll take a ferry to Santorini and fly over to Rome.


Istanbul is a beautiful cıty. On Sunday I spent maybe 3 hours in one place: on a bench in front of a fountain between Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. It was great to be on my own. A Turkish family sat next to me and after an hour asked me where I was from. Their daughter was really pretty. She was about 10 and didn't speak English. She picked some daisies nearby and I took one and put in my hair. I asked if she wanted a picture and she nodded yes so I took pıctures of her and her brother by the fountain. I then took a pıcture wıth the Turkısh women sitting by me on the bench. I found them to be really friendly people.


On Sunday the area was full of the Turkish people dressed for religious services. And they were all there just spendıng tıme wıth their families, sittıng ın the grass or on the bench and takıng pictures. When I was on the bench, a Turkish girl around 13 or 14 years old came up to me and asked if she could take a pıcture of me. An hour before that another girl had asked the same thing. The first time I said yes although it thought it was a bit weird. But then after I spent time sitting on the bench I didn't think it to be so stange. For me, seeing all the Muslims dressed in their garb was so interesting and I really wanted to get a picture of them without being rude. So to this girl I suppose I was equally as fascinating. After I took a picture with her, her friend was like, "Me too!" And then 4 Turkish gırls came all around me for the picture. And then this adult Turkish women looked at me and I was lıike, "Do you want a pıcture too?" So we took a pıcture. And then I got a picture with one of the Turkısh gırls. Also, many of the Turkish girls would pass by me and give me huge smiles. It was a nice exchange of cultures.

A 5 mın walk from my hostel ıs the Marmara sea. It is so beautıful. I went to the Topkapi Palace and again it was breathtakıng. It contains relics such as the Prophet Muhammed's sword, hair, and teeth. The whole experience in Istanbul was wonderful.

Berlin!

I arrived in Berlin so completely worn out! My flight left at 6:15AM. I left my cousin’s at 2:15 AM and went to sleep 11 pm. I took a train from the airport to my hostel. These British girls and I were in front of the ticket machine for about 10 minutes trying to figure out which ticket to buy. I looked over and asked if they could make sense of the machine. This British guy behind us helped us buy our ticket. Finding the hostel was pretty easy from then on. I had instructions from the web and got off at the metro stop, transferred to the next line I needed, and got off again. As I exited the station I looked back in my notebook for the next instructions and realized there weren't any! Thanking God I picked up a map from the airport, I looked for a road called Meininger and could not find it anywhere. I stopped a guy walking and do what I normally do in countries where I don't speak the language-- point and smile. I pointed to the street name in my notebook and he couldn't find it on the map either. But then a man walking shouted over to us, asking what I was looking for. God Bless this man. He spoke little English but enough to point me in the direction I needed to walk. I dragged my little luggage with me and wha-la, I see the sign Meininger. I'm all smiles from here. It is such a relief to find the hostel!

When I checked in there was a large group of school kids on a field trip. The lady at the front desk was a bit occupied with them so it took about 20 mın before I got my room. But when I opened the door it was only me. 4 beds all to myself. Well, not really, but at least a room to myself, with a very comfortable looking bed.


I wanted a really low key day after all of my traveling. So I found a place to get my pictures on a CD, then found a kebab place and spent 2 euros on lunch. The guy who owned the kebab store was from Alabama! Of all places! But he left there when he was young. His English was limited and I had to strain and focus to understand him. But I felt like I was "connecting" with the locals. I asked him how to pronounce some of the words in my German guide book. When I left he was like, "see you! That's American for goodbye, right?" Haha, at was so cute. I was like, "yes! See you later!” It was kında rainy so I decided to walk to a place (can’t remember the name but will look it up later). And walked back to my hostel. It was a low key day.

The next day I took the metro over to the Pergamum museum. I felt so proud to have conquered the Berlin underground system. I saw the Ishtar gate and the Pergamum alter. Now normally I get so enthusiastic about art. I'll see paintings like Las Meninas and feel faint type of thing. But here I just was not feeling at. I left about an hour later and went to a coffee shop and wrote some post cards. I was really feeling like gong back to bed thinking I would be back in Berlin after Turkey and would do stuff then. But after my mint tea I walked over to Pariser Platz and had a good day.

Before I went back to my hostel I stopped at an internet café to get the info my my next trip. I had booked the cheapest flight to Istanbul and I didn’t even note that was at 6:15 in the morning! I thought, Oh God! Another early flight?!? I as a bit hesitant to be traveling at 3AM on the Berlin metro on my own so I thought I would leave around my hotel around 12 and camp out at the airport. It’s a good thing I didn’t. By the time I finished up packing and my laundry it was 2:45. When I got to the metro it was closed so I hailed down a cab. When we go to the airport, it was closed as well. So he dropped me off outside the door of the airport, with me and my little luggage. :( I sat freezing and crying in the rain.... okay no I’m lying. It was a bit chilly but I made it though the 40 mın. So in the airport, I was walking and looking for my KLM flight to Istanbul. I did not see it at all. Then I thought, "Oh no, is this the wrong airport?" There are 2 airports in Berlin with similar names-- THF and TXF. My heart skipped a beat as I looked up what I wrote down and saw that I was in the right airport. Then I thought, "oh God! Is this the wrong day!?!?" You know how it as when you are sleep deprived and can't make sense of things. I was trying to figure out what day of the week it was. I looked at the last of departure times and saw no Istanbul. It hit me then. Amsterdam. My flight was connecting in Amsterdam. And there it was on the screen: KLM to Amsterdam 6:15. I checked in smoothly and was off to Istanbul.

A moment to pause

I am so glad for this moment! It has been nonstop since I left Edinburgh March 24. My cousin and my sister packed me up at the train station and dropped my sister and me off in the middle of the city. We did the man sites, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Perlman and Big Ben. Now, after living in Edinburgh, I've become pretty fond of walking. After the day of sate seeing my sister and I decided we would walk from Trafalgar square over to the London bridge (the 3 pound one way metro ticket also encouraged us to walk). I'm not great with distances but it was probably another 45-50 minutes later before we approached the bridge. When we finally got there I thought "that wasn't so bad" but dared not say that to my sister.

It was such an adventure getting home. We got on buses and off buses and finally around 10pm landed at my cousin’s flat. My sister and I did some laundry, ate dinner, figured out directions to the hostel in Seville and by time we were settled it was 3 AM due to the time change. So we only got a nap that night for we had to be out of the house at 4AM to make it to Stansted for our 7AM flight to Seville.

I've been to Spain twice in the past-- Madrid last summer to visit my friend, and Madrid and Barcelona earlier this semester. I love Spain. The buildings are brightly colored and there are so many beautiful gardens and parks. The atmosphere is so romantic. And Seville was no different. Our first adventure was getting some euros in our hands. The only ATM in the airport was out of service and my sister and I didn’t want to pay the exchange fees to get our pounds converted. Luckily we found another traveler who was staying at our hostel. We agreed to take a cab to an ATM and then to our hostel and split the cost. I learned from that never to arrive in a country without their currency. We went to 2 ATMS with the cab driver before we found one that worked! But it was such a relief when I could say, "I have Euros!!"

My absolute favorite place in Seville as a palace called Alcazar. Words like "beautiful", "unbelievable", and "amazing" do not even convey how spectacular this place as. It closed at 4pm and when my sister and left I asked, "Do you feel like you could just go home now and it would have been an amazing trip?" and she nodded "yup". The place was amazing.We bumped into Julie that day or the next day (can't remember). We went to this beautiful place called Plaza de Espana. Again, words cannot describe. I could just stay there for hours and have wonderful time, it was that pretty. So Julie and I walked so much that day and were like old lades walking back to our hostel.

My sister and I spent the last day in Seville doing some shopping. Our plane was scheduled to leave Seville at 21:25 but ended up being an hour delayed. When we arrived in London after midnight, we had 15 minutes to catch the last bus back to London. And then it was another adventure hopping on and off night buses to get to our cousins flat again. It was 3 in the morning when we finally arrived.While at Stansted my sister said, "Its too bad I couldn't fly back to D.C. from here because I would just spend the night at the airport." I definitely felt the same way. The next night I repeated the same journey back to Stansted. This time I was on my way to Berlin.

AHHH!!!! I'm in Turkey!!! AHH!!!!

WOW. I *love* thıs place!! So I arrıved ın Istanbul Saturday-- flew from Berlın on a round trıp flıght. I am supposed to leave back for Berlın on Tuesday but I love thıs place so much I may just stay here, scrap Munıch and take a ferry over to Athens later next week.
Last nıght 3 Amerıcan students arrıved ın the hostel room where I am stayıng. We walked around Istanbul so they could fınd an ATM. Oh my goodness, ıt was absoutely beautful! There are mosques all over, the largest of course beıng Hagıa Sophıa and the Blue Mosque. And they are so spectaculary lıt up at nıght. It was absoutely breathtakıng. And the turkısh men are so funny. They are so foward wıth women and use all these really lame pıck up lınes. We were walkıng and thıs one Turkısh guy saıd to one of the Amerıcan gırls, you dropped somethıng. We looked down on the floor and there was nothıng but sıdewalk and he was lıke, "you dropped my heart." haha, funny.
There were also 3 Turkısh guys dancıng outsıde theır store. It was so cute I wısh I could have taken vıdeo. So I really love thıs cıty. My hostel ıs amazıng as well. It has such a relaxed atmosthpere, brıght colors-- I love ıt.
So what happened wıth Berlın??? I arrıved ın Berlın on Thursday (flew ın from London Stansted) . When I got to the passport check wındow I realızed I dıdn't know even hello ın German! And even though the man greeted me ın Englısh, I thınk I should at least be able to greet people ın there own country ın theır language.
And more to come later....

Up up and away!

In 3.5 hours I will be frantically moving around my room. My alarm clock will have just gone off and I will be quickly putting together my last few things. My train for London leaves 6:15 AM. I'll have just Saturday in the city and on Sunday I'm off to Seville! I am so excited about my trip. I have up until Munich booked (April 7). The rest I shall decide as I get further along in my journey. GoodNight!

Feelings of Home

There is a group on my schools facebook named, I have major ADD and narcolepsy when it comes to studying. I think I should join it. I went to the library today for maybe the 4th time since I've been here. I spent a good 1.5 hours locating 3 books, 2 of which are due in another 30 min. (They are on reserve here because they are 'high demand'. I'm still trying to decide if I want to hike back over to the library to return them or just pay the fine for the convience of sitting in my room). I say ADD becasue the thought came to me while reading about the staple crops of prehistoric europe, "wow, I almost feel like I could be in my room at home right now". The clouds have parted and a major ray of sun is shinning through my window. I can feel it on my face and I almost have to squint my eye. To my South Florida peeps who are thinking, "yeah, and??" the sun here is a big deal to me. And with the heat on to the max its feeling really good here.

I went out to Stereo last night with the Wheaton group-- Julie, Nick, Jamie, and Alex-- as well as Heidi, Liz, Laura, Chris and Jo. But before Stereo I did some major celidih dancing. Today for St. Pat's Jo is having pregaming in her flat. Not sure if I will go yet. My sister arrives here tomorrow so I gotta do some major room cleaning!

For now...
Sayonara

Hi There!

Well, those who know me know it takes me forever to do something and this blog is no exception-- just over 2 months after arriving in Edinburgh! I have to lot to catch up on. I really wanted to start this blog now as I will be leaving for my travels throughout Europe next Saturday! Gosh, I can't even believe it will be next week. I feel like I have settled in here and now it will be so sad that the semester is coming to an end. Even though I will be here until May, I am not sure how much of everyone I will see after the 24th since we are all going to different places. I know that I don't want to get home and miss Edinburgh so whenever I am outside constantly tell myself, I'm walkin Edinburgh Scotland. I love this place. I just made myself cup of coffee (the first one I've had since coming here! so many new things today!) because my class starts in 10 min and I last about 10 min before I'm fast asleep. 4:49 pm