Turkey Time

After Lebanon the boys headed back to lives of responsibilities (ie work). Karen and I are living the student life so we decided to take full advantage of school breaks and headed to Turkey.  (If I could only figure out how to get the income of a working adult and the schedule of a student, life would be really great!)  However, we both had been traveling for almost a month by the time we got to Turkey and to say we were exhausted was an understatement.  We ended up taking it pretty slow once we arrived in Istanbul.  But it was nice to just relax and enjoy the city without worry about checking off a "must see" list that is a mile long.  

 Istanbul is a gorgeous city!  It is enormous and full of mosques.  Every where you look there is at least 3 or 4 mosques within view. Our first stop was the Basilica Cistern.  For any Bachelorette fans, I think during Ally's season there was a romantic dinner date in here.  For the history buffs this is where the main supply of water was for centuries. 

Next, we headed to the Hagia Sophia (pronounced Aya Sophia).  It was once a Christian church that was taken over by Muslims and converted to a Mosque.  It had a great mix of eastern and western religions.  Like arabic writing next to mosiacs of Christ.

Plus wonderful works of art below.  There are not even words to describe what the heck this is but don't worry this was one of four in the mosque--amazing.

My favorite mosque was the Blue Mosque.  We were able to watch the prayer time--they allow tourists in but you have to remove your shoes and cover your heads.  So you watch as the men (there is a special much, much smaller room for women) give one of their five daily prayers. I loved walking around the city and hearing the call to prayer.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city.  We discovered these amazing doughnut type things covered in a honey syrup and sprinkled with pistacho nuts. 

We even had some time to plan our future weddings. 

After a long day of exploring, we headed to a hamam, a traditional turkish bath.  I had been before in another city in Turkey that was a mixed bath (men and women) and we wore our swimsuits.  This was a bit different.  Men and women are seperated and you are given a tea towel and a pair of (new--thankfully) underwear things.  You basically take everything off put on your new undies and head into this room with a giant marble circle in the middle.  I won't go into all the details but basically mostly naked (most of whom are old and quite large) Turkish women rub you down and then you relax in small pools or the warm marble slab.  It is quite an experience.  We loved it so much we headed back on our last night for a pedicures.

We timed it just right as there was a huge tulip festival going on and there was tulips and other flowers in full bloom everywhere.

The next few days we spent wandering through the city.  Supposedly the nails that were used on Christ's cross are burried in the monumnet below. 

 

We saved the most important thing for our final day in Istanbul: The Grand Bazzar.  The oldest and largest indoor market in the world.  We were clearly very excited.  We were a little disappointed that more people wouldn't barter with us but it was still a fun.  The best part was the things the male store owners would say to us as we passed by to try and get us in their stores.  Below are direct quotes from men in the market:

'Hey Victoria Secret Angels'
'Why you no love me?'
'Come here you can spend your money here'
'Ladies, Sweethearts, Hunnybunnies'
'Baby Face'
'Lady in blue trousers'
'Why you so sweet?'
'Yes! Spice Girls'
'Hi, good morning independent woman'
'Can I help you spend your money?'
'Can I follow you?'
'Where you from? Utah? You have a Utah face?'  (we had to stop and ask him why we had UT faces and he confessed it was the only state he knew)

It was one crazy line after another.  Let me just say if you are every in need of a boyfriend--Turkey is the place to go.  At one point, a man told us he would give us a cheaper deal on scarves if we gave him a kiss--ummm no thank you.  We got a lot of free stuff from all the attention--purses, tea, etc. I think it was mostly because it was just the two of us but it was pretty entertaining.

In the end, Istanbul was great but I will have to admit I felt less safe there then in Lebanon.  At least I know where to go when I need a self esteem boost.  

Birthdays in Beirut

I am a little behind on blogging so this is a bit overdue.  My flatmate has a tradition of going somewhere for his birthday.  He choose Lebanon and it wasn't hard to convince the rest of us to tag along. But since we  had to push the trip back it ended up falling around three of the four of our birthdays.  What a better way to celebrate then eating hummus and fresh tomatoes over looking the Mediterranean sea. 

After flying into Beirut, we rented a car and headed up the coastline.  Our first stop...McDonalds.  I wish I was kidding.  I have a VERY strict no McD's policy when I am in foreign countries but finding good diet coke was a priority so I gave in.  I at least went with something authentic--the McArabia.  It was actually pretty good.  

Next, we went to the Jeita Grotta, amazing underground caverns that you can explore by boat and foot.  We weren't supposed to take pictures but we had to sneak a few.  The best part was the girl in the boat next to me asked me if I was from Lebanon.   Considering 

We continued up the coast and explored the little coastal towns along the way.  

The next day we went for a swim in the sea in the morning and in the afternoon we hiked through the snow and cedars that Lebanon are known for.  How great is a country that you could swim in the sea and snow ski in the same day!  We ended up doing a hike in the cedars which we were promised would be short jaunt up the mountain. Due to some lost luggage we had a pair of flip flops and TOMS that Karen and I swapped back and forth.  No big deal if its a short hike.  However, we were unprepared for the snow we encountered and ended up getting lost on the way back.  Looking back it was funny but at the moment I was a little concerned.  We had a typical battle of the sexes as the boys insisted we just keep walking and we would eventually find "something" that looked familiar while Karen and I wanted a more systematic approach.  It didn't help that our feet were getting frostbite and covered in blistered.  In the end we made it out about three hours after we should have if we had taken the right trail.  

Did I mention I was also wearing a dress?  Nothing like hiking in snow while wearing a dress and flip flops.

The views were amazing and totally worth it.   

We headed back to Beirut and explored more the city.  We spent hours walking up and down the boardwalk watching people dive off the railings into the water.  There were no women swimmers only men. 

Lebanon has a very interesting history.  During the 80s there was a serious war between the Muslims and Christians and hotels were used as headquarters for different groups.  They have started to rebuild but a lot of the hotels are still standing complete with bullet holes.  It was incredible to be in what I felt like was such a safe place but see renents of time when it wasn't as safe.  I love Lebanon because it's not overtaken by tourists at least not western tourists.  I love going to places that aren't overrun by fanny packs and tennis shoes.  Also Shakira is half Lebanese so it has to be a great place right?

Queen's Diamond Jubilee

This weekend is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which celebrates not only her birthday but also the day she was coronated 60 years ago.  She was 26 years old when she took the throne. She was on holiday in Kenya when she heard the news of her father's death and which also meant she would be taking over the crown.  Ten years ago on the Golden Jubilee, royal family was still not well liked and not much was done to celebrate.  However, this year people went nuts.  It was so fun to see all the Brits feeling patriotic and getting dressed up.  Some of the outfits were more then entertaining. 

Couldn't tell if these were tights or leggings but in this country there kind of interchangeable. 

 There was a boat parade or floatilla up the Thames and the royal family rode on a boat from Battersea up to the Tower Bridge.  It was fun to see so many boats on the Thames.

Of course it rained on and off all day--did I mentioned it's June and I was seriously wishing I hadn't taken my boots back home.  We warmed up with afterward with tea.  Monday and Tuesday are Bank (government) holidays and there will be fireworks and concerts all over the city.  It kind of feels like Fourth of July except  it's cold and rainy and the Union Jack is flying instead of the Stars and Stripes.  

                                       

Exams

I knew May would be the hardest month of my program but I was unprepared for how hard.  The UK education system is very different then in the US.  Instead of taking an exam or writing a paper for each core class, you take one exam that tests your knowledge of the subjects at the end of the school year--9 months after you took those classes.  You are given one question per class and whatever you get on that question is what your grade is for that class.  You have to pass each question and have an overall pass grade in order to get your degree.  You then have another exam which tests your overall knowledge and can incorporate anything from any class you have taken.  You must also pass this in order to get the degree.  The hardest part is squeezing in study time while you are also in classes.  We are only given one week free from anything else to study.  Here has been my study schedule the last three weeks:


9:30-10:30am: wake up, sometimes go for a run, get ready, eat breakfast, do any chores
10:30-11am: commute to school
11am-11pm: study
11-11:30pm: commute home
12-1am: relax, hang out with flatmates, get ready for bed
Repeat Monday through Saturday.  Sundays I take off, although last Sunday I spent 10 hours doing church things.

I cannot honestly remember the last hot meal I had.  I have been living off sandwiches and salads from subway, the school cafeteria or pret a manager.  Least you think I would get sick of this, I mix it up with sushi from a place around the corner from school.  Their sushi is half off after 8:30pm.  Once I even went so late they gave me whatever I wanted for free since they were just going to throw it away.  It was def a study miracle!

One of my school besties has been so obsessively studying we lovingly call her "Tiger Mom".  She is Asian and is fulfilling every stereotype.  I have not had a conversation with her that didn't surround these exams in over a month.  She got so stressed out the night before the exam she got diarrhea and didn't sleep the whole night.  She was in tears the morning of the first exam which is so rare for her.  I was nervous because health economics was my strongest subject (you know it's bad when this happens) and Shea and I had a legit conversation about how we both used the website mathisfun.com to get through some of our classes. Needless to say we have all felt a lot of pressure.  I will be totally honest, the pressure of the exams made me have some pretty irrational thoughts.  Have you seen the movie Limitless with Bradly Cooper?  He takes a drug that makes him be able to access so much of his brain he becomes a super genius with tons of energy.  I never been to tempted to do drugs but had the Limitless drug been available I may have considered it.  I am kidding...sort of.

I also read a article about these children in China who hook themselves up to IVs while they are studying so they can been even more alert.  I do attend school with a bunch of doctors and the thought crossed my mind to do the same.

Instead I settled for my drug of choice: diet coke.   I have developed an addiction.  That's what happens when that is the only thing that keeps you from going crazy.  I decided to detox the month of June--I'm two days in and doing alright.

My finger has a permanent indentation from taking practice exams .  It is slowly looking more normal.  

On the way to the exam I calmed my fears with a little Nirvana and Rocky's theme song--I wish I was kidding.  And in the end, it all went fine.  Well actually, I won't know for another month or so but I assume it went alright.  Either way it's over and I am so happy about it.  We celebrated with lots of trips to the pub and a retreat to the British sea (More on this to come when my camera stops acting up).

My school besties after our final exams.  We did it!

I cannot believe this year is wrapping up. It feels surreal.  I am so looking forward to the summer.  While I will have to write a dissertation, I will have the entire summer to do it. I have a "few" trips planned and some pretty exciting visitors (Smart Sistas take Europe in 28 days!!) and I can't wait!