Saying farewell with some Cappuccino Hookah

So it's my last day in Turkey. It wasn't very eventful. Last night a few of us went to a hookah bar and had apple and cappuccino hookah. It was really relaxing. We've been hanging out with Stephan, the Bulgarian interport student. The good news is Bulgaria is going to be much cooler than Turkey (which is still cooler than any of the other countries we've been to). We are also considering bungee jumping. Apparently it's really cheap in Bulgaria and safe? We'll see.... (sorry mom! at least it's not at tattoo!!!)

Anyway, so this morning we woke up early and went to the bazaar again to finish last minute shopping. I got the usual soccer scarf which I've purchased in each country, except Italy. oops! And 3 other scarves for only $4 USD all together! Which is a really good deal!

We then just came back to the ship and here I am sitting outside enjoying the sights and sounds of this section of Istanbul one last time. I'm actually kind of sad to leave Turkey, but I really do want to come back. There is a lot to do and see in Istanbul and in Turkey. I just had a chance to see the main things and maybe experience Turkey for a bit. IT definitely didn't feel anywhere near as dangerous as Naples was. I was worried about the men being very forward here and we really didn't have that many issues. Maybe in the bazaar they were always shouting things, but those were usually amusing such as "Hey Guys, want a carpet?" or "Hey you are from China!" (Said to my friend who is blond and has blue eyes. oh yeah, totally Chinese). I would have loved to bring back a carpet, but they were SO expensive!! but beautiful!

It was really amusing to talk to some of the shop keepers. They were asking about the program we are on and my roommate was talking to the one guy about it. He said that he would never let his daughter leave for 3 months from home especially for this. She asked about his son and he said oh yeah definitely and then she asked why and he just said "because it's just not done and that is the way it is". They don't trust their daughters. she didn't want to tell him that this was 77% female!!!

So that was definitely interesting. This has really been my favorite port culture wise so far. The history is so interesting and it's really great to experience such a different culture from the rest of Europe. I'm interested to compare this country and Egypt and Morocco. Anyway, I'm off to get some more things done before we have to get back on the ship!!

Handmade rugs, apple tea, Sufis, and Harry Potter

So the last 2 days have been pretty fun! The second day in Turkey, I just hung around the ship recovering from the last month of non-stop going!! Semester at sea really wears you out, but it’s so fantastic! After recovering all day and just hanging out with a few friends, I had an FDP to a Sufi Dervish ceremony. It was really cool. We went to this building with a dome roofed that was an old Turkish bath. IT had tapestries hanging from the wall and was lit by red lights. In the center of the floor was a round stage with colored lights around the outside and a section in the corner where the musicians/singers sat. It definitely was not what I was expecting. There were 4 guys singing/chanting and then 4 guys playing different instruments. They started off with a song where the singers and the musicians all played then one guy chanted a section of the Qua’ran. Then the dancers came out in white skirts and vests and a black robe. The whole ceremony was really interesting. I had never really watched any videos of it except for a few short videos in class. It was really interesting comparing it to catholic religions ceremonies. We even had a chance to talk to one of the dancers at the end and it was great how he explained what the symbolism was in the ceremony. They are taking knowledge from their God and giving it to the people – one of their hands is facing the sky and one looks like it’s dropping something. Learning about everything first hand was really great. Haha again there are just no real words to describe this trip and Turkey in general!

Yesterday I went to the Bazaar from around 9:30-2:00pm. It was so overwhelming! There are over 4000 stores there! I picked up a few gifts and things for my apartment. It’s really fun bargaining with the people selling things. I’m getting a lot better at it. Some of my friends are really good at it and get things for really good prices. You just have to be really sure of yourself and not settle for anything. Most of the time they are making money anyway, so it’s easy to just walk away, usually they yell a better price after you. But there are so many places selling the same thing everywhere, that you can just shop around for the best price and the nicest salesperson. We hung out with this one jeweler yesterday. He was listening to some Reggeaton! It was really fun talking to him and listening to music. We had an authentic Turkish lunch. It was pretty delicious. We got french-fries and they came with mayo and ketchup. The ketchup definitely wasn’t Heinz. It had an interesting tang to it… We then walked around some more and went back to the ship to get ready to see Harry Potter.

The trip to the movie theater wasn’t bad. We took the tram, but it really wasn’t necessary. A few of us walked back to the ship after the movie and it took maybe about 35 minutes. But it was SUCH a nice night outside. Yesterday was really nice. It was overcast and way cooler than it has been, which was definitely a relief. And it’s only going to get hotter… and hotter… and I’m going to have to cover more and more. Fun stuff!! Anyway, we went to the theater, got our tickets, which were cheaper than seeing a movie at home (I’m beginning to see a trend in this in Europe.. tickets are far less expensive.. but that may be because they all have subtitles.. or the US just likes to overcharge for movie tickets). Regardless, we were early and so we walked around, bought some Turkish delight and then got some authentic Turkish ice cream. Don’t think I’m going to attempt that again. It has marshmallow in it to keep it harder and stay on the cone. It is the weirdest consistency ever and expands in your stomach when you’ve finished eating it. So it feels like you ate way more than you actually did. An experience certainly…

The movie was OK. They left out a LOT. I’m not going to say anymore though, just in case you haven’t seen it yet.  We headed back to the ship and now here I am! Everyone went to the bazaar again this morning or to see the mosques and such. I wanted to avoid spending money, so I refrained from the bazaar and since my tour the first day was soo good, I have seen all of the mosques and the historical sites. This isn’t really a great city for wandering around alone, but everyone will be back soon and I have some papers to write! Woo hoo! Good thing they are interesting papers to write and not lab reports!

Tomorrow I might hit up the bazaar for some last minute things. We’re going to a hookah bar tonight to just chill near the ship. It’s going to be fun I’m definitely looking forward to it!!!!

I really love Turkey and am going to need to come back here!! I want to make it to Cappadocia eventually and to visit the Asian side of the city/country. Probably my favorite country so far. I do love Croatia and felt very at home there, but I don’t think I had the authentic Croatia experience there and I know I’m going back there. Turkey just has so much history and such huge cultural differences. It’s so great!!!

Anyway, off to stop procrastinating!

There is nothing like waking up to the site of Istanbul

I woke up this morning at 7:00 to see us pulling into Istanbul. It was a little hazy, so I didn’t get a GREAT view of the city, but it was still pretty awesome. From the deck, you would see the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. They tower over the old town! It was a great experience.

I had my city orientation today. I don’t know if I just misread the description of the trip or completely forgot what we were doing, but the whole thing was a surprise! We left the port and drove around the newer part of the European side of the city. The tour guide pointed out the soccer stadium for the Istanbul team where he used to play soccer! It was really exciting that he was once on the team for Istanbul. We then headed to the old part of the city on the European side of Istanbul. It’s so weird that Istanbul is on two different continents. I had no idea. The population is also between 15 and 20 million people! Anyway, we drove around the city walls a little bit and had a photo opportunity before heading to the Mosque of the Prince. It was a smaller mosque with only 2 minarets but it was really gorgeous inside and very simple. We had to cover our shoulders and our hair and everything above our ankles. We took our shoes off before going in.

After visiting that mosque and eating our delicious (not so much) boxed lunches from the ship, we headed into the heart of the old city and visited the Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, and the Cistern Basilica.

The Hagia Sofia was mind blowing. It is a museum now, so we could enter without covering our arms and taking off our shoes, etc. It is amazing to think about how long it’s been standing there. It’s been rebuilt 3 times. There are still pillars around from the second building and one pillar from the first. It was undergoing renovation on the inside to restore all of the mosaics from when Constantine first ruled Constantinople under Christian rule. Since it is against Muslim religion to use faces and icons, they were covered over when it became a mosque. They are now trying to restore all of these original mosaics. Some of them are visible. It was also really interesting to see the places where kings and sultans were coronated. It’s mind blowing to just think about the ceremonies and the defending of the crown that went down in this very place thousands of years ago. Our tour guy pointed out where the empress stood on the 2nd floor (since women weren’t allowed on the ground floor) and watched the ceremonies from between two pillars. Another interesting thing about this place was that the larger pillars (there are 8 of them all together) on the right and left of the altar section are from one of the original 7 wonders of the world – the temple of Artemis. Isn’t that awesome!!! SO much history in one place!

The Blue Mosque was also pretty breathtaking. It is just across the gardens from the Hagia Sofia. It’s the only mosque with 6 minarets. We covered our arms and took off of our shoes and headed inside. The patterns and designs were SO ornate and it was really gorgeous that most of it was in blue and white tile around the gallery. There were a lot of people in there both tourists and those praying. I didn’t know that mosques were also used for business of state and government things. They were used for that more than they were for praying now since you can pray and still talk to Allah from anywhere.

The hippodrome was pretty interesting. There wasn’t really much to see, but it was cool learning about the history of the pieces and to see them. There are 2 other towers like this one – one in NYC and one in London. The thing that surprised me the most on this whole trip was the Cistern Basilica. Our tour guide told us we were going to the underground waterway. So we were all thinking… awesome… the sewers.. it’s going to stink. Not the case. It was AMAZING! Think the chamber of secrets…only with red lighting, more water/pillars/open space, 2 heads of medusa, and it’s in Turkey not England. It was really overwhelming at first when you walk down the stairs and this huge underground area full of over 300 pillars pops up before your eyes. Apparently it was used to store water in case of shortage. The water is really low now, but there are fish in there (to keep the mosquitoes away!). I definitely recommend checking this out if you go to Istanbul. I saw a picture of it earlier in the independent travel suggestions and I just quickly overlooked it, but it’s definitely a must see!!

So my trip was very successful. I got a lot of sight seeing done. Tomorrow, since everything is closed, It’s paper time. Hooray! And then the 3rd day, we’re going to go to the bazaar. The 4th day I think we’re going to take a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. My friend is going to Cappadocia the next 2 days. JEALOUS! (Check it out on google, it’s an awesome place, and it’s mentioned in my top 15 unusual hotels of the world) The 5th day will just be more bazaar visiting and then getting ready to head to Bulgaria. It is suggested to take a ferry up the Bosphorus, but our boat is going to do that trip anyway.

Turkey is great and I’m really excited about my next few days here!!!!

Greetings from Greece!

Just spent my last 4 days in Greece! The first day we walked to the metro which was 25 minutes from the ship. We took the subway into Athens and just walked around a little bit and did some shopping. Had lunch at a random restaurant and it was pretty delicious. (Didn’t get a gyro though) After a few hours of exploring the city, we came back to the boat, grabbed some bottles of wine, and chilled on the beach for the evening. It was really relaxing and I liked not being surrounded by a ton of people. Some of the group went off into Athens again to meet someone’s friend from college that is studying abroad here.

The next day we had a late start and went into Athens again. Visited the acropolis and some of the other exciting sites of Athens. It was super hot and sunny, so we called it a semi early day and came back to the boat. Nap time! Then we did the same deal and grabbed wine and chilled at the beach. Another relaxing night in Piraeus!

Yesterday we got a speed ferry to Aegina, one of the islands that is close by (35 minutes by boat) and walked 3 ½ miles to the nice beach (we were told it was the nicest by someone on the dock). The beach was beautiful, but the very long walk in the hot sun wasn’t so fantastic! It was definitely an experience though. I think each of us drank about 2 gallons of water each in the 5 hours we were on the island. The beach was definitely worth it though. The beach part was somewhat sandy and somewhat pebbly, but once you got into the water, it was completely sand. It was sooo nice! We haven’t had a sand beach since Spain!! All of the other ones were stone. Definitely have many many cuts on the bottoms of my feet from said beaches. This one was really nice though and it was pretty shallow once you were out pretty far. The water was crystal clear and you could see down to your feet when you were really deep! It was really fun watching the fish swimming around. We took taxis back to the port to see the most beautiful sunset before getting back in our ferry and heading to the mainland.

Today we went back into Athens and I just exchanged a purse and grabbed a magnet. Everyone else visited the acropolis museum. I wasn’t really looking forward to that, so I just went off and had some alone time. This city felt really safe, so I was OK. (and I’m writing this so clearly I’m still alive) On the metro on the way back, this greek woman asked me about my waterbottle (SAS bottle) on a bench. She just started asking me in Greek! I was sooo confused. I guess I might blend in a little? That happened to me once or twice in Croatia too where they said hello to me in Croatian instead of in English which was really nice.

We leave for Turkey tonight. I’m really excited about it and ready to do some research about some of the things I want to do and the things that I am doing (sufi dervish ceremony!). Turkey is going to be a lot different than any of the other countries we have visited. I’m just excited to get away from the Euro!! Alright, time to study for the 2 exams and write the paper that I have due tomorrow!

To jump or not to jump

Today I jumped off of a 30 ft. cliff into the water. It was awesome. I was terrified. The plan was to get up early, and head to Lokrum on a ferry. There were stories passed around that there was good cliff jumping on the other side of the island from the dock, so when we got there, we just started walking. And walking. And walking. We walked for the first 2 hours. It was fun. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t dehydrated and if it wasn’t so hot. But it was, and I was, so it was a pain, BUT I’m alive and the island was beautiful. I have never seen so many butterflies and so many varieties of butterflies around even in Phipps! And the island has a ton of peacocks everywhere that just kind of walk up to you. It’s so weird. We ended up walking around the entire island and didn’t know where these cliffs were, so when we got back to the pier, we asked the one guy at the restaurant. He told us where they were, but to be careful because the water was really choppy today in that area because of the wind direction. We went over to the area and scoped it out. None of the locals were there jumping, so we opted for the second option – jumping off of this cliff into this small salt water lake that was fed through a cave. The water was so clear that it looked like you were jumping into 10 feet of water or less, but in all actuality, I think it was more like 20-25 ft of water.

We watched some other people do it before our whole group did it. It was so much fun! It is so far down! You just keep falling and falling! The worst part is standing at the top getting ready to jump. It was definitely worth it though. I have a video! (Thanks Grace!) After that, I caught the ferry back to the Island without everyone else, and went to the post office. NOTE: buy your post cards at the post office. They are only 1.8 kuna instead of 3! (that’s not even a dollar, but still). Oh well! I then went to get ice cream and wait for the bus back to the harbor. I went in and asked the guy for Hazelnut in Croatian and he looked at me and asked me where I was from and I told him the US and he asked my why I knew Croatian. I told him I was studying for 2 years and he was so happy! He told me that I had to practice and wasn’t allowed to speak any English any more to him. He was so nice! I really liked it when the locals were excited that someone was learning their language. I never thought about it, but I guess it is a weird language for someone to learn. I would love to use this to my advantage and perhaps work over there someday! Not in Dubrovnik, but just in Croatia in general. In Spain, and Italy and France, they just kind of expect you to know their language in most cases, and usually people know a few words from highschool classes, but I guess Croatian speakers from the US are hard to come by. I feel special! Haha. Someday…


After getting ice cream, and waiting for the bus and running into Rachel, we decided to walk back. We hit up the grocery store where we tried to spend our remaining Kuna (I have like 30 left, which is about $6, so I’m not concerned). We went back to the ship and chilled. Then there was an announcement that we’re not actually leaving the port until tomorrow morning at 10 am, which sucks! We could have had at least an extra few hours here and had everyone back by like… midnight or at least 11pm. It would have been SO much better. But since we had already been cleared by customs, we couldn’t leave the ship.

Out of all of the ports that we’ve been to so far, this is my favorite. I had no idea how beautiful of a country Croatia was. It’s amazing. I really need to come back here. I’m very sad to leave. Yeah I know, I’m going to Greece in 2 days, but still. This was amazing and 4 days definitely wasn’t enough. I wanted to hit up Split and Korčula. Eventually I want to make it to Zagreb. I definitely think I’m going to look into coming back here for something, whether it’s a job or school, in the future when I get back to Pitt. I want to see Montenegro and Serbia and Bosnia. This area is great and I really really want to make it back! I was talking to a few of my friends and they said that so far out of all of the countries we’ve been to, this is where they see themselves coming back to first. It’s just so beautiful here! Hopefully I’ll get some pictures up soon!

So, tomorrow is classes, then a day of sea Olympics and then Greece!!

Doviđenja!

A Kayaking adventure

Alright day 3. I woke up early to get some shopping done. I got the regular souvenir stuff – a futbol jersey for me and one for Alan, post cards, something special for my mom and her sisters for Christmas (be excited!), and all that jazz. It was fun walking around. They had a ton of fresh fruit markets everywhere! I wish we could bring fruit onto the ship. It would have been so good. I should have gotten some Olive Oil too since Croatia is supposed to have the best olive oil in the world. I didn’t know this, but I guess it’s true? I then got ready for my Kayaking adventure!

We left the ship at 1:30. We got to the kayaking place where the bus dropped us off and had to walk down this really steep hill and then hundreds of stairs to the beach, which was beautiful and all stone. The instructor, who was pretty attractive, haha, asked if anyone was experience and a few people said they were and they were in the kayaks where you sit inside them and have a skirt. My friend Janae and I were going to get a sit on top double kayak, but the lady said she had a double sit inside one, so we opted for that since we were so eager to get in. I think it was a good choice since it was so hot and our legs were covered. We had an interesting start. We didn’t know how to turn it exactly, so we had some other SAS guy tell us. It was amusing! But we definitely got the hang of it! By the end, Marco, our other instructor for the advanced Kayakers, was teaching us how to surf the waves in! We kayaked probably for a total of an hour and 1/2- - 2 hours. It was definitely a workout! My arms loved it!!!! I had this nifty rudder in our kayak so I was able to steer with my feet which was really nice. Needless to say, I’m addicted to kayaking now. It was SO much fun!!!! I really want to do it again. We kayaked to this Island, Lokrum, and then had a chance to snorkel, which I had to do for my oceanography class. Worst homework assignment ever, right? After observing the life in the water, we got back in our kayaks and headed back to the beach. At this time I started asking Marco questions in Croatian and he was SO surprised that I knew Croatian! He was so happy! He asked me about studying it and everything. It was nice talking to him about learning it and practicing.

That is one thing I disliked about Dubrovnik. I wasn’t forced into working on my Croatian. Everything was in English. Everyone spoke English. Only in 2 instances did someone say dobar dan to me first instead of Hello. It was really annoying. So it was nice talking to him and everything. He said that he’s never met anyone from the US that speaks Croatian or that is learning it. I was amused. So on the way up to the bus, I asked the other guide what his name was in Croatian and he was really caught off guard. Again, he said it was the first time in his life he met someone from the US that spoke Croatian. It was really funny. He wasn’t as talkative as Marco though.

So that was an eventful time! We got back to the ship and I stuffed my face. I was so hungry after kayaking and walking around the city! At the end of the night, we hung out for a bit waiting for some people to get back from Montenegro and then we thought about heading into town. Erin and I were exhausted and wanted to get up early, so we just went to bed. The sun really wears you out and it’s SO hot here. And it’s only going to get hotter!

Swimming with the fishes in crystal clear water

So day 2. It was pretty interesting. I forgot that we were going to be using tender boats between certain hours and slept through the dock time, so was stuck on the ship until 11. I ended up just waiting until some of my friends got back from trips to head out into the town. We did a tour of the city walls. We walked around and I was taken to a “swimming hole” which was basically a doorway in the city walls that was super shady that led out to rocks sticking out of the city walls that had stairs carved in them so that you could get in/out of the sea. It was awesome. You just jump in off of rocks (like 2-5 ft) and then swim around in the water then scramble up the rocks to get out.

Unfortunately we picked a terrible day for this since it was really windy and the waves were a little high, but we did it anyway. Definitely made it more interesting! Nate jumped in first. The water is so deep that it was dark blue, you can’t really see the bottom, and you definitely don’t touch, which freaked me out a little at first but it’s easier than deep Atlantic water when you can’t even really see your hands underwater. We swam around to the stairs and then this Croatian boy had to show us how to use the handholds and hoist ourselves out of the water. It was really hard with the waves as big as they were! You would go to grab the hand hold and the wave would pull you away, but then you had to make sure that you didn’t get slammed against the rocks (ask Tim Gallo about this, he has a story and will have some scars…). It was SO tiring. We were all panting when we got out!

Nate and I swam that twice before we decided to go and get changed and get some dinner. Three of us walked around until we found a menu we liked with good prices. I really like how all of the little restaurants have outdoor seating and they all have their menus on display so that you can check prices and see if they have stuff you like. It’s so convenient. I wanted traditional food, so we picked a good place. I don’t remember what it was called though; I have to check my camera. I ordered these pork skewers that came with a side of French fries and then had this weird red sauce with it and a radish which made me really happy. Nate ordered civapi per my suggestion since we made them in class. They are just small sausages with round beef and garlic and herbs and Rachel ordered the vegetable risotto, which I had a taste of and it was DELICIOUS! For desert we split palachinke. Wow… it was amazing. I mean I love palacinke with nutella, but these were filled with this ticker chocolaty filling with chunks of hazelnut. I love how Europe uses the hazelnut everywhere. It’s my favorite gelato flavor. But it was delicious!


Unfortunately this was my last traditional Croatian meal. Since everyone spent so much money on food in Spain and Italy, no one wanted to eat out here, everyone usually went back to the ship for meals or their trips arrived just in time for a meal on the ship and it was convenient. I am a little sad that I didn’t have a chance to try other things, but Dubrovnik isn’t a great place for that anyway. It is really tourist oriented. Not US tourist, which is good, but European tourist oriented. Most of the restaurants didn’t serve traditional Croatian food. There were Italian restaurants everywhere! I am hoping that when I’m in Bulgaria, it’s different. (And when I come back to Croatia!)

After eating, we met 2 other people at the theater to see Transformers - in English with Croatian subtitles. We went to the wrong theater first then tried to find the real theater. We walked passed it before someone pointed it out to us. It was just a door in the wall with a movie poster on it, then the guy opened the door and we got our tickets. I then realized that it was an outdoor theater! All of the seats were arranged on a cement terrace type area directed toward a screen. Just like a drive in, only on a small scale! It was awesome watching a movie with Dubrovnik in the background! The movie was OK. I don’t think I would have spent the normal amount in the US for it. The movie was a lot cheaper here AND you could bring whatever you wanted in with you! There were people there with ice cream and everything. It was really nice. So when in Dubrovnik, I recommend seeing a movie at this theater… and I can’t remember the street it was on… oops! After that, we were all tired from the heat, the meal, and the long day, so we went back to the ship.

I couldn't have imagined a more beautiful country

Wow, what amazing days these past days have been. Unfortunately we are leaving Croatia tomorrow. I don’t think that 4 days was enough for this country for me. There is so much left to do! I guess I’m just going to have to come back… or move here… Originally I didn’t know what to expect with this country. I knew that I was going to love it. It was the port that I was most looking forward to but didn’t want to get my hopes up too high so that I wouldn’t be disappointed (yeah, like THAT could happen!).

So we got here on Tuesday. My trip was set to leave at 1 and we pulled into port around 8. I was up for breakfast at 7:30 and was amazing at exactly how gorgeous Dubrovnik is. We are harbored in the new city, but it’s still just as gorgeous and picturesque as stari grad (old city). I just sat there in awe at the table outside on the deck staring out across the harbor. It was definitely 10 times better than Naples already and not just because I wasn’t throwing up the whole time. I then ran into some of my friends and we decided to hit up a beach by the casino before our 1:00 trips through semester at sea. We walked there, which took about 20 minutes. The beach was beautiful. It was all stone and the water was Crystal Clear up to like 15 feet!! We swam around for a bit and then headed back to the boat.

I was supposed to go to this faculty directed practica (FDP) for my ethnomusicology class. In the description we’re supposed to go to this village and see a folk performance and then hang around get some food and such and then leave and be back at the ship around 8:00pm. We boarded our buses and headed up the winding and narrow streets through the mountains as our tour guide told us all about Croatia’s history and about the war and about just about everything that we needed to know and a lot of things that we didn’t. We then stopped in this village by a church, which we thought was just a short stop before continuing to Osojnik village. The church was beautiful. After he told us about the church, we were to follow him to “this nice lady’s house”. We were really confused at this point, but decided just to roll with it. On the way there, he was telling us all about the herbs and spices that grew all over Croatia like the different types of mint and the basil that was all over. We stopped to pet some donkey’s before arriving at this house where we were served fresh figs and what we thought was water in small shot glasses. Not the case. We were given shots of their home made brandy. And they didn’t just stop at one, they told us to drink as much as we wanted. I sipped it. Let me tell you, that sip burned for a good 10 minutes. I definitely ate another fig. ( Which was delicious!)

After that we all congregated on their back porch. One of the things I loved about Croatia is that every house has grape vines growing on a trellis above their front and back porch along with various other vegetables and flowers. Everything is beautiful. All of the homes are off white with red terra cotta roofs. It’s so beautiful. We sat on their back porch, and then we were treated to some authentic music of the area. The man of the house played this small string instrument that was all hand made with various animal parts and wood. It was really cool. He played while the women danced and then we all joined in! After this, we were given water and home made wine and they brought out small fire burners and we roasted bread, homemade cheese, and smoked bacon over the fire as an appetizer. It was SO good. We all ate so much! And they continued to give us more and more wine!

We were then joined by 2 men, one with an accordion and one with a guitar who sang us more traditional songs from the area. They took a break and we were ushered downstairs to their dining area which was 3 long tables. We all sat down and ate a fantastic dinner of roasted pork and potatoes and salad and again served more wine! The wine was delicious and the pork just fell off the bone and melted in your mouth. It was amazing. I’m really going to miss the food here!

After eating, the guys started playing again. The one guy said that he felt bad that we didn’t understand any of the music, but he wanted us to get a feel for the music from the area and Croatia in general, which I really enjoyed. So then 2 songs later, I actually recognized what he was singing, it was one of the songs that we sang in class! (Sta je ona meni), I told him this and he asked me what else I knew! I was so excited! I’m going to be on the SAS DVD singing Kad Te Vidim with everyone. It was so fun!!! They were so excited that I knew some songs! I didn’t know any more until the end when they played a sad a dio which we also sang in class. It was super fun! I told Nate that we would have to go to the Serbian club in Pittsburgh so that he can hear some turbo folk. I haven’t had a chance to hear any of that yet while here. All they play is American music. BOO!

I had my picture taken with them and then we all piled onto the buses, full of wine, and headed back to the boat. We then headed into Stari Grad by catching a bus right by the harbor, which was really convenient. We wanted to go out and just hang out and have a beer or two and just chill since it had been a long day and we were all exhausted, so we walked around until we saw an irish pub (why go there when in Croatia? I dunno, why not?) but when we walked in it was full of SAS kids and they were being loud obnoxious American’s, so we walked out and found another bar by the city walls and just had some drinks. The main tap beer here is Ozjusko. It’s actually pretty good compared to most cheap beers. I liked it a lot more than the tap beer in Spain. We were all exhausted after about an hour and ½, so instead of heading to the club that everyone was talking about going to, we just headed back to the ship to get a good nights sleep and get up early for another day in Croatia!

Buongiorno Roma!

The past 2 days have been simply AMAZING. I spent both Wednesday and Thursday in Rome, Italy. Wednesday we arrived into port around 6am (there is no way I was awake for it). I woke up, got breakfast, and went to see someone from the US embassy in Italy speak to us about being safe and what not to do to avoid being put in jail. I then ran up, grabbed my passport and my bag packed for staying in Rome, and then headed to the bus for my trip – Rome on your Own, which I was using just for the bus into the city since I was planning on meeting Tim and Rachel and we were going to find a place to stay in Rome. We were dropped off outside of St. Peters Square. I met up with this girl from Berkley, Danielle, who was also going to meet up with someone at the Spanish Steps and we headed into Rome. Once getting there, I found a bank, and then we went to find her friends since they actually had at least one phone on them. So After they left, I parked myself on the steps and waited…and waited… and waited… for 2 hours. Got some great people watching done! Finally Rachel and Tim found me and brought along Nate and Eric Rittenhouse. They apparently got onto a late train and then got lost trying to find the Spanish Steps from their Metro station. (They later found out that there was a metro stop AT the Spanish steps…oops!).

So after finding me, we found a restaurant down the street from our next destination, the Trevi Fountain. We all ordered pizzas which were big enough for two people. They were pretty delicious. All of them are thin crust and they don’t dump sauce on them, which is good. I am more excited for pizza in Naples though since that is the home off pizza. We headed off to the Trevi Fountain after lunch. Set in a really small piazza and only accessible by small allies, the Trevi Fountain looks HUGE. It was amazing just walking up to it. Basically from here on out, and of the sites that I describe are just too amazing for words. There is no way I could describe any of them, so I’ll probably just start telling you where I’ve been.  So the Trevi Fountain. Haha. We got gelato there. I had hazelnut flavored gelato. It was AMAZING! I love hazelnut flavored things. I guess well with the Italian names.

After this we headed to The Castil Angelo. (The very place that is in Angels and Demons). We didn’t go inside because it was 8 euros and we’re cheap (so cheap that on the second day we forgot a map and just used Tim’s camera to take a picture of one). By this time, the sky was just about black. There was definitely a storm coming, so we found a small bar just in time. We split a few large bottles of beer until the rain let up. At this time we decided to head back to the train station. It was only 9 euros for a 2 way ticket into Rome from Civitevecchia, so it would be cheaper to go back, sleep on the boat and then come back the next morning to see the rest of what we missed in Rome. Unfortunately we were about an hour and ½ walk away from the train station! Well what we thought. Little did we know that there was a train stop close to St. Peters…. Oops! When we walked about though, we passed the Piazza Venezia and stopped to take pictures. From one of the roads, we could see the Colosseo, or the Coliseum! It was insane just looking down the road and there it is! We walked up to it and around it and then found a way to get back on track to the train station. I’m not saying anything about the Coliseum because again, no words. We found our way to the train station, and then headed back to the boat, exhausted. We all showered since it was SO hot and sticky in Rome that day.

The next day, Tim, Rachel and I left for Rome around 9am. We got into St. Peters Square around 10:30. We knew to get off at the St. Peters terminal instead of going all the way to the Stazione Termini. We walked to St. Peters square and assumed a line we were standing in was for the Vatican. It wasn’t. BUT this woman asked us if we wanted to go on a tour of the Vatican with an English speaking tour guide. So we signed up for that. It was 20 euros for the tour and 8 for a student ticket into the Vatican museums and stuff. Which, after the tour, I think was worth it. The museums were So confusing. There is no way we could have found the Sistine chapel in any less than 3 hours. Haha. It was great learning things about the Vatican though and the process in actually getting the Sistine chapel finished and stuff. She was a great tour guide. Apparently if you spend 20 seconds looking at each piece of artwork in the museums, you would be there for 12 years! Isn’t that insane! There is so much stuff crammed into those walls. We finally reached the Sistine Chapel. Again, no words. Not even one. Just see it at least once before you die. The guards have a pretty shitty job though. No Photo! And SHHH!!! They want to maintain the atmosphere of the chapel.

We saw St. Peters. We didn’t have a chance to walk around the Vatican city, which kind of sucks, but oh well. Maybe next time! (I did throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain!) We then headed to the Pantheon. I have never felt so small in my life! Seriously! It was HUGE. The dome was gigantic. We were supposed to meet Eric and Nate at the Trevi Fountain again, so we walked towards it stopping at St. Ignacios to see the ceiling that is flat but painted to look 3D. It is definitely worth a stop! Just make sure that if you’re a girl you’re knees are covered and you shoulders are too. They are more strict about the length of your shorts though. I brought a long skirt with me so I threw that on over my shorts. Nate and Eric didn’t show up, so we headed to this other church towards the train station that had different displays made completely of human bones. It was so gross and so awesome at the same time. I got this confused with a church that I once looked up on wikipedia that is completely decorated in bones. But this was just as cool. For 1 eruo you would walk down the hallway and see the various displays and ceiling designs and lamps made of human bones. At the end it has a plaque that says in 6 different languages – What you are we once were, what we are you will be.

We headed back to the train station, I showered and passed out! Today I am just walking around Civitevecchia getting post cards and stuff. Finding internet, uploading this and some articles about Spain. Looking up things to do in Croatia and traveling things. Should be a fun day! Anyway, go to Rome. It’s amazing. I want to go back, there is so much more that we just didn’t have time to see. It is VERY expensive though. Boo! Not as bad as Ireland though! (Right Frank? Go to Rome)

Btw – we ran into a family from Pittsburgh on the way to the Parthenon…. How did we know they were from Pittsburgh? Steelers shirt. What were they looking for? The Steelers bar in Rome! There is a Steelers bar in Rome! Crazy.