Hospitals of Varna

7/27/2009

The last day in Bulgaria I had a SAS program at 12:30, and Jon had one at noon, so we decided to spend the morning together so no one else would have to come back to the ship early.  Jon’s camera had broken and so we went in search of a camera shop.  We got to a street that had some restaurants, touristy shops, and a few blocks down, the large word “FOTO” on the outside of a store pointed us in the right direction.  We walked in to the shop, and were very relieved when the girl working there spoke English.  He purchased one of the cameras, and we set back out to spend the end of our lev (the currency of Bulgaria).  We headed back to the ship for lunch at 11:15. 
My afternoon trip was called “Hospitals of Varna”, and we were taken on tours of two different hospitals, one the public university hospital,  and the other was a much smaller, private hospital.  We were shown around by medical students, and given a presentation by the health care director.  Health care is definitely different, as are regulations to do with confidentiality and cleanliness.  It was a very interesting trip though, and something that most travelers don’t get to see – at least not in happy circumstances.  We got back to the ship around 4pm, and had two hours until on ship time.  I didn’t want to go far and risk getting back late, so I dropped off my stuff, and headed into the port building to attempt to get free wifi.  It worked, but not well.  It would go very fast and work fine, then suddenly disconnect my computer.  After several failed attempts at uploading pictures, I decided to throw in the towel.  I shut down my computer, and headed over to the vending machine.  I still had 5 lev I had not managed to spend in the morning, and so I put it toward snacks, which I feel will be very nice to have on the long periods of time at sea we have coming up.
After the ship had left the port, I went to a party with my extended family.  My adopted parent’s biological son had moved rooms, and was having an ice cream cake celebration.  The room was tiny, about half the size of the normal cabins, and we still managed to fit 10 people in it!  It was a “Congratulations on your new digs” celebration according to the cake, and it was a lot of fun.  After that, it was time for homework, and then to bed early.

Free Falling

7/26/2009

*I apologize if this is more detailed than you need, it is mainly for me to remember every little detail, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

After getting back to the ship, I walked through the gangway and found Eli waiting for me, Amanda and Athena were also with her.  They had decided to join us for the walk.  I dropped off some of my stuff, changed, and we headed off the ship.  As we were walking along, I found an ATM that was connected to a bank and monitored with a surveillance camera, and I deemed it safe from fraud and got out money.  As soon as I had the money, I realized there was no turning back.  I had nothing else I was going to spend it on, and none of the exchange offices had good rates.  We walked for a while and then came to a stairway leading up to a bridge, which we climbed, and continued walking along the bridge.  It was a busy highway bridge, and the sidewalk was interrupted with light poles every little ways.  We made our way out to the center of the bridge, which took a little bit, because it was a very long bridge.  On the way out we passed Courtney and Jillian who were on their way back, and they said it was the best rush ever.   A little while later, we passed a group of 6-8 SASers who said that they weren’t taking any more people for the day, we decided to keep going and at least see if they were taking reservations for the next morning.  As we neared the top of the arch, the bridge curved slightly and our destination came into view.  There was a tiny yellow tower, maybe two feet tall, that looked like it had a lawnmower engine attached to it sticking up from the blue railing.  There was also a crowd of people gathered around it.  I felt my heart start beating faster, and we kept walking.  I had already convinced myself I was going, and I knew there was no turning back…
There were two girls in harnesses in the crowd, and the guy in charge had dreadlocks down to his butt and a neon traffic vest on.  Traffic was flowing by, with cars occasionally honking when they passed.  We stopped at the edge of the throng of people, and I watched as the first girl climbed up onto the railing of the bridge (an additional 3-4 feet above the sidewalk) and stood facing out holding on to the yellow tower. Upon one of the guys’ instructions, she slowly scooted away from the yellow tower, and stood with her arms out, breathing heavily.  After less than a minute, she shook her head slightly, and was pulled back down, nearly in tears.  This didn’t help my resolve.  I just wanted to see someone go before me.  Anyone.  It was hard to hear what was going on with all of the traffic whizzing by, but as they removed the harness the first girl, the second girl was hoisted on to the railing, where she did the same thing.  After some convincing, she climbed back up, and stood there forever with a completely forlorn look on her face, breathing heavily.  She even crossed herself, and continued with her breathing.  It had taken too long though, she wasn’t going to go either.  As she was being pulled back down, I found the one guy in charge that spoke English and asked “are you taking anyone else today?!”  He looked at me skeptically for a second, and then smiled and said “I guess we could!” and went to grab the form.  I read it carefully, and filled in all the blanks, my excitement growing.  As I was signing my name, the reality of what I just got myself into hit me, and I had to take a second to process.  As I was filling out my form, another girl who had been harnessed climbed up on the railing and barely even hesitated.  There was no way that it was her first time, but in any case, seeing someone else survive helped calm my nerves a bit.
Before I new it, the guy with dreadlocks was laying out a harness and telling me to step into it, then pulling it over my shoulders.  After that, an ankle strap was put securely on each of my ankles, and I slid off my flip flops.  Then, as I was looking down over the edge and contemplating how far it was, he came back over to me saying “Whitney Huston, you must pay now”.  I got out my money, and handed it over.  It was done, I had to go or I had just wasted all that money.  There was no getting it back, even if I chickened out.  There were two more people in front of me.  Neither of them spoke English, and both of them appeared to be military guys.  I waited anxiously, watching them carefully, and convincing myself that I wasn’t crazy.  After the first one was back, I turned to him and said “fun?!”  I think he found my inability to stand still (I was fidgeting and bouncing all over the place) entertaining, but he responded “yes, very fun”.  It was reassuring.  Before I new it, they called me up.  The younger guy in charge was the one that spoke English, and as I was getting all clipped in I asked if I got instructions.  He said yes, his English was good, so he would try to explain to me.  I would climb up on the railing, and then he would say “go” at which point that is exactly what I was supposed to do.  Afterwards, a rope would be lowered to me which I was to clip to my chest and then spread my arms to be pulled up.  It was the going part that made me the most nervous.  He told me I could jump, or fall, I just had to make sure it was chest first.  I told Amanda, Athena and Eli I would need a countdown from three, something to give me a second to prepare, as this would be my first time.  After I was on the railing and out of the way of the yellow tower, I could hear them counting.  When I climbed up, I had only been looking at the railing and the tower, and when I stood up I looked out at the horizon, as I stood there, I could hear them but the fear was building and I couldn’t hear what numbers they were saying.  My heart was pounding!  I turned to them and yelled “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you!” and they all screamed “ONE!”  I looked back out and I leapt! 
The second my feet were off the ground, I looked down, and I had a moment of terror realizing what I had just done.  I was free falling, and the water below was no where near.  Before I had to long to contemplate my eminent doom, I could feel the tension of the bungee, and I was decelerating.  Before I knew it, I was flying back up through the air, and right side up, I looked around, and as I started falling again, still right side up, I realized that I was going to have to be upside down very quickly.  The bungee caught again, and I swung around and kept on bouncing upside down and spinning and looking out at the water and the bridge I had come from.  I let out a yell of triumph, and when I was just hanging upside down spinning, I hear Eli yell down “how was it?”  I screamed back up “that was AMAZING!” and listened as it echoed off the bridge.  I could feel that I was shaking, but I think it was the mixture of excitement and fear and shock.  Soon, I saw the red rope I was supposed to grab, but I was still spinning and slightly disoriented, and the rope was very far away.  He started swinging it, and eventually I could reach it.  Once he saw it was in my hand, he pulled it up (almost too quickly, I nearly let go from the rope burn) and I had the clip, which I hooked on to the harness on my chest.  Then, I spread my arms out wide and waited.
As the tension on the little red rope increased, I was pulled into a laying, and then a seated position in the harness.  It was a slow ride back up, and I used it to look around and enjoy the view, and also to try to process.  When I got to the top, I maneuvered my feet onto the narrow ledge outside the railing, and waited for further instruction.  After the guys fiddled with the different ropes some, they pulled me over the railing in a slightly awkward “beached whale” type fashion since my ankles were strapped together.  Once I was back on solid ground, they quickly removed the harness and began packing.  I was the last one of the day.
The funny thing about bungee jumping is, before this trip, I really had no desire to go.  It ended up being so much fun though.  It is crazy, because after the initial fall and recoil, you get to do it again, and again, and again, and then just dangle helplessly from your ankles while you are waiting to get hoisted back up.  It was so much fun, and unlike anything I have ever done before.  I am torn between a strong desire to go again, and the thought that it was absolutely crazy and not natural to willingly hurl myself off such a tall object… Sky diving next I think ;) 

That was Random...

7/26/2009

Day three in Bulgaria was action packed.  After waking up to rain, the aftermath of what was apparently a very large thunder storm around 5am, and having breakfast, I went down to the pier to meet for the “Jeep Safari and Picnic” that I had signed up for through SAS.  Upon walking out onto the pier, I saw a line up of about 15 jeeps and vans, all of which had soft tops on them, and looked very old.  The drivers were also standing in a group, all wearing camo shirts with “Jeep Safari” written in large white letters on them.  We were split in to groups of about 6 and brought to our jeeps.  Because of the rain, the tops were on, but it appeared that they were put on after the rain started, because the cloth seats were pretty damp.    Our driver introduced himself as something that sounded like Andre, and after waiting for all the jeeps to load away we went.  It was funny driving through town in a procession of very old, rugged looking green jeeps, but also a lot of fun.  We were informed that the jeep we were in was 45 years old, and you could tell!  There were rust spots on the door, and one of the doors had to be held shut with a latch like you would find in a public restroom.  There were also no seat belts in the jeeps.  After tearing down the roads with the drivers all honking their horns playfully at each other and playing leap frog, we pulled on to a side road where we drove up a little ways and then stopped.  It had stopped raining, and all of the jeeps took off the covers.  They also did something to the tires of all of them, fiddling with the bolts.  I seemed like they were preparing them for off roading.  We took of driving again, this time on a narrow road through the trees where we drove up to an overlook through the trees.  Bulgaria reminds me a little of Oregon in that it has a lot of lush, green forests.  At the overlook, all of the jeeps stopped, and we all unloaded to walk along a muddy and slippery path to the viewpoint.  It was a short walk, but I still managed to slip in the much.  I caught myself before I fell all the way and only my hand ended up muddy.  The overlook was of the Golden Sands Resort, like I said, they are very proud of that here.  After a little talk about the resort, the leader told us that we should prepare ourselves for some surprises, and we made our way back to the jeeps and reloaded.  The jeeps went flying back down to the main road, and continued along. 
Eventually, we pulled off the road, went through a little dirt area where we stopped to reconvene and replace the tops as it was raining again, and then went tearing through the mud and puddles in true four wheeling fashion.  It was so much fun, and the jeeps were sliding everywhere, but the drivers seemed to know what they were doing.  Three of the jeeps got stuck in the mud and we had to stop and wait for them to get out, and as we were waiting we took the top back off.  It stayed off for the rest of the day, the rain was done.  With the top off, we were able to stand up while the jeep was going, and had much better views of the forests.  After a lot of bouncing along, we ended up back on a windy little road that took us to our next stop.  It was a tiny little building that they presented to us as a “local distillery” but it looked more like the set up you would find in someone’s basement.  A vat was draining through a cloth into a large bucket, and we were told that the brandy distilled there was not only for drinking at meals, but also had medicinal uses.  I’m not sure I believed all of it.  After learning about the distilling process, we got to try the brandy.  They poured it out of plastic water bottles and soda bottles that had been refilled, and it had tiny bits of what looked like dirt floating in it.  Just the smell of it almost made me gag, but I took a tiny sip anyway.  It was NOT good.  One sip was more than enough, and I handed my cup off to someone else who wanted more.
We reloaded the jeeps, and took off tearing through the mud and dirt once more until we made it to our next stop and second surprise.  It was a honey tasting, and it was much better than the brandy tasting.  It was very sweet honey, and was still a little grainy, but overall very good.  Our third stop brought us to the most random part of the day.  After our guide asked if anyone had military experience, and no one had, he told us we would be shooting guns.  In truth, they were pellet guns, and we all got a chance to try to his plastic bottles lined up along the fence.  None of us quite understood why we were in the middle of nowhere in Bulgaria shooting pellet guns, but it was fun, so we didn’t argue.  A little more off roading brought us to our final stop, and our bbq picnic!
We unloaded and sat down to a very good lunch, as well as more brandy, beer and wine.  While we were eating, all of the drivers came out with instruments and sang to us.  First they played traditional Bulgarian music, and then they played songs from the countries of all of the passengers.  My driver was the singer, and he also played a little drum.  After they sang to us, they started playing Bulgarian music again, and we all got up and learned traditional Bulgarian dance.  It was the perfect end to the trip.  After lunch, we headed back and one of the girls in my jeep played the drum and we drove through sunflower fields and more country side.  We made it back to the ship around 4:30, my jeep was the first one to make it back.  After thanking the driver, I ran back to the ship because I was supposed to meet friends at 4, when my trip was supposed to return, for the next activity of the day I had planned.  The jeep safari was a great time, and very random, but it was fun to see the country side of Bulgaria and get out of Varna

What do you do in Bulgaria?

7/24-25/2009

My first two days in Bulgaria were a nice break after Istanbul’s hustle and bustle.  Apparently, Varna is a beach resort type city, and so beach time is a must.  Coming in to Bulgaria, I had no idea what to expect, but what I found were large beaches, lots of sunshine, and a good adventure.  After arriving about noon the day before we were supposed to, and sitting anchored off the beach for the rest of the day, I was more than ready to go come Friday morning.  I woke up for the sunrise, and it was an odd change of pace to have the ship be stationary through the entire thing.  We were tendering until mid afternoon, which means that I rode the tender boat to shore.  Upon arriving, I set off down the beach with Jon and Jack.  The beach directly next to the road leading out of the pier had a big volley ball tournament going on.  There was loud music playing, an entire stadium type set up with bench seating and security, and lots of banners and side tents where the players would wait.  It looked very official, although I never figured out what it was for.  It was there until our last day in Bulgaria.  We walked past the games, and down toward the water, where we walked down the beach for a long time.  It was a very crowded beach, and there was a forest of umbrellas covering the strip near the water, some of them personally owned, but most of them “for rent”.  Basically, after paying a set fee for an hour or for the dya, you are aloud to set up your stuff under the umbrella you rented, and enjoy the small patch of shade.  It seems kind of silly to me, since all of the sand was equally covered in rocks and shells, and there was nothing special about the umbrellas, but almost all of them were taken!  The crowd on the beach consisted of what looked to be mostly vacationers, whether they were Bulgarians visiting the beach, or from other countries it was hard to tell, but there were very few locals.  There were, however, lots of extremely painful looking sunburns, very large old women in bikinis and men that looked pregnant wearing speedos, and naked children everywhere, some of which were a little too old to be going naked in public still.  That’s Europe for you though…
After walking for nearly an hour, we decided to stop and swim, as it was very hot out.  The water of the Black Sea was refreshing, and much less salty than the other places I have swam on this trip so far.  We got out and dried off and continued our walk.  We came to an uphill in the road that paralleled the beach, and decided to take it and walk back through the Sea Garden, a large park.  The road led us to a trail through trees, with an occasional view of the Black Sea and the MV Explorer floating off the shore.  As we continued walking, we passed little restaurants and bars tucked away, and eventually made it past some of the key buildings our maps showed.  These included the dolphinarium, the zoo, the reptile atrium, and a large monument of sorts.   We made our way from the park to the ship at 2pm, and while Jon and Jack returned to the ship, I met up with my “Wonders of Bulgaria” SAS trip, where we were taken to an old monastery set in to a limestone cliff, the Golden Sands beach resort, and the stone forest.
The monastery was very interesting, and we got to climb up in to the cells and had great views out over the Black Sea.  The Golden Sands resort didn’t really fit in, but I learned that the locals are very proud of it.  We were given an hour to walk around, and as we all got off the bus, everyone had the same confused expression of “what are we doing here?” on their face.  It felt kind of like a mini-vegas, complete with Eiffel Tower, but also in the mix was the feel of a spring break resort.  We all showed back up at the bus a little early, because no one knew what to do with themselves.  Next, we went to the stone forest.  The brochures make it look like some huge, amazing thing, but in reality, it looks a little more like a “world’s largest ball of yarn” type tourist attraction.  It is right off one of the main roads, and when we showed up, there was no one there.  We got an introduction from the guy working at the gift shop, and he told us that there are several theories on how the pillars of rock formed, but it was hard to understand his thick accent.  The only part I did understand was when he tried to tell us that touching the pillars would pull out all of your negative energy and fill you with positive energy.  We were given time to wonder around and explore, and another tour bus showed up with more SAS kids.
After returning to the pier, the ship still wasn’t alongside (or pulled up next to the pier), and so I waited with some of my friends from the tour – and about half of the student body on the MV Explorer – to get back on.  It was in the process of pulling up, but there was a long wait to get on, everyone wanted free dinner. 
After dinner, I got ready and headed out with Brook, Courtney, Lauren, Meredith, Logan, Sam, Shane, Eric, Anna, Andrew, Rudy, Emma and a few other people to the bars along the beach right next to our boat.  It was fun to be so close (we could see the ship from all of them).  We found a place that had seating in the sand, and music playing.  It was a really nice atmosphere, and after a little while, a bunch of other SAS kids showed up.  I don’t know that the bar was ready or so much business, but it certainly got it.  After a while, I decided to call it a night, and headed back to the ship with Brook, Lauren and Courtney.  My second day in Bulgaria was a relaxing one, full of walking through the Sea Garden and exploring some more with Brook, Eli, Jon, Amanda and Athena.  We made our way down to the beach and swam and rested and enjoyed the sunshine and another relaxing day.  It was extremely hot out, so it was really nice to finally make it down to the water and go swimming.  The evening was much the same as the last.  I went to the beach with Jon, Athena, Amanda and Eli, and there were a few other people we knew at the place we ended up at.  It was a relaxing evening of people watching and enjoying the beach.

Seeing Stars

7/21/2009

My last day in Turkey was very relaxing.  It was nice to have five days in Istanbul not only because of its large size, but also because it allowed me to slow down a little and relax.  I started the morning heading toward the Blue Mosque with a group of friends.  We arrived after taking a detour through the grounds of one of the palaces, and proceeded toward the entrance.  All of the girls in our group put on scarves to cover their heads and shoulders, and made sure their skirts were ankle length while waiting in the line at the entrance.  When we got to the front, we all removed our shoes and went in.  It was similar to the other mosques, but much larger.
It was a mob scene inside.  The area up to the small fences that ask visitors to please not go any further was full of people, and everyone was snapping pictures and looking around.  I made my way toward the fence, and stopped to take a few pictures.  As I was looking around, I noticed that a girl that was having her picture taken looked really familiar.  At first, I couldn’t place her face, then I decided she must just look like someone I know, or maybe an actress.  As she was walking away, one of the girls I came with standing next to me said “did you see Anne Hathaway?”.  As soon as she said it I placed the face.  I had been standing mere feet from her, and not realized.  We quickly spread the word among the group we had shown up with of about 8 that Anne Hathaway was in the mosque, and everyone didn’t believe us at first.  When we exited, we saw her again taking another picture.  They believed us after that.
After our celebrity sighting at the mosque, we moved along toward the bazaar again, where we all tried to get rid of the end of our lira.  After our fill of the bazaar, we headed to the spice market, which was closer to the ship.  It was like a mini grand bazaar, but with Turkish delight, dried fruit and spices everywhere!  The sellers were just as friendly though, and there were a few free samples involved.  As we were getting ready to leave, one of the salesmen was trying to entice me to buy something.  I told him I was all out of lira, and he continued talking to me anyway.  He then asked if he could ask me a question, and I hesitantly waited for what it was.  He proceeded to inquire as to why American women all had such white teeth compared to other nationalities.  I laughed, and as a group we tried to explain, but he didn’t believe any of our answers. 
After the spice market, we sat around in the nearby square out front of the new mosque, and watched the pigeons and the several individuals selling bird feed, as well as all of the street vendors and foot traffic.  All in all, it was a very satisfactory last day.  We eventually meandered our way back to the ship so as not to be late for shiptime.  After getting on the ship, we were informed that we would not depart Istanbul until nearly midnight, and we would arrive in Varna by noon the next day, where we would be at anchor, and using tender boats to reach shore for most of the first day.  It sounds like Bulgaria will be a very fun country!

How Bazaar

In the morning, I set out with Jack, Jon, Amanda, Athena and Kara.  Jack and Jon were planning on getting Turkish baths, and as the bath house was right next to an entrance to the grand bazaar, the rest of us were going to go do some shopping, and meet up with them later.  After setting a meeting time outside the bath house, we set off to the bazaar.  It was not at all what I expected.  I envisioned more temporary style tents, kind of like Saturday Market, but that is not what I found at all.  The entire bazaar is located in a very large, labyrinth of a building, with overflow shops filling the streets immediately outside of the gates.  We entered through gate one, where we were greeted with a high, arching ceiling, and shops lining both sides of the wide walkway.  Soon, the branches in the pathway began, and we made our way further into the depths.  Pretty much everything is for sale, from ceramic plates and bowls to pashminas to trinkets of all sorts, sunglasses, jerseys, rugs, hookahs, lanterns… if you can think of it, you could find it here.  I quickly learned that prices were highly negotiable.  As we walked through the different allies, we were enticed to come look at each and every shop owners goods, and promised the lowest prices.  When one of the other girls stopped at an ATM, I went to look at some of the pashminas.  Curious about the pricing, I asked how much one of the ones I liked was.  The response I got was 25 lira!  Way more than I would willingly pay!  I said “too much” and started turning to walk back to my friends and they quickly lowered the price to 20 lira, I shook my head and it fell again to 15 lira.  When I said “5 lira”, they laughed and countered with 10 lira.  That is as low as they were willing to go, and I decided to feel out the prices a little more before making any purchases.  It was good to know that in a matter of about thirty seconds, a price could be cut by almost two thirds.
Much of our day continued in the same manner, seeing something we liked, asking the price, working it down to a lower one, and then either accepting or walking away.  The biggest key is the ability to say no, because sometimes that brings the price down that extra little bit that makes it worth while.  We made our way back to meet the boys, and then it was their turn to experience the bazaar.  It was really fun to bargain for prices, and the salespeople were all so friendly.  Some of them would even remember you if you walked by their shop more than once.  The salesmen are all very convincing actors, they know how to sell, and how to make you feel like you are getting a good deal.  They convince you that the price they are giving is just for you, not for anyone else, and only because you are so pretty or charming.  By the end of our time in the bazaar, all of us had much emptier pockets and much fuller arms.  It had been a successful day. 

The Prince's Isles

7/19/2009

During breakfast, Athena, Kara, Amanda and I recruited Jack to be our designated male traveling companion for the day.  Our plan was to make it to the Prince’s Isles, although we didn’t know exactly how to go about this.  While we were looking for information on the ship, we ran into Professor Horn, who was also planning on heading the same direction with his family, and he checked the weather for us and told us where the ferry sight was.  We thanked him, and set out.  Jack new exactly were the ferry sight was, and so we followed him along.  We purchased our tickets, which were actually little metal tokens that you put into a slot in the rotating gate to get through, and as we were waiting for the ferry to arrive, we saw Professor Horn and his family.  He gave us another tip that the view from the top level of the ferry, and so we followed him up the stairs, and sat near him.  He had a map that was very helpful also.  We ended up getting off at the third island, and setting off to explore.
The Prince’s Isles have no motor vehicles other than service vehicles, and it was strange to see roads but no cars.  It almost felt like going back in time, because horse drawn carriages were prevalent.  I found it very funny, because the drivers would yell out “taxi” as we walked by.  After walking up and down the main street, we stopped at a café on the water for lunch.  As we were eating, our table was swarmed by stray cats, all of which were very friendly.  Out waiter did not speak much English, but was able to communicate well enough.  He seemed to find us very entertaining, if nothing else.  After eating, we pulled out the phrase sheet we had been given by SAS to attempt to say “thank you” in Turkish.  When he came back over, he was very fascinated by the sheet, and snatched it away from Amanda, going through all of the phrases and proceeding to tell us that they were all wrong.
After lunch, we went walking around some more, and then decided to rent bikes.  Jack and Athena got a tandem bike, and the other three of us chose single bikes.  They were not in the best condition, but it was only 3 lira for one hour.  We all hopped on and started pedaling. We headed uphill for quite a ways, and found some amazing views of the sea and surrounding islands.  We finally found a road that seemed to head around the island, and continued for a while before stopping at a little park with a picnic table.  We continued on then, going down a large hill.  We rode past a small beach with loud music playing, and up a very large hill.  At the top of the hill, there was what appeared to be the equivalent of a bus farm, but for horsed.  All of the carriage horses that were not currently working were standing inside a large fence, some eating, some resting, and some just wondering around.  We made it back to the part of town we had started in, and by some miracle turned down the exact street our bike vendor was on, showing up with five minutes to spare in our hour.  It was a lot of fun.  After that, we stopped at a fruit stand, and then walked down to a small beach to sit by the water.  I updated my journal, Jack went swimming (none of us girls were comfortable getting into swim suits in a country where women were still wearing head scarves), and the other girls took pictures and sat around.  After a while, we decided to head back on the ferry, as we felt there was not much more of the island to explore.
Once on the ferry, we all fell asleep almost immediately.  Something about the familiar rocking after living on a boat for so long was very comfortable.  None of us were sleeping deeply, but instead we alternating being awake to see when it was our stop, and napping.  We made it back, and decided to try to find a movie theater and go see the new Harry Potter movie.  We new there was one in Taxim square, and we had a map that showed us the right direction.  We made our way up there walking, and found the square very easily, but did not see the theater when we got there, so Jack asked for directions.  We got a general direction, and headed down that street for a while, before we decided it was time to stop again.  I saw a stand selling dondurma, Turkish ice cream that is kind of sticky like taffy, and decided to try some.  Before I even had a chance to order, or even express interest to the guy selling it, he had scooped some up and stuck it in a cone, then went about giving a show as he scooped more up and flipped the cone around and held it out, then pulled it away.  He handed it to Amanda, and then started making a second, holding it out on a long stick toward all of us in turn, but no one would take it because we didn’t want to be charged.  Finally, he told us the second one was free, so I paid for the larger one, since I had planned on getting it any way, and we asked him for directions.
Finally, we saw a sign, and followed it to the left where we found the theater just in time to make the 6pm showing.  We got our tickets, and were escorted into the theater.  Once inside, it did not differ much from a US theater, except for the Turkish subtitles.  The movie itself was in English, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  About halfway through, the picture disappeared, and the screen turned bright blue and flashed something in Turkish.  We all looked at each other in shock, but no one else in the theater seemed at all phased by the sudden stop in the movie.  Apparently, movies in Turkey come complete with a 15 minute intermission.  After a chance to stretch our legs and talk  for a little bit about the movie so far, the screen flashed again, and some quick music played, then the movie started back up from right where it left off.  We all really enjoyed the movie, as we are all pretty big Harry Potter fans.  After that, it was a relaxing walk back to the ship and time for bed.

Baths, Boats and Whirling

7/18/2009

After breakfast on the ship, I set out with Eli, Sam, Logan, Julie, and Brooke to go find a Turkish bath.  We had looked up information on them the night before, so we knew which one we were headed toward.  Along the way, we were going to stop and check out prices and times for a boat cruise up the Bosphorus.  We were approached by a few men calling out “Bosphorus boat tour, ferry up the Bosphorus”, and we listened to what each had to offer.  The first one we ran into promised a two hour boat cruise up past the bridge, with a 30 minute stop on the Asia side of the channel at a palace, and so we took his card saying we would be back later in the afternoon.  I don’t think he believed us, but he told us where we could find him, and that his name was Rommy.  After that, we continued along to Cemberlitas hamam, or the bath house we were going to.
When we got there, there were options of treatments, from a basic entrance fee that was fully self service, to the traditional treatment which included an exfoliating scrub, a 15 minute soap massage and a shampoo, to the luxury treatment which added a 30 minute oil massage on top of what is included with the traditional treatment.  I opted for traditional, while all of the girls I was with selected luxury.  We were all handed small cardboard boxes, and tokens with the massage treatments on them, and then told ‘women on the right”.  We walked through the door indicated, which was a hallway curving around a corner, and then into a room with a marble fountain in the center, and cushioned benches all the way around the outside.  There was a juice bar in one corner, and a spiral staircase in another.  We were handed towels and ushered up the staircase to the second level.  We changed and made our way down the stairs.  We were then pointed through another door to an entry room full of plush towels, unlike the sarongs we had been given, and into the bath room.  It was marble, with fountains around the edges and small wash rooms, and a large octagonal marble slab in the center.  It was also ridiculously hot and steamy. The ceiling was domed, and there were circular holes speckling it to let in light. 
We all laid out our sarongs on the marble, and laid down on top of them.  It was very relaxing, and the marble was heated, which was very nice.  It didn’t take long before I was sweating, a lot.  After a little while of just relaxing, one of the ladies working at the bath house pulled one of us to one edge of the octagon, and told us to lay parallel to the side, then another, and pretty soon we were all around different edges of it laying with our exfoliating scrubbers (which were in the box we had been handed) on our backs and waiting.  It was very restful, and I was torn between looking around in wonder at where I was, and taking a nap.  Before I fully got a chance to decide, one of the ladies came over and claimed my token, and my treatment began.  First, the exfoliation, which left me feeling much smoother.  The lady that was giving it would pat my back and indicate a rolling motion when I was supposed to roll from my stomach to my back, or she would grab my arm when she wanted me to sit up.  After a thorough scrub down, she ditched the exfoliating mitt and grabbed a cloth sack out of a bucket of soapy water.  She shook the sack so that it filled with air, then closed the top and squigied her hand down it, sending a cascade of soap bubbles all over.  They smelled slight of lemon.  I then got a full body massage with the soap, and it felt very nice.  Lastly, she took the exfoliating mitt again, and did one last scrub all over with the soap and the mitt, then dumped some water over me to rinse away the soap.  I was sad that it was over, but she grabbed my hand and let me to one of the wash basins along the side of the room and told me to sit.  She proceeded to wash my hair, and then rinse by dumping water over my head.  The water felt so good, because it was just enough colder than the air in the room to be refreshing, but it wasn’t cold.  After my hair was rinsed, she asked a final “you like?” to which I responded “yes” with a smile, and then she pointed my to the baths through one of the doorways in the room.
There were two pools.  The one to the right was smaller, and had a tiny waterfall pouring in to it, and the one on the left was rectangular and had a little spurt of water trickling into it from one corner.  Both were filled to the brim.  Between them, there was a narrow walkway and there was a little ledge for shoes and sarongs across the way.  I got into the larger pool, which was cool and refreshing, and Julie soon joined.  All of us had started our massages at different times, so we finished at different times too.  After we had both cooled down quite a bit, we decided to move into the other pool, which was more like a hot tub, and sat in there waiting for the other girls.  They arrived shortly, and we moved back over to the cooler pool.  It felt even better in contrast to the hot water!
As the other girls went out to get their oil massages, I continued to alternate between the hot marble and the cool bath, talking with the girls that were either already done with their massages, or waiting.  After the last two girls finished, we went out in to the cooling room (the one with the marble fountain and the juice bar), where there was a basket for our now drenched sarongs, and piles of large, plush towels for us to take.  We sat on one of the cushioned benches for a while, all of us kind of in a trance from how relaxed we were, then went up to change and walk back to the ship.  Leaving the hamam, several people we passed along the sidewalk would make comments like “Turkish bath, so fresh, smell so clean”.  We thought it was quite funny, and figured it was our location and our dripping wet hair that was the giveaway.
On the way back to the ship we stopped at a Vitamin Bar, and I got a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.  It was very good.  The other girls also got various fruit juices.  We then continued back to the ship, breaking in to almost a run once we got through port security, and springing up the stairway to the dining hall, where we made it to lunch just before they started taking the food away.  After eating and dropping off a few things in my room, we met up again to go find a Bosphorus tour.  A girl named Rudy, who is also from Oregon, joined us.  We also recruited Tommy as the token boy in our group (as it doesn’t matter how large the group of girls is, if there is one boy, everyone is treated with more respect), and his friend Nikki.  We walked back to where we had met all of the people advertising boat cruises in the morning, and found Rommy again.  He was absolutely thrilled that we came back!
He told us that there was some swimming competition going on, and he was now offering only a one hour and thirty minute boat cruise, with no stop in Asia.  We told him that earlier he had told us two hours, and he agreed, stating that we kept our promise, and so he would keep his.  Upon establishing this, we started following him, and he called up the “captain” to let him know we were coming.  When we arrived at the boat, it was tiny!  It had a U shaped bench seat around the back portion of the boat that had enough seating for the 9 of us, wish a little extra space, and that was about it.  We got on, paid, and then it was away we go.  It was a very rocky ride, as all of the large ferries were speeding around and making large waves.  The boat was put putting along, making very slow progress up the channel, and every now and then, as we paced a palace or mosque, Rommy would pop his head out and tell us what building it was and a little bit of history behind it.  We hugged the European side of the channel on the way up, passing right next to the MV Explorer.  We were talking with Rommy, and told him that we were living on the ship, and taking classes.  When we got up past the bridge, we passed to the Asian side of the channel, where we stopped.  Instead of pulling up beside the land, the captain just nosed in against the wall, and we were instructed to scurry along the edges of the cabin, and then crawl over a fence of the bow of the boat.  This was tricky maneuvering in a skirt, but we all made it and no one fell in.  We synchronized our watches with Rommy, decided on a meeting time, and then headed off into Asia.
We stopped at a fruit stand, looked at some shops, and made our way down the road looking for the palace gardens.  Tommy and Nikki split off from the rest of the group, and after spending time wondering around, we made our way back to the boat.  The captain was swimming, and so were several others.  We took some pictures, and four little boys came over to pose, telling us to take pictures of them too, and then asking to see them.  Rommy came back, and asked where the other two were, and we said they were on their way back, so he loaded us on to the boat again (just the reverse of how we had gotten off.  The captain stopped his swimming and hopped in the boat, and Rommy went searching for Nikki and Tommy.  We backed out of where we were, so the waves didn’t keep pushing the boat into the wall, and waited.  They all showed us shortly, and we pulled back up.  After everyone was loaded, we made our journey back.
When we got back to the first bridge, we were dropped off much closer to the MV than we had taken off from, because it had ended up being basically a private tour just for us.  We pulled up next to another boat about the size of ours, and climbed through it to get to land.  It ended up being much more fun than one of the large ferries that may go faster, but packs people in and does not give as much explanation of the history of the buildings.  We thanked Rommy and the captain, and made our way back to the ship in time for a free dinner.  Then, I had time to run down to my room and change and clean up slightly before it was time for one of the few SAS trips that I signed up for.  I was going to a Sufi Dervish ceremony.
Eli, Julie, and Amanda were also all going, and so I met up with them at the gangway, and we headed out to the buses.  We went inside, and first there was a gallery with pictures of the whirling Dervishes, and free Turkish delight.  The room where the performance took place was off to the side, and I had front row seats.  The band came out, and started playing, and then stopped for a while, then they started up again as the five whirling Dervishes entered the room.  While they claim it is a purely religious ceremony, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a little more showy that it needed to be, and that was purely for the sake of all of the viewers.  It was very interesting though, and they did go through ritual movements, and when it ended, one of them came back out to answer questions, where we learned what their motions meant.  Then, it was back to the ship, where I was exhausted after a very full day and just stayed in, downloaded pictures, and went to bed.

Istanbul

7/17/2009

The morning we were to pull into Istanbul brought an early awakening to go up and see the sunrise.  Unfortunately, some of the professors had been advertising it, and about half the student body decided to wake up and watch.  Not quite the peaceful sunrises I had been getting used to.  The skyline was hazy, making the sun very red.  There was not much in the way of buildings along the skyline, but it was very pretty.  As the sun came further up, we started circling, apparently we had shown up early, and had to wait for the pilot boat.  After the sun was at a sufficient height in the sky, we all went back to bed with plans to wake up for breakfast, where we talked about plans for the day.  It was a much slower morning than usual, as it took the ship much longer to clear customs, and they needed to distribute disembarkation papers to everyone in order for us to be able to leave the port area.  By the time all of that was done, it was almost lunch on the ship, and we decided to stick around for another free meal, and then set out exploring.
Jon, Amanda, Athena and I left and set out toward the bridge that crosses into the main downtown area, or at least the one closest to our ship, as Istanbul is massive.  The bridge was lined with fisherman, and there were ferries and shuttle boats jetting around the water so quickly I don’t know how they avoided collision.  Turkey is the first country in which I have truly felt it was completely different.  The women were wearing head scarves for the most part, and had ankle length dresses and long sleeves, even in the extreme heat, and almost none of the men were wearing shorts.  I felt very awkward walking along, as I am in the habit of making eye contact with people I pass and smiling, and apparently in Turkey, that means I am “available”  I decided it would be best to avert my eyes slightly downward.  We were all dressed in long pants, and short sleeve t-shirts, so we did not stand out as much as some of the other foreigners parading about in their skimpy attire, but we still did stand out.  We went to several mosques throughout the morning, stopping outside to put scarves over our heads and remove our shoes.  They are very large, open spaces, but have low hanging lights so they do not feel cavernous. 
We walked around some more in search of the Blue Mosque, and ended up at one of the gates to the Grand Bazaar.  While we were all tempted, we had decided to save it for later in our stay in Istanbul, and just asked directions from one of the gate guards to get to the mosque.  It took us a little while, but we found it.  There was a grassy area between it and the Haiga Sophia, and there was a fountain in the middle.  We walked toward the blue mosque, and as we got to the entrance, the call to prayer started and the mosque closed to the public.  We sat in the courtyard for a while, contemplating waiting until it opened again, but decided against it, and headed back toward the ship.
We made it on the ship just before dinner ended, and rested for a while before heading out to a hookah bar.  I am not a big fan of smoke of any kind, and was skeptical of intentionally putting myself in a situation in which it would be prevalent, but decided it would be worth it for the experience.  We went to a bar that was on the underside of a bridge, right on the water with fishing lines hanging down, and fish periodically being reeled up.  The chairs were large, brightly colored bean bags, and there was even music playing.  I did not partake in the hookah, or water pipe as they are called, but had fun just talking and mostly observing the night life.
All in all it was a successful first day in Turkey.  After we got over the initial shock of all of the differences, we were much more comfortable.  Everyone we met was so friendly, although most of them own stores and are just trying to get business.  The carpet salesmen are the worst.  The first one we met stopped us to talk, and ended up guessing all of our heritage, and then the second tried, and failed, to invite us in for tea, saying it was okay because we had our “bodyguard” Jon with us.  Later on in the day, a salesman called out as we passed “three angels and Charlie, how can I take your money”.   Angels and Spice Girls are common terms used for non Turkish women here.  It is entertaining to say the least.  The other thing that is very different about Turkey is that they do not guess American first when you do not speak the language, and generally seem surprised when you tell them you are from the states.  It is a god surprise most of the time though, they seem genuinely happy that we are visiting.

Last day in Greece

7/16/2009

At 10am I met up with Jon, Athena and Amanda, and we set off toward the metro.  I timed the walk to be 30 minutes, so we would know how long to leave ourselves to get back to the ship on time at the end of the day.  We each purchased a day pass, and hopped on the metro, intending to get off at whichever stop looked most interesting.  The first stop we chose was mainly residential, and did not offer us much in the ways of entertainment, or even food, so we decided to try again.  This time, the stop we got off at brought us directly to the library, a huge building with pillars all along the front and intricate paintings and carvings.  We decided this stop looked like a much more promising options, and started wondering around some.  We decided to look for somewhere to get food after a while, and ended up at a crepe shop.  They had the most amazing crepes ever!  I got one off the children’s menu, as it had the toppings I wanted most.   It was called snow white, and had strawberries, chocolate, white chocolate, and sprinkles.  The others got different ones ranging from the special, which had about 10 different toppings including ice cream, to just chocolate and whipped cream.  They were all phenomenal!
We ended up back at the tomb of the unknown soldier, where we stayed for a few minutes to watch the changing of the guards, and  then hopped back on the metro.  We indirectly ended up back in the flea market area, and spent a while wondering through the shops and spending the end of our euro, and then headed back toward the metro so we wouldn’t be late for shiptime.  The last day in each port, there is shiptime, which means you have to be back on the ship by a certain time, usually 6pm, and if you are late, it means that you have to wait a given number of hours after arriving at the next port before you can disembark the ship.  Not something I want to get!  Before getting back on the metro, I got a nectarine and some cherries, and I enjoyed them on the right back to Pireaus.  We made it back to the ship with time to spare, and cleaned up.  I had a relaxing dinner, did some sink laundry, made sure all of my homework for our one day of class was complete, and then did a photo exchange with my travel buddies.
The one day on ship between ports was a busy one.  After breakfast, I have a break long enough to check e-mail and get a little homework done before my first two classes of the day, which are back to back.  Then it is time for lunch, and a break in which I attempt to catch up on reading for my last class of the day.  After that class it is dinner time.  I had a family dinner with my extended family, and it was fun to hear what everyone did in Greece, and what their plans were for Turkey.  Family dinners also mean ice cream cake.  This time it was mint chocolate chip, the best flavor yet! After dinner, the inter-port student tells us some about the country, and then we have pre-port, which tells us the basics about what to expect, what to wear, and what to avoid in the upcoming country.

Aegina

7/15/2009

After a quick breakfast, and throwing all of the island necessities together, I headed to the ferry terminal with Jon, Athena, Amanda and Kara.  We were going to meet Sara, David and Katie there.  It was a brisk walk to the terminal, as we didn’t want to be late, and then we purchased our tickets and boarded the ferry.  We went up to the top deck, and settled in for the hour plus ride.  I slept for most of it.  The sun was shining and it was nice and warm.  Upon arrival at Aegina, we arranged our return tickets, and then went off to explore.
First, we stopped at a beach that was visible from the ferry, and maybe a five minute walk away.  The water was some of the clearest water I have ever seen.  Jon and I were the only two that went swimming, while everyone else just waded near the beach.  We ran in to one of the professors on the ship and his family, and he showed us a map and explained what some possible activities for the day would be.  He also told us that there was a much nicer beach about 10 minutes away.  Following his advice, we packed up.  Sara, David and Katie went to find food, and the rest of us went to Apollo’s Temple, where we first walked through a museum of artifacts, and then to the lone pillar still standing.  It was different from all of the other ruins, because it was possible to walk right up and touch it.  That is exactly what we did too!  We took several pictures and from the temple, we could see the beach we wanted to go to.
We wondered down to scope it out, and all of us decided to go swimming.  The water was the perfect temperature to be refreshing without being cold, and was crystal clear.  It was so relaxing just to float.  When we did finally start to cool down, we decided to get out and dry off for lunch.  It did not take long to dry, as the sun was pretty sweltering.  We gathered up our towels and bags, and headed into town.  There were several restaurants that looked good, and we settled on one with outdoor seating under a shady umbrella.  I ordered watermelon, because I was not that hungry yet, and it was some of the best watermelon I have ever had.  When we were looking over the menu, I had been skeptical, but then I saw a heaping plate of watermelon come out to another table, and that solidified my decision.
In Greece, even while sitting at an established restaurant, street vendors and gypsies approach you during your meal.  We had a guy come up and try to sell us watches, another with sunglasses, and then a man playing the accordion whose daughter (that could not have been over 10 years old) came up and stood right by our table with a little plastic cup and pleading eyes.  It was definitely a new experience for me.  Once we had taken our time eating, we decided to wonder through some of the little shops.  Most of them had pretty similar stuff, and so our shopping escapade did not last long.  We headed back to the beach.  After another swimming session, and then just spending time in the shallow water soaking, we all got out to dry.  We laid on the beach, and then dispersed to little patches of shade where the others read or wrote in journals, and I wrote some post cards to send home.
Around 6pm, we left the beach to walk back to the ferry stop, and make sure we had enough time for ice cream.  We made it back on our ferry, where we sat outside for the ride back.  I was much more awake this time around, and got to enjoy the beautiful views of islands and the sea.  We made it back to our ship in one piece, and after a shower and a little down time, Kara, Amanda, Athena and I set back out to find a late dinner.  I went along just because it was such a nice night, I had already eaten dinner and wasn’t’ hungry.  The restaurant we found was very quaint, and we sat outside and looked over the menu.  While we were looking at the menu, a man walked over and said “MV Explorer?”  We all nodded, and he introduced himself as one of the guys that helped to build our ship and its sister ship the Voyager.  He said he built the Jade Spa, and we all commented on how nice it was.  He told us we had found the best restaurant in the city for fish, and asked why we hadn’t ordered any.  (There had been some misunderstandings, and some of the food we ended up with was not expected at all).  Kara and Athena asked his advice on how to order the fish, and he tried to explain, then he went back to sit down.  A few minutes later, he came back and said “I ordered a fish for each of you” in a very proud way, and we thanked him before he left again.  Sure enough, a few minutes later a platter shows up at our table with four fish on it.  Athena and Kara each had two, Amanda and I opted out and offered ours to them.  We thanked the builder of the MV again, and then walked back to the ship for bed.  It is amazing how draining a day on an island can be.

It's a Small World

7/14/2009

Tuesday morning, I set out with Jon, Sara, David, Francesca, Katie and Kara to go to the new Acropolis Museum.  When we made it there, the line was full of huge tour groups and guides with numbers to keep their group in order.  The museum was very interesting.  It was rooms full of status and artifacts, and it is amazing how small some of the things they have recovered are.  After walking around for a while, we turned a corner and who should I see walking toward me but my room mate from freshman year at Gonzaga, Lauren!  She was as shocked as I was!  After catching up a little, we parted ways.  We explored the rest of the museum, and then left to go walking around.  We ended up in similar flea market type streets, and when everyone else stopped to get lunch, I continued to shop around since I wasn’t that hungry (and I had packed snacks).  I returned just as everyone was finishing up, and then we decided to walk around some more.  It is crazy to be walking around and look up and see the Acropolis looming above all of the buildings and shops.
We made our way back to the metro, and then on our walk back to the ship decided to investigate ferry tickets for the next day.  We found ferry times and Sara, David and Katie decided to join Athena, Amanda, Kara, Jon and I in our trip to Aegina we were planning on.  After that, we returned to the ship, where we all parted ways to clean up and rest before the evening.  There was supposedly free wifi in the cruise ship terminal, but after Kara, Jon and I all carted our laptops over there, and sat for fifteen minutes trying to connect, we decided to call it a failed mission and returned to the ship.
We ate dinner on the ship, and then Amanda and Athena got back from their day trip to Delphi, and we decided to go out.  We didn’t have a destination in mind, but as we were walking, we ran into another group of SASers, and they said they were heading to a beach.  We decided to tag along.   After walking across the city, we ended up splitting off from the other group, and finding a nice rock wall that ran out along the water to sit on.  We sat and talked and looked up at the stars, and after spending a little while there, we met three Greek teenagers, Helen, Nick and Andrew.  They stopped to talk to us for quite a while, and we all had lots of questions.  Eventually they had to leave because they are all in summer classes, and shortly after we decided to head back to the ship

The Acropolis

7/13/2009

The sunrise as we pulled into Greece was luckily later than the previous port, and so after waking up and watching the sunrise, it was time to kill a little time checking e-mail, and then head to breakfast.  I am always amazed when I wake up for the sunrise how warm it is when I go outside.  It seems like early in the morning on the water it would be much colder, but I always open the door to the front deck and am blasted with warm air.  This phenomenon could also be partially due to how cold it is on the ship.  On class days I sometimes have to go out and warm myself before class so that I don’t freeze during class.
After breakfast and getting ready, I set out into Greece with Athena and Kara to see the Acropolis.  We walked along the pier to the metro.  I was happy when I saw that the maps and the stations were set up almost exactly like those in Rome, and I would be able to navigate easily all day.  We switched lines at one of the stations, and then got off at the Acropolis station.  The metro in Greece is basically like a free museum.  There are stations with ruins in them, and almost all of them have artifacts of some form, such as clay pots and statues, and little plaques describing what they are.  They are also immaculately clean.  There are dogs everywhere though.  They are on the streets, in the Ferry terminal at the pier, in the metro stations, all over the place.  They are well fed, and even have collars, but none of them seem to have homes, and they were not very well bathed.  All of them are absolutely adorable though, and if I had it my way, I would have about fifty new pets by now.  I refrained though, forcing myself not even to pet them, which was a very difficult thing to do when they are so cute and friendly.
Back to the metro, we walked out of the station and up the street, and there it was, the Parthenon on top of the huge hill.  We purchased our tickets and went in.  First, we went through old statues and ruined amphitheaters, and then climbed up to the Parthenon and the temple of Athena.  It was absolutely huge!  There was scaffolding along a large portion of it.  The funny things about ruins are they are constantly falling apart, and therefore must constantly be preserved and fixed.  After getting our fill and attempting to soak in the magnitude of what we were seeing, we continued down to try to go to the new Acropolis Museum, which, of course, is closed on Monday.  Instead, we continued on to the streets filled with little shops and cafes.  After shopping around for a little while, we decided to find lunch.  The café we found had amazing food and friendly service!  I knew I was going to like Greece when they brought out a free pitcher of water while we were looking over the menu.  They don’t seem to think water is free in Europe, because everywhere else it comes in bottles, and only upon request.  We all got sandwiches.
After lunch, we found the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.  There were an extremely large number of dogs laying in the shade by the temple, and they were even being fed and had water bowls out.  At least although they are strays, they are being taken care of.  We left the temple and went exploring further through the streets of Athens, and ended up at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We had missed the changing of the guards by about 15 minutes, but we stopped to take lots of pictures of the guards, who stood as still as statues, only moving to pound their gun when someone got too close.  A constant stream of people would file up to take pictures next to them, and then move to allow the next person to get a picture.  There were also enough pigeons in the square to rival St. Marco’s Square in Venice, and many people were feeding them.  They were some of the fattest pigeons I have ever seen!  While we were there, we ran into Jessica, Katlyn, and Katlyn’s family.  They are our neighbors on the ship, and Katlyn’s family is in Greece for the next week or two.  After chatting with them, we decided to walk down to the library, which was gorgeous.  So intricate and so much detail to every part of it.
We then walked back to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier so that we could watch the guards change out.  They have quite the intricate little routine worked out, that is almost completely synchronized.  From there, we took the metro again looking for the ancient market, and ended up instead in a flea market full of little shops and stores selling fun things.  We shopped around for quite a while, and then once we had our fill, we made our way back to the metro and decided to continue on to the Olympic Stadium.
As the metro continued along, it kept getting more and more crowded, until everyone was packed in like sardines.  We were wondering what station they were all going too, and then we hit the stop we wanted and everyone piled out.  We exited the station, and could see all of the people pouring through the gates to the Olympic Stadium.  Not knowing what exactly was going on, we decided to just go with it, and follow the crowd until we were stopped.  As we got to the second gate to get into the actual stadium, we were convinced we would be asked for tickets, or stopped for some reason.  It didn’t happen, we continued through, and followed the crowd to a tent that was set up, where we received free t-shirts and hats.  From there we walked into the stands, and sat down.  There was the Athens Grand Prix going on, with athletes from around the world participating in track and field events, and as we sat there watching, the crowd kept growing.  It was a lot of fun to watch track and field, and imagine what the stadium must have been like during the 2004 Olympics.  Then, we made our way back to the ship, where we had a mellow night, and went to bed early.

Sea Olympics! Go Aegean Sea!

7/12/2009

Our second day between Croatia and Greece was a no class day, and I was excited about getting sleep and relaxing, having a lazy morning, and not worrying about a schedule, but from the very beginning, the day did not go as I had planned.  I woke up much earlier than I wanted, probably because Athena and I were so tired the night before we forgot to close the window over our porthole and it got bright in our room.  It turned out to be a good thing though, because as I finally decided it was time to get out of bed and stop trying to fall back asleep, the tell tale chimes of the PA system rang out, and we were informed there would be a life boat drill in 20 minutes.  Lifeboat drills include putting on long pants and long sleeves, a head covering (a hat), and close toed shoes.  Putting on the life jacket provided in your cabin, and making your way up to the emergency section to wait for roll and inspection finishes up the lifeboat drills.  The siren sounded exactly 20 minutes after the warning, and explained that a lifeboat drill was taking place.  Everyone stumbled out of their rooms at this point and made their way up to the fifth deck where the emergency stations are located right next to the life boats.  Once we were out on the deck at our emergency stations, which are marked by a letter and number on our life jackets, one of the crew members calls out the names of everyone in that group.  It takes forever and we are all smashed together in our bulky orange life vests.  It was very warm, and it was also easy to tell that several people had been woken up by the drill.  We managed to finish with role pretty quickly, but then everyone has to wait for the captain to walk by each group and approve them.  We got approved on the first try. Lastly, the captain made a quick announcement saying it was the “best drill he has seen ever yet so far on this voyage” or something along those lines, whatever that means.
After such an unexpected start to the day, there was time to relax for a little while and prepare for the Sea Olympics.  The Sea Olympics is comprised of a series of different events, all of which earn points.  In the end, the most points wins.  The teams are divided by hall, or sea, meaning that the entire second deck was on one team because we are so much smaller than the other decks.  We are the Aegean Sea, appropriate as we were headed toward Greece which is bordered by the Aegean while competing in the Olympics.  The events included synchronized swimming, pictionary, paper boat races, academic bowl, dodge ball, lip synch, relay race and sea makeover.  It ended up being a fun filled day, but not quite the relaxation I needed.  I participated in the relay race, and watched several other events.  The synchronized swimming was really entertaining, to say the least.  A group of four boys from the Aegean Sea did the synchronized swimming to the thong song, with thongs drawn on with sharpie, fully complete with stars, hearts and bows.  It was pretty hilarious and definitely had the most audience participation.  Unfortunately, the judges didn’t agree, and we didn’t get as high of a score as I thought we deserved.  At the lip synch, there was one absolutely hilarious act.  It was a guy named Eric who put on hair extensions, had a full dress, heals, and make-up.  He even had stuffed boobs!  He sang the “when I think about you I touch myself” song and it was ridiculous.  He did an amazing job, and never broke character.  At the make-over, all of the guys were made in to girls, and most of them could walk better in heals than me!  They made very pretty girls.  Once the scores were totaled from all of the events, a closing ceremony took place.  The Aegean Sea came in third!
After the closing ceremonies, which basically consisted of announcing the winners, it was time for a dinner bbq.  The line was ridiculously long, and took forever as they kept running out of food.  The day wound up with preparing for Greece, and trying to catch up on school work.

Kayaking and Cliff Jumping

7/10/2009

I woke up this morning in time for a quick breakfast on the ship, and then headed outside at 8am to meet the group I was kayaking with.  It was supposed to be 14 of us, and Audrey, the girl that set it up, was not too happy when 8:05 rolled around and only 6 people were there.  Eventually, 10 showed up, and then I ran inside to wake up one Jon, who had shown interest in going, so we had a group of 11.  It was quite the fiasco trying to catch the bus and get to our destination, as the bus the kayak company told us to take only ran once every hour or so, and we had missed it by about 15 minutes.  We ended up being around 45 minutes late when we finally showed up to the beach!  As we were walking through the pier, and trying to figure out the bus schedule, the videographer from the ship was following us and filming for the different promotional videos they make.  Who knows, I could end up in an advertisement.  Once we made it to the beach, which was a little past Old Town, we apologized for being late and started getting ready.  Our guide was named Marco, and he was very friendly.  He spoke English, but would make funny mistakes in the different tenses and sentence order and such.  At one point instead of asking if I wanted him to loan me water, he asked if he could borrow me some water.  He also remembered our names by associating them with celebrities, so I immediately got dubbed Whitney Houston.  After getting all of us into water skirts and water shoes, giving us dry bags to hold our belongings, and teaching us how to hold a paddle, we grabbed kayaks and headed to the water.  We paddled along the shore to the old city, and then crossed to Lokrum Island, where we paddled the shoreline for a while and then stopped at a little inlet to get out of our kayaks and explore.  It was about a 2 hour paddle to get to the inlet, but we had some pretty slow paddlers in our group.  When we got on the island, Marco pointed out the dead sea, which apparently connects to the ocean somehow, but looked a lot more like a saltwater lake.  There was a rope swing, a cave going into the rock, and a cliff to jump off of, but first, our group continued to lunch.
There were no cars on the island at all, I think the restaurant where we ate was one of the only buildings, and there were peacocks running around everywhere.  They were huge too!  They put the one at the Oregon Zoo to shame.  After lunch, I went for a swim in the dead sea, and watched as some of our group shimmied up the rock cliff and jumped off.  I opted out, as I don’t think I could have even climbed up without falling.  When our guide showed up to gather us all up, he first decided to show up all of the other jumpers.  He climbed up the rock face like it was nothing, and then did a perfect swan dive from about 40 feet up.  Then, it was time to go.  We got back in our kayaks and paddled around the island to go back instead of just going back the way we had come.  On the way, we passed a nudist beach!  Not something I was prepared for.  I had been paddling along looking at the pretty cliffs and trees that lined the island, and all of a sudden I was staring at a bunch of naked people, most of whom were old men.  It was disturbing.  It quickly looked away, trying to forget what I had just seen.  Yuck!  We paddled back across to where we started, and the water was much rougher than it had been on the crossing to the island, but still lots of fun.  We made it back to the beach around 2pm, giving us 4 hours until on ship time.  I decided it was the perfect opportunity to walk back, and get a little extra time to take in everything.  Three others agreed and joined me.  It is so pretty all long the coast in Croatia, that it was a really enjoyable walk.
Halfway through our walk back, we decided to stop at the swimming spot that I found the first day, and after climbing down all of the stairs, we realized that it was really crowded.  When I first found it, there was no one else there.  This time around, there were a whole bunch of SAS kids down there, and even a few locals.  We got in the water and swam for a while, and watched some of the other people jump off the platform.  We decided it looked fun, so we climbed out and went up to jump too.  I love the adrenaline rush of jumping, but only when I know it will be a happy ending.  We each jumped in a few times, and got some pictures, and then got out to dry off.  Once we deemed ourselves dry enough to continue walking, we started the long climb back up the stairs.  We stopped at a few of the little shops along the way for some last minute gifts and souvenirs, and then it was back onto the ship for a shower and dinner.  I was so salty from all of the sea water that it was starting to crystallize on my skin.  After dinner, I did a picture exchange with my different travel companions.  All in all it was one of my favorite days on this trip so far.

Island Hopping

7/9/2009

I find myself frequently having the thought that life can’t get much better.  Today, I spent the day island hopping… in Croatia!  After waking up a little later than expected (I slept through breakfast), I met up with Amanda, Jon and Eli, and we walked into the old city.  We were looking for a ferry to the one visible island, but came across something a million times better!  It was a boat that went to three different islands, included lunch and unlimited drinks, and would take up almost the whole day!  It was in a square that was full of the different companies advertising their tours, but the one we got pulled into first seemed like the best deal.  The guy was so friendly explaining what all was included, and what we would do.  He even gave us a special family deal.  I think it is because he thought Amanda was a lot younger than the rest of us, and so when he was talking about the last island we would visit, he said it was great for the children and pointed at her, and she gave him the stink eye. He started backpedaling then, saying "at this island, everyone is child.  I am three times your age, and when I go there I am child, playing in sand and building towers like baby".  It was very funny.  With our family discount, we each had to pay 175 kuna, or roughly 35 USD for a 7+ hour cruise including three islands, a full lunch, and unlimited drinks (water, soda, juice, wine, funky homemade brandy that no one wanted to try...).  I thought that was a pretty good deal, and by the end of the day we all agreed it was well worth it!
There were roughly 30 people on board, and the boy serving up drinks looked like he was about 12.  We asked, and he said he was 15.  The boat showed up at 10:45, right on schedule, we all loaded, and away we went.  It was a rocky ride, bringing back memeories of the first few days crossing the ocean, but it was fun too, and it gave us some amazing views of Croatia.  We got to spend 45 minutes at the first island, which was called Kolocep.  Once they pull up, they unload the boat and have a sign saying what time we all need to be back, and everyone disperses.  We went to the beach and swam for a while, and saw some other SAS kids that were doing the same 3 island tour, but with a different company.  They paid at least 50 more kuna each for their tours, and didn’t get as long at all of the islands!  We hoped back on our boat, and climbed up to the top sun deck, where a table was set up and our meals were passed up.  There was an option for fish, chicken, or vegetarian.  I obviously selected the vegetarian one.  It was delicious.  Roasted eggplant and onion, cucumber, tomato, cheese, fresh bread, and one of the best apples I have ever had.  I even had a glass of wine with lunch, and commented on how I could get used to that life.  As we were getting served our food, the boat started its journey toward the next island, and we had an escort of around 20 seagulls for quite some time.  They were getting thrown all of the scraps, which is probably why they followed.
At the next island, Sipan, we had another 50 minutes in which we walked around and explored the island, and then just sat and soaked in how amazing everything was.  We hopped back on the boat and headed to the last island, Lopud, where we spent a full three hours enjoying the sun and sand.  We chose to walk across the island to the sandy beach that has shallow water extending for a long ways in front of it.  Other than being mildly scared by some of the fellow beach users being completely nude (males and females included), it was an amazing time.  We floated in the refreshing water, and enjoyed the tree covered hills surrounding us.  After we had our fill, we trekked back across the island, which was only about a 20 minute walk, got some gelato and did a little perusing through the souvenir shops.  By that time, it was time to get back on our boat and head back.
We pulled away from the dock, but then circled back immediately, apparently not all of the passengers were on time, and as we were pulling away two British girls were frantically running toward the dock.  After loading them, it was time to leave for good.  We were all very happy with how the day had gone, but also very drained from all the sun.  The shade on the lower deck of the boat, and the rocking of the waves nearly put us all to sleep.  As we got closer, and there was more boat traffic, the rocking became a little less mellow, and a lot more extreme!  The boat was sloshing from side to side with water splashing up on each side as it rocked.  It was really fun.  We made it back to the old city in time for a brisk walk back to the ship and a free dinner on the ship.  All of us agreed that it was one of our favorite days so far, and money well spent.
On each of the islands, we had been running into the SASers doing the same tour with other companies, and we made plans to meet up with Jack when we got back to the ship and had dinner.  There was talk of going out, or even going to see a movie, but in the end we chose to just stay in.  Jack was really pushing going to a movie, but Amanda and I were dragging our feet, and then we heard an announcement that Boondock Saints was playing on the ship, so our problems were solved.   They had free snacks set out, and we made it through about half the movie before we all started falling asleep and decided it was time to go to our rooms so we would be ready for our last day in Croatia.

Tendering and Heat Lightening

7/8/2009

Day two in Croatia brought a slow start, and then more beach time.  Amanda, Athena, Kara and I got off the boat early, since our boat was going to be tendering for part of the day.  That means that our slip at the pier was going to be used by other ships, and so our ship would be anchored out in the bay, and tender boats would be transporting students between the ship and the shore.  Eventually, we decided to just walk around the peninsula near the peir, and we ended up with a perfect view of the MV Explorer anchored in the harbor, and a beach that was not full of SASers.  There was a really pretty pathway along the water that had trees on either side, and some houses and a lot of little fishing boats along the water that we walked along to get to the beach.  We spent several hours swimming, laying in the sun, and generally having a good time.  As we were getting ready to leave anyway, another group of SAS kids showed up, and immediately they all stuck out like sore thumbs.  There were a lot of them, and they were very loud and slightly obnoxious.  We took that as our cue to finish gathering up our stuff, and head back toward the ship.  We stopped for a late lunch along the way.  The place we ate at had a rooftop terrace where we sat in the shade of umbrellas overlooking the water and all of the boat traffic.  Because of the strange timing of our meal, no one else was eating there, so we had the entire terrace to ourselves.  There were little song birds all around that were very friendly.  I think they were used to getting table scraps, and so they would hop between the tables and chairs all around us just watching and waiting.  After a long, relaxing meal in the comfortable shade, we continued our walk back to the ship.
We made it to the pier just in time to get our bags checked and hop on the last tender boat going to the MV.  The tender boats are actually our life boats, and they are covered, and fit up to 150 people.  They loaded this one pretty full.  It was about a 15 minute ride to get out to our ship, where we unloaded onto a floating platform, and climbed some stairs to get inside.  The entire tender boat ride, I had some girl I hadn’t met yet talking at me.  I got her entire life story, most of which I think was fabricated…  It was good entertainment to say the least.  Once we were back on the ship, I decided to go up to the gym and go for a quick run while I waited for the shower.  It was the least rocky run I have had in quite some time.  Then it was time for a shower and dinner, and by that time we were back in our slip at the pier and able to leave the ship again.
My amazing day ended with the perfect summer evening.  As we were getting ready to go out, huge black clouds rolled in, and lightening started.  It was heat lightening, so there was no thunder, and no rain, and it was still almost uncomfortably warm outside.  We watched for a while from the deck of the ship, trying to capture it on film.  I had my camera out and ready, but every time a lightening bolt lit up the sky, I would be so distracted staring at it I would forget to click the button and take a picture.  Then, we decided to go out for the night, as some of the girls I was with wanted to find a bar.  We walked in toward old town, watching the sky periodically flash along the way.  Croatia is almost as stunning by night as it was by day, and our end destination beat almost anywhere.  We ended up making our way to the cliff side bar we had seen from the city walls the day before, where the doorway opened up through the city walls into an adorable, candle lit patio overlooking the water, full moon, and clouds flashing with lightening.  The candles provided dim lighting, and there was soothing music playing, and the moonlight was dancing across the water's surface.  It reminded me of old time movies.  We were sitting on the top patio, but I went down to the bottom one for a while to get an unobstructed view.  After quite a while of just enjoying life, we made our way back to the ship.  The weather was perfect on the walk back.  Warm enough not to need a jacket or sweater of any kind still, but cool enough to be comfortable walking.  After nights like this, it is hard to imagine life can get better.

City Walls and Beaches

7/7/2009

The sunrise the morning we were pulling into Croatia was an early one.  If I remember properly it was 5:20am.  It was really pretty though, and after a few extra hours of sleep, and going to breakfast, it was time to go out and explore Croatia.  Croatia is absolutely gorgeous!  In the morning, I went walking with Jon, Athena, Amanda and Kara, and we just explored near the ship for a while because Athena and Jon had to be back at the ship for the city walls tour.  Amanda, Kara and I made a plan to meet up with them at the beach later in the afternoon, and then we headed back to the ship to change and grab a quick, free lunch.  We decided to walk to the Old City area, instead of taking the bus, and it was the right decision to make.  The walk takes about one hour at a leisurely pace, and goes up over a hill.  When we got to the top of the hill, the bath overlooks a little inlet that is stunning.  Looking down and taking pictures, we saw a stairway going down that ended in a platform and a ladder into the water.  As we continued walking along, we found the top of the staircase, and after exchanging exciting looks, we decided to go down and explore.  It was a long ways down, and when we got to the bottom, we saw a platform carved into the rock with little tables and benches, and even a shade covering.  When we got onto the platform, we realized that “locals only” was painted all over at random around the platform, but there was also a sign saying “guests” on an arrow pointing past the platform.  Upon investigation, we realized it lead to a platform with no shade or tables, and so we decided the best choice would be to leave our bags on that platform.  It was deserted when we got there, and so after setting down our towels and bags, we climbed down the rest of the stairs and crawled down the ladder into the water.  It was so amazing.  The water was the perfect temperature to be refreshing, but not too cold to be comfortable.  We swam for a pretty decent amount of time, and as we were swimming, two more pairs of people showed up and came in.  I think people were seeing us swim from the walkway, and decided it looked like a good idea.  We were kind of worried when they first appeared that they would get mad if they found out we were American (American's have a bad reputation pretty much everywhere), so we made up our own language to sound like we were from another country.  It worked, except we couldn't understand what anyone was saying.
We climbed out, took some pictures and dried off, and then we began the long climb back up to the road.  We continued our walk to old town, and when we got there, all we could see was the large city wall surrounding it.  To the right, there was a tall rock island with a diving board set up probably 70 feet in the air for the diving competition that was part of the summer festival that would begin the day we left Croatia.  SAS has kind of made a habit of having us leave each country a day or two before the festivals start, but it is probably for the best.  We decided to do the city walls tour, because we heard it was well worth it, so we purchased our tickets and climbed up all of the stairs to the top of the wall.  As we reached the top, we just happened to be in the middle of an SAS tour, and there were Jon and Athena.  Looks like we wouldn’t have to worry about our meeting time after all!  We walked around with their tour group for a while, and took in all of the amazing views.  It was gorgeous looking out over the Sea and the City, but it was also really hot.  When we couldn’t handle the temperature anymore, we decided to search for a swimming spot.  From the top of the walls, we had seen a bar nestled into the cliff side, and a bunch of people were cliff jumping from one of the rocks.  That was our goal because Kara really wanted to jump. We wound through some of the streets until we found a little wooden sign pointing at the city wall and reading “cold drinks”.  We followed where it pointed, walking through a gateway in the wall, and popped out at the top of a staircase leading us down to three platforms covered in umbrellas and tables, with a bar on the middle one, and then past that a throng of people on an unsheltered platform, some of whom were climbing over the railing and jumping in.  The cliff was a little higher than I like to jump from, and the audience was a little to big, so I opted out, but Kara went for it.
Next, it was off to the beach, which s crowded, but a lot of the people were other SASers so we knew them.  The water felt so amazingly cool and refreshing.  We came back to the ship for free dinner, and then ended up staying in for the night.  I have been battling a cold since the end of Italy, so I was planning to call it a lazy night anyway, but it seems like all of us were feeling pretty lazy.  We played Apples to Apples, and had a great time.  Day one in Croatia was an overall success!

Naples and Pompeii

7/5/2009

The last day in Italy, I woke up and went up to breakfast, where I ran into Amanda, Kara and Athena.  They were all planning on going to Pompeii for the day, and so I decided to tag along.  None of us wanted to bring many belongings along after all the warnings we had had about pick-pocketers.  I left the ship with my money belt tucked securely under my shirt, and my camera in hand, and that was it.  We began our walk to the train station with only a vague idea of where we were going, but luckily ran into several fellow SASers that gave us more detailed directions and instructions for when we got there.  Walking through Naples was even worse than taking to bus through it.  Garbage was everywhere, and lots of areas had very strong and unpleasant smells.  I was happy when I discovered we were not, in fact going to the main train station – which the guy on my flight back from Naples had warned me to avoid – but rather a smaller side station.  We got there and purchased our tickets, and then went down and hoped on the train.
Aside from being somewhat rundown, Naples was hot, and slightly muggy.  I feel like I have never sweated so much in my life.  The train ride to Naples was short, and there were several other SASers with the same plan.  We got there, and walked to the entrance and got in the line for tickets.  When we got to the front, Kara tried to pay first, but she didn’t have the exact change, and the guy behind the ticket counter flipped out.  Nowhere did it say that you must pay in exact change, apparently it was an unspoken rule or something.  He started yelling about it and then stood up in a huff, practically threw a stack of one euro coins at her, and then yelled “now you have all my change, it is yours, take it” in a very rude way!  We were all standing there somewhat shocked by the whole ordeal.  Once we all managed to get tickets, we went in and started our exploration.  Instead of paying for a tour, we grabbed a map that had the key sites marked with numbers, and a booklet that described what was at each number.  Other than the ruins of old buildings, one of the first things we saw was a storage type unit for all of the pots some statues, and even some of the plaster casts they had discovered.  It was very sad to see them and realize that it was in fact representative of a real person.  There was one of a dog that was contorted and on its back, apparently it had been trying to free itself from the chain it was hooked to and run away, but never managed to.  There was another one of a pregnant woman laying on her stomach and shielding her face.  We moved on from there, and wondered around the whole city.
One of the more interesting buildings was the brothel.  Inside the door, there were rooms lining the hallway with pictures above each doorway and a large, stone bed in each room.  One side of the bed even had stones that were slightly raised, like pillows.  None of them looked comfortable though.  The worst part was the two stray dogs that were curled up sleeping in two of the rooms. They were no doubt trying to beat the heat, as all throughout Pompeii it was almost unbearably warm.  There were some faucets around, and as we were walking, we would run our arms or legs under to cold water to cool down some.  Back to the brothel, the pictures about each door were kind of like a menu, which seemed very strange, but apparently there were frequently language barriers, and that was the best approach.  After that, we went to the coliseum,  and a few other of the key buildings.  It was crazy how well preserved some of the buildings were, with artwork and marble counter tops still looking like new.  The streets even showed ware marks in the stone from carts wheeling along them.  There were also crosswalks, composed of large, raised stones, because apparently back when Pompeii was inhabited, the streets flowed with sewage, which the carts were fine to drive through, but the people didn’t want to have to walk in.
We left Pompeii when we were all so hot we couldn’t handle it anymore, and hopped on the train back to Naples.  We walked past the ship looking for food, and when the other girls found somewhere in the less sketchy part of Naples, I continued one block past them to look for some last minute souvenirs.  Then, it was time to go back to the ship.  It was kind of nice to be back on the ship and getting ready to head back out to sea.
We had a belated fourth of July BBQ, and the kids on the ship put on a parade.  They were so cute dressed in red, white and blue with face paint and flags.  And then we had an evening full of meetings and preparing for the next port.  The one day of class that came next seemed so disjointed and out of place.  It flew by and before I knew it, it was the pre-port before Croatia, and then sleep before another four crazy days in Croatia.