Saying goodbye..

..is the worst thing ever.  I don´t wanna come home.  I don´t even know how I was excited.  This is horrible.  My room is packed up, I´ve said bye to my friends, and I just wanna cry.  I´m gonna miss living in a city and being independent.. although hopefully Val and I will be getting an apartment in the city.  But still.  It won´t be nearly as beautiful, and it will be cold.  I can´t believe it´s over.  Last night I saw my intercambio for the last time.  He wanted to walk around the river, and it was so weird we ended up at the Puente de Triana - the bridge where I spend my first night hanging out with the whole TDP group.  I remember we were saying how crazy it is that we were gonna live in this beautiful city for four months.  I remember wondering what it was gonna be like living here.  What my senora would be like, who I´d be friends with, where I´d be living.  Now I know.  It came and went so fast and I hate it.  I´m so grateful for the opportunity but it´s unreal.  It was the weirdest feeling being at that same spot again with a totally different mind set.  I didn´t write this past week because I´ve been so busy studying, but last Thursday I had my last class with the kids.  I can´t believe it was last Thursday!  This week flew.  Anyways, I hadn´t seen them for a while so when they came into the classroom I got a lot of hugs.  The class proceeded as usual, Victor was my helper.  I was grateful because he´s good at English.  He was able to tell me that it was rainy - and it never rains here, so I was surprised he knew the word.  Then I played the game where they give me the vocab word I ask for.  They were all yelling "Me! Me! Me! Me!".   Except something wasn´t right.  Blanca wasn´t there!  I didn´t even know who to call on!  Then I noticed she was there but she was sitting next to the teacher looking sad.  I figured she was sick.  So I played the fly swatter game with them, and then had them color in a bird and a rabbit.  Everything went really well and I have the videos of the lesson.  Blanca was really sad all class turns out because Ana had told them I was leaving!  Okay, well I don´t know that.  But she wasn´t sick and she always is right next to me the whole time.  So I´ll jump to that conclusion.  After the activity Ana asked me to close my eyes and had them give me a present.  They made me a book of pictures they scribbles and they made me a really cute bracelet!  I was so excited.  When it was time to leave they all gave me hugs and I got pictures with them.  Ana asked if I wanted one with me and Blanca.  Something I need to work on as a high school teacher - gotta make it less obvious who my favorite is.  The kids actually seemed to understand that I was leaving to go back home.  Jesus was asking me about it and I told him I had to go back home to my country.  He was like ohh so that´s far.  You needa take a bus, and a plane.  And a train ride.  Haha I´ll miss him.  It was really sad.  By the end of the class Blanca was okay again and told me she loved me and gave me some hugs.  So sad I´ll never see them again.  Maybe when I come back here to teach I´ll have some of them as students again!  Other than that I´ve been sooo busy with finals.  Luckily I feel like I did well on all of them.  I´ve been studying up on the roof to get some color before I come home.  Got burnt today - the sun here is so strong.  My Teaching Development teacher got in a motorcycle accident last weekend.  He was on the back of his friends motorcycle and a car hit them.  He broke his femur and has been in the hospital.  Really sad we didn´t get to say goodbye to him because he´s been great and has taught us so much.  It also messed things up because he didn´t make it to some peoples last class, which was our final.  Tonight after my last final TDP met up with Caro, our director, and had a coffee and said goodbye.  So sad she´s awesome.  Then after dinner - which senora didnt come home for AGAIN! .. Wont even get into that.. the TDP group met up on top of the setas.  Unfortunately I couldn´t drink because I kind of had a migraine earlier, because I was the one who suggested going there because the sangria is amazing.  Oh well.  I got froyo on the way instead =)  Well I have to go to sleep.. gotta be up at 6 for my ride to the airport :(

9/4/2012

Okay so this blog has been sitting in my drafts for a while....

First off, I cannot believe it's already April! I come home in 32 days.  So crazy.  The time really has flown by.  Secondly, my blog is very out of order.  I haven't written and a few weeks, nor have I finished blogging about Morocco.  But I'm saving that because there's a lot to write.  So for now here's what I have.

So the last week in March my Mom and  Mark came to visit.  It was awesome having them here because I got to do so many things that I haven't even done yet.  Their hotel was less than five minutes from  my apartment, on one of my favorite streets.  It's located in the center right off the main road and there are lots of cafes and pastry shops along it.  We got tapas for lunch and dinner everyday - and they were all sooo good.  I love senoras cooking but I needed a break from it and I got a chance to try more restaurants.  I always want to but it's hard because we all have senoras making free meals (well, what we already paid for).  We got tapas the first day then we walked around the city and I showed most of the important stuff.  There was a lot of stuff that  I didn't even know what it was.  I just kinda walk around the city doing my thing ignoring the history.  There's so much I still don't know.  Looks like I'll just have to move back.  We went up las cetas or "mushrooms" - that's not the real name but that's what they call them here.  They're those white honeycomb-looking things.  From there you get a view of the whole city.  We did a horse and buggy ride that night before dinner.  I love seeing the city at night it's so pretty.  This was my first experience translating.  The driver would explain to me what we were passing, in Spanish, and I'd have to translate it to English.  Translating is hard!  Especially with a bad memory because he would give me multiple sentences at a time.  The next day we rented a car and went to Carmona.  It was my first time in a car since I've left so it was cool.  Carmona was little but full of history.  I enjoyed it because Mom and Mark have the same touring style as me.  Walk around and look at stuff on your own and read about it.  It's cool to see but I don't need someone chewing my ear off stopping to explain every little boring detail.  I don't know. Sometimes tours are great, other times I just want to fall over and go to sleep.  My allergies were bothering me and I felt sick when we were leaving.  Slept on the ride home then got some tapas, which made me feel better.  Tapas cure everything.  So good.  It was raining a bit that day so we went shopping, which was very exciting for me.  They were very generous buying me clothes and waiting while I tried stuff on (there was a four item limit!! You can imagine how long that took me..)  The next day we woke up way too early and got a bus to Granada to tour la Alhambra.  I never would've thought when I was there in high school that I would have seen it three times in four years.  It was interesting.. the second time (the first time I was in high school I didn't care).  But it was pretty boring because I had just been there.  And the tour was three hours.  Afterwards we ate some lunch, and did some shopping.  The rest of the week I was really busy and exhausted from my classes.. it was right around mid terms and a ton of work was due.  Also only my second week of teaching so I was getting used to planning lessons.  Monday we went to some Arab baths. It was literally the coolest place I've ever been to.  We got massages first, then had use of the rooms for like and hour and a half or something.  There was one room - a gorgeous red room with pretty decorations and candles, filled with warm water.  Then when you walk through that, there's a really hot hot tub, and then next to that a freezing cold one.  Then there was a steam room with mint aroma to open up your pours I guess?  I don't know I loved it though. Then there was a jacuzzi room with a bunch of different water massages.  And at the end there's hot stone to lay on.  It was amazing.  Just what I needed.  That  night they came and met senora.  She invited them in for some wine and olives.  We chatted a bit.  It was fun translating.  Except senora would talk for about 5 minutes then expect me to translate the whole thing.  I summarized it. It was also hard sometimes and I would forget which language I was supposed to be speaking in.  I think it went pretty well though.  We went and got tapas that were really good.  The next night we went to dinner with my friends, which was a lot of fun. Wednesday we went on a boat ride around the river - something that I've never done.  The river here is so pretty, and afterwards we ate lunch along it.  All of the tapas here have been amazing.  That night we got churros with senora at, what she says, is the best place in town.  They were really good, but filling and fattening, and she kept insisting on ordering more.  After class that night we went to see a flamenco show with Kirsten and went out for tapas.  Then we went back to the hotel and traced a bunch of bunny ears for my lesson the next day.  I was teaching Easter.  I hadn't been sure what I was going to do.  I wanted to show them some Easter eggs, but they don't have them here in Spain.  It worked out perfectly because Mom brought me an Easter basket, filled with eggs.  When I got to school that day all of the kids were chanting "Easter Bunny!! Easter Bunny!!".  Then there were some, mostly the three year olds, that were chanting "Mister Bunny!! Mister Bunny!".  They don't have Easter here, but since it's a billingual school they learn about Easter, and the Easter bunny came to their classrooms.  Before they went and found their candy, they went to the patio and did their Grease Lightning dance.  Adorable!  Then they went to the classroom and found chocolate eggs on their desk.  The teacher said they could eat them, and all of a sudden she yelled "No! Don't eat that!"  Little Victor had found a clay Easter egg and was eating it.  Haha.  So I taught the kids some new vocabulary - Easter eggs and Easter bunny, and had them cut out and color bunny ears, which I made headbands out of.  They loved them and looked so cute with their ears!  Then I read them an Easter story, using my basket and Easter eggs as a prop, and handed out a jelly bean to each of them.  I think we did some more shopping, then after class I went out for Kimby's birthday.  Friday morning we woke up really early and went to Vienna.  It was freeeezing cold there. And rainy.  Drastic change from the warm weather in Sevilla.  We walked around and did some shopping, got some delicious Austrian food, and amazzinggg desserts.  We shared a chocolate covered cone with strawberry mousse and strawberries, and a cheese strudel.   Delicious.  The next day we had our own tour guide who brought us to the Hapsburg summer palace and a few other places.  The palace was really cool to see, and I learned a lot.  The food in Austria was really good as were the desserts.  Sunday we went on the oldest running roller coaster, and some haunted house ride.  While we were there, it snowed a little bit!!  Austria was cool but I definitely would enjoy it more in warmer weather.  From there we took a flight to London, they continued to America, and I stayed and met up with  my friends.  It was a lot of fun having them in Sevilla and showing them around.  I got to see a lot of the city that I hadn't even really seen before. Plus I gotta do a lot of shopping and eat a lot of delicious tapas :)

Best & Worst of Spanish Culture

La Feria:

La Feria de Abril is a fair that takes place every year in April in Sevilla.  It is held in Triana, one of the neighborhoods in Sevilla.  They build a big gate in front of it, then a bunch of little streets, where they build casetas, or tiny houses.  They look like tents but they are sturdier.  Each has a bar and kitchen in the back.  They range in size, some are huge and elaborate while others are smaller.  They are owned by families or groups of friends, and for most of them you need an invite to get in.  All of the men dress up in suits or some like bull fighters, while all of the girls dress us in flamenco dresses.  There's a carnival there as well.  When we first got here and were planning trips, one of our orientation leaders made it sound like it was pointless for us to go because you need an invite to a caseta.  So Kirsten and I planned our trip during Feria, and came back Saturday, so we'd have two days to see it.  Well I wish I had been here longer.  We went Saturday and it was the coolest thing I've ever been to.
I came home from my trip Saturday morning and napped.  Senora had told me she wasn't going to dress up this year, but she came into my room and showed me her flamenco dress.  She had changed her mind.  I was glad because I wanted to see her dressed up in the flamenco dress.  The dresses are so pretty.  So I went to senora's friends apartment with them while her friend got ready.  It was so funny watching them get ready.  I had to help senora zipper her friends dress.  The dresses are really fitted, and then have a huge puffy skirt at the bottom. And it doesn't matter how big you are or what you look like - everyone's dress is super tight and they don't care.  We had a little trouble zippering the second dress she tried on, and they were commenting on how fat she is.  (She's not that fat, but has a belly).  Anyways, I wanted to see senora dressed up but I was going to meet up with Kirsten and Michelle.  Senora was sad that I wasn't going to see her, so I brought them to my apartment and we waited for senora.  It took them a while, apparently because her friend's zipper burst on the way over, so she had to change.  Kirsten Michelle and I bought flamenco flowers for our hair, and we all got ready back here.  Right as we were going to leave it started raining.  We took a cab over, and I was shocked.  The set up was amazing! There were pretty lights everywhere, and the casetas were gorgeous.  It was honestly the coolest thing I've ever seen.  There's nothing even comparable in America.  And everyday there's a parade of horses with couples on them.  It's cute - the guy is in the front and the girl is behind him sitting sideways in her flamenco dress.  And the little kids are adorable all dressed up!  So we went and met up with a girl named Lucia.   She came on our trip to Morocco and she invited us to her caseta.  We hung out there for a few hours, eating and drinking.  Had some calamari, chicken, fried goat cheese with marmalade - sooo good, definitely my favorite.  Then Kimby and Sarah met up with us, and I went with them to Kimby's intercambio's caseta.  This caseta was a little bigger, and there were no tables like the other one - it was just a dance floor.  The girl who owned the caseta was exteremely nice, and her friend taught me how to dance flamenco.  It was so much fun.  Definitely the best cultural experience I've had since I've been here.  It made me never want to leave Spain and decided that I had to come back.

Me and senora

Me senora and her friend

the entrance to la feria

some casetas

Lucia and her friends all dressed up

the caseta.. most are decorated with the flowers on the ceiling

learning how to flamenco dance!

On the contrary...


Bull fight:  Warning: this is grotesque.

So Sunday morning Kirsten and I went to see a bullfight.  I knew it would be sad and gross, seeing a bull get killed.  Little did I know.  We got there and saw some protesters outside, and kind of commented on how they were annoying.  We went in to the packed stadium.  We were a few minutes late, and it was hard to get to our seats because there are no aisles, nor seats.  They have assigned seating but they have benches, so we had to climb over people to get there.  Normally bull fights are bull fighters (torreros) vs the bull.  Well I think it was a special thing they do for Feria, but the one we went to the torreros were riding horses the whole time.  In the beginning there were six guys (well one was a girl) riding horses around on the floor.  It was crazy how they could control them and make them dance.  It was really cool.  So the first torrero came out and did his thing.  I did not know exactly how this would go down.  It was pretty horrible.  Little by little they wound the bull, and every time they stab him, the crowd goes wild.  The guy changes horses four or five times, and taunts the bull with the horse.  It's crazy.  They have the horse dancing, imitating the bull, and then running sideways to get away from the bull.  The bull gets little swords stuck in it, and left hanging there bleeding the whole time.  While the guy changes horses they have other torreros come out with pink sheets to piss off the bull and tire him out.  Music is playing the whole time, except for the final stab.  These people are sick.  They shut off the music and people are shushing other people, so that they can hear the sword stab through the bull.  Sick.  Then, the bulls still living, so other torreros come near it with the pink sheets, making it dizzy, until it falls.  Then the torrero who killed it stands in front of it and taunts it, til it falls over and dies.  Then the crowd cheers and the torreros runs around all proud, holding the bulls horns.  People throw flowers, some throw hats or shirts, and the torrero kisses them, and throws them back.  Then they attach the bull to a bunch of horses with bells, and drag it out.  Okay so this all sounds bad.  I was a little disgusted.  But this was nothing compared to what we were about to witness.  So the next torrero comes out on a pretty white horse.  The second bull was a lot angrier and full of energy than the first one.  (Also something I did not know - I thought they only killed one bull).  So he's doing his thing, making the horse dance and taunt the bull.  Everything was fine, then all of a sudden the bull catches them (they're very close the whole time but always manage to get away because they bull's fat and slower).  So the bull knocks over the horse and the torreros.  The guy jumps up and runs out of the ring, while the bull is ramming the underside of the horse.  A bunch of other torreros run out with the pink sheets to try and get the bull away.  Once they get the bull away from the horse, the horse gets us and starts running around the ring in panic.  I looked to see if it was bleeding, and it was hardly bleeding.  However, it's - what looked like- large intestine was dangling underneath it.  As it was running around.  The horse did a lap or two, then they were able to get it out of there.  I almost passed out.  I had to put my head down and I felt like I was gonna puke.  Kirsten was crying.  It was the most messed up thing I've ever seen.  I can't get it out of my head.  Even worse, I have pictures.  I didn't realize at first it's guts were hanging out, so I was taking pictures.  So disturbing.  We wanted to leave right then - but it's impossible.  We were packed in there.  The guy who messed up and got the horse wounded was clearly shaken up, but he had to go out there and finish.  At first I hated him, but I kind of felt bad.  He cried after he killed the bull.  Everyone was giving him a standing ovation which surprised me.  He messed up!  Ugh.  I didn't enjoy it.  The next guy was really good - but I couldn't look half the time.  Then there was a girl torrer, who got a little too agressive because she's a girl and has to "prove herself".  We just wanted to leave. Normally in bull fights there are four parts.  Unfortunately this one had six.  We left after the fifth.  People were annoyed as we climbed over them, but I couldn't stay any longer.  Glad I saw it, but these people are sick.  I'm soo ready to come home!


So this was obviously disgusting, and I'm very disturbed, but the pictures I got, specifically one, are insane.  I just don't know what is going on, what exactly is falling out of the horse, but it is not okay.  Don't look if you puke easily, but I had to share these pictures so someone can understand what I saw and how messed up it really was, and that I'm not exaggerating....

Horse down, torrero running away

Horse getting rammed

Getting the bull away

 Horse freaking out. Seriously click on this picture.. WHAT IS THAT?!

So sad..

Brussels

Brussels day 1 Got to Brussels Thursday morning. The directions from the airport to the hotel that the hotel had given us were pretty unclear, so we decided to take a taxi. Not ideal because it cost a lot, but whatever.  At this point in the trip I'm so sick of traveling.  After we settled in at the hotel we took the metro to the center. As soon as we got outside it started pouring raining and it was really windy. It was about four o'clock at this point, and everywhere we went in to eat was only serving drinks. We finally found a restaurant. I got a roast beef sandwich that was pretty good. We walked through the rain to the longest shopping street in Europe. Torturous seeing as we couldn't really buy anything as it wouldn't fit in our suitcase. We went to a shoe store and found some really cute shoes that we came really close to buying. Resisted though. When we were leaving we passed a few waffles places - the whole city smells like waffles. It's ridiculous. They had a display of them and they were amazing looking. We split one with Belgian chocolate, bananas, whipped cream, and crushed peanuts. It was amazing. The waffles here don't even compare to the ones in America. Which, I figured out the next day is because they use dough, not liquidy  batter. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep early since it was so gross out and we were exhausted.    Brussels day 2 Woke up and headed out pretty early. We went to the Atoniam, which is some crazy looking structure built for Expo 58 held in Brussels. It's a big metal structure that looks like a cube of molecules. It's cool looking. We ate a strawberry and Nutella waffle on a stick while we waited in line. The inside was disappointing. They bring you up to the top first. The view wasn't cool. It's not in the center of Brussels so there wasn't much to see. Then you go to four or five different levels, and they basically talk about water conservation the whole time. It was lame. Next we went to the chocolate factory. It was little and cool. We got a few free samples of melted chocolate on a cookie, then we watched a demonstration of how they make it. It was really cool to see. I wanna try making it!  We also got as many samples as we wanted of some shells he had made. Then another guy explained the different types of chocolate - 90% cacao, 70%, 50%, milk, white, etc.  Little did he know, I'm already a chocolate connoisseur and just wanted the samples he was giving us of each kind. Then we walked around the top two floors. No one was up there, and they had samples of dark chocolate and vanilla caramel chips. We ate way too many. Then we left and went on a hunt for the best Belgian chocolate so I could buy some for señora. There were a ton of shops in the area and I think we went into all of them. We may have had a few samples in these too, but strictly so we found the best chocolate. I wasn't even enjoying the samples by this point. So we found the best place because they let you pick which ones went into the gift box, whereas a lot of places had prepackaged ones. The lady helping me didn't understand English well, and she starting making a box for me - which I did not ask for.   So when she was done packing all thirty chocolates I told her I didn't want it, and kind of snuck out. Whoops. She wasn't very happy. After going to a few more shops though, we realized that place really was the best. So I sucked it up and went back in. I had someone else wait on me, and while the guy was filling the box for me, she told him was had happened and just glared at me. Oh well, I got to pick the ones I wanted this time. It's kind of funny because the descriptions were in French or German, so I didn't really know what they were anyways. That's one thing I didn't expect in Brussels, they speak German and French. I was expecting German, but I heard mostly French. Now that I think of it I didn't hear any German really, but everything was written in both languages. Even the street names and train stations had two names. It was a little excessive. After the chocolate hunt we needed real food so we got falafel. Of course it was everywhere here even though we couldn't find it in Istanbul. It wasn't as good as the one we had in Istanbul, but it was still really good. Then we went to the comic strip museum. It was pretty boring, especially since the comics were in French. Some of it was cool, like seeing the original drawings of comics and stuff. Then we went shopping. I successfully found some really cute and comfortable wedges - they're pink and I love them. I also found the exact backpack I had in mind, and it matches the shoes! Then we went and got waffles and smoothies. They made the waffles fresh here (most of the places make them fresh but have them sitting there and heat them back up in the waffle iron).  This is where I saw the waffle dough being used. We shared two. A strawberry Belgium chocolate and a Nutella banana. Both were amazing. And I got a mango coconut smoothie that was delicious as well. Everything in Brussels, well all of the stores and museums, close around 6. So we went back to the hotel and got some sleep before we had to catch our cab at 430. It ended up costing us 177 euro!! Ridiculous. So worth it for all of the chocolate and waffles we ate though. I'll never be able to eat a waffle in the US again. 

Istanbul

Istanbul day 1 Got to the airport to check in with Turkish Airlines. We had to weigh our carry on bags. Uh oh. I knew I was screwed. Normally they just look at them or have you fit them in the little metal box. The limit was 8kg, I had 12. I spent a good amount of time taking stuff out. It didn't make any sense though. Because what I took out - clothes and a bunch of my stuff that I put in a grocery bag- I was still carrying on. Airlines have just gotten so ridiculous. I finally got it down to 8.5kg which was fine. Just annoying. The flight was actually nice though. They served us meals! I haven't been on a real flight since I left for Spain. I love airplane food. Always exciting. They had this amazing almond cake that I loved. Anyways, we landed, took a bus to Taksim Square, in the modern part of Istanbul. Found our way to the hotel. It was really close to the square we were in- just down two streets. Two of the steepest streets I've ever been down. Which was fine going down but going up would be an issue. Anyways, we found our hostel which was above a Dominos. The people there were really nice and they had four adorable cats. The place was a little disorganized but it was fine. We left our stuff there and went out to explore the city. There was a reallly long street off of the square with a ton of food places and stores. There was a lot of great shopping, unfortunately I couldn't fit anything else in my carry on. Probably a good thing but so sad. Everyone we encountered was very nice and friendly. I went into Starbucks to buy a drink and thought I could pay in euro so they ended up giving it to me for free. Then we went into a bakery and a guy gave us free pastries. They were amazzzzing!!! I've never had baklava but oh my goddd I needa find it in America. Soo good. It was pistachio baklava. Then we kept walking and some guy had a metal pole that he was working ice ceam with. I was just kind of watching and he told me it was elastic ice cream and asked if I wanted to try. Of course I did. He did all these weird tricks with it when he served it to me. Gave me a scoop, on a cone, and even dipped it in chocolate! It was amazing. Tasted like marshmallow mixed with ice cream and it was kind of stretchy. Apparently it's a specialty in Turkey.  I loved it. We were on a hunt for falafel, a hunt we thought would be very easy. Falafel is always sold at places called "Istanbul" in Europe. Seriously. And they didn't have it anywhere! Only kebabs. Disappointing. We didn't do much else. Returned to the hostel and went to our room. One of the two other kids staying in there was from Canada and he'd already been in Istanbul for 10 days. He told us where we should go and pointed them out on our map. He was a little odd - he talked so proper it made me uncomfortable. Whatever, he showed us where the historic part of Istanbul was.  Istanbul day 2 So the next morning woke up with the sun beating right down on me, dying of heat exhaustion. It was sooo hot on the sixth floor! We went up to the roof and ate breakfast. Then we headed to the historic part. It was over the river. We got off a few tram stops early to walk a bit and see the city. We walked through a gorgeous park. There were huge green hill and trees and pretty flowers everywhere. (Apparently flowers and cats- also everywhere- have some sort of religious significance). There were a few groups of school kids,  maybe 5th grade, and when we walked by they were all like "Hello! What is your name?". They were so cute. They asked where we were from and told us there names. You could tell thy were repeating exactly what they'd learned in class, but they spoke pretty clearly. I love little English students. They think it's so cool that we're from America. We went to the Hagia Sofia. It was gorgeous inside. So nice seeing a mosque as opposed to a cathedral. Seen far too many cathedrals. This was much cooler. The decorations were just so artistic and interesting. I noticed some guy following Kirsten and me around and taking our picture. Then we left and walked towards the blue mosque. After a few minutes I heard someone yelling "Photo! Photo please!". It was the guy that had been following us around. He asked me to take a picture of him, so I did. Then he asked for one of us. Umm excuse me? Why do you want a picture of me you weirdo. But I didn't know what to say so now some weird Turkish dude has a picture of me and Kirsten on his phone. We went to the Blue Mosque, but didn't go in. We got some elastic ice cream then headed for the Topaki Palace. We almost didn't go in, but they lied to us and told us they had a student price. While we were waiting in line some girl further up from us asked if we were from America and which states. She was from Pennsylvania. She's in Turkey teaching.  She asked if we wanted to walk around together and said she'd wait for us. So we walked around with her. Her name is Marianne - she was awesome. She goes to Penn State and is an elementary ed major. She did most of we student teaching in America, but at her school they can do part of it abroad, so that's why she was in Turkey for two months. So cool! I wish I could do that at my school!  She was really sweet and asked what we wanted to do and told us she'd bring us around. So lucky that we met her!  The palace was pretty lame. It was huge and you'd wait in line to enter one room, which would have maybe ten windows with a little piece of jewelry. There were a few cool rooms and a nice view. Glad we went though. Then Marianne brought us to the Grand Bazaar. We stopped and got food on the way. We bought a round seseame bread thing from one of the million guys selling it on the street. At te restaurant I got veggies with mashed potatoes baked on top, and some really good buckwheat rice with spices. The Grand Bazaar was interesting. It's the oldest - and maybe biggest- underground bazaar in the world.  There are 52 different tunnels with a bunch of little markets. The people there of course try to sell you stuff, but most of them were pretty funny. One told me his face hurt because I was so beautiful. They're lines were so corny but they made us laugh. We just looked around then sat in a cafe there and had Turkish tea. It was strong, but I liked it. We also got baklava and something else similar. It was delicious. Marianne insisting on paying for us - she was seriously so nice. Then we walked around and took a ferry to the Asia side of Istanbul. Marianne lives over there. It was about 25 minutes away. We went and sat on some rocks by the Myanmar? Or Bosphorus sea? Either way it was gorgeous. We huh out and talked for an hour and a half, watching the sun set over the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia across the sea. It's so cool meeting people who have so much in common. We talked about being teachers- I'm getting so old! Hanin out with my friends talking about our students and how time consuming lesson planning is. And we talked about traveling and stuff. So nice. Marianne put us on a bus to go back to Taksim Square. I had looked up falafel, and supposedly the best place in Istanbul was called Falafel House and right near the square. Took us a few minutes and we found it! We watched the guy make fresh falafel. So cool. Falafel is ground up chick peas with spices and it's fried. Then he put it in a wrap with garlic hummus, a yogurt sauce, tomato and lettuce. It was amazing. We were so happy. Then right across the street there was a place with baklava and Turkish delight. We'd never tried Turkish delight and told the kid that, so he gave us a few kinds to try. I wasn't a huge fan of it but it was good. I got some baklava though - amazing. New obsession. I absolutely loved Istanbul. Nice people, great desserts, great shopping. I wanna go back. So lucky we met Marianne, hopefully we'll meet up in the US. We kinda joked about taking a road trip but we all really want to and if not Kirsten and I probably will this summer. 

Rome

Rome day 1 Our flight to Rome was at 840. The gate closed at 8, so we were planning to get there around 7. We got a shuttle at 530 from our hotel, then had to take a different bus to the airport. We got there at 7. We go in line to check in, and the lady said "this is for Marco polo. Your flight is not here". We stood there in shock. We were so screwed. So we ran around trying to find a taxi and only saw one and the driver was no where to be found. I almost gave up and figured we should find another flight because some lady told us its almost an hour away. We ended up finding a cab and the guy said 25 mins. We paid $68 but we made it just in time. Crazy. Got to Rome center by shuttle. We paid to go to termini station but once the other people got out the driver gave us a little tour of the city and dropped us off at our hostel. We dropped our stuff off and went to walk around the city. We were eager to see the colosseum so we went there first. It was less than 15 minutes walking from our hostel. I was checking my map and looked down a side street and there it was. So cool! We walked around it and the surrounding area with other ruins. We were starving so we stopped and got a caprese panini and some pasta with a butter sauce and mushrooms. The panini was on a hamburger bun and not very toasted, but it was good.  The pasta was delicious, as every meal has been. We looked at the map and figured out everything we wanted to do. We had been unsure whether or not to go in the colosseum because people had told us its a really long line. But we decided we had to and the line actually moved really quickly. The inside was amazing. The exhibit inside was really cool too. It showed some artifacts and explained the history of Rome an the colosseum. We walked a little more and then went to find the best gelato place. We had asked the cab driver and he told us Guilleti's. The place was chaotic and packed with so many people which is always a good sign. You couldn't even see the flavors because there was a mass of people and no line. I got Nutella, black raspberry, and mango. The nutella was more butella than gelato. It was so rich and smooth. The mango was real mango mixed with ice, those two were amazing. We went to the Trevi fountain and made some wishes, then  we went and watched a movie about Rome.  It was kinda like a ride- there were three big screens and the seats you sit on move and there were fake rats and stuff.  Learned a little bit about the history of what we'd been seeing.  Then we sat on the Spanish steps and relaxed for a bit. For dinner we went to a cute little place with really nice waiters. Some of the people in Italy are really rude, so it was nice to go somewhere with friendly people. We shared an okay salad and some eggplant parmesan. We went back to the same gelato place and I got pink grapefruit and raspberry.  Rome day 2 Woke up and headed for Saint Peter's basilica. We were on a mission to find the best pizza place in Rome, which we had googled, and was supposed to be in piazza Santa Maria, right near the basilica. No one knew where it was! It was very frustrating. We had so many people stopping us and asking if we needed a tour of the Vatican, so I asked some guy. He was really nice and brought us to some other restaurant down the street where he'd get us a deal. The place didn't look very nice, and the tour guy was chillin out front waiting for us to leave and try to get us to go on his tour. Nice little set up. We just kinda snuck by him and left. We had a list of the best restaurants in Rome, and we happened to be right near one. It was Monday, so it was closed. Not sure what the deal is with Monday's, but so much stuff was closed. Really dumb. We ended up stopping at a little shop with homemade pizza that was pretty good. Then headed to the basilica. It was cool. The line was long but luckily it went quick. The inside was really pretty. We then went to the Vatican. Not gonna lie, I didn't want to. We probably wouldn't have but Kirsten wanted to see the Sistine chapel. The line wasn't very long but it was packed inside. And we were exhausted. We trudged through the museum- alllll of it. Which is annoying. You can't just go see the chapel and leave. There were signs pointing to the chapel but it just kept going!! I hateee museums. I like interesting ones but this was boring and I was tired. The one cool thing was the hallway that was reallllly long and the ceiling was filled with a bunch of different paintings. That was really pretty. The Sistine chapel itself was way too crowded. We went and got gelato after. I got caramel fico, chocolate, and coffee. All amazing, but especially the coffee. Then we went to the Spanish steps and rested. Rough day. We went back to the hostel and picked a restaurant for dinner. One the top 5 cheapest delicious restaurants in Rome. I picked it because they had homemade gnocchi! We walked to the street, made it to the end, and didn't see it. As we were standing there complaining I realized we were standing right in front of it - it was closed! Apparently they close on Monday's. Ridiculous because online it says they're open everyday!! We ended up finding a great restaurant though. It was called Horno de Vaca, which means oven of the cow. We shared gnocchi and lasagna, which Kirsten picked. I'm not a huge lasagna fan so I wasn't reallly look forward to it- but it was the best lasagna ever. It outshone the gnocchi! It was amazing. The layers were so thin and there were so many and the cheese was sooo good. It had a little ricotta but I also think there was whole parmesan cheese in it. The gnocchi was really good but it was a little doughy and maybe undercooked. Or maybe I'm just used to having the best gnocchi so it didn't compare!  We went for round four of gelato (when in Rome).  I got banana, caramel, and pistachio. They were all great, especially the pistachio, but the coffee remained my favorite. Thank God we did a lot of walking.

Venice

Venice day 1 I hope God forgives me for using his name in vane so much, because I think I said "Oh my God" my first day inVenice than I've ever said it in my life. Our hotel was off of the main island, which was kind of annoying, but we took a bus to the main part of Venice, and it was seriously beautiful. It was sunny and beautiful. It was just so cool. I knew I always wanted to see Venice but I didn't really know what to expect. It was so cool how it was like a normal city, with buildings and sidewalks, but then there were just water instead of road. And so many bridges (I guess that's necessary), but I loved them all!  They were all unique and cute. It was also cool how there were taxis and buses, just like any city, except on boats. We sat by the water and got our first Italian meal! So exciting. We shared gnocchi and margarita pizza, which unfortunately at most places in Italy is just sauce and cheese. But it was still amazing. We walked along and just kind of let ourselves get lost in the city. We went to Piazza San Marco which was cool.  I saw some people feeding pigeons out of their hands, so I decided I wanted to try it.  I had nothing to feed them but I put out my hand and one flew up onto it.  So naturally I screamed and squirmed away.  It's little claw things felt so weird!  But I didn't give up and tried again.  Held a few pigeons and was entertained for a good 20 minutes.  What is thought of as a strange activity for weird homeless ladies is apparently popular in Italy.  It rained  a tiny bit, but stopped pretty quickly. It was still cloudy most of the afternoon. We saw a gondola guy standing on one of the bridges texting, and we were taking pictures of him because he looked cool in his little striped shirt and gondola hat. I asked him how much it cost, just out of curiosity. He ended up chasing us down and bargaining with us. I wanted to wait until the next day in case it was nicer, but Kirsten really wanted to do it. So we did. And it rained. We stopped under a lot if bridges. It wasn't bad though. It sprinkled a little and when it rained a little harder we stopped under the bridges and it was fine. It was fun. I enjoyed listening to the gondola guy sing about spaghetti and mozzarella. It was fun to watch. I don't know how they street those things. Afterwards we got gelato - now that I've been to Rome I don't even remember what kind I got here. Doesn't even compare. We stopped by a bakery on the way back to the hotel. They had the most amazing looking macaroons! They were sparkly and pretty and they had so many colors. I tried three - and sadly they weren't as good as they looked. We got some pizza with veggies too. It had carrots and zucchini which seemed weird but it was really good. Went back to the hotel and tried to sleep. Key word being tried. There were Spanish people - sounded like about 8 of them - staying in the room next to us. They may have well shared our room because they were soo loud! Spanish people always talk loud, but when we knock on the wall (which was squishy) and ask you to be quiet- shut up!! They were obnoxious.  Not fun.  Venice day 2 Day 2 we had a little more of a plan. The first thing we went to see was the Rialto Bridge. We stopped in a few stores on the way. One particularly memorable was the makeup store we went in. I was just looking around and Kirsten was about to buy some mascara. The place smelled horrible because there were a bunch of preteens in there and one had just spilt nail polish, so the lady who worked there used nail polish remover to clean it up. I was looking at the kids wondering how dumb and annoying they must be to have dropped the nail polish. Of all the beauty shops I've ever been I've never seen someone spill nail polish. Well, when Kirsten was about to pay she commented on how pretty the nail polish was. I picked one up to look at it, and it slipped out of my hands. I fumbled with it for a second then next thing I know it's laying on the ground, shattered, with purple paint every where. I stood there and looked at it. I really didn't believe that just happened. I'd never even seen that happen, never mind twice in five minutes! The lady was soooo mad. She yelled in Italian than was like "Excuseeee me!!" in my face. I didn't know what to do, so I snuck out of there as fast as possible. If they wanted to find me they could've just followed the trail of purple nail polish that was all over my pants and shoes. We decided to eat somewhere so that I could wash up. It actually came off pretty easily. We got spaghetti and pizza. So good. We went over to the island of Murano because we wanted to see glass blowing. Unfortunately, those places don't do it on weekends. Everyone over there was rude. Except some really nice old man that worked in one of the shops. He talked to us about politics in America, of which he knew way more than us. And he told us how much we were going to love Rome and how it's the best city in the world. I bought a glass perfume bottle with one of those little puff things. So excited to use it! Went back to the main island. Saint Mark's basilica was pretty. Oh and we did end up making it to the Rialto bridge which was cool. We really didn't do much else. Just kind of enjoyed the beautiful city. We got gelato where our gondola guy said was the best place. It was really good. Got banana and dark chocolate. We shared a piece of pizza for dinner, then had to deal with the Spanish people at the hotel again. Luckily they shut up this time.