Egypt

Egypt
        From the second that I signed up to do Semester at Sea, the port I was most looking forward to was Egypt.  I remember a conversation that a bunch of us had in Halifax about the ports that we couldn't wait for, and when I said Egypt, I also said that I didn't want to wish the whole trip away.  Well the trip is almost over, and people have started to talk about it, and its actually making me really sad to think that I have to come home in a little less than three weeks, but before that I will attempt to actually describe the things that we saw, and the things that we experienced in Egypt. 
        I think the funniest thing I have ever heard was when we were sitting in preport and Dia, the assistant dean of students, said, “who else in the world to do you know that is traveling to Egypt at 14 miles per hour?”  I mean besides the 700 other students I was sitting next to, it was true to think that.  It was so funny to think that we were probably the only people in the whole world doing that, at that exact minute and we all just couldn't stop laughing.  They gave us a whole bunch of background and information on the country, because we were entering a new world.  It was different than what we experienced in Turkey, because even though Turkey is a Muslim country, the kind of leadership, government and customs that we would experience in Egypt was entirely different.  We were entering into the real Middle East, where people were not nice to women, where we basically had no rights, had to cover up entirely in over one hundred degree weather.  It kind of scared me to learn about the culture, but at the same time, I was so excited to lose my self in a culture, which I had never experienced in my life.  A bunch of students who had lived in Egypt or had family or knew about it gave us pointers about how to stay safe while traveling.  They told us that it was going to be different this time, that we actually had to cover up and that we had to have a man with us at all times.
        At this point, I was really stressed out because a whole bunch of people were going on trips and a bunch of other people were planning independent trips.  I had asked a whole bunch of guys about their plans and no one really had anything solid, which stressed me out.  I wanted to figure out what I was going to do in Alexandria before my big trip to Cairo.  I talked to my friend Tara and she convinced me to join her on her SAS trip that was doing a tour of Alexandria and of the Catacombs.  It turned out that Gabe was selling that exact trip, so I was able to buy it from him and not have to worry about going out by myself or how to get around. 
        The next morning we had finally arrived in Egypt, and I stepped outside to a heat I have never felt in my life.  It was well over 100 degrees at about 9am and it was hot and sticky and muggy.  All I could think about was trying to get through the day without having a heat stroke.  I had to get on my conservative clothing as well, so that kind of made me even more anxious.  We finally left the ship to board the bus around noon for our trip, which turned out to be one of the best decisions that I had ever made.  I didn't really know anyone else on the trip besides Tara, but it was really a good experience.  First we drove to the catacombs, which I didn't really know much about.  Before we got there though, I was able to look out the window of the bus to understand the kind of poverty that everyone was talking about.  The city was dusty, dirty and hot.  There were people everywhere, it was unbelievably crowded.  We drove down streets that were barely big enough for the bus that we were on, watching cars swerve in and out of traffic.  I later learned that the lines and lanes on the road mean nothing to Egyptians.  We arrived at the Catacombs, which ended up being a huge and beautiful tomb.  The tour guide told us that we had to leave our cameras on the bus because they were not allowed inside the tombs.  After a tour of the main parts of the tomb, we were allowed free time to walk around and see the other parts.  There was one part of the tomb that was designed for an extremely rich family.  The father, mother, son and daughter were all laid there in a lavish tomb so that they could experience their after life to the fullest extent.  The tour guide had given us tons of facts about the tomb, and of the hieroglyphics, which were still visible on almost all the walls of that particular tomb. 
        After the tour of the Catacombs of Shawqafa, we left for the next stop on the tour, a palace.  It was about a 20 minute ride from one place to the next, and I couldn't help but stare out the window at life going on around me.  We drove down the almost 18km of coastline in Alexandria, where we could see people swimming and having a good time.  I noticed that all of the women that were in the water were fully clothed, head scarf and all.  The guide made a point to tell us that the beaches that we were passing were public beaches, and because of political issues and lack of governmental guidance, the Muslim brothers had taken it into their hands to watch over the city.  Therefore, all of the women that were on any public beach, had to be entirely covered.  The guide explained how they made special bathing suits for the women, that were basically wet suits, but the whole situation completely blew my mind.  It was so much to take in because of how different it was.  The guide also told us that if any of us were to go on the beach in a bikini, that we would probably be arrested.
        Upon arriving at the palace, we were allowed to get off the bus to take pictures, and use the ATM.  There was a 5 star hotel right next to it that was absolutely amazing.  The view of the water was absolutely incredible.  The next stop on the tour was the place where the old light house used to be.  Of course, the guide gave us all of the history of the light house, an old world wonder that was destroyed.  It was really beautiful to see the Qait Bey Fort that is there now.  It was very close to the beach and people had set up stands to sell all kinds of Egyptian souvenirs.  The men selling their items harassed us, and told us to look over here, that they had the best price.  Tara and I just laughed it off, saying, wow, that's funny, they all seem to have the best price.  After we left there, we rode the bus to the new library, which is an architectural masterpiece.  It was absolutely gorgeous, but we only got to see the outside.  Everyone else who I spoke to that got to go inside, said that it was absolutely amazing.  I would have liked to go inside the library, but I just did not have enough time.    After the library, we made a quick stop to take a picture of the Mosque of Abu El Abbas that was there.  I was so happy that I did that tour because I was able to see most of Alexandria in such a short time.  I hadn't actually realized how spread apart all of the attractions were, so I think that it would have been really hard to get from one place to another.  We had been warned against the taxi cabs, because they tended to rip people off, or harass women who were traveling alone.  I really had fun on the trip, which was really much better than I had expected.  We stayed in that night to watch movies, because once again we had been advised against going out on our own.  The culture of Egypt looks down upon women who drink and smoke, so we decided that we didn't want to get into trouble, plus my Cairo trip was leaving at 7:30 the next morning.
        I had experienced my first real SAS trip by going with Tara to the catacombs, and I had a really good time, and I was able to actually learn about what I was seeing.  I think that made a huge difference in just going to a huge tomb that I knew nothing about versus actually learning something about it.  I was so excited for my trip to Cairo because I wanted to see the pyramids in the worst way.  I knew that I would not have been able to really do the trip on my own, because it was a two hour train ride away.  I lucked out with my trip, I was on the bus with all of my friends, and we had one of the greatest, most entertaining tour guides ever.  She introduced her self as Hala and shortly after that, she became our mama Hala.  She was so knowledgeable and funny and I knew that she was the one who would make my trip even better.  The first stop on the trip was the museum in Cairo, which housed some of the greatest archaeological pieces ever found in Egypt.  We got to see the casket of King Tut, as well as all the jewelry that was found with it.  We saw mummies and crazy every day items that had been preserved so well.  We got to see a cart that may have been used as a type of transportation led by some kind of animal.  There were tons of slabs with hieroglyphics on it as well as pieces from other tombs that were found.  I think that the most exciting thing that we got to see was the famous gold head of King Tut.  Apparently it was a piece that made its way around the world for all the people to see, but we were lucky enough that it was in Cairo at the time for us to see.  The only disappointing thing about the museum, along with some of the other places that we got to go in Egypt was that we were not allowed to take any pictures at all.  After a two hour ride on the bus to Cairo, the stop at the museum, and some of the most heartbreaking scenes I had ever seen, we arrived at our five star hotel in Cairo, which was situated about ten feet from the Nile river.  I had to stop and think to myself though how privileged I was to have all of this right in front of me, which I had literally just passed by miles and likes of slums.   I knew areas like that existed around the world, but it had never been real to me until I saw it with my own eyes.  The piles of garbage, the roofs made out of cardboard boxes, the naked little children playing in the dirt.  I had to turn away at some point, just because it was so hard to see such poverty.  Mama Hala came on the loud speaker and told us that if you were to ask any child living in that kind of situation if they wanted to move to America or trade in their life, they would probably say no, just because they were content with their own life.  I thought that it was so inspiring to hear that, because knowing if I were to offer my life to them, they would turn it down to stay happy with their families in their home. 
        When we got into our hotel, which we were informed was an old palace, we all had to go through a metal detector and put our bags through an x-ray machine.  It was so weird to see how protective they were being, because I don't think that I have seen that anywhere in the US.  We were led through the hotel, which was quite deceiving from the outside, because walking through it, we realized how absolutely huge it was.  The lobby was amazingly gorgeous, the courtyard had two restaurants set up with people drinking tea.  We were led back into another section, where there was another restaurant with a huge spread of food laid out.  A huge buffet was set up for us and I was so excited to dig in.  It was everything I could have wanted, plain old delicious traditional Egyptian food.  I piled my plate high with every kind of indistinguishable salad and vegetable thing and lots of pita and salad.  I had to get a second plate for the meat section of the buffet.  The food was absolutely incredible, I just wanted to keep eating forever, but finally I was too full and had to stop, that is until I could fit the dessert in.  There was a table at the back of the room that had about 50 kinds of desserts on it.  Me, Julia, Christine and Meg kept going back and forth for more food because it was so good.  After lunch, we were given keys to our rooms so that we could go back and take a rest for a while.  The rooms were absolutely amazing.  I couldn't wait to crawl into bed and take a nap.  We had been up since 7:00 am, it was really hot, humid and we were wearing pants and long sleeves.  I got into my bed, which happened to be one of the most comfortable things I had laid in in a while, turned on the Disney channel, which was in English, and passed out shorty after that.  I had not intended to sleep for four hours, but I did, and I was awoken by my alarm clock to tell me that I had to get in the shower in order to be ready for that night.  After getting dressed, and finding Julia and Meg, we went to the bus.  We were going to the sound and lights show at the pyramids and I was so excited for the first glimpse.
        We were excited when we were getting on the buses, because we realized that a lot of the other SAS trips that were in Cairo were going with us to the show that night.  It was really nice to see everyone there, partly, I think because it was so unexpected.  On the road, on the way there, we could see our first glimpse of the pyramids.  They looked really small from the street, but as we got closer, the more amazing and big they got.  As we were pulling into the parking lot to the pyramids, there were camels lining the road with their owners.  The men on the road were pointing at us, you could tell that they wanted us to give them money, or pay them to ride their camels.  It was actually amusing how many times people tried to sell us things through the bus window.  We eventually got off the bus, and it was really crowded with tour groups, and a whole bunch of SASers.  We got seats at the cafe, which were slightly raised over the regular seats that people were taking.  Of course, we took about 100 pictures standing in front of the pyramids, until it started getting dark.  The show finally started, and it was a bit corny, explaining the history of the pyramids and dimensions and how perfectly straight they were.  It was kind of cool to get all that information because I never would have known it other wise.  After the show, it was close to 10pm, and we were all tired and hungry.  There was so much traffic, it was crazy, but mama Hala told us that the people in Cairo come out at night because the temperatures drop and its much more bearable to do things.  We saw some crazy things in that traffic, including these little white mini buses that had about 100 people on each one.  We had learned that those were the buses that the poorer people in the city took, because they were so cheap.  At one point, we even saw a broken down bus, with all the men pushing it to the side of the road.
        We eventually made it back to the hotel about a half an hour late, where there was another sprawling buffet set out for us.  I ate wayy too much again, and went to sleep because we had a 4:15 am wake up call, in order to see the sun rise over the pyramids.
        I didn't find out until later that the pyramids are not accessible to anyone before about 8am.  Semester at Sea was able to negotiate with them to open it for us so that we could see the sun rise.   We arrived to the opposite side of the pyramids, what is called the panoramic side, at about 5:45 am.  It was quite bright out so I was getting worried that we weren't going to be able to see the sun rise.  We started taking pictures, creative ones of course, and a whole bunch of people had signs, thanking their parents for letting them see the world and stuff.  It was really cool to see the pyramids like this, because besides our group of about 100, we were the only people there.  We kept taking pictures of silly things, we actually made a human pyramid in front of the pyramids which was fun.  The sun rose, it was a bit hazy, but it was really really cool to see.  We had ventured down from the buses where the sand was flat, and we were taking more and more pictures until about 7:30 when we saw the camels starting to arrive.  We were going to take a camel ride, and I was really excited.  Once the camels were situated, we were allowed to get on them and take a ride.  Christine and I shared one, and it was the craziest thing ever.  It was wobbly, and I thought that I was going to fall off.  Our camel was very close to the others, so we kept bumping into them.  I have some videos from that experience.  After a short ride, we were harassed by more men to buy things from them, including the infamous head dresses that I had wanted from the beginning.  We had to explain to them that we didn't really have money on us, but they kept insistently harassing us to buy from them.  I bought a head dress (with a cute little pink and green tie :) ) and got back on the bus so they would leave us alone.  We were headed down to the next spot of our tour anyway, we were going to the Great Pyramid.  I bought a ticket to go inside, which was probably one of the best decisions ever, except that once again, we were not allowed to take our cameras in.  It was a steep low clearance stair way into the pyramid, which led to a small opening and a similar stair case up, which opened into a big room with an open tomb inside.  One of the boys on our trip actually brought his camera inside, and took a few pictures, which was way cool.  We had to leave after a little bit because it was blistering hot inside, but it was just cool to say that we went into the Great Pyramid.  The next stop was the sphinx.  I had seen it the night before, but it was so much cooler to get up close to it and be able to take some pictures.  We had to go through this amazing temple that was built there along with the pyramids to get to the sphinx.  We were allowed only to go so close, but it was incredible to see how big it was.  I had to stop and think at some points how incredible these things were, and it just amazed me to know how they were all built.  Mama had mentioned something about aliens, and it was funny, because my dad had always said that, but it was actually amazing to realize that people had created those structures with out any form of technology or machines.
        After seeing the pyramids and hanging out there for a few hours, it was time to leave and go to our next site.  We were going to the Citadel of Saladin where there were breathtaking views of the city of Cairo, and a mosque.  We were able to go into the mosque, where mama Hala gave us a brief overview of the Muslim religion and some of the traditions and cultures that they had.  It wasn't until later, when I met back up with Kati after getting back from Cairo that the black spots that people on their foreheads made sense.  She told me that her tour guide had told them that many of the people who prayed 5 times a day had burn marks on their heads from the carpet they prayed on.  I thought that it was so interesting to see, and it actually made sense to me after she told me that.  After the Citadel, we headed back to a restaurant that was on the Nile river, where we ate again like kings.  All of the food that we were eating was absolutely amazing.  We were exhausted after lunch, because I think that is the most amount of things that I had ever done in a day before noon.  But instead of going back to the hotel with a bunch of people after lunch, I decided to continue touring around Cairo, where we headed to the bazaar.  It was very touristy of course, but it was very cheap.  I was able to get a few more gifts for people, before we headed back for the bus to the hotel for a much needed nap.  I hadn't planned on sleeping so much, but I awoke four hours later for my shower and to get ready for our Nile dinner cruise. 
        We boarded the boat for dinner and I was expecting a kinda shabby boat, but it was actually amazing.  There was another spread of food, a 10 piece band and a belly dancer for entertainment.  After she was done dancing, another guy came out with a really cool dress, and spun around and a round, and the lights went out and his dress lit up and was neon colored and it was just so cool to watch.  After that, everyone got up and started dancing and it was so much fun.  When we got back to the hotel, Erin, Meg and I decided to go to a pub called Harry's which was attached to our hotel.  It was ok to go and have a drink there, because it was part of the hotel.  We had one drink and then realized how expensive it was, so we headed back to the hotel to go to the shisha bar that they had there.  It was amazing to walk by it during the day because of the amazing fumes that were coming from the water pipes.  Plus it was much cheaper to smoke than it was to drink.  After a relaxing night, we went to sleep.
        The next morning was probably the highlight of my entire trip, which I am only half kidding about.  The restaurant had a full American buffet breakfast, with waffles, omelets, French toast, pancakes and so much more.  I was so excited to have an omelet and waffles because I hadn't had one in almost three months.  Its so funny to think of the things from home that are just so comforting.  Its not that I wanted to go home at all, it was just nice to get some of my familiar favorite things. On the last day in Cairo, we visited Sakkara, where we saw one of the first pyramids ever made.  It was a step pyramid,which we were informed was one of the first trials of building pyramids.  It was basically a confirmation that aliens did not make the pyramids.  It was amazing to see, although it was much smaller than the other ones that we had seen, but it was just history standing in front of me, which was so amazing.  After, we visited Memphis, which was a really small area, but it was the first capital of Egypt, so that was really cool.  We got to see a whole bunch of really cool statues and monuments  including a huge statue of King Ramses II, which basically took up an entire building.  When we were finally done site seeing, we returned to Cairo for lunch at another five star hotel that was near the pyramids and also amazing as well.  We were all exhausted from traveling when we got back on the bus, and took a nap until we were back in Alexandria at the port.
        Upon arriving back in the port, which happened to be one of the most extensively protected port, we had to wait on a huge line because there were so many trips getting back at the same time.  We had to go through a huge building, where there were heat sensor which could pick up if a person had a fever, there were metal detectors and an x-ray machine to put all of our bags.  They also checked our passports several times to make sure that we belonged there.  I finally got through the line and all of the security and I got into my room and passed out in my bed.  It is really funny to consider the ship my home, but after traveling for a long period of time, it really does feel good to be home.  We didn't do anything that night, just stayed in and watched some movies, partly because we were tired, but partly because we were still women in Egypt, and it wasn't entirely safe for us to do so.
        In the morning, it was our final day in Egypt, and it was amazing how quickly time flew by.  Kati, Kate, Colby, Krissy, and Emily and I wanted to go to the bazaar in Alexandria, but we found out that it wasn't that great, so instead, we headed to the mall that was by the beach.  It actually ended up being in the Four Seasons hotel, so all of the stores were really high end and expensive.  We ended up spending a while in the food court, eating Pizza Hut and McDonald's where they had a sandwich called the McArabia.  I thought that was kind of amusing.  After walking around the mall for a while, we didn't end up buying anything, but we did get to go to the grocery store, where we stocked up on snacks to get us through our 5 day trek to Morocco.  After, we met back up at the Starbucks where we thought that there might be some free wifi.  Of course, because we were still in Egypt, there wasn't anything for free, so we just got back in cab and headed back to the ship.  The cab ride in itself was an experience, and I'm pretty sure that we almost died a few times.  The traffic in Alexandria, and the country as a whole is absolutely insane.  I actually had to take out my camera to video the situation because it was so funny.  We reached the port, and walked back, but before we headed back to stay on the boat, we looked through the souvenirs one more time.
        I am not even sure that this is a good portrayal of my time in Egypt, simply because I saw and experienced so many things that were so out of the ordinary and amazing to me.  I think that Egypt has opened my eyes to the world, where I was able to see a small portion of poverty that exists in so many places through out the world.  I also have picked up on an interest to possibly want to learn how to speak Arabic one day, just because I think it is the most fascinating language that I have come across in my travels.  I most definitely want to return to Egypt one day, but possibly to other African countries, which are less developed and learn about their culture, language and ways of life because they are so entirely fascinating.  If any port has changed me, it is Egypt.  I can't wait to get to Morocco to see how the two differ :)

Bulgaria..

I think that the only place on the list of countries that I was supposed to go this summer that I wasn't too sure about was Bulgaria.  This was the first time that Semester at Sea was going there, partly due to the political issues that the country was dealing with and its enterance into the EU, but it really wasn't too bad.  We had a really good time relaxing on the beach, hanging out with friends and enjoying the extremely low prices of the goods there.    
        We didn't have a plan or any rhyme or reason in Bulgaria, so we kind of just winged it.  On the first day, I had to do an FDP which was very interesting.  It was about human trafficking and the mayor even came to see us and give a speech, because our program being in Varna, was such a huge deal.  Bulgaria is the kind of country that is up and coming when it comes to tourism, and for us to be there and contribute so greatly to their tourism season was great.  It was kind of hard to understand a lot of the presentation because they were translating between English and Bulgarian but I thought that it was a good thing to experience, especially because human trafficking is such a big deal in their country.  After the program, I took the bus back to the port to meet up with Kati and we wandered off to the beach, which was really close to the port, to try and get something to eat.  We were kind of tired and wanted to get back on the boat, but because they were tendering in the morning, we had to wait a while longer to get back on the ship.  We found a little restaurant on the beach, and I ordered french fries with some kind of cheese and sausage on it, as well as a drink.  The food was amazing, and so was the drink, because it had blackcurrant juice in it, which is my favorite.  After a few drinks and a snack, we were finally able to get back on the ship, but the line was totally out of control.  It took us about 45 minutes to get back on, because they had to check everyone's bags and frisk everyone.  Once we were on the boat, we were able to get ready to go out that night.
        We were very close to beach, which had a board walk type of thing, with tons of bars and restaurants.  It was really nice to get a few drinks and relax on the beach with our friends. 
        For pretty much the entire time that we were in Bulgaria, we went to the beach, hung out, drank, ate and relaxed.  We had been so busy in Turkey and we were constantly on the go that it was good to just take in the beach.  It was really cool because there was a huge international volleyball tournament on the beach that we watched, and a whole bunch of SASers joined in.  There was also this amazing restaurant called Captain Cook's, which was right next to the ship, where Kati and I ate, she had sushi and I had shrimp tempura, and it was so amazingly good.  I ate there about three times during our time in Bulgaria.
        On the third day, we went to a place called Golden Sands, which apparently everyone was raving about.  We wanted to go there to rent jet skis and go parasailing because it was a really big beach resort, they had that kind of thing.  When we got there, it was really cute, there were little shops lining the streets and little bars and restaurants right on the beach.  Danielle, Kati and I set up our towels and laid for a while.  We eventually got up to walk down the board walk, which was kind of cute, they had a little area of amusment park rides and games set up, there was a mall and higher end shops farther down.  We had lunch and went bought snacks at the supermarket.  After all of that, we went back to the beach, where I got a massage, which was really nice, while the girls went to go get the information on the jetskiing.  It was a little late and the guy told them that it was all closed.  When it was time to leave, we got a cab, which ended up being wayy more expensive to get home, than it was to come, so we were a little annoyed with that, but the cab driver was nice and tried his hardest to explain to us that he wasn't ripping us off, that there was a higher tax in Golden Sands than there was in Varna.  We had him drop us off at the first point we knew we could walk from, which was about a half a mile, just because it was more than a 50 liva cab ride, meaning about 35$ which was still really expensive.  So we walked home to our boat and got ready for the night. 
        On the last night, it was Grace's birthday, so we all decided to go down to a club called Malali which was really cool.  We had a few drinks there first, and then we went to a club called Copa cabana.  It was good to hang out with Grace and everyone for a change in pace, plus because it was her birthday it was even more fun.  We met a whole bunch of guys at the club who were all triathletes, and they were very nice to look at. Haha.  Over all it was a really fun night, which turned into more laying on the beach for the last day.
        I know that it might have been fun to venture off and do a few more things that might have been a bit cultural, but its so hard to explain how tired that I get from travelling constantly and having to go to class on top of it all.  It really does take a lot out of you, and its nice to get to a country where we can just relax.  I have seen so many things in the past few weeks, more than the average person will ever be able to see, and I actually think that its funny because when I called my dad he told me that I will always have one up on him, because he will never go to Bulgaria.  It was a really nice country actually, I don't know if I would ever return, but with all of the struggles that it has over come, its nice to see that it has opened its doors for the travellers around the world. 

I fell in love in Turkey..

      I never could have imagined falling in love with Istanbul, but I did.  I sat through preport where both of the deans sat and told us about terrorist attacks and petty crime.  After we were all scared half to death, we pulled in to the port of Istanbul at about 5am, where Krissy and I work up to see the sun rise.  It was a bit disappointing because it was very hazy, so we went back to sleep until about 8am, when we got up to go to breakfast.  That was actually the first time that we got to see the city, first hand, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  We all had to get in line to get our landing cards, because apparently its illegal to carry a passport with out a visa in Istanbul.  After waiting in line, and messing up my name on my card, we were able to get off the boat.  Of course, they told us to dress pretty conservatively because of the culture in Turkey, so we all wore pants and t-shirts, even though it was blistering hot, we wore these clothes.  Jessica, Kati, Kate, Danielle and I, along with our very important male companion, Harry all went to the grand bazaar to check it out.  We soon found out that there was really no need for the pants or the male companion because although the culture is very conservative in Turkey and we were trying to fit in with their culture, it was really unnecessary.  We walked across the bridge, because everything was within walking distance from our ship, and it was packed with people and vendors and really cute little tables next to a floating restaurant.  We had to walk underground to get to the main part of the city, where there were crazy vendors and people selling interesting things.  When we finally got through the underground walkway, we found the street to get to the bazaar.  We walked through the spice bazaar, which we did not really know at the time, through uphill winding streets, full of people.  It was really an intense walk, with everyone harassing us to buy things from them, call us names and using some of the worst pick up lines that I had ever heard. 
        Once we entered the bazaar, we had to get something to eat because we were thirsty and hungry.  After eating, we ventured to the shopping.  There were souvenirs everywhere, evil eyes, tapestries, clothing, hookahs, and spices.  It was an amazing site to see.  We bought so many things, including a gorgeous hot pink tapestry which I can't wait to hang over my bed at school.  I got a lot of presents for friends and family, and it was especially great, because we were able to haggle with the men for lower prices.  On top of that, it was even cheaper because the Turkish Lira has a really great exchange rate.  After a great and successful day of shopping in the bazaar, we headed back to the ship to get ready to go out for the night.  We headed out to the restaurant strip that was very close to the ship, and got dinner of kebabs and French fries.  It was delicious and the best part of the restaurant was that they had free wifi.  We were able to get on line and check out the whirling dervish show that we really wanted to see.  After dinner, we walked back to a restaurant across from the ship that sold desserts.  I had this really delicious fruit tart and some Turkish coffee.  The Internet in that place stopped working, and we were pretty sure that they turned it off so we would leave, Kate and Jess walked back to the ship and Kati and I walked up and down the strip of restaurants looking for more of our friends.  We were offered free coffee and tea three times, which we couldn't turn down, so we just spent the rest of the night relaxing and drinking Turkish coffee and then headed back to the ship to go to sleep.
        In the morning, we really wanted to do the Bosporus boat tour, which basically toured the whole river and went to the Asian side of Istanbul.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We got to see many of the palaces on the shore, along with many of the mosques, which were amazing.  There was a bridge about two miles down from where our ship was docked, and it was the bridge that went from Europe to Asia, but when we passed it on the boat tour, we could see the difference because there was a red flag with a white moon and star on the European side and a white flag with a red moon and star on the Asian side.  It was a really cool tour, because we could see more of the city than from just walking around.  After, when we got back to shore, we went to a restaurant to eat lunch and confirm our plans for the evening.  We purchased tickets to go see a whirling dervish show, a very holy ritual of dancing in Turkey.  We left and got some ice cream called dondurma which was really, really good, and kind of stretchy, and then headed back to the boat to shower and get ready for the night. 
        We finally were ready to go see the show, and we started walking, but we soon realized that the map that the guy gave us was completely wrong.  We had the address of the place, but no one seemed to know where it was, and/or they did not speak English.  After walking in circles for what seemed like an hour, but more like a half hour and being followed by a 13 year old boy who had a fishing pole and a crush on Jessica, we finally found the place where the dervish was taking place.  It was down a really small alley, but we were really happy to actually finally get there. We got some free sodas and then went in to sit, where we had seats all the way in the back.  We met a couple sitting next to us who were from Atlanta, and talked to them for a while about our program.  They were really interested in the program, and they were telling us all about their children and stuff, it was kind of nice to talk to other Americans for a chance.  The show started, and I really didn't know what we were getting our selves into, but these men played ritual music for a while and then five other men came out eventually, dressed in all white outfits and skirts.  The dancing that they did was basically really slow, and they spun in circles for a while, it kind of made me dizzy, but after when I read the pamphlet about the show, it told us all the meaning of the spinning and how they were completely lost in the circles trying to connect with God.  It was interesting to actually see some of the cultural things that they did in Turkey.  After that we wanted to get a few drinks, but little did we know that it was one of the highest, holiest days in Turkey, and because the people are all basically Muslim, no one was serving any alcohol.  So instead, Kati and I sat on the Bosporus river, smoking hookah and drinking milkshakes.  It was really fun and we got to call home to our friends, which was really good.
        On the third day in Istanbul, we went back to the grand bazaar to pick up a few last things, and Kati needed to get her dad a gift, so we spent a few hours there and later we were going to the Turkish baths.  We had heard people talking about them, and how intense of an experience it was, so we decided that we had to do it.  After we finally found the road that lead to the bath, which also had a Starbucks, we got to the bath and found out that it was a bit more expensive than any of us thought.  We didn't really mind, and we paid the 80 Lira, which is about $52, which wasn't too bad.  It really was an experience though.  We got lead into a room that had little rooms in it, which all locked, so that we each got our own, to get dressed in and leave our stuff.  We were instructed to leave our things in the room, and just wear the towel.  Kati, Jess, Kate and I decided that we were going to wear our bathing suits, because we weren't really sure how we felt being entirely naked.  After we were done changing, we were lead into the baths, which are kind of hard to explain, it was a big room with a marble circular platform in the middle, where people laid to get their massages and services, and surrounding the room on the perimeter, there was marble benches and sinks every few feet.  The sinks didn't have pipes, so they just filled up and then spilled over.  The woman told us to sit on the benches, and gave us a metal bowl that we weren't sure what to do with.  Eventually we realized how hot it was in the room, and the point was to make us sweat so that we could exfoliate better, but we kept filling the bowl with water and pouring it on ourselves.  Finally when it was our turn, I went first, and the woman came up to me and told me to lay on the marble platform in the middle.  She then told me to take off my top.  I was a bit uncomfortable, but it soon wore off.  She started to scrub and exfoliate my whole body, then a rinse and back to the middle to get a full body massage.  It wasn't like a massage that we would get in the US, but it was really nice, especially after walking around for so long.  Finally she took me back to the sinks and started washing my hair, soaping it up and throwing it in my face along with tons of water, so I basically couldn't breathe for like five minutes.  It was such a crazy situation because there were so naked women around, and after each customer, the woman who did the washing would strip fully naked and rinse herself off.  Some of these women were enormous and it was just hilarious.  The whole thing was certainly an experience and I am really glad that I got to do it.  After that we went back to the ship to get ready, because we were going out.  We got in a cab and went to Taksim Square, a place that is known for its street having 200 bars.  We ended up getting lost and not being able to find the street, but we found some locals that took us there.  We ended up leaving them because we found Harry and we went to the Turkish pub.  It was a lot of fun, and a lot of SASers were there, which was kinda cool.  When we were leaving, we stopped at the McDonald's and had some fries, and then got a taxi back to the boat.
        In the morning, Danielle was finally back from her trip, so we got to go to the Hagia Sofia, one of the wonders of the world, the Blue Mosque and the Cistern, an underground palace.  We went to the palace first, and I had no idea what to expect.  Jessica told us that we had to go because she had read about it, so we waited in line and paid to get in.  We walked down stairs and it was really dark.  I hadn't realized that it was an underground palace, but all of the columns were lit by little orange lights, which made it look really pretty.  We walked around for a while and saw the two heads of Medusa, which no one really knows how they got there, but they were really cool to see.  After the palace, we walked over to the Hagia Sofia.  We didn't actually pay to go into the Hagia Sofia because it was really pricey but we saw it from the outside and it was really pretty.  Then we got ready to go into the Blue Mosque, which is really beautiful.  We were told that we had to wear floor length dresses and cover our shoulders and heads, but when we got there, people were very inadequately dressed and they were given little sheets to turn into skirts and shawls.  It was really amusing to watch.  We were all prepared, even to the point where we brought head scarves, which we eventually realized was not really necessary, more for our fun.  I didn't really know what to think about the mosque, but it was very big and open and carpeted.  We were not allowed to wear our shoes in, so we had to take them off and put them in a plastic bag.  There were lights that were all on suspension cords that hung really low to the ground.  I thought it was really weird, but kinda cool, and there was tons of stained glass.  After we were done at the mosque, we went over and found this guy making these cool lollipop things that was basically melted sugar and he twisted it on a stick.  It was good for like a few bites (because it was still gooey) and then we stopped at a restaurant to eat.  I got a really good kebab sandwich. 
        At night we went finally went out with Julia and Gabe for Alyssa's 21st birthday.  We weren't sure exactly what we were going to do so we went to Taksim Square again.  We started out the night at the Turkish pub and took a shot of tequila there, and then moved on to two other bars where we also had a shot of tequila.  Finally we ended up at an Irish pub where we actually sat down and ordered some drinks.  Kati and I hadn't eaten dinner so we walked around the corner and went to Pizza Hut.  We walked back with our pizza and consumed it in a matter of 5 minutes and it was so good.  After that, we all decided to keep walking, until we stumbled upon a bowling alley.  We all decided to play and get some beers.  It was hilarious, because we were all drinking and dancing in the bowling alley, and we got the people who owned it to turn on all of this American music.  We had a really good time and took so many pictures.  After the bowling we walked more towards where the boat was, and found this rando bar, and then some food, and a cab back to the boat at about 4am.  When Kati and I got back up to the boat we were looking out the side and we saw Alyssa randomly walking around in the port, so we had to try to find Meg because she couldn't get on the boat with out her id.  We couldn't find Meg, so we got Alyssa on the boat without her id and got a lock out to her room to find Meg passed out on her bed.  We couldn't wake her up but we found Alyssa's id and she swiped in.  It was a hilarious random night, but we finally got to go to bed.
        On the final day, I had to do an FDP for one of my classes, which was kind of silly and really had nothing to do with the class.  We went to Bosporus University, which was like a 20 minute ride from the ship and we met with like 6 students who told us about their school.  I was supposed to write a paper for my psychology class, but there was seriously nothing to write about.  The students all spoke English, because all of their classes were taught in English and they said that it was extremely hard to actually take their exams because the exams were in Turkish.  They seemed to tell us all of the good things, and they had a brief question and answer section and then we went for lunch where we were able to sit one on one with the students and ask them questions.  After the FDP we took the bus back and I went across the street to get some baklava, because everyone said it was so amazing.  It was soo good and the perfect way to end my time in Istanbul.     
        I don't really know why I loved it so much, maybe it was just the culture and the way of life, but the people were so interesting and foreign to me.  I learned a lot of little silly things along the way that I think that I will have for life.  I think that Turkey was by far my most favorite port so far, but we still have Bulgaria, Egypt and Morocco. 

Greece

     So we had originally tried to make a plan to do all of these really exciting things while we were in Greece.  We obviously had to go see the Acropolis and the surrounding ruins, explore Athens a bit, and then go jet off to an island for an over night stay.  Well it seemed like a really good plan, until we realized how much of a bum we all were.  Things did eventually work out, and we did get to do all of the things we wanted to, just in a slightly different time frame and order.
        On the first day Kati and I decided to go see the Acropolis.  We waited to go with Julia and Gabe because they were going too.  We finally got off the ship and walked to get the bus, which went to the metro.  We got off the wrong stop on the bus and had to walk back to the metro, which kind of defeated the entire purpose of taking the bus.  Well its always an adventure with Julia and Gabe.  We got on the metro and got situated and figured out where we had to get off.  Kati and I met up with Austin and his friend Andrew, who were actually going to the Acropolis.  We decided that we had to get lunch first, which was amazing.  We had some really traditional Greek food, and Ouzo, which happens to be the most disgusting thing that I have ever tasted.  After lunch, we finally walked over to the Acropolis and bought tickets.  Before going in, we saw this really huge rock that everyone was climbing, so we decided to do that.  Of course, because I was wearing flip flops, the climb was that much harder and slipperier, but I finally got to the top, and the view was breath taking.  You could see all of Athens, plus some, and it was amazing.  I hadn't really pictured it to look like that, but we stayed at the top of the rock to take it all in.  After, we climbed down, and I fell flat on my ass, because of the sharp incline and how slippery it was, even despite the boys trying to help me get down.  We ventured over to the entrance of the Acropolis and walked up the hill to get in. At the top we ran into Fransisco and his friend Billy, who we actually continued to walk around with.  The Acropolis was really pretty, but a bit disappointing.  It had TONS of scaffolding around it and you could barely even see it.  We walked around taking a ton of pictures as usual.  When we were finally done, we walked out and got a slush drink and waited for Fransisco and Billy to come back from the rock.  While we were waiting, Gabe and Alyssa showed up, they had left us to go check into their hotel room, so we decided to continue venturing Athens with them.  We wanted to go find the Temple of Zeus, although I do not think that is the proper name for it.  While looking for it, we obviously had to do a bit of shopping.  Kati and I bought cherries on the way, which has become the staple of our trip.  We finally found where the Temple was, after walking in a complete circle.  There was no one there, which was cool.  The temple was really beautiful.  We took some really fun pictures, and then decided to walk to the Olympic stadium.  When we were done, we walked back to the shopping area to get the Metro home, because we were supposed to meet Jess and Kate at 8 to go out that night.
        Well the night was something special.  Kati and I got back and showered really quickly and basically got ready in record time.  The girls told us that we were leaving in 15 minutes to go to a bar crawl in Athens.  After everyone had congregated in Tyminz square, there were about 25 of us ready to go out.  The only problem? We had no idea where the bar crawl was or how to get there.  We frantically tried to call people we thought would have their phones on them, but it all failed.  We decided to wing it and walk to the metro, despite our already being late.  25 minutes of walking later, we were at the metro, we got on, and it was a big mess trying to figure out where to get off.  Finally we figured it all out and got to our destination, Syntagma Square.  We found out later that the bar crawl we were looking for had been canceled and that the people running it were in Germany.  Of course we weren't going to go home, so we found a cute little lounge place to get a few drinks.  After a while, the bartender told us that there was a club down the street which opened at 12, and that we should go because they were closing.  Well, we never did find that club, but we did find a strip of bars, and a hookah place.  Everyone was interested in getting some more drinks, but Kati and I thought it would be fun to just sit and chill out with some hookah.  We went to the bathroom, and when we came back, I guess everyone had figured out it would be fun to smoke some hookah.  It was such a hilarious night, people were getting drunk, and there was this little Pakistani man who kept bringing us free shots and and coals for the hookah.  I'm not sure where he came from, but he was absolutely crazy.  There were some boys next to us, who were from Belgium, who were celebrating one of their 18th birthdays.  We talked to them a lot because they were really cool.  It was getting closer to 3am and we had to get home, especially because our friend Jess was being very silly :)  Kate, Kati, Jess, Harry and I all got in a cab back to the port.  The guy dropped us really really far from our boat, despite my asking him to please drop us closer.  So we walked back slowly from that point to the boat.
        Well the next morning slash afternoon, when we all got up, Kati and I decided to go shopping because we had seen all the really pretty shops in Syntagma Square.  Jess and Kate were still sleeping, so we decided to venture alone.  We got some really cute things and spend a good amount of money.  After at about 6 we got the train back to the boat to see if we could get some dinner in Piraeus.  We ended up finding an Irish pub that had some really good fried food.  We got chicken wings, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, ribs and it was so good to eat something from home.  We stayed there for a while, and then decided to go back to the ship to get our computers because there was free wifi right on that strip.  We stayed out for a few hours and I got to talk to a bunch of friends on the phone, which was really good. I also tried to upload my Barcelona pictures for the 27th time but it took forever and then failed, so I am just going to try to do it when I get back.  It was a chilled out day, so we went to sleep pretty early.
        In the morning, Kati and I really had wanted to go to a Greek Island.  We got up early and got the bus to the other side of the port where they sold all the tickets for the ferries.  We crossed our fingers hoping that it would all work out, but with us, things always do tend to work out.  We walked into the first ticket office and told the girl that we wanted to go to an island.  She told us that the closest one was Aegina, which is where we planned to go anyway, and that the tickets were only 19 euros round trip.  We were really excited, because the next boat left in a half an hour.  We go our tickets, and found the ferry.  After an hour nap, we were finally there, and all we wanted to do was find a pretty beach and stay there.  It was a short walk to the beach, we set up our towels, laid out for a while until we were hot, and then got in the water.  I brought my water camera, so we played around with that, and joked about staying on the island for the rest of our lives.  The water was perfect, and we were surrounded by the most beautiful scenery.  There were several islands in the background and it was amazing.  For lunch, I had been talking about eating a gyro since we got there, so we went on a walk to find one.  We got to a place and ordered gyros and a Greek salad.  Well apparently there is no lettuce in a Greek salad, it consists entirely of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and peppers, with a huge chunk of feta on top.  Any one who knows me well, knows that I do not eat cucumbers or tomatoes, so I was a bit skeptical of this salad.  I pretty much ate all of the onions and peppers with feta, which was the best feta I have ever had, along with some of the cucumbers.  It was weird because they were actually pretty good.  Our gyros were even better, but kind of a mess, because we had to put them together on our own.  After lunch, we walked across the street to the fruit vendor and bought some more cherries and peaches and headed back to the beach.  We laid out some more and played in the water, and it was a really relaxing day.  About an hour before our ferry was supposed to head back, we grabbed some dinner, which actually consisted of my bakalava and Kati's ice cream and some ridiculously strong cocktails.  We got on the ferry, a bit tipsy and headed back to our home.
        That night we went back to the Irish pub because we were tired and that was where all of our friends were going.  We had a few drinks, and a good time and of course got back home around 3 am.  Well that was the precursor to our last day.  We didn't really have any plans so we decided to be really lazy and sleep all day.  It's one of those things that we don't really ever have time to do.  It was such a good thing to sleep.  We finally got up for lunch, and then watched three movies for the rest of the day.  It was a waste of time, but its so hard to explain how fast paced our lives have been for the last month.  Its crazy to think that we have been on this ship for a month already, and that our trip is half way over.  I feel like I have known these people for years and years, which is crazy, but I am still continuing to have the time of my life.

I'm a fan of the Kuna..

     Croatia was just as relaxing as I could have imagined.  I wanted to do a little exploring at first, so it wasn't a total waste of a port, so I ventured out with Roby and Colie.  We took the bus into Old City, Dubrovnik and walked around up and down little streets and allies, which was really cool.  We walked across Old city to the other side to try and find a beach, when we ran into the interport student, Borna.  (An interport student is a student that works for semester at sea, who stays on the ship from the previous port to their own country, in order to educate us about their home country).  It was really exciting to run into him, because he could help us navigate around the city.  Instead of asking him for directions, we asked to walk around with him, because we knew that it would be an experience.  It was just about lunch time, and he was headed to a restaurant, so we followed him there.  It was a small little place in an ally, away from all of the tourists, which was exactly what I wanted.  He ordered for all of us in Croatian, and none of us really knew what to expect.  The waiter brought out 5 identical plates with a sandwich looking thing, onions and cheese.  I couldn't tell you what the dish was called because Croatian is one of the most difficult languages that I have ever heard, but it was so absolutely delicious.  Borna told us that it was a traditional Dalmatian dish, with traditional sausages of three types of meat, goat cheese and onions.  After we all finished our lunch, we were stuffed, but Borna wanted to take us to get a cup of coffee.  We sat for a while at a cafe and just talked a lot about Croatian culture and way of life, which was just so interesting.  Finally after we ate and had our coffee, we were all ready for the beach, because it was so hot out.  Borna took us to his house, which was amazing.  It had a crazy view of the beach front.  He let us put our stuff in his house for safe keeping, and we left soon after for the beach.  We spent a few hours laying, drinking some beers and swimming in the water.  It was such an incredibly relaxing day.  After a few hours, we decided to go back to his house, where we sat in the yard drinking iced tea and juice, talking more about culture.  One of his neighbors came into his yard to see what was going on.  We had been playing music and talking, and he had overheard, and wanted to make sure that everything was okay.  Borna explained to us that that was part of their culture. Because it was just his summer house, he didn't live there all the time, and the neighbors would come and check frequently to make sure things were good. I thought that it was so cool because I don't think that I would ever trust my neighbors, to have the key to my house.  I learned a lot from him, and had such a good day.  We finally left about 7:45 and got the bus back to the port, to change and get ready to go out that night.
        A whole bunch of Semester at Sea kids were planning to go to the night club on the beach that night, and we thought it would be fun.  Jessica, Kate, Kati, Danielle and I got some drinks and sat on the beach for a while before going to the club because it hadn't opened yet.  It ended up being a really fun night, where all the SASers were out, having a good time in Croatia.  We also met a whole bunch of locals and people that were vacationing there as well, which was really cool.  We finally took a cab back to the port about 3:30 am and went to bed.
        The rest of Croatia was spent pretty much on the beach relaxing.  We had been on the go in Italy and Spain, I think that everyone was really tired and needed a break.  We tanned, swam, ate some good food, and did some shopping.  On the last night of Croatia, me and the girls decided to splurge a little bit and eat at this really fancy lounge bar.  I had found it on the Internet before I had even left for my trip and I really wanted to go there.  It was a really amazing place called Gil's located right on the water, with the most amazing views.  We knew to expect a really great night, but we didn't expect 3 waiters to be waiting on us the whole night.  The service was amazing.  I couldn't believe how great it was.  We all ordered drinks and our food, which was so incredibly good.  I ordered a steak, which came with fries and a salad.  It was quite amusing when our bill came because it was over 2000 kunas.  We had been making fun of the kuna since we had arrived in Croatia because it was basically worth nothing.  It was 5 kunas to every American dollar.  Not that 2000 Kunas was not expensive, my meal still cost about 65 dollars, but it was just kinda funny.  We had a really good girls night. 
        Croatia was beautiful.  I really loved every second of it.  It was just fun to not really have a plan, relax and enjoy the food and culture.  Although Dubrovnik was very touristy, I still enjoyed it a lot.  I really want to be able to go back and explore the country even further. 
        We have one day of classes and Sea Olympics before Greece.  I'm really excited :)

Naples

      When I had heard that we were going to Naples, everyone around me told me that I should get out as soon as possible.  When we got there, the port was pretty gross and so dirty, because apparently the mafia has completely taken over. We walked up to the main street where there were a ton of shops and all these people selling fake bags and jewelry on the streets.  We didn't really stop to shop at all  because our main goal was to find the train station, and get out of Naples.  We stopped to get some pizza because we were starving.  I can't even tell you how amazing the bread is there, you just have to go for yourself and try it.  Kati and I met a girl named Amy on the way out of the port and recruited her to come with us, because she was going to explore Naples on her own.  Well we all got on the train to Sorrento at about 1pm.  The train was so ghetto and covered in graffiti, but after an hour or so we got off the train.  Sorrento was really beautiful.  We spent some time shopping around, because we really hadn't bought anything yet, and I wanted to get some gifts.  We walked down to the water and saw the beaches, which were beautiful.  We got some pictures and admired the cliffs and ocean.  After a while we headed back to the train station so we could find the bus to go to Positano and the Amalfi coast.  Amy decided to head back to Naples, so Kati and I got on the bus to Positano.
        The bus ride was an experience in itself.  The coastal road that you have to drive on is two lanes, and pretty much too small to actually hold two cars passing each other.  There was a two foot gate on the side of the road that would do nothing if you actually swerved into it, but somehow we managed to make it to our final destination with out any problems.  The views were absolutely breath taking, probably the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life.  I definitely wished that we had more time there, because me and Kati got lunch and just sat looking out at the views for about three hours.  We were surrounded by by cliffs with these pretty little houses, and looking down, we could see Capri and Anacapri, which we did not realize would be so small.  It was just so gorgeous.  After our lunch, we walked down to the beach, which took us a while because we wanted to look into all the cute little shops on the way.  This was the first time that I actually bought anything, which was really fun.  I got a bunch of cute little presents for my friends and family, which I hope that they will really like.  We finally walked down to the beach, which was really gorgeous, and I wanted to dip my feet in.  After, we walked back up because we wanted to get the bus back.  We got back to the stop, and we didn't even have to wait for the bus, which was good, we took the bus back, and out the side of the window, we could see the most beautiful sunset.  The sun was bright red, which was insane.  We finally got back to Sorrento, ran to the ATM and the grocery store because we had to get our tickets back to Naples.  We boarded the train, which seemed to take forever, but we eventually made it back to Naples, and walked back to the boat.  We thought that it was going to be a lot worse of a walk back, because everyone had talked about how dangerous it was, but we made it back safely.
        Once we got back onto the ship, we were going to take it easy and watch a movie, but on our way in, because it was the 4th of July, there was a whole bunch of kids drinking wine right out side the gates of the port, which was really cool, so we decided to run to the bar right next to the pier and buy a bottle of wine.  We had such a good time, just drink and chatting to every one, and celebrating our country.  It was so weird to not be in America for the 4th of July, but the crew put together and amazing BBQ for us the next day.  We finally went to bed with full intentions of hiking Vesuvius in the morning and going to Pompeii in the afternoon.
        Well when we woke up, we were really tired, and we decided to just go to Pompeii with Colby, Gracie and her roommate Amanda.  We got there really easily by the train, and paid the 11 Euro entrance fee.  We got a chance to walk around seeing the ruins for about 3 hours.  There was so much to see, and it was a bit overwhelming.  We got to see so many things, and I thought that it was so well preserved.  It was actually crazy to see the bodies that were preserved in the state when they saw the lava coming towards them.  I felt as thought I could put myself back in that time, because the ruins were so well preserved.  We got to see the brothel, which was a bit intense, the bakery and the theaters.  It was really really cool.  We all got really tired really quickly because it was so hot, and we were walking a lot, so we decided to walk back and head to the train back to Naples.  When we got off the train, we decided to get real pizza from Napoli.  We found this really cheap, but unbelievable restaurant, where we got a really good lunch.  Finally, we got back to the boat a bit early, because they were having a BBQ for us.  We layed out by the pool for a while, and then got to eat some more. 
        The Naples port was not as bad as I thought that it would be, but we still did not spend that much time there.  My favorite part of the trip was most definitely Positano, and I am so happy that we got a chance to go there.  Italy was so good, but I am really excited to just sit and relax in Croatia.

Romaaaa..

When in Rome..be spontaneous, don't have a plan and go on an adventure..at least that's what Kati and I did.  I never thought that I could love a country more after Spain, until I got to Italy.  I'm pretty sure that I want to live there one day.  Well we had tried to make plans over and over with a whole bunch of different people, but no one really knew what they wanted to do, so Kati and I decided to go on our own, that is, until we met up with Roby, Judy and Colby.  We all ventured to the train, which was a fun little hike from the port, but not too bad, and went to get our tickets.  Of course we had on our backpacks which made maneuvering through crowds that much easier, but the lines to get tickets for the train were out of control.  After a long sweaty wait, and a confusing Italian ticket machine later, we all decided to get a bottle of wine for the ride to Roma. 
        The train was really kind of nice, air conditioning and everything, and we got to see a bunch of the country side, which apparently is very poor in Italy.  Upon arriving to Termini station, we did not have a plan of any sort, but all we knew was that we were very hungry.  We walked down a bunch of little streets, where we think was the Chinatown of Rome, and finally stumbled upon a little hole in a wall pizza and calzone shop.  The man cut me a piece after I motioned to him I wanted something smaller than the piece he was ready to cut and I could not believe have unbelievable the pizza was.  The people who had told me it was good did not lie at all.  It was the best pizza I think that I had in all of Rome!  Finally after we were all full, we got on the subway, which I managed to master in the 3 days I was there, and we headed to St. Peters Square.  I guess I had not realized how amazingly huge it was, but I was in complete awe.  It was absolutely gorgeous and enormous, I didn't know where to look first.  The line to get into the basilica seemed really intimidating, but it actually moved really quickly and only took us about a half an hour to get into.  When we stepped in for the first time, Colby and I looked at each other and we could instantly tell what we were both feeling.  I had goose bumps and almost thought I was going to cry, because it was so incredible.  We walked around for about an hour taking pictures, and admiring the beauty, when we looked up and realized that you could some how get to the top of the copula.  We figured out quickly how to do this, and paid the five euro to get up.  We walked up over 350 stairs just to get to the ledge that was in the inside of the basilica, which allowed us to look down and see everything from a different view.  After that, and what might have been some of the scariest minutes of my life, we managed to clime the rest of the 800 stairs to the top of the copula, which over looked the entire city.  The stairs wound around and around and the walls tilted to fit the circular shape, which only made the climb that much scarier.  Finally when we got to the top, I was able to put aside my fear of heights and look over at the most gorgeous site, the entire city of Rome, and St. Peter's Square from hundreds of feet in the air.  It was absolutely breathtaking, and I think despite all of the stairs, we were all really really happy that we had done it.  We stayed up there for a while, and eventually came down, so that we could move onto the next site, because Colby, Judy and Roby really only had that day in Rome before they left for Venice and Florence.  When we were leaving, we saw these crazy storm clouds coming in, and this insane lightening, but it hadn't started to rain yet.  We thankfully caught the bus right before the skies opened up, and when we got off, we ran into a little cafe to get something to eat once again.  After that, we walked out to try to find the Colosseum, because apparently it was really close to where we were, but there seemed to be so much commotion, we had to stop.  As we crossed the street, about 9 police cars surrounded the island that we were on in the middle of the road, and that was when we could see a protest coming.  We weren't really sure what it was about, but we had to get to the other side of the street, so as the massive group of people passed, shouting things in Italian, we joined in with them.  We think that it was a social security protest, but we really weren't sure, because the police man that we asked, answered us in Italian. 
        After videoing our presence in the protest, we finally got the directions to the Colosseum, and started walking, where we passed the Roman Forum on the way.  We stopped to take some pictures there, but as soon as the Colosseum was in sight, I needed to get a picture with it.  It was so amazing to see a site that I had only heard about and seen pictures of, because it was most definitely more impressive in real life.  We didn't get a chance to go in, because it was closed, but we did a really good walk around, and got onto the metro to try and find another group of girls that were staying at the hostel that Colby and them had already booked.  Kati and I tagged along, hopping that they would have a few extra beds to spare.  When we got to the original hostel, exhausted from carrying our backpacks all day, and in desperate need of a shower, they told us that their bathroom was broken and that they had arranged another hostel that the girls were already at.  We were all a bit frustrated but walked the extra 8 blocks to the Chinese ghetto, or so it seemed.  We found some SASers there, after we checked in, but they did not have any extra beds.  We didn't really freak out, because the woman seemed like a crack whore who didn't really pay any attention, so we all went upstairs, took showers and got ready to go out that night.  After some drinks at the hostel, we ventured out for something to do, and stumbled upon a sweet bar crawl.  It was only 5 euro for the next 3 bars and we got a free shot with each, so we were pretty excited.  The boys and Kati got shirts to remember the experience.   We had a lot of fun, but towards the end of the night, we were at a club, and Colby made friends with the guys that ran the crawl, and they gave him some free shots.  Well that's really enough said, because he got pretty drunk and we had to take him him.  Roby and I were going to go try and find the Trevi fountain, because they were leaving really early in the morning, but we had to help Kati get Colby back to the hostel.  On the way back in the cab, we ran into Judy, who had gone out with her other friends, and she joined us in our adventures back to the Trevi fountain.  Well we got in the right bus, going the wrong way, and after about an hour we realized we weren't turning around and had to get off and wait for the bus going back the other way.  It was certainly an adventure, 4am, and we had to get up at 7:30, so that they could catch the train to Pisa.  We finally all got to bed, 5 people in 3 singles, and went to sleep.
        In the morning, Kati and I woke up with everyone and got ready and left so that they hostel people wouldn't know we had all stayed the night.  It was really early and we just really wanted a coffee.  We walked across the street into a cafe, where we were greeted by this very friendly waiter, who insisted on kissing our cheeks and hands over and over, while telling us how beautiful we looked.  Of course we were still in last night's makeup and looked like a hot mess, but he didn't really seem to notice.  He also offered to take us on a personal tour of Rome when he got off work.  We were flattered but told him that we were going to meet up with our boyfriends later so that he would leave us alone for a little while.  After we only spent 3 euros on our coffee, compliments to the waiter who was in love with us, we ventured to find the Trevi fountain.  It took some skill, and some awesome map reading abilities, but we eventually stumbled across it.  It was relatively uncrowded, which was really nice because it is always super crowded in all the pictures.  Kati and I made wishes and were still hoping that they come true :)  We ran into the nurse and her husband from the ship and walked with them down to the Pantheon, which was also really beautiful.  We had to get something to eat after that because we were starving.  We ate pizza again at a small cafe, and took a break from carrying our backpacks, which was sweet.
        We had seen pretty much everything that we had wanted to, and we decided to see the Spanish Steps quickly and then head over to the Villa Borghese.  There were tons of shops along the street to get to the Spanish Steps, which kind of reminded me of 5th Avenue in Manhattan, sporting Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, which we clearly could not afford.  We walked to the Villa Borghese after seeing a bunch of SASers at the steps, and we decided to take a nap, because we were just exhausted.  After a nice nap in the park, and getting to talk to my parents on the phone, we decided to call Josh to see where he was and to find a hostel near his apartment for the night.  Well apparently Rome was very full that night, so all the hostels were booked, my phone was dead, we couldn't figure out how to work the pay phones, and Kati's phone wouldn't dial Josh's number so we freaked out.  I finally got a hold of him and he gave us the directions to get to his apartment, where we could get a room for the night.  It worked out really well and turned out to be less expensive than we expected, which was really nice.  We got a sweet apartment, took a really long shower, and took a nap. 
        We finally woke up, started getting ready and I hadn't heard from Josh so I went to find Ruby and Christie, which was really cool to see them.  I finally met up with Josh and we went over to celebrate Sammy D's 21st birthday in his room for a while, until we could go out to the club.  I was so happy to get to see everyone in Rome, it was so much fun.  They were going to La Maison, one of the hottest clubs in Italy for the night to celebrate the end of their summer program, and the plethora of birthdays that night.  It ended up being really fun, we'll keep it at that. We got back to the apartment pretty late, and went to bed and in the morning, more afternoon, we got up and got an amazing Italian lunch of antipasto, spaghetti, and veal.  It was all really delicious.  The only thing that we didn't get a chance to see was the Vatican Museum and the Sistine chapel, so we headed over there.  The museum was really cool, and the Sistine chapel was really beautiful.  It was really funny because you aren't supposed to talk in the chapel or take pictures, and there was an official shusher, which shushed the people every minute or so.  After that, we met back up with Josh, and had to grab our stuff to head back to Civiteveccia to catch the boat to go to Naples.  After a long train ride, and some more pizza before getting back, we arrived back home to the MV Explorer to crash.  We were so tired and were glad to be home.
        Rome was not what I had expected it to be at all.  Of course I knew there was tons and tons of history, which was incredible to see, but a lot of people spoke English, which was really nice.  I didn't get to learn as much Italian as I had hoped, which I think maybe put a little bit of a damper on the experience, but over it was absolutely unbelievably amazing.  I couldn't believe that with not having a plan, we were able to see everything that we wanted to see and did everything that we wanted to do.  I was able to basically backpack through Italy for three days, eat some amazing food, meet some really awesome people, and experience an unbelievable country, which I will remember forever.       

Espana!

Oh how good it felt to be on land! I stepped off the ship on June 24th, I can't actually tell you what day of the week it was because I just went by dates, and day 1,2 or 3 of port.  It's such a weird thing to not really know what day of the week it is, because today, as I was told was Sunday, and I had to go to class.  My adventures of Spain were interesting, exciting, thrilling, emotional and many more things I never thought it could be.  We arrived in Cadiz in the morning, and I was supposed to meet Kati for breakfast at 8 so that we could get off the boat immediately, however, I had to go drag her out of bed.  I snapped my first picture of Spain, which included her sleeping, with the port in the background, which I thought was really kind of funny.  After breakfast, they announced that the boat had been cleared and that we could get off the ship and start our adventures.  I didn't really know what to think if Cadiz, I mean I had seen some pictures and stuff, and mapped out the things that I wanted to do, but when I saw what it was actually like, it took my breath away.  It was the most gorgeous city I had ever seen.  Many of the buildings and monuments were very Moorish and beautiful, I had finally realized why I had signed up for this trip in the first place.  I got off the boat and we walked around, not really knowing where we were going, and I got this really excited and nervous feeling in my stomach, and I wasn't really sure why, but soon after it went away.  I think I was really just excited to get off the ship and be on my own to explore a new city that I had never been to. 
        Kati and I walked down to the water where the Old City walls were, which was incredible.  The views were insane, I just wanted to stand there forever and look out.  Well next to these walls, there were really beautiful statues and parks that were beautiful as well.  So we took a ton of pictures and kept walking, not really knowing where we were going.  We were still on the out skirts of the peninsula, and we decided to venture in a little, down the really narrow roads.  Every time a car went by we literally had to lay flat against the walls.  We were really looking for the Central Market, which we had an idea of where it was, but because the roads were all so tiny we had to finally ask for directions.  We realized one main thing about Cadiz, which was against what anyone had told us. People in Cadiz do not really speak any English at all, so I had t whip out my awesome Spanish skills to get us there.  After asking a waiter at a restruant, and a local shop owner, we finally found our way.  The market was huge and bustling with locals.  They had fruits and vegetables that I had never seen, fish and seafood and meat galore, which was kind of nasty looking because the leave everything including the teeth in.  We walked around, being hit on like crazy, I'm not really sure why Spanish men find it cool to do that in the local markets, but we got a few “ah dos mios” which I learned meant “Oh my God”.  So that was an experience in itself.  We decided to eat round 2 of breakfast, and ordered a kilo of these amazing cherries, which we realized soon after was a shit load of cherries.  I think that the guy realized we didn't know how much a kilo actually was (2.2 pounds, as we also found out later) and changed our order to a half of a kilo.  It was a bit ridiculous, but none the less funny.  Well I had neglected to go to the “What to Eat in Spain” lecture, and didn't really learn what I was supposed to eat, but we wanted to eat our cherries and get a drink so we sat down at a little cafe outside the market.  I was being spontaneous, so I asked the waiter for exactly what they were eating at the table next to us.  My dad always said you can't go wrong if you eat what the locals do.  It turned out that I ordered chirros y cafe, which were really really good.  We met up with Judy and a few other boys and walked over to the Cathedral.  We paid to get in, and soon after that, one of the FDPs walked in, so we joined them because they had an English speaking tour guide, so we listened to what she had to say about the cathedral and it was pretty cool.  Apparently it was the 3rd largest cathedral in all of Spain.  We walked around and went down into the crypt, where we saw the corpse of Santa Victoria, which was really weird because they preserved her face and hands with wax.  She was the size of a 7 year old child.  It was really crazy.
        After the cathedral, we walked down some more really little streets into the main square of the city, and decided to get some lunch.  We ordered sangria and sandwiches which were really good.  We learned that the Spanish lifestyle is extremely laid back and slow, which was kind of relaxing and nice.  After the lunch we walked around some more and went to the Museo de Cadiz.  I really wanted to go there because there were these really amazing Phonetician sarcophagi there that I wanted to see.  I took a ton of pictures at the museum because I really loved it a lot.  After that, we found a tapas place, but the streets were eerily quiet, because they weren't joking when they said the Spaniards take a siesta.  All of the stores and most of the restaurants closed for the few hours that everyone was home napping and stuff.  I'm not really quite sure what we ate but it was really really good.  Kati and I had to meet up with our friends at 5 o'clock so we left the others to head back to the ship to get the train to Sevilla.
        After walking about 10 minutes with our backpacks on to the train, I had to order all of our tickets in Spanish, and we got on the train with a bunch of other SAS kids, which was really fun.  We had an hour and forty five minute ride through the country side to Sevilla.  We played a few games of cards and watched out the window because there were really pretty views and wind turbines.  We finally got to Sevilla and walked with the other group around to try and find their hostel.  We got really lost and after about an hour of walking, Jessica, Dan and I got in a cab and went to our hotel.  We thought that Cameron, Dan and Kati were right behind us in a cab.  We got to the hotel and talked to the first woman who actually spoke English and she helped us arrange cabs for the morning to the airport.  After about an hour, they still hadn't arrived and me and Jess started to freak out because they were supposed to be behind us.  We tried calling the hostel of the other SAS kids to see if they had seen them, but after about an hour and forty five minutes, they came through the doors of the hotel.  They had rented bikes and biked the way to the hotel.  I was relieved and really really jealous, because I hadn't gotten to see as much of the city as I had wanted.  We all showered and got ready for dinner and took cabs to the bull ring because that was where we said we would meet those other kids.  We ended up at this place we didn't know what it was because the cab driver didn't speak any English.  We looked at a map and found out he had dropped us at the Torro de Oro, a golden monument, instead of the Plaza de Torro.  After another mini adventure, we found the rest of our group and got some dinner.  We sat down at the table and ordered pizzas and drinks, which turned out to be unbelievable.  The waitress tried really hard to understand us, and she was so nice, she brought us out a round of lemoncello.  After dinner, we tried to pay and we left her a tip of about 10 euro which she couldn't understand why we were doing that, but she finally took it and was really appreciative.  That was another lesson we learned, Europeans don't tip.  So we crossed over the bridge to find a bar to get a drink, because we were under the impression that Spaniards didn't go out and start their nights until well after 12, but to our findings, a bunch of the bars had closed at 1.  So we finally found a bar, and Jessica and I asked the bartender to give us something that was popular in Sevilla.  It was like an apple schnapps type thing, but it was really good.  We met this really cool guy who was staying in Sevilla, who was from Staten Island, he was in the military and somehow got a free flight to Spain to visit some friends.  So we hung out with him for a while talking, and then went back to our hotel.  The hotel was called Isla Cartuja and was in the middle of no where.  It ended up being ok though because it was close to the airport.  The rooms were supposed to be doubles, but the beds were pushed together and made like a huge bed that us three girls spooned in for the night. 
        Finally in the morning, we got up to get our flight to Barcelona.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a chance to see the Sevilla Cathedral, because I heard it was gorgeous, but logistically I just couldn't fit it in.  We got to the airport and got some breakfast.  Our flight was relatively on time, which I know we were all kind of nervous about, we had to take a bus to it and walk up the stairs on the runway.  That was when Cameron and I decided to start our list of firsts.  The flight wasn't that long, and when we got to the airport I was able to call my parents, which I hadn't spoken to in over a week.  I think that was possibly the longest I have ever gone with out talking to my mom on the phone, I think she was really happy.  We picked up our saving grace, our Barcelona cards, which were really helpful.  We took the bus to the metro and then the metro to the Placa de Catalunya, which was the stop at the end of La Ramblas.  It was extremely crowded and everyone I saw seemed to be grabbing onto their belongings for the lives.  It was actually kind of funny because my parents had warned me about it.  The street performers were absolutely ridiculous and incomparable to those I have always seen in New York City.  We put our stuff in our apartment, which was really really awesome, we had free wifi, which I think everyone was grateful for.  We went out to explore and decided to get some food at another cafe.  We all split some paella, which was delicious and had some sangria.  After that we walked around a bit more and went back to the apartment to get ready and try and get in touch with our other friends who were staying about 5 minutes away.  We ended up going down to the beach where the ice bar that we all wanted to go to was, and we found about 30 clubs down there, which was amazing.  We got into the IceBarcelona, which was really cool, literally.  We got all dressed up in coats and hats and gloves and we went in and everything was made of ice.  With our tickets, we all got a free drink, which was really nice.  After about a half hour, we were all freezing and we decided to leave and check out the other bars that were along the beach.  We went to one called Opium, because we got these cards which let us in for free, which was really awesome.  Dan offered to buy the girls drinks, which was really nice of him, because he was the only on our trip who didn't really seem to fit in, because we had arranged this all before getting on the boat.  It was really fun, we got up and danced a lot, and then there was a gogo show.  We finally left and got back to La Ramblas to find another bar, we all got into this one for free, and the girls got free shots.  The boys weren't too happy because it was about 9 euros for one beers, so we left soon after.  La Ramblas at night is an entirely different scene, there are tons of Indian men outside who try to sell you beers for 1 euro, there are prostitutes galore who are all very aggressive, and go after boys.  When we finally got back to our apartment we were all really tired, so we went to sleep. 
        The next morning, I got everyone up really early because I really wanted to be able to see everything in Barcelona.  We got ready and went out to the Boqueria, which was really amazing, and we got some breakfast there.  After, we got onto the subway, which was super crowded.  I noticed this girl standing next to me, who seemed a little shady, and when I looked down, she had opened my bag, so I yelled at her and turned around to face Cameron.  I couldn't believe that I had almost gotten pick pocketed, which my parents had told me so much about.  I was all nervous and stuff, but I was just glad she didn't take anything from me.  We got to the Picasso Museum and took a tour, which was really amazing.  I never realized that he was such an amazing artist, who had painted so many beautiful things.  I learned that he eventually went crazy, and started painting cubism style paintings, which are the ones that people most know him for.  After that we went back on the subway over to the Sagrada Familia, which was absolutely a gorgeous site.  We took a ton of pictures, but opted not to go in because it was a bit expensive.  We got lunch right out side, which was really good.  I had a ham and cheese sandwich was was so yummy!
        The subway was really our saving grace because we took it everywhere.  We got back on it to head over to Guell Park, and when we got off the train, we ran into some kids from SAS and started talking to them.  I turned around and Kike and Albert were standing there, which I thought was crazy that they were able to find me.  I was so happy to see them because it had been over a year.  They showed us how to get to the park, which was so incredible.  The artwork was spectacular, and we walked up to the top part and we could see the whole city, which was just breath taking.  After a tour of the park, Kike offered to take me back to his house so that I could meet his family, which I thought was really cool.  So Kati and I went back on the subway to his house, which was soo nice, and I met his mother, father, sister and brother, which was really cool.  We couldn't really stay that long because we had to get back to meet up with our friends, but his mom offered us all kinds of drinks and snacks, which was so nice.  Kati and I had a really nice conversation with her, and then headed back to our apartment to get ready.  When we got there, the boys weren't back yet, so we got ready and waited for them.  They finally came back and brought Austin, Colby and Brittany with them, and we were so excited to see them because we had made such an effort to try and find them.  We found a cool restaurant to go to in the Europe book, and headed back to their apartment to get the rest of our friends.  After some pregaming and pictures, we all went out to find the restaurant, but after walking in circles, and getting split up, the rest of us decided to just eat at this other restaurant.  The food was so good, and pretty cheap which made us all really happy.  We had all been drinking a bit, but Austin put on a show for us at dinner, which was hilarious.  We got Dan a cake for dessert because we were never able to properly celebrate his 21st birthday.  So after that we headed back to the beach area to go to the clubs.  It was the weekend at this point, and they were all PACKED.  It was a good time, until we started loosing our friends.  We decided to leave and go home because there was a lot of drama and too many people.  We finally got back to our apartment and got about 2 and a half hours of sleep before we had to wake up for our flight back to Cadiz.
        The whole experience was overall amazing.  There really are no words for it to be honest.  I saw so many things, experienced a lot of new things, and learned a lot of lessons.  I know who I can trust, who I can depend on, and how hard it is going to be to get around in countries that I don't speak a word of their language.  I think that it will be half of the fun though.  So I just spent about an hour writing this, and I really have to go write my paper for Global Studies.  More after Roma :)