Field Trip to Turkey

So because a revolution began in Egypt just two days before we were supposed to get on a flight to Luxor that trip got canceled.  Guess I will have to do that some other time.  So instead they planned our field trip to Turkey.  We got on a plane two days after my last final, just enough time to do laundry and pack, although everyone had to do laundry at the same time so I had to strategically do laundry when no one else was or hope that everyone else was more prepared than myself.  It worked out and on April 1 right after a week of tests we took off to Izmir, Turkey where we got on a bus and went to the port town of Kusadasi to spend the night.  It was a long day of travel so thankfully they fed us then let us sleep, but not for long.  It was a 7am wake up call every day.  The first day we went to Ephesus where the apostle John lived and visited, but the weather gods were against us and 20 minutes into our tour it started pouring.  Thankfully I had a raincoat on but others weren't as lucky as myself.  Rain did not hurry our tour guides either.  They just let us stand in the pouring rain as they continued on rants about a history lesson we really didn't want to hear as we were being doused in rain.  Well after that they decided it should be an indoor kind of day, thankfully.  We went to the rug factory first and we got to see some of the women at the looms, and my favorite, the silk that comes from the silk worms.  We then got a show of probably every rug in the whole factory while we sipped apple tea.  At the end of the show, they of course tried to get us to buy some but I don't understand who they thought they were selling to.  A group of college students without houses of our own aren't the best demographic for selling rugs, especially the expensive ones.  We then went to a museum and then had lunch, a buffet, which is what we had for almost every meal.  After lunch they took us to St John's Basilica where you could overlook the place where the Temple of Hera used to be, which is now just a column with a stork's nest on top. So after visiting the Basilica, well ruins of a Basilica we actually went down to see the column closer.  It was ridiculous.  Yeah it used to be one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world but I don't think we really needed to see it from the ten different angles that we saw it.    We finished off our stay in Ephesus with a visit to a leather factory/show room where they had a crazy leather fashion show of million different jackets, even more out of price range for college students than some of the Turkish rugs.  That night we got on a plane to Istanbul where we stayed for the next three days.
Our first day in Istanbul we hit all the major tourist sites.  We went to the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Hippodrome, and the cistern.  They also threw in a trip to the ceramics factory as well just to see if they could squeeze some more Turkish Lira out of us.  The next day we went on a ferry to Prince's Island where it was even colder than it had been in the rain in Ephesus and everything on the Island was closed or nonexistent.  We then visited the Asian side of Istanbul which I now know is also the "nobody speaks English" area of Istanbul.  This was the first day without an organized group lunch and so I went to a restaurant with my friends and nobody in the restaurant knew English and we were already late for the bus so I'm pretty sure they probably ripped me off for that "Turkish" pizza.  The waiter said he normally knows English pretty well but he was tired today so he couldn't figure it out.  What kind of excuse is that?  Then we got to turn into our hotel rooms fairly early.  Our last day was the most exciting for me.  We started off at the Spice Market where we saw Ben Affleck.  It was pretty cool he was just strolling through the Spice Market.  We then went on a "cruise" down and around the Bosphorous.  Then we made our way to the Grand Bazaar where it was haggle central.  I wasn't great at it but one of my friends was so I took her around with me.  Sadly I was unable to haggle for anything I bought but I did find some cool things.  At the end of the day we caught a flight to London to go and pack up my room. :( It was time to say goodbye to all my friends because the next day they all got on a flight back to LA.

Oh no Rain!

RUGS

Bazaar!

I ate pasta and pizza for a week- Italy!!!!

Well I can't believe it is already March and my time here in Europe is winding down.  I have been thinking a lot lately about all the experiences I have had and I feel truly blessed to have this opportunity.  This was my last trip in which I had to completely book everything for myself.  All that is left is my field trip and my grandparents visit!!!!!  Booking European trips is really an experience just one that I'm glad is over.  No more e-mails reminding me to check in and book hotels, yay!
Although there is much trouble in the planning and booking of the trip, this Italian trip paid off.  For the first two days we were in Venice.  The city with no streets, well at least I didn't see any.  I really wanted to go on a gondola but the weather was freezing and getting in a gondola would have been a chance for you to freeze.  It was so cold that on our second day it started snowing. SNOW, in Venice, I'm not sure if that is normal especially in March, but we were cold.   My favorite part of Venice was the shopping.  There were so many cute shops with a lot of beautiful Murano glass.  I knew that it was real because the island of Murano is just off of Venice.  I also bought a real carnivale mask since it was carnivale while we were there.  It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be though because we were there on weekdays and the temperatures were really low, not a great mix for carnivale.  On that Thursday night we got on a 7 hour night train to Rome.

Venezia

Gondola? no thanks

We got to Rome around 8am and headed to our bed and breakfast.  It was a kinda sketchy B&B but I made it out alive and with all my belongings so that is good.  We started off the morning by visiting the Colosseum.  It was amazing but would had been ten times better if the sun was out.  It rained for our entire trip in both Venice and Rome.  After visiting the Colosseum we went to the Pantheon.  That was really cool to see because I had studied its architecture my senior year of high school.  I got to see the coffered ceiling and the hole in the center of the dome.  The hole was a lot larger than I thought it would be, but the buildings been standing for a really long time so I guess it doesn't interfere with the buildings stability.  After that we went to the Trevi fountain.  This was the one place that I had been anticipating the most.  I was really hoping that once I threw my coin in the fountain a famous pop star would come and ask me to sing with him- Lizzie McGuire style, but sadly that didn't happen.  However the sky did clear momentarily so that was a good sign.  Our next stop was the Gelateria to get our first Italian gelato. So my favorite ice cream flavor back home in the states in Mint Chocolate Chip so what flavor do I choose for gelato..."menta."  It was green and chocolate chips so I thought it would be perfect, false.  It was like eating two packs of double mint gum in every bite.  My mouth was burning with an intense flavor of mint.  I guess I will just stick to my Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream from now on.  I can never see mint chip the same.  The next day we dedicated to the Vatican.  I would like to start off by saying that I basically walked across an entire country.  I can check that off my bucket list.  We started with the Vatican museums which were amazing.  My favorite part was seeing the School of Athens- a frescoe done by Raphael. And I had already seen Raphaels tomb the day before at the Pantheon.  At the end I got to see the Sistine Chapel which to me, is a once in a lifetime experience.  I just stood there in awe.  There were so many masterpieces and all in one room.  This was by far the best part of my trip to Rome.  After we went through the museums and the chapel we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica.  We started underneath the church and I saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II.  Once we got in the basilica I got to see Michelangelo's La Pieta, another piece of art that had studied in art history.  I also got to see the dome that I had read about over winter break of my senior year in high school.  That was a tiring day of standing in lines and basically walking for 7 hours so after that we called it a day.  On our last day in Rome we went to the Spanish steps and then the Villa Bourghese.  It was finally sunny out but we only had a half day there- go figure.  We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Rome (we had enough pasta and pizza by then) then got our bags hopped on a train and then a plane and then we were back in London.  After this trip I can now tell you the going rate for a Margherita pizza as this was my food of choice for the whole trip.  I don't think I will eat pizza again anytime soon, well other than tonight because that is what Pepperdine is feeding me.  Rome was an amazing city, one that I would gladly go back to, preferably in the sunshine!

Colosseum

Pantheon

 

Trevi Fountain

walking through the Vatican museum

The School of Athens

St. Peters Basilica

Viva España, a weekend in Barcelona!

Well this past weekend I took my first weekend trip of the semester.  I traveled to the beautiful city of Barcelona.  It was gorgeous and slightly warmer than London.  Palm trees lined the streets and it reminded me of home.  On the first day we went to the Park Guell which has some Gaudi architecture stuff and a really pretty view of the city.  It was interesting walking around Spain and hearing people that I could actually understand even though they weren't speaking English.  I was glad that my knowledge of Spanish finally kicked in.  Although in Barcelona they technically speak Catalan which is a combo language of French and Spanish. One of my friends walked around asking people "hables ingles?" It was very entertaining because it was her first trip and she kept thinking we were lost.    On Friday night I got to meet up with one of my friends from back home who was studying in Barcelona.  She took us to a tapas bar and ordered everything for us.  It was so nice to have a translator.  I got to try some very Spanish foods including fried calamaris and sangria.  It was good but it wasn't a lot of food.  Apparently in Spain they eat a big lunch and a small dinner, very foreign idea to me.  Later that night we went and got churros con chocolate that were delicious- probably my favorite food of the trip.  The next day we went to the Sagrada Familia and took a bunch of tourist pictures and then we wandered over to the beach.  Oh how we loved the beach.  It made us all miss Malibu.  We then ate paella by the bay and there was not a cloud in the sky!  One of the coolest things about the trip was seeing one of the Gaudi houses though.  I had studied it in my high school art history class and my hostel was just two blocks away from it.  It was amazing to see the beautiful architecture of the houses and buildings just along the streets.

Park Guell

more Park Guell

THE BEACH!!!!

View of Barcelona from the top of Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

walking towards the ocean

Gaudi House

And so my time in London continues...

So I know I have not been too good about blogging this semester, but I just haven't done anything as exciting yet, yet being the key word. This weekend however was a step in the right direction, I finally braved the cold, got out of the house and had some fun times.  This weather in the 30's with the wind chill just really isn't my thing but I'll get over it.  So Thursday was our "house mom" Mrs. White's birthday so we baked a couple cakes which was fun.  One of my roommates had a really great chocolate chip cake recipe that we made, DELICIOUS! So on Friday morning as a continuation of the birthday celebration we went bowling. No I did not break into the three digit scoring but it was fun.  After that I went to lunch with a group of students from the house and our program assistant, Jenny. Yay for "free" lunches provided by the university with great people! After lunch we went to the British Museum and saw the exhibition of the Book of the Dead.  It was really interesting and had a lot of Egyptian stuff, i.e. mummies, hieroglyphics, and coffins. It's a good thing I went because that is probably the most I will ever see of Egypt.  As many of you know I was scheduled to go on a trip to Egypt tomorrow, but sadly due to the dangerous situation in the country our trip has been canceled.  I am just hopeful that they will be able to plan a new trip in a location with just as much interesting history.  Right now it sounds like everyone wants to go to Turkey as the replacement trip but the administration has made no announcements.  I will keep everyone posted as I find out more information.

Hanging out in Russell Square near the British Museum

There's No Place Like Home

Well I finished off my last week for the first semester in London.  It was a stressful week of finals, packing, and saying goodbye to some friends, but thankfully I made it home safely Thursday night.  I took a direct flight to Phoenix and my flight was not full, I got three seats to myself.  It was a wonderful experience in terms of international travel. There was a lot of excitement in this last week as well though.  We got to have a special dinner at Cantina Laredos, a Mexican restaurant in London.  It was the best Mexican food I had ever had in the UK.  We also got to go on the London eye as a final celebration after we had all finished finals.  It was great but I am so happy to be home now.  Being gone from Arizona for so long made me forget how much I missed the warmth and the beautiful sunsets.  Now I have just enough time to relax before heading back for the second semester. 

Snow in the Park behind the house

Princes Gate in the Snow

Big Ben by night

Riding in the Eye

Thanksgiving and My 20th Birthday

This week has been by far one of the best weeks I have spent in Europe.  I am lucky enough to have my Mom and one of my little sisters in London visiting.  They got here on Monday and requested fish and chips immediately.  Maggie had never had them before but I think it is her new favorite.  On Tuesday night we went and saw Wicked.  I had seen it once before but it never gets old.  It was funny to hear the songs that I knew by heart off the soundtrack sung with British accents.  It took some getting used to.  On Wednesday night there was a group event with dinner and then a show.  The show that night happened to be Oliver.  I liked it but this time the accents were even thicker and harder to understand.  Half the time I had no idea what was going on.  Thanksgiving morning I went to class, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving here, not even if you are attending an American university, and then went to a Thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral.  The service was put on by the US embassy and the ambassador from the US for the UK was there.  The cathedral was beautiful and I couldn't believe I was attending a service in such a beautiful place.  That night we had a big Thanksgiving dinner over at the dinning room of Imperial College, just across the street.  The British interpretation of Thanksgiving dinner is a little off though.  The meal was good, but for stuffing they had patties that tasted like sausage and for desert the pumpkin pie was all crust with a paper thin layer of "pumpkin."  I also found it odd that they served an apple pie with pistachio ice cream.  As an overall review of the meal I would say the dinner was pretty good, but the desert was bad.  That night I went over to the apartment that my mom and Maggie were staying at in preparation for our 8:50 train on Friday morning.  Friday morning we got on our train to Paris which took us through the chunnel, well I think, I was asleep the whole time and Maggie said we were in a tunnel for a long time so I'm guessing that was it.  It was extremely chilly when we got to Paris.  We bundled up and headed off to our hotel.  Our hotel was just across the street from the Notre Dame and so we made that our first stop.  Right as we walked up to the Cathedral it started snowing.  It was a magical experience.  The next day was my 20th birthday.  Instead of birthday cake I had a birthday crepe.  We went to the Louvre, walked down the Champ de Elysees, and went up to the top of the Eifel tour.  It was all so amazing.  On Sunday we did a river tour on the river Seine, explored more of Paris, and then took a train back to London.  It was a wonderful weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it! Countdown until America 10 DAYS!!!!!!

Another Weekend in London

Well I have less than three weeks until holiday.  Yes I just threw in a British term, it is really rubbing off on me.  Yesterday I asked where to put my rubbish, I think it is about time for a visit to America.  Well thankfully I have a flight home on December 9th.  Everyone in the house is getting excited for Christmas and going home.  We have already decorated the house and we put up a little Christmas tree in the reception area!  Tonight I am planning on going to the little cafe above the ice rink across the street.  There are a bunch of Christmas Trees and lights set up, and it is defiantly hot chocolate weather here! So this weekend was one of my roommates birthday and so we baked her a cake at midnight.  On her birthday we went to a really cool Mexican restaurant in Leicester Square.  It was called Chiquito's and they had really good burrito's, probably the only ones in all of London. The British are not very familiar with Mexican food.  After we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie which was really cool because there were some scenes in London, places that we go by everyday.  Although I am not up to date on everything Harry Potter I thought it was a really good movie.  When we got back to the house my roommate had a package waiting which just happened to be another birthday cake, so we ate more birthday cake!!!!  It was a wonderful Friday.  On Saturday I took a day trip to Cambridge.  It was really pretty and it reminded me a lot of Oxford.  It was freezing there though.  This Sunday has simply been packed with homework and studying.  It is crunch time now that the semester is almost over.  Every class is having us give presentations or write papers at the same time, but I am looking forward to the week ahead, as it is my last week as a teenager!!!

Christmas Spirit at the London House

King's College- Cambridge

Cambridge

Cambridge