The Voyage Ends But The Journey Continues

There was a couple on our voyage this summer that was just phenomenal. Everyone loved them. I went to Karyn’s photography seminars many times. They were just a great, lively couple, and were leaving the ship in Morocco to travel on their own some more. They gave every student on the ship a little Greek “evil eye” to keep us safe while we travel. It was so sweet! They also left a big book on the ship for us to sign and write a message about how this voyage has impacted us, and tape in a picture or two of us. I accompanied mine with a picture with Ana, the little girl I met in the tiny Bulgarian village of Donchevo. Here's what I wrote- I thought I'd share it on my blog.


I loved my comfort zone. I lived in it. It was safe. It was familiar. The unexpected rarely happened when I was in control. It was my little bubble. Safe, sound, secure.

And then I JUMPED out of my comfort zone. I’m not talking about peeking out of it, or slowly warming myself up to the idea of the unfamiliar- I threw myself into it all at once. I signed up to live on a ship for the summer with 1000 people I didn’t know while traveling halfway around the world. It was quite the crazy decision, if you ask me! Tijuana housebuilds, a Niagara falls visit, and 2 family cruises to the Bahamas was as far from the U.S. as I’d ever been. And now I was going to Europe, virtually alone, on a ship…all summer long.

And let me tell you, without a shadow of a doubt—it was the best, craziest, most insane decision I ever made. I have learned more than I ever could have imagined—about myself, about my peers, about my world. I had heard that “Semester at Sea will change you” and “expect to come back a new person.” Yeah, yeah, I’d be more cultured, and hopefully have a couple better characteristics. Maybe I’d even view the world in a different way.

But this voyage completely changed me. I’m still Julia. I still have an abnormal chocolate addiction, I still use hand sanitizer ten times more than I should, and I am always cold, no matter what. I’m still the same person. But I’m a changed person.

Now, I love being out of my comfort zone. I think it is the best way to learn and experience what there is to experience. How can you learn if you don’t ever do what you’ve never done, thought what you’ve never thought, and live like you’ve never lived? Growing as a person is all about trying new things, seeing what there is out there, and letting your experiences shape you. Get exposure. See the world. Visit a population 950 village in the rural countryside of Bulgaria, and make a (little ) best friend simply through smiles, dancing, and patty-cake games. Hike a volcano; see the lands below that it once destroyed, and the enormous crater; feel the volcanic gases coming out of it, then get the heck off of it! Go to the Grand Bazaar, and let Turkish men call you Charlie’s Angels and the Spice Girls as you learn how to bargain, drink apple tea with them, and slowly start to understand their culture. Experience complete culture shock at a Turkish bath. Strip down. Throw yourself into the culture. Experience it. Live it. It’s the only way to understand.

I’m not saying I didn’t feel uncomfortable—most of my experiences started that way. But just giving it a chance always taught me something. I learned to open my eyes and see the world through those I met in the many different places I went. Old age often brings wrinkles, and I see each little wrinkle as a token of wisdom. I love talking to older adults and hearing how they view the world and why; it was incredible talking to the wise and wrinkled halfway across the world- Bulgaria, Spain, Turkey, Croatia, Greece, and so on—and hearing about THEIR worlds and what they experienced in their lifetime. Seeing the world through their eyes in incredible.

My impressions of this journey and voyage can’t be condensed to words. I can’t even portray them in pictures—though I do try. Those who have experienced this journey with me—my ship family—understand what I mean. It has been such an incredible and unique summer living this dream with 1000 other people who I know can understand my experience—and that’s our special bond, all 1000 of us. And even though this voyage is too quickly coming to an end, I am taking from it more than I know. The lessons I learned, the way I learned to see the world—there are no words. It’s something that is going to stick with me for life. I have learned that life really is about living and loving, and laughing and dreaming- and making those dreams come true. Semester at Sea has been a dream come true for me, and I am thankful beyond words for this incredible experience.

STEAK and A1 for dinner?! (August 6)

This was quite the confusing morning for me. Last night we were supposed to set our clocks back an hour, so I did- I went around my room and set my iPod dock, my alarm clock, my iPod, noticed that my phone had already changed time zones. Perfect. I set my alarms for the morning- 8 am, so I had time to eat and cram before my test- and went to sleep.

When I woke up, 2 things happened. First, I had 2 text messages. From the UCSD Emergency alert number. GREAT, I thought. The dreaded, terrible, dangerous earthquake I’ve been learning about for the last 2 months finally hit. At least I wasn’t there for it, but HOW is everyone back home!?!?!?! I began to panic. I was especially worried about my Syd and Michelle—we have some earthquake history from our freshman year suite…and let’s just say I ran out of my room during earthquakes to check on the two of them! WAIT. A thought crossed my mind. I should PROBABLY read the text message before jumping to this pretty big conclusion. “VIEW MESSAGE.” Waited, waited, my phone is so slowwwwww, waited…”UCSD Emergency Alert: Campus wide power outage…….”…..Oh. Whew. Okay. In those few seconds after I woke up, and before I saw the actual message, SO many worried thoughts crossed my mind! Whew. Comprehend. Calm down, Julia.

…Wait, huh? 8:02 am is what my phone read. 6:59 am is what my alarm clock read. CON-FU-SION. I knew they were a few minutes apart…but…not an hour. As if I wasn’t already thrown off enough from the emergency alerts…and now…what time WAS it? By this time I had so much adrenaline running through my body from my wake-up texts that there was no way I could go back to sleep. I checked my other clocks and yep, it was definitely 6:59 am. Well, I decided to go up to breakfast early and get an extra head start on the morning cramming. Now that I look back, I’m glad that happened- it gave me a lot more time to study!

In Global Studies, a music professor did a presentation that was really fun. We got to listen to samples of a bunch of music for it! Then a Religious Studies professor spoke about Islam, and told us at the end that we now knew more about the Islamic religion than about 80% of Americans…and I believe it. To be honest, I was completely clueless about Islam and Muslims before I came on this voyage, and—as embarrassing to admit as this is—I always got confused what to call people who associated with that religion. I mixed up when to use the terms Islamic and Muslim. Well, I guess that’s one thing I learned! I’ve really learned so much, starting from when I was in Turkey. Being there when Ramadan started was so interesting and such a great experience, and having a Muslim tour guide also was very helpful since he was able to answer all of our questions. It was a very interesting lecture, but the microphone was very loud so by the end I had a pounding headache right in my temples.

It was time to work out, so I changed and headed up. I did elliptical then stairmaster, then Ab Ripper X. :) As usual, we got all kinds of comments from people walking by. That’s what you get when you do a workout video in the widened part of a cabin hallway! Oh, and I want to take a second to thank Sydney Adler for giving me that techno (that we usually don’t like) mix that was amazing for working out! 15 minutes straight, and time flew by. On repeat, I was able to go for 45 minutes in the gym without even realizing I was tired!

(Oh, during Global Studies I forgot to mention I was multi-tasking. I gave my pictures to the girls finally last night, and finally had room to get theirs! So in class, I got some of their pictures and filled my hard drive up…again…which is why prior to right NOW (10:14 pm) I was just going through pictures with a strict eye deleting all pictures that aren’t necessary. It was fun seeing pictures of us I hadn’t seen before!)

THEN…here comes the good part…I went to dinner and the first thing I saw was apple salad. Apple salad?! That sounded amazing! We’ve never had anything like that before! Then I went to the entrée table and there was STEAK…that looked good…and rumor had it that it tasted good tonight! I indulged a bit, on both the apple salad and steak. It’s been too long since I’ve had good steak! And GUESS what I got the last of (before it ran out)?? A1 STEAK SAUCE….yessssss! I’m sorry if I sound like a man right now, but a girl’s gotta have her A1! It. Was. Amazing. AMAZING! Delicious. And I didn’t even care TOO much about the fact that my steak was a little alive still (Dad…I ate meat that was medium-dark pink!). Okay, not alive…but to me! Needless to say, that was an amazing dinner and I think I’m going to dream about A1 tonight. Wow, and I apologize for really sounding like a man in this little blurb!

Since dinner, it’s been a lazy night. I have a couple things to work on, and I’ve been going through and deleting unnecessary pictures to make room for new ones…as I already said. I’m listening to nice relaxing music and thinking about possibly drifting off to sleep soon… :)

Learning Why We Skipped Egypt (August 5)

You’d think that with an extra hour of sleep tonight, and lots of protein at 2 meals (lunch actually had good meat!), I’d be energized today- but there is something about being on a constantly rocking ship that makes you drowsy! We’re all still getting back into the funk of school each day. My roommate and I decided we should get a weekend. :) Too bad that’s not happening!

I have a test tomorrow in Psychology of Learning and Memory, so I’ve been studying for that during most of my free time today. 

In Global Studies, we had a guest speaker from Africa lecture on the Arab Spring of 2011. I knew what had been happening in Northern Africa before I left from what I heard on the news, but ever since we’ve been sailing we’ve been completely cut off from world news. Side-note! That’s actually very surprising to me. I would think that on such a global, cultural, greater world-view-inducing voyage, we would be kept up-to-date on the major events happening on the world. But nope! We get no internet and no updates on world (or even American) news. Yes, we do have access to newspapers we could buy while in countries…but they’re all in different languages! While in Italy we found some newspapers in a café- we couldn’t understand any of the words, and we saw a huge picture covering the front page of a huge violent riot, and could make out that in was in Greece (from the Italian title), Athens specifically. Okay…so all we knew was that these riots were getting more intense in a place that we were about to go, but we couldn’t read about it. A little scary! Okay, I’m done with my sidenote. :) Back to the guest speaker. Anyway, this speaker talked about how the whole revolution started, and told us the story of Bouazazi. Bouazazi was a 26 year old college graduate who was selling vegetables on the streets without a license to get money for his family (and got harassed by police daily). One day, a policewoman approached him and he was ready to pay the $7 fine. She didn’t let him, and instead spit on him and cursed at him using his father’s name, also knocking away his vegetable stand. When he tried to file a complaint, the police wouldn’t let him. Bouazazi covered himself in gasoline, lit himself on fire, and in our speaker’s words, “there he went.” She told us that this is the single event that sparked the revolution- many things had led up to it, and many people had made previous demands, but this is what got people going. And it went from there. She spoke to us about Arab stereotypes, and how they are detrimental to the Arab people. Not all Arabs are the same, and she broke down these stereotypes for us. She showed us the different things the dictators had in common. She also told us the new steps both a new leader and the citizens of Northern Africa are needing to take. We also heard that the last leader is currently on trial, either yesterday or today. It was very interesting hearing about everything from a citizen who experienced it first hand, and studied the politics of it. It definitely paid off paying attention in Global Studies today!

After Global Studies Michelle and I went to the gym again (yay!) and did our elliptical, stairmaster, and P90X abs. After dinner was the anticipated TALENT SHOW! We got there early to get seats and I brought my camera along, knowing I’d be leaning into the aisles to get any kind of a good view. It was so much fun! Before it started, it was like a dance party in the Union. Everyone had so much energy. It’s crazy how we’ve become such a family on this ship so quickly and we still don’t all know each other. Kids, college students, adults, lifelong learners…we all have SUCH diverse backgrounds but we all have something in common—we’re all on this crazy, unique, voyage halfway across the world from where we normally are! Anyway, the first half of the talent show was by the dependent children of families on the ship. They were SO cute! One little boy did a Justin Beiber performance…I was thinking about stealing him on the spot. Then for the second half, SAS students performed. I was so impressed with the talent on our ship! Piano, guitar, ukulele, singing, reciting poetry, dancing…the list goes on. We have some very talented people on this ship! There were a couple goofy acts too, which are always fun. The whole night was a lot of fun and I’m really glad I went!

ALSO, on another positive note, I checked my global studies grade and I think a miracle happened! Yay!

The rest of the night was a bit of a daze- I had a ton of studying to do for my psych exam in the morning, but my eyelids were just so darn heavy. We gained an hour, so I made sure to change all my clocks, but even with the extra hour I was exhausted. I read through a chapter until my eyes could hardly stay open, then powered through part of another. THEN my eyes were serious about not staying open…so I took a 15 minute nap. Yes, at 1 in the morning. Then I woke up, struggled through the rest of the chapter, then passed out for the night. I could cram the rest in the morning!

SAS Auction (August 4)

When I woke up, I grabbed my books and started cramming! I didn’t have time to get breakfast, so I ate a snack in my room before I left. I took my 2 tests, then went to the gym and did my elliptical, StairMaster, and P90X abs again. I wrote a paper then headed to dinner.

After dinner was the shipwide auction. The Silent Auction had been going on all day and was just closing, and now was time for the Live Auction! I don’t exactly have money to spare right now, but I did want to go watch. It was so fun! There were 20 items being auctioned off- everything from steering the ship coming into Boston, a week-long stay in China, a world map signed by Captain Roman Krstonovich, a PILLOW signed by him (everyone on the ship considered buying this…), a weeklong seaside stay in Nova Scotia…you name it! There were three different auctioneers and they were all quite entertaining. Some people really seemed to have money to spare- prices went so high for some things! But that's good, because it was a fundraiser and was to help make Semester at Sea possible for more people. Anyway, it was a really fun night and I’m glad I went.

And to make the day even better, we gained an hour tonight!!!!!!!! :)

Sunrise Again! (August 3)

This morning, I randomly woke up around 6. I went to the bathroom, laid back down, and just couldn’t get back to sleep. So, I decided to go up on deck and watch the sunrise. :) I threw on a sweatshirt and flip-flops, grabbed my room key, and headed up. It was perfect timing! After I was up there for about 5 or 10 minutes, I saw a flaming pink dot appear on the hazy horizon. It was gorgeous! I had my iPod and listening to some music and had some nice alone time with God. After spending about an hour up on deck watching the sunrise, breakfast was just starting so I had a nice breakfast. :) Then I went down to my cabin, journaled a little bit, took an hour long nap, and woke up for my 9:20 class. It was a productive morning! :)

In the afternoon, I went to the gym with Michelle. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and climbed 100 flights on the StairMaster! Then Michelle and I did P90X Ab Ripper X. After that, we felt great! I took a shower, snuck in a 15 minute nap, then made it to dinner with the girls. At night, I studied for my global studies midterm and natural disasters test the next day.

It was a good day! :)

Silhouetted Goodbye (August 2)

Today was my last day in Istanbul. We decided to go to the spice market (since I hadn’t been) to get some apple tea to bring home! The girls had scouted out the best tea in the whole spice market the day before, so we knew right where to go. I got my apple tea, and also some pomegranate tea after I tried it. The other girls wanted to go back, but Brittany wanted to stay a bit longer and eventually go back to the Grand Bazaar. We hadn’t gotten enough of it! We split off and attempted to leave the spice market…instead we got SO lost in the outskirts of it, and eventually realized that we were the ONLY non-Turkish men wandering the crowded alleyways. Nobody spoke English…we would ask if someone spoke English, and they’d just stare at us. Not to mention the feeling of every pair of eyes staring at us as we walked down the alleyways. There were some shops and goods being sold, but it was just different. Very different.

Now, I think it’s important for me to explain that we were on a MISSION. I had seen these hand-hemmer/sewing machines a few days earlier. And I had a need. I had three pairs of linen pants that were about 5 inches too long, and they needed to be the right length by Morocco—in a few days. This little device looked like a stapler and was about that size, and you pretty much used it like you’d use a stapler over and over again. The thread was all a part of it, and you just click, click, click, click…I’d been shown on an earlier day but was in a hurry and wasn’t seriously going to buy it. Then I slept on it. And realized I could really put it to use. So, here we were on a mission to find it.

I swear it was a miracle. We were starting to panic and mumble back and forth to each other about how we really needed to find our way out, even though neither of us knew. THEN I SAW IT! The hand-hemmer!!! I saw a man with a little table and mini hand-hemmers spread out all over. You would have thought I won the lottery, I was so excited. I had a little celebration party with Brittany (quietly, of course) then had to compose myself enough to walk over and pretend I didn’t want it. Long story short, it started at 20 and I got it for 5, and I probably could have gotten it for 1 if I wanted to. He didn’t speak English, but he was so sweet. He was just so happy someone was buying something from him. I picked out a pink one, and looked confused. He taught me how to use it, and even made me practice on a piece of material he had to make sure I really got it. Then I gave him the 5 Turkish Lyra and took about one step away, then stopped…and turned back. He understood. We had NO idea how to get out. We’d been wandering for awhile, turning turns and getting all turned around. He simply pointed his arm down, bounced it the number of streets we had to pass, pointed his arm to the right, bounced a number of times, turned it left, bounced it, and we were off! We got out of there SO quick!

By that point, both of us had our fill of Turkishness and decided we didn’t need to go back to the Grand Bazaar. We went back into the spice market (thanks to nice hand-hemmer-man’s directions) and spent our last Lyra there. Then we headed back to the ship!

We went to Starbucks with our laptops to get some internet, but it was really not that good. Actually, that’s not true. I bet the internet was great. However, with the entire ship sitting all around Starbucks, all 700 of us students (not really ALL, but seriously a lot), the internet slowed down a bit and I definitely noticed. So I didn’t get to put as many pictures up on my blog as I wanted. I think I did get through Croatia though, maybe? Don’t take my word on that!

Then we REALLY got back onto the ship to stay, ate dinner, and headed up to the top deck to say goodbye the Istanbul as we pulled away. It. Was. GORGEOUS!!! There was a bright pink sky behind the beautiful silhouetted mosques all along the skyline. I wish I could describe it better, or at least post a picture! Soon enough. Anyway, you get the idea that it was beautiful. Istanbul is such an enchanting city, and seeing it all silhouetted against an amazing sunrise made it just stunning, and even more enchanting. And so we were off, leaving the beautiful Istanbul to disappear into the sunset!

Ramadan & Dizzying Dancers (August 1)

Today was a bit of a bummer day. The girls came by in the morning to see if I wanted to join them in Istanbul, but I knew I really needed to stay on the ship in bed. Then they came back for lunch, and I joined them and ate some frozen yogurt, which wasn’t terrible on my stomach but still didn’t make it feel that great. I wasn’t feeling THAT bad and I really wanted to go to the spice market with the girls, but I decided it probably wasn’t a good idea. Who knows where the nearest bathroom was from the spice market. I did not want to be in public getting sick. So, I stayed on the ship. I stayed in bed all afternoon—well, and the bathroom—and tried to sleep some but couldn’t seem to sleep much. It was definitely a VERY good idea that I didn’t go with them, it turned out. While I was in bed, a little lady bug landed on me! SO random!! A lady bug on a ship, in my cabin? I don’t have any windows that open so I have no idea how it got in there, but it cheered me up a little. :)

The girls got back for dinner and a few of them had SAS trips to see Sufi Mystic Dancers, or Whirling Dervishes. It’s a religious dancing they do in Turkey. The rest of us really wanted to see it and decided to look for it on our own. I put a dress on, stuck a smile on my face, and we headed out.

So…we had no idea where to go. We took the tram to one of the main areas of Istanbul, then asked all around and finally were pointed in a direction. Well, we ended up not in the right place, and I guess it looked like it. A man came scurrying across the street and said we looked lost and asked if he could please help us find our way. At first we were a bit skeptical because he was so eager and we didn’t know if he was being weird. He called his friend over too, and we told them what we were looking for. They told us that we could go see it, but we’d have to pay $50 and have a dinner as well at all of the places they knew of. One of them pulled out his phone and said his good friend owns a restaurant/café with sufi dervish dancing, and that normally you have to get dinner but he would call and see if he could do us a special favor. “Okay, great, can you set a table up for us?” US…okay, so I guess he was joining us? It was 7:30 and it started at 8, so one of them insisted we come into his shop and look at his rugs. We had bad experiences with rug salesmen at the Grand Bazaar and apparently the girls had earlier that day too (they’d gone back to the Grand Bazaar) so we were worried he’d end up mad when we didn’t want to buy them, but we went into his store to look around anyway. He had some pretty jewelry and some nice dishes and lots of very nice and expensive rugs. He did try to show us some, but we made it clear that we couldn’t afford them. Then he insisted we sit down and have some apple tea. He brought it out for the 4 of us- Kelsey, Michelle, Brittany, and I. I didn’t eat dinner because I still didn’t feel well, so I didn’t want to risk drinking the apple tea and getting sick. So, Brittany slyly devised a secret plan so I didn’t seem rude—you couldn’t refuse apple tea, and I didn’t want to be rude and not drink it. So I played with the tea with the little spoon, blew on it because it was so hot, and did everything except drink it. I even sipped on an empty spoon. Then when the two guys weren’t looking, I’d put my cup down on Brittany’s platter and she’d put hers down on mine, and we’d continue doing the same thing. She’d actually drink it, and I’d fake it. So by the end, she had 2 cups! Thank you Brittany! Gosh, we’re so sly. :)

By then it was almost 8, so we decided to head over (he said it was about 5 minutes, walking). The shop owner had to stay, but the other guy, “Turkish Delight,” led us over. The guys were joking in the shop asking what we’ve done and what we’ve tried in Turkey, and asked about Turkish Delight and one guy said it was him…he was Turkish Delight. Then when we asked his name, all he told us was Turkish Delight. Alright, then. So anyway, we were walking with Turkish Delight and we ended up going right next to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia to an outdoor café! We walked right in past the waiting area (and many people waiting) and they showed us to our table. They knew we didn’t want to eat dinner, but we did order a little something to be polite. The girls ordered chocolate crepes (I was so jealous!) and I just ordered a Sprite. Turkish Delight asked if I didn’t feel well and I told him I’d been sick all day and hadn’t really eaten all day. *What I didn’t mention yet is that today was the first day of Ramadan. And during Ramadan, the Muslim people don’t eat or drink at all from sunrise to sunset. So Turkish Delight joked that I participated in Ramadan. How was it?, he asked. Was it hard? How was my first day being Muslim? So yep, technically I participated in the first day of Ramadan!

We watched the dancer up on stage, and it was really cool! He was wearing all white and a flowy skirt. He would listen to the music for awhile, then slowly start to spin, then slowly put his arms up, tilt his head to the side, and close his head—while still spinning quickly! I don’t know HOW he did it. Watching his feet was fascinating. He was so peaceful. He just kept spinning and spinning…unfortunately making me very very dizzy. And nauseous. I really couldn’t watch at all because I was starting to feel so sick. Turkish Delight said he couldn’t watch very long the first time he watched too, and it took time to get used to it. We were all feeling dizzy! At that point, I knew I had to go back to the ship soon. I REALLY didn’t feel well. I didn’t make it obvious at all, though, because I didn’t want to be rude. While we were sitting there, crowds of people started flooding into the café, and around the mosques setting up picnics—ALL OVER! It was the breaking of the fast on the first day of Ramadan. In other words, a huge deal. A bunch of the mosques had “Welcome to Ramadan” written in Turkish with lights strung across the minarets. It was so pretty! The sky was darkening and the atmosphere was stirring with excitement. We left the café finally and were walking back to the tram, and Turkish Delight was telling us about how this first breaking of the fast was such a big deal. Everyone wanted to be out and celebrating.

Turkish Delight insisted that we go out with him because we HAD to see the nightlife in Istanbul, but I needed to go back, and the other girls didn’t really want to go out either. We all said we wanted to go back to the ship, over and over because he asked SO many times. He finally let us get on the tram and we thanked him for arranging the Dervish for us. He had been really nice and helpful. We got back to the ship and just took it easy for the rest of the night. I actually made something of today and got off the ship, yay!

Asia for the Afternoon (July 31, Part II)

So it was a pretty typical afternoon, I just went to Asia…

Yeah, for real! Julia has now been to 3 different continents, and I’m working on my 4th in a couple days. Woohoo! The “in Asia” jokes didn’t get old- “Hey guys, should we cross the street in Asia right here?” and “Want to get some tea in Asia?” and “Guys, I’m hungry in Asia.” Not going to lie, it was pretty awesome being able to say I went to Asia for the afternoon! And for how much? I took a ferry for 1.75 Turkish Lyra! So easy.

What did I do in Asia? Well, first we got off the ferry and started walking around. We saw something similar to a CVS and went inside. So cultural of us, I know. One girl was looking for nail polish remover so we went in to see if they had that. Nail polish remover they had…and tons of nail polish! Personally, I bought 4 Asian nail polishes. Two of them are the crackle kind, and they were so cheap! Each was around 2 or 3 Turkish Lyra. And 1 American dollar is 1.6 Turkish Lyra right now…I pay so much more in the US! I should come to Asia to get nail polish more often. Then we left that place (after buying some chocolate, too…of course. It’s me, what do you expect!?) and wandered into a café to find some baklava. We ordered baklava, then were sent up an elevator to sit. Interesting. We got out and had a beautiful view! We sat right on the balcony a few floors up and ate our baklava, and some girls got Turkish coffee and apple tea. I didn’t order any, but I did try some. We had trouble paying since we couldn’t communicate with the owners AT all, so a man came over and helped us. He was just eating there, but knew English. We later exchanged email addresses- he said he wants a pen pal who can help him practice his English. He was nice. We headed back to the ferry after walking through a smelly fish market and returned to Europe!

After we came back to the ship and ate dinner, we headed out to Taksim Square- “the place to be.” We got to take a cute trolley up the big hill! To understand the topography here, think San Fransisco. There is a long road approaching Taksim Square that is seriously like Disneyland at Christmas, but it’s Istanbul Taksim Square at Ramadan. Ramadan starts tomorrow (August 1), so everything is decorated and ready for celebration. Ramadan is one month long, and during this time Muslims cannot eat, drink, or take anything to the body during the day. Fasting starts at sunrise and ends at sunset. They can’t even have a sip of water! Then at sundown, huge celebrations happen! We want to go back out tomorrow night to see all the celebrations! Ramadan is harder when it falls in the summertime because the days of fasting are so much longer. Each year Ramadan starts ten days earlier (because the calendars don’t match up). We were advised to be respectful and not eat or drink excessively in public during the day.

Taksim Square (and the road leading up to it—like the La Rambla of Istanbul) was beautiful and so much fun! There were beautiful lights strung across the buildings the whole way home and it was all so festive and fun! It was pretty crowded. There were stores, cafes, bars, and little shops lining the street. We stopped to try some Turkish delight. I had a little bite of chocolate, rose, and plain. Let’s just say they weren’t my favorite, and when Michelle ate another one I was surprised she at it for fun, and voluntarily!

(Skip this next part if you are queasy.) After walking for about an hour, all of the sudden I felt like I needed to throw up. We kept walking, trying to find a bathroom, and I was constantly locating places I could run to if I couldn’t keep it down. Drains, corners by buildings- everything would have been so open and gross, but there were no bathrooms! Finally we found one at Pizza Hut, but nothing happened in there. We kept walking and I knew it would happen sometime, but I didn’t want to go back to the ship because of it. I wanted to stay and see Istanbul at night, and I especially didn’t want to ruin it for the other girls! Finally we got to the end of the road and were finally at Taksim Square. There were pretty lights and fountains everywhere- tons of flashing lights and loud noises (which at this point almost pushed me overboard). Some of the girls wanted to leave and get some sleep, so I joined them in a taxi. By then, I had asked if anyone had a bag from shopping and got a small plastic grocery bag. THANK GOODNESS. We sqeezed 4 into the back of the taxi, and had one in the front, showed the taxi driver our green sheet with the ship’s location on it, and we were off. Like, OFF. Like, with fast sharp turns and tons of sudden stops and goes, and plenty of bumps too. It was really fun trying to keep everything down…I was on the end holding my bag and was SO determined to make it to the ship. Well, that is until the taxi driver got lost and had no idea where to bring us. I knew I didn’t have long. Finally he asked someone and figured it out, and felt bad for going the wrong way so drove EVEN faster and more recklessly to get us there faster. Aaaaaaand that’s when it all came up, thankfully into the grocery bag. (Okay, now really don’t read this if you’re queasy.) I was so bummed I didn’t make it, but I felt TERRIBLE. The girls were so sweet rubbing my back and telling me we were almost there, and assured the taxi driver I wasn’t getting it anywhere because I had a bag. I filled that bag up COMPLETELY. The taxi driver had some Kleenex that I used so that was helpful. When we got out, they checked and all was clear. They said I was a neat thrower-upper- I sure didn’t feel like it! I had to pull it together coming through port and onto the ship, because I looked terrible and didn’t want them to question me about drinking. I hadn’t had anything to drink, but I looked so bad and sick they might have thought that, and I did NOT want to deal with getting breathalyzed while I felt this bad. I didn’t know if I’d have to throw up more too, so I really hurried. The girls brought me up to my room once we got back and brought me plenty of water and tea. I curled up in a ball and the girls stayed with me for awhile. When I was finally at a point where I was starting to fall asleep, they left and Katie told me not to hesitate to call her if I need anything at all.

I hate disturbing people when they’re trying to sleep, so it took a lottt of pain for me to do anything about it. I slept for about an hour, maybe less, then woke up in so much pain. Everytime I closed my eyes I started dreaming/picturing myself shopping for rings and jewelry and it was SO annoying because I was in so much pain- I don’t know why that was my dream but I was so sick of it! I just wanted to feel better! I was rolling around in so much pain (thank goodness my roommate got a hotel in Istanbul for the night) and finally couldn’t take it and didn’t know what to do, so I called Katie and asked her to come over- somehow I managed to get the words out! She came over and sat with me and kept telling me I should really let her call the on-call doctor. I was so sick of disturbing the doctor though! Especially because it was the middle of the night (around 1:30 am). Like I said, I grew up with my parents both being on call so I know what it’s like. People need their sleep! After trying to make the bathroom floor a bed and crawling back to my real bed, I called my mom (yes, internationally- it was that bad) and she told me I needed to see the doctor right then. And Katie heard. So she made me go. When I got down there, someone with alcohol-related issues was brought in so I didn’t know if I’d be seen right away. It was the same Physician’s Assistant who’d been seeing me (Diane) and she was really nice. I ended up getting 3 different kinds of medicine that all did different things and that should all help me. One of those medicines was for nausea…the pill version of the shot. She wanted to give me the shot right away but I begged for a chance to try to keep the pill down! And I did! I went back to my room filled with meds but still feeling not so great. As time passed I got a little better and tried sleeping, and finally dozed off. Katie was the BEST and I am sooooo appreciative of her help! She was up with me until 3:30 am even though the girls came back so they could go to bed early. That just goes to show how amazing some of the people on this voyage are! I am so lucky to have found such great friends on this trip.

Topkapi Palace (July 31, Part I)

This morning we made plans to go to the Spice Market and Topkapi Palace. We took the tram to the Spice Market, then walked…and walked…and walked around trying to get in. We couldn’t find the way in- every door was closed! How odd, though, because it was supposed to be open 7 days a week. We finally asked, and they told us that it is closed only today because they’re doing some kind of renovation. Well, I guess that can wait for another day! We headed to Topkapi Palace and bought our tickets. It is hugeee! And gorgeous. Everything outside the palace is so green and shady and relaxing. It’s like a huge park with lots of grass, trees, flowers, shade, and walkways. I just wanted to lay under the trees or have a picnic! The palace has so many different buildings. We went into a ton of them but still didn’t go into nearly all of them. It would have taken forever! There were many interesting artifacts and preserved things there. Tons of giant gems and jewelry, Muhammed’s footprint, and the old clothes of the sultans were just a few of the things we saw. The balcony and seaside of the palace was beautiful- and we could see our ship! Oh, what a hard life it must have been to live there. :) It would have been hard work to hold those heavy, blingy necklaces up! It was really cool going to the Topkapi Palace.

For those of you who don’t know any Turkish (we got impromptu lessons the night before we got to port), the “i” in Topkapi doesn’t have a dot on it, and is pronounced “uh.” So it sounds out to “tope-cop-uh” palace. Also, if the “G” has a little half circle above it, it is silent and you draw out the letter before it. If the “C” or “S” has a squiggly on the bottom of it, they are pronounced “ch” and “sh.” And lastly, the letter “C” is always a “J” sound. Besides those letters, it’s all phoenetic! And that concludes your Turkish lesson for the day. :)

We got lunch at a cute little place- I got rice and a tortilla/pita-like thing with a funky name, because of my stomach still. Then we came back to the ship to make plans for Asia. And now I have to go because we’re heading to Asia! No big deal…

NAKED (July 30, Part II)

I made you curious with that title, huh? Yep, it means just what you think.

We had checked out Turkish baths in the morning since we heard they were a MUST DO. We weren’t told much about them, because it would “ruin the experience.” We figured it was some sort of massage or something, and a big bath you could go in maybe. Some girls wore bathing suit bottoms, but a few of us didn’t because we figured you could just keep your towel on at all times if you wanted to. We were in for a “treat”……and here’s where the “naked” part comes in.

It took us forever to try to find the Turkish Bath. We had our map out and were looking for it, but as it turns out the name of the particular bath we were going to was also the name of a small district within Istanbul. So when we said the name (to 4 different people as we asked directions), people would point us in a direction that we followed…and ended up at a junction of 3 streets. Apparently we were “there.” We found one last person to ask and he understood we were trying to go to the baths, and thankfully he pointed us in the right direction. We finally got there! The baths were actually pretty expensive. The prices were in Euros. In other words, a lot more expensive than they seemed. We heard it was definitely worth it and an experience we had to have, so we all sucked it up and paid for just entrance to the baths and a massage. We could get the exfoliation if we wanted, and much more, but we just stuck with the basics and really wanted massages! Back massages, that is…

We were given receipts and pointed in the direction of the women’s section of the baths. We walked in, handed the receptionist our receipts, and were shown to our changing rooms upstairs. We all had our own room with a massage bed, so we sighed a sigh of relief that the massages were in there and we could probably stay covered with our towels. Turns out we were wrong—very wrong.

We changed into our towels, put on our wooden clog shoes (so hard to walk in!), and headed back down to find the baths. As I walked by the entrance door to the baths, I looked in to see a completely naked woman laying down with her hands up, being scrubbed by another woman (who worked there). NOOOOOOOOO. Oh no. This wasn’t real…this wasn’t happening. What happened to it being a big bath? Why was everyone naked?! We all kind of freaked out and hesitantly walked in…we found a little empty alcove and all plopped down. CULTURE SHOCK. There was no “bath” in this large, overheated sauna room. There was a giant round marble platform. Naked women were laying along the rim of this circle and were being scrubbed and massaged- face up and face down. We were all still FREAKING out, and decided we would just use the little faucets and “bathe” ourselves…really, we just wanted to get out of there ASAP. Mid freak-out, we were approached by a woman who worked there. She took one of the keys from the girls and told her to follow her. Uh oh. We were all scared for her. She hesitantly followed. She was told to take off her towel and lay down. Could she keep her towel on? NO! Oh….kay…she was the first one to brave it. We stopped watching because we didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable…so we all just looked at each other panicking and still freaking out. I’m not talking feeling awkward…we were freaking out, freaking out. We were NOT planning on being stark naked in a room full of women. Yes, it was only women, but STILL! We were seeing more of these women than we ever wanted to see, ever ever ever. And everyone in there just acted like it was just no big deal at all! I thought they were CONSERVATIVE in Turkey! Apparently just for the men!

One by one, women who worked there came and got us. One of the girls asked if she could only have her back massaged. Darn communication barrier. The woman didn’t understand and flipped her over anyway. When she tried to stop her, the woman wouldn’t have it. She paid for a massage, and a massage she was getting.

Finally it was my turn. And so proceeded the most awkward 20 minutes of my life thus far.

There was no room on the platform, so she grabbed my towel off of me (as I gracefully—not—attempted to cover myself), laid it on the ground near the rest of our girls who were waiting, and motioned for me to lay down. I looked panicked but she didn’t care, she wasn’t very patient. She grabbed me and started pulling me down so I finally just laid down. There was no such thing as conservative anymore! I started on my back. They don’t have any privacy rules apparently with this massage. She stayed away from my biggest “no-no zone,” but apparently to her the rest of my body didn’t have any more “no-no zones.” Massage meant full body. She kept telling me to relax but there was no relaxing! I would relax when she flipped me over! Boy, was I glad I didn’t sign up for exfoliation as well! That’s all the detail I’ll go into here. When she finished with the massage, she told me to sit up and face the other way. All of the sudden I was being doused in water and couldn’t breathe! No warning?! I thought maybe she’d rinse me with big pans of water a couple times. No, this went on for about 5 minutes. DUNK, gasp for air, DUNK, DUNK, DUNK, gasp for air. Then she washed my hair (I think with just soap) and proceeded to dunk me all over again. DUNK, gasp for air, hold breath, DUNK, soap in eyes, DUNK, DUNK, DUNK. Finally the dunking stopped. Finally I would get my towel back!! Nope, wrong again. She then made me sit there for 15 minutes to “dry naturally” and refused to give me my towel back. She just walked away with it! The other girls got to put their towels back on! Finally after about 5 or 10 minutes of sitting there, I asked (on the verge on demanding) for my towel back. I think she realized that I REALLY did want it. I was finally decent again and happily scooted in my wooden clogs back to the girls. All of us were still in shock. One of the girls came back all bundled up in warm towel- one for her body and one for her hair. No fair! Where did she get those?! She took us outside the bathing room and we discovered the warm, dry towels (rather than the drenched towels we had laid on, got soaked, and put back on)!!! Hallelujah! AND we were officially out of there! Well, it was quite the experience…to say the least. We sat out in the waiting area to let our hair dry some and saw that there were menus on the tables. We decided that after that experience, we DESERVED to treat ourselves to chocolate milkshakes. After waiting about a half hour, we received our chocolate “milkshakes”— milk + Hershey’s syrup. Yeah, they probably “shook” it but that does NOT count as a milkshake in my book! We finally changed and left, and took the tram back to the ship. Apparently, though, it’s obvious that women have come from the baths when they walk around with wet hair. We got just gross comments from men on the streets telling us that they’d be better at bathing us, and it would be better if they could join. Thank goodness we’re getting used to these comments and can now brush them off as perverted. That’s one thing I do miss from the US—the fact that you can walk all the way down a street and not get hit on about 1000 times—in disturbing ways, not flattering ones. Yeah, maybe you’ll get a whistle from a car going by or a honk, but it is nothing like Europe. That’s for sure. Anyway, we braved the trams again and finally got back to the ship.

And then we all showered after our Turkish baths. We did NOT feel clean after that experience! We met up on deck again when it got dark and enjoyed the best view in the city for a beautiful and relaxing end to a very Turkish day.

And that concludes today’s post. :)

Grand Bazaar (July 30, Part I)

Today we went to the GRAND BAZAAR! We took the tram out in the morning to the Grand Bazaar. We were all dressed very conservatively and had our “wedding rings” on, because one of the girls we’d talked to who was there yesterday got proposed to 5 times, and got hassled a lot. She was covered too but was wearing no ring. Better safe than sorry! We had a BLAST at the Grand Bazaar- I loved it! We had no idea what to think when we walked in- it was so huge and there were scarves and decorated ceramics and hookahs and jewelry and carpets and pillow cases and belly dancing outfits and “poopy pants” (will explain later) and just SO much EVERYWHERE! I wish I could describe it. We started out walking around and just wanted to see how low we could bargain to see what prices should be around. We found some scarves that ended up being a really good deal, we just didn’t know it yet. After walking around for awhile and just getting a feel for how much things should be, we started getting stuff. One place in particular was our favorite. We looked at their stuff displayed outside and walked to go in, so we did (voluntarily, opposed to their opinion that they coaxed us in with their words) and started looking around. Right when we went in, a guy went to the back and changed it from American music to Turkish dance music and cranked the volume up! We were all dancing and so were the guys who worked there, and we were trying to get them to teach us how to belly dance. Then Michelle saw a journal she wanted, and they started at such a high price- I don’t remember exactly what it was. They bargained back and forth and at 30 Turkish Lyra the guy just wouldn’t budge. She even tried putting it back and walking away and that didn’t work, so finally I chimed in after hearing a story from yesterday. I knew one of the girls got something for a third of the “settled” price when she said 10 and a kiss- on the cheek, of course. She hadn’t specified, and kissed the guy on the cheek and ran. So for Michelle’s journal, I chimed in with a “10 and a kiss.” He thought about it and settled for 15 and a kiss. Then we specified on the cheek and he went back up to 30! We told him she couldn’t because she was married, and he finally took the 15 and a cheek kiss. We got it all on video- it was so funny! And she got her journal for a good price. :) We were there for about 7 hours- we bargained and walked and looked and bargained and looked and bargained and walked alllll day long! We stopped for lunch at one point and went just outside the bazaar to a little tiny restaurant. I still wasn’t feeling well, so I got bread and rice, and even that made my stomach hurt with tums and pepto bismal. I also tried Apple Tea for the first time—DELICIOUS! It’s so big there, too. At the Grand Bazaar, if you are going to make a big purchase, they will invite you in for apple tea while you bargain the price! Anyway, we were finally burnt out and decided to leave and head to the Turkish baths, which I’ll write about in the next post!

*Like I said I would, I will expand on “poopy pants,” very popular all over Europe. Think of loose pants with bright colorful designs. They are usually down to your ankles or a little higher, maybe mid-calf. Now imagine elastic at the bottom of each pant leg. Now imagine the crotch of the pants below your knees. There ya go, those are poopy pants for you! Are they really called that? No. Do all SASers call them that? Yep!

On another note, let me discuss trams. Groping happens. On the trams. Yeah, ew. In a psychology class on Impulse Control Disorders last year I learned about a sex addict disorder where people rub themselves on strangers, and it often happens on trains in Europe. I didn’t think I’d actually have to experience it, or even see it. Did I mention ew? Anyway, yes, we experienced this on crowded trams and it was very hard to avoid. What can you do when the person has literally nowhere to go? You do what I did and ELBOW him in the stomach, slowly, constantly, until it starts to push him AWAY from my friends. And when it happens to you, you do a really fast elbow in the gut and basically lunge forward as fast as you can to get AWAY. It was disgusting, let me tell you. And you make it very obvious that you know what he’s doing. Okay, enough on that. Just had to acknowledge that it happens! Luckily we were warned about this in pre-port, so we weren’t taken completely off guard. And getting on and off the tram, we learned to put our hands over our rears to prevent from more grabbing. Okay, now I’m really done!

Istanbul Dance Party (July 29)

Guess what I started my day with! THE SUNRISE! Yep, I woke up and we all watched the sunrise together as we entered the Bosphorus Strait approaching Istanbul. We actually got to watch the sun rise multiple times- there was a series of mountains that the sun kept peeking out of…then going behind…then rising above the new mountain…then being hidden by the next. It was fun. And beautiful! At first the sun was a bright orange color, and it slowly turned to a very yellow color as it headed up into the sky for the day. On one side of us was Asia, and on the other was Europe. We went under the big lit-up bridge again, only this time it wasn’t lit up because it wasn’t dark, so it wasn’t nearly as pretty. I went back to sleep, then woke up for breakfast. And thank goodness I was getting up and going to breakfast, because I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway! My neighbor’s alarm was going off, and I’m pretty sure nobody was in there…so I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway. I came back to my room and half slept/half watched the diplomatic briefing on TV, but I could barely hear it anyway because the volume was so low since my roommate was asleep. Then I had to get out of bed to get my “landing card,” something they were requiring for us along with passports. Then it was time to leave on my city orientation trip!

Now, I’m a fan of city orientations by bus because they give you a good introduction to the city, bring you to all the main sites, and give you a feel for what’s there. Then there’s always time to go back to what you loved! We drove through the streets of ancient Pera, the Latin Quarter, then drove by Taksim Square (and were advised to come back at night!). Then passed the soccer stadium and went over the Ataturk Bridge to cross the Golden Horn. We drove by the old city walls (from the 4th century!) and saw the Roman Aqueduct of Valens (from the 2nd century!). Then we got off the bus and saw the Hippodrome, and the two columns- the Serpentine Column and the Theodosius Column. Both of these were brought from Egypt in the 4th century. Here, we were given free time to eat our boxed lunches and wander around. Katie, Kristin, and I found a nice curb in the shade and set up camp. It was against a wall, so we thought it would be nice and safe and peaceful and cool. Just as I was indulging in my brownie dessert, a huge police bus started backing up straight toward us—uh oh! Luckily it ended up being about 2 feet to the left of us…but pulled all the way back so if we were there we would have been squished. I guess it was planning on parking here. Just after our sigh of relief, young policemen started filing out with AK-47’s, and stood there with them about 3 feet away from us. No big deal…AK-47’s…about 3 feet away…pointing carelessly at our heads slung over the policemen’s shoulders……..remember our Darwin phrase? I think Darwin would like it here. No, you know what, he’d love it. Yep, DARWIN WOULD LOVE IT HERE! All at once we packed up our lunches, and scurried away in a sprint-walk. Yeahhhh, I guess we weren’t too comfortable with AK-47’s pointed at us after all.

After we finished eating in a NEW spot, we reconvened and went down into the Byzantine Cistern and walked around down there. It was so cool (figuratively and literally)! And it was very wet. The bottoms of my linen pants were soaked. After that, it was finally time to see the Hagia Sophia! Or, as they call it, the Ayasophia. Because we were a tour group, we got to go in the “Turkish people only” entrance and skip all the lines- woohoo! It was HUGE inside! There were these flower-shaped light chandeliers hanging down all over, and there were two floors, and it was gorgeous! We got to hear about its history, and then we got free time to walk around. We also learned about this hole in one of the pillars- if you made a wish and put your thumb in the whole, your wish would come true if you could rotate your hand 360 degrees. So we did it. :) We didn’t have to wear headscarves in here because it is technically considered a museum. It was so cool that it used to be Catholic, and then taken over by the Muslim people. I took plenty of pictures, and finally it was time to go. Then we went to the Blue Mosque. Here, we had to remove our shoes and wear headscarves to cover our hair and shoulders. Those who didn’t wear long enough pants or dresses were given paper scarves to cover all the way down to their ankles. I didn’t have to have a paper scarf this time! One of Kristin’s friends at home wears a headscarf and taught her how to tie them correctly, so the three of us looked pretty legit! Inside was beautiful. The outside isn’t blue at all, but the inside has gorgeous blue tile work all over. We ran into the rest of the girls in there who had come on their own! We got to walk around there for awhile, then had to leave. On our way home, we stopped at one more mosque, the Sehzade Mosque. This was very empty, so we got to sit on the carpet for awhile while we were told about it. All of the mosques have fountains in front for ablutions before people pray, and we got to see those. All the mosques we saw were so gorgeous! Then our tour was finally over and we headed back to the ship. We were so exhausted, so we took naps until dinner!

After dinner, we were just walking around the ship and discovered an outside deck we didn’t know existed! It was right above the gangway, so we could be little creepers and say hi to people leaving and returning to the ship (and watch people skip the mandatory hand sanitizer!).

Because we were so tired, none of us really felt like going out. A couple girls had FDP trips in the evening, and the rest of us went up to the front of the 7th deck to hang out. This was the best idea in the whole wide world. I’m telling you—our ship’s location was IDEAL in Istanbul. There was no better view than from our ship…seriously. We were smack dab in the middle of the heart of Istanbul. We could see the bridge behind us, lit up and doing it’s lightshow constantly, changing colors and dancing with light. We could see the city skyline all around us, filled with flags and mosques lit up beautifully at night. We could see both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia…oh yeah, AND Topkapi Palace! There were ferries that would pass right next to our ship with Turkish dance music playing. And to top it all off, there were about 6 sets of fireworks that randomly went off throughout the night, illuminating the beautiful lit mosques all around. It was incredible!!! We seriously had the best view of Istanbul. One of the girls eventually started playing music, and soon enough we were all up dancing around on the deck, in the heart of Istanbul, on deck 7. We danced to everything from Love Shack to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun to Jump On It…and the list goes on. It was a BLAST! We were all alone and nobody could see us (except for maybe a few professors in the teacher’s lounge…but we didn’t care). It was sooooo much fun! This was definitely one of my favorite nights. :)

Turkey Day (July 28)

Today was Turkey Day!

We only had one day between Bulgaria and Turkey, so we didn’t have all of our classes. We just had Global Studies IN THE MORNING—stupid decision, if you ask me! We were all exhausted from Bulgaria the last 4 days and many of us were sick. If we only have one class, is it too much to ask for a single day to sleep in a little? Apparently. It was impossible for me to wake up for it in the morning- I didn’t feel good and I was so exhausted. So, I didn’t go. My day started at lunch.

With all the Alzheimer’s discussion we’ve had in psychology lately, AND with how I have noticed my body changing a wee bit (maybe from all that Italian food?), AND with how lousy I feel from not working out…I decided it was time to suck it up and start going to the gym. Michelle and I suited up after lunch and hit the gym- elliptical and StairMaster, along with P90X Ab Ribber X. :) The StairMaster was a first for me. I’ve never used one and have always been a little afraid of them- they look so hard! But, it was the only machine open so we did it. I climbed 100 flights of stairs! I was proud of myself. :) I THOUGH about doing real stairs…DAD…but then realized I might get a few odd looks from running up and down stairs. Hey, at least I wasn’t doing it at a soccer game (Dad)! :)

I jumped in the shower to rinse off, then joined my golden tanning friends on the deck—in the shade. :) I decided to go to the medical center for my …skin things… I don’t know if they’re bites or plant poison from running through the sunflower fields. But that fact that I had weird bumps on my skin wasn’t very surprising. Anyway, I went to the medical clinic when it opened and got this scrub for them- before I shower, I have to scrub the life out of these bumps, and even scrub so hard to pop them and keep scrubbing until they’re raw. Sounds fun, huh? Now that I’ve shot your appetite, let me move on to dinner.

Dinner itself wasn’t memorable, but we (as always) stayed there for two hours chit chatting. Meals are when we spend our main quality time together! Today’s topic of conversation was first kisses—oh, there were some funny ones!  

Orphanage (July 27)

When my alarm went off this morning, I jumped out of bed to get ready for my orphanage visit! I scarfed down some food and soon enough we were on the buses on our way.

When we got there, we got a tour of the orphanage and talked to the women who run it. Then we got to play with the kids! We all brought a lot of toys for them, so they loved that. It was interesting observing the kids in an orphanage, without any parents in their lives. Some were very well behaved, but others had major discipline issues. One boy ran around hitting people…he slapped me across the face for no apparent reason, then ran over to Michelle and smacked her across the head. He went around bullying the other kids too, but they just had to suck it up and deal with it.

The little girl I bonded most with was Alex. She was so sweet! I took some pictures with her, so I’ll post them when I can. :) It was a good experience!

In the afternoon, Brittany wanted to get a tattoo for her birthday (that’s today). We all went out to find a place, and she got a small heart on her foot. Before she went, there were some people getting piercings and I had to leave the room! SO many people got tattoos and piercings in Bulgaria. If they took a poll, I bet it would be well over 10% of the students on our ship. And no, Mom and Dad, I won’t be coming home with any new piercings or tattoos! On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a mini market to spend our last Bulgarian leva (lev for short), so I naturally got chocolate…and some of it didn’t make it back to the ship. Well, technically it did but it was in my tummy.

The ship left Bulgaria and we were headed for Istanbul now! Because they were so close, though, we just dropped anchor (while in view of Varna) for the whole next day. At night, we had a nail painting party again and watched a romantic comedy, of course. :) 

Salt lakes, Mudbaths, and Nessebar (July 26)

Today was lots of fun! I had another SAS trip, and this time I was going to the salt lakes of Bourgas, healing mudbaths, and Nessebar all in one day. We met in the union, got our boxed lunches, and headed down to the buses. Our tour guide was really sweet and adorable!

First we went to the salt lakes and mudbaths. We were the first people to go to the mudbaths as tourists- it’s a very local thing, and we had to get security clearances to go there. It was so hot! We all wore bathing suits, and were first instructed to get into the pink water a couple inches deep that had salt crystals all over the bottom. Let me tell you—those salt crystals HURT! We were supposed to lay in that for 30 minutes, but we only really had time for 15. I didn’t oppose…To clue you into it a little more, it smelled like I was laying in port-a-potty water. SO SMELLY. We used the salt to exfoliate, and the water was really oily. Then we walked over to the mudbaths—meaning ponds of black sulfurous mud. This isn’t your average mud, it was BLACK and smelly and chunky and gross. We covered our entire bodies in it, including our faces and a couple of us did our HAIR! Even though it smelled and was super slimy, it was so much fun! Then we walked across to the beach (the Black Sea!) and waited on the beach to let our mud bake and dry. Once it had hardened, we dove into the Black Sea to get it all off. That was fun too! At one point, we did have to remove our bathing suits to get all the salt and mud completely off, so technically the 4 of us (me, Kelsey, Katie, Kristin) were skinny dipping in the Black Sea, in mid day! Of course we were completely under the water except for our heads. Whenever one of us would dive under, there would be a huge black cloud all around from all the mud! It was so funny. Then we got out, dried off, ate our boxed lunches, and were on our way to Nessebar!

In Nessebar, we pretty much just walked up and down the streets and shopped here and there. And of course got ice cream. :) We indulged in some huge greasy pizza that was really cheap, and LET me just tell you how AMAZING it was! It really made me miss Italy! Well, at first it was amazing but then my stomach pain kicked in, of course! I got a couple things in Nessebar while we were looking at the different shops. Then it was time to go, so we loaded up onto the bus and were on our way back to the ship! On the way back, we were all given paper and told to make something that represents our favorite part of today. Kelsey and I teamed up and made a 3D collage of mud-covered people in the blue water (Black Sea). I’ll post a picture when I can! We won first place on the bus. :) And all we did was tear the paper! Kelsey did the water, and I did the people. We were so proud, we felt like we were in kindergarten again! Then our tour guide sang us a Turkish lullaby and really wanted us to sing her one in English. Someone got up to lead and we sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and it made her cry!!!! She was SO sweet. We found out later that she was blind her whole life until 3 years ago when she got surgery, and that she loves interacting with us because it makes her feel more human. She was amazing and adorable!

At night, we went back out to the beach bars, but we were pretty exhausted from the long day so we didn’t stay out very late. When we got back to the ship, I staked out in Tymitz Square, sending emais while stalking the free ticket box. I’d been trying to buy an Orphanage visit ticket from some for awhile, but everyone had already sold them so I was hoping someone would change their mind last minute and put it in the “magic” free ticket box. Sure enough, a girl came by the counter and lingered a bit, looked through the buy/sell notebook, and finally dropped a little golden ticket in the box. I waited for her to walk out of sight, then JUMPED up and it was none other than an ORPHANAGE visit ticket!!!!! YAY!! Well, then I had to get to sleep because the trip left bright and early!

Jeep Safari (July 25)

*Two things I forgot about yesterday’s Donchevo village visit:
1) When we were walking down the street, a donkey pulling a cart went by so I took a picture. Then a sweet Bulgarian lady came running over to me with a bouquet of flowers for me! It was so precious! She had just picked them from her garden and wanted me to have them. :)
2) I forgot to mention that we got to visit the kindergarten! It was a Sunday so they didn’t have class, but it was still cool seeing their classrooms. Aside from the alphabet, you would’ve thought it was a kindergarten in the U.S. There were bright colors all over, paintings that the children made displayed all over, and even a wall with golden stars for behavior and rewards. I remember that distinctly from when I was in kindergarten! We also got cute handmade cards as we walked in, and ANA gave them to us! :)

Okay, now back to today! :)

Today was the long-anticipated JEEP SAFARI! I had no idea what to expect, except that we’d be in open-top jeeps driving through the trees and countryside of Bulgaria. A group went yesterday and said it was amazing, so I was really excited!

We met out in front of the ships where our jeeps were waiting for us. It was just Michelle and I going together, so we got to make some new friends in our jeep. There were 10 jeeps total! Our driver was crazy- it was AWESOME! First we stopped to get a beautiful view of Golden Sands from above. It was pretty! Then we were on our way. We were driving on not-roads, where other jeeps had driven but very holey, bumpy, and uneven. I was sitting in the back on the side, and kept having to duck so I didn’t get hit by all the branches!! When we would emerge from the trees, all we could see for miles was huge bright golden sunflower fields. It was incredible. We stopped at a brandy distillery (again), but I already had enough of that stuff (by enough, I mean I fiery sip).

Then we drove farther and stopped at a giant sunflower field so we could run around in them and take pictures. The only bad part was….I was wearing shorts and flip flops, and so was most everyone else. There were bees on pretty much every sunflower, so we had to be careful! It was sooooooo much fun running through them though and posing in the middle of a huge sunflower field for a picture. We ran back out, hopped back into the jeeps, and kept on going. I noticed on my legs that there was a little red bumpy rash in a line…uh oh. With my skin, I should have anticipated it. I didn’t know what poisonous plants they have in Bulgaria, so I kept my eye on it. Whatever the bumps were, whether from plants or bugs, they kept getting bigger and started getting pus-filled centers (sorry). I figured if they kept getting worse I’d go to the clinic in the morning to make sure it wasn’t the same type of thing I got in the Bahamas (that I had to take antibiotics for). After sunflowers, our next stop was a honey tasting one! We got to try all different kinds of honey—and even see some of the bees flying around us that made it (not my favorite thing!). I was having really bad allergies, and someone told me that if I eat the honey from the area it might reduce my allergies a bit. I don’t know if this is true or not, but they were pretty sure it would work…soooo I ate tons of honey. :) Delicious! We learned that if you put the honey UNDER your tongue, you get more flavor and it’s almost a bit spicy. I like eating it normally! Then we only had 2 more stops- our next one was a shooting stop! We all took turns trying to hit a target. I was “THIIIIIIS close” according to the guy who was helping out there.

Before I talk about our last stop, I’m going to say a little something about the jeep part. Has anyone been on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland? Yeah, this was like that BUT ON STEROIDS. It was so bumpy we had to hold onto the frame above us so we wouldn’t fly out. Sometimes there were ditches and one side of the jeep’s wheels would be down in the ditch, and the other up on higher land. At some points I was convinced we were going to flip! We sped through big puddles and mini ponds and randomly did donuts, spinning around crazily and then speeding off. Mom, you would have hated it and Dad and Rob, you would have loved it. :)

Then our last stop was lunch. Because I still wasn’t feeling well, I ate a bunch of bread and just tried the kabobs. Oh, and I had watermelon too! I wish I could have partaken in eating more of the culture’s food, but it would have not been fun for my stomach and I knew it. Above our table was a little bird next with little tiny baby bird heads sticking out, their beaks almost bigger than their heads! The momma bird kept coming and feeding them- it was so cute! Then the jeep safari drivers all came marching in and played music and we all danced to it. It was a blast! On our way out, Michelle and I stopped to say hi to some sheep and goats. As we were baaa-ing at them (communicating, of course) and taking pictures, their owner came out and was herding them a little but was smiling at us so we knew he didn’t mind. Then we went over to the gate side and started talking to the goats again, and the Bulgarian man disappeared. As we were still obsessing over the goats, he came back and had little sunflowers for us and put them behind our ears! It was so sweet! Then on the way home, we realized we could stand in the jeeps so we were on our feet the whole way home. Of course once we got back to civilization, we’d have to quickly plop down if we saw police. It was so fun- I felt so carefree!

When we got back to the ship, one of our guides’ mothers was at the port with her news crew (National Bulgarian news) and wanted to interview some of us for the news. A couple people talked about Semester at Sea, and Michelle and I stood in the background smiling, with our sunflowers behind our ears! Once I got on the ship and stripped down, I noticed that I was wearing full white clothing…meaning, I was brown and dusty where my shirt and shorts didn’t cover, and the rest of my was “Julia white.” Needless to say, I hopped in the shower right away and scrubbed all the dust off!

At night, we went out in Varna. There was a musical festival when we were there! We went to the festival and it was classical music that night, and it was at the Roman baths. It was so cool! Then we went down to the beach where bars lined the shore and hung out there for the rest of the night. We actually ended up having to “babysit” some people and bring them back to the ship, which always takes away from the experience. While on the beach we found THE grossest fish thing. There’s no way to explain it. It was like oozing this puss stuff and was soooooooo gross, so naturally we took pictures. I think I’ll spare you guys and not post the pictures!

Then we came back to the ship, and that concludes day two in Bulgaria!

Donchevo (July 24)

Let me start by saying that today’s trip was my favorite Semester at Sea experience thus far. I visited a small rural village in the countryside of Bulgaria, population 950. This little town of Donchevo has seen outsiders one time before us, about 40 years ago when an American researching their culture spent one night. After that, we were the first they’ve seen.

The drive there was beautiful. We had no idea what to expect- we were in Bulgaria. I had to look up where it was when I found out we were going there! We all loaded into a bus, and a lot of us passed out on the drive. Just before I fell asleep, I glanced out the window and noticed a quick sight of bright yellow sunflower fields peeking through some trees along the road. My eyes widened and that was it- no sleeping for me! Just then, the trees opened up and there were sunflower fields forever; they were endless. Yellow, yellow, yellow, as far as the eye could see. It was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. For about the next hour, we drove along these fields- field after field of bright gold. When we finally arrived, we were greeted right off the bus by some wrinkly and wise old women. We smiled with them back and forth, and then some teenage girls walked up with a huge platter of bread, as a greeting offering. We each took turns tearing bread off, and dipping it into the paprika spice and salt. Oh, and did I mention that everyone in the entire town was dressed in traditional Bulgarian garb? They were all so cute in their red and yellow! Pretty much the whole town was out and in their traditional clothes, waiting for our arrival. After we were greeted with the bread, they gave us each a little cluster of geranium leaves. That’s their welcoming tradition.

Then we got to walk around the town and get a little tour. We first went to the little brandy distillery and each of us tried a TINY TINY sip of it. FIRE WATER, I tell you! A couple guys on the trip were getting really bad heartburn from it for the next 3 hours…it was that intense. Then we walked through the streets to look at some of the houses and gardens people had. There was only one we were supposed to go see, and only their garden. We ended up going into multiple houses and being able to eat some of their freshly picked produce! How did this happen? They were thrilled that we were coming to visit their town, so people would see us walking down the street and insist that we come in so they can show us their houses and gardens, and give us some of their food. None spoke English, but a smile is really all you need to communicate. At one house, we got to see sheep and a PIGGY! It was awesome. The younger generations that are still in school know a little English because it’s being taught in their classes now, but it was pretty much limited to “Hi” and “Where you?” (where are you from?) and the rest was mostly gestures. The gardens were incredible. They had so much food they were growing—they needed to, because what they harvest now is what they have to eat the entire winter. Then we saw a barrel-making shop which was really cool. My favorite part was the band saw that took up an entire side room! It was huge! Nothing like the one I used for my robot design project this year. After that, we went to the church there. The bottoms of the seats lining the walls were about 6 inches long- just enough t barely prop ourselves against it! From walking around the town, I noticed that everyone in Donchevo had their specific jobs and specialties—mayor, barrel maker, brandy distillery, and so on.

When we finished our little tour, we met in a little mini park (shady area with trees) where a HUGE feast had been set up for us. It meant so much because these people did it from the gratitude in their hearts- they weren’t getting paid to do any of this. The food they were giving us was using some of their food for the winter, but they didn’t seem phased at all—they loved that we were visiting, and we so hospitable. A group of old women were lined up in a half circle with linked arms, dancing to the music being made over by the microphones. Then some younger girls joined in. They danced and sang and performed for us as we ate the feast they had provided for us. It was incredible! Honestly, I’m trying to do my best to explain it but I know there is NO way I can convey how amazing this trip was. As I mentioned before, it is my favorite experience thus far on Semester at Sea!

I was still not feeling too great, so I was very careful with the food. I mostly ate bread and watermelon. I felt bad not taking the food, but I knew it was better than feeling miserable on the bus on the way back. I tasted a couple other things and they were delicious! When we were finishing up eating, the Bulgarians came over and got us to dance with them, and attempted to teach us. This went on for a long time, and after awhile I went over to say hi to the little kids—I couldn’t help it, I just LOVE kids! I had my camera with me, so after introductions (involving pointing at saying names), we started our photoshoot. The kids LOVED it! They all wanted different combinations of people in each picture, and they HAD to see it afterwards. It was really fun. Then I went over to a very young little girl sitting with her mom and aunt (I think). She had the most tender little baby voice and had the sweetest, softest face. Her name is Ana. We smiled back and forth for awhile and laughed about some things, and then I taught her to play patty-cake so we were playing for awhile. Then her mom was talking to her, I think trying to convince her to sing a song to it that she knew. Sure enough, her tiny little voice started singing a little song as we went. Then came the end of the game—patty cake, patty cake, patty cake…and all of the sudden she pulled her ears out and stuck her tongue out! That’s how their rhymes ended I guess! It was just the cutest thing ever. I have a couple pictures of/with her and CANNOT wait to post them!!! The Ana and I danced a little, and then it was time to go . :( None of us wanted to!! The little kids clung onto us as we walked toward the bus and wanted more and more last minute pictures. I felt like I’d known these people so well- they were so welcoming and told our translator to tell us that if we were ever near them for some reason, we are more than welcome to come stay with them for as long as we want. Everyone there was so proud of their little town and their culture. I LOVED IT!!! Seriously, I wish I could just convey the feelings and atmosphere of the whole day!

When I got back, I was exhausted. No going out again for me! I stayed on the ship the rest of the night with the girls and we all shared about our first day in Bulgaria. Keep in mind that Bulgaria wasn’t supposed to be on our itinerary—it replaced Egypt when things got touchy there. And I am SO glad we came to Bulgaria!

Alzheimer?s Disease (July 23)

Today in psychology, we focused on Alzheimer’s Disease and discussed it for all of class. It’s what we’ll be studying for the next few days. Alzheimer’s is so feared because it involves losing a person’s memory- virtually who they are, and there is no cure. I’ve always been interested in it, so I’m really glad we’re studying it right now. We’re learning all about the research that has been done so far, and ways to push back the age of onset. It’s different because there really isn’t any concrete proof for anything, which is so rare in this day and age, especially with the amount of research done. It’s almost frustrating, but at the same time it makes a cure so much more desirable. We watched some films of lives of people at different stages and how their memories function. And the research- yes, there are plaques, but the plaques don’t always correlate to Alzheimer’s or no Alzheimer’s—many people with plaques show no sign of the disease. It’s all so unknown still!

I was able to eat kind of normal meals today…very bland ones, but that’s better than I’ve been doing! I did my laundry today—desperate times call for desperate measures. I wore a sundress today. Why did I wear a sundress today? Because it was the only thing left that was clean! So when I say I did laundry, now you get it a little more. It took FOREVER and there was laundry…EVERYWHERE…ALL OVER…in our room. I found hanging spots in more places than you can imagine- I was hanging clothes from wall lights, curtains, our big picture frame on the wall…had them spread on towels and plastic bags all over my bed and the floor…and that didn’t even include the bathroom. I hung things from the clothesline, from the shower frame, from the shower head, the curtain. Starting to get the idea? And in our rooms, clothes do not dry quickly. Unfortunately, the clothes had to stay there for a couple of days.

At night, I went to a photography seminar that was really interesting. Karyn Planett has given a few of thesse lectures that I’ve gone to, and they’re great. Because we are both travelers and photographers right now, we need to find a balance. We don’t want to focus too much on the photography such that we miss out on the purity of the moments, but we don’t want to miss a great shot! She told us to view ourselves as travelers with cameras. When possible, take the perfect shot. But when the scene isn’t perfect, or it isn’t appropriate to take pictures, just take the moment in because the memory will be just as amazing, most of the time better. I found her seminar really helpful and loved seeing some of the pictures she’s taken around the world!

We had Bulgaria preport and learned a little bit about the country. We even learned some Bulgarian words that would give us the basic foundations for communicating. After preport I went to a Women’s Bible Study and we studied Ruth. We were going to paint nails after that, but we were all exhausted and went straight to bed!

Happy 23rd birthday Rob!! :)