After the Trip

So the trip went well. The night we stayed in Izmir we got to hang out with the exchange students there, which was really cool. Bodrum was really pretty. There's a law there that you have to paint your house white. I'm sure you can imagine.

By the end of the trip all the ruins looked the same. I feel bad because at the beginning I was sooo excited and snapping photos of everything, carefully figuring out exactly what angle I wanted and zooming and stuff... by the end I didn't even look at my screen for most of the photos. I just sort of held the camera in the right direction and pressed the button. I did really like Troy, but mostly since we went around making videos of ourselves running through the city crying "The Greeks are coming!"
Oh the joys of not traveling during tourist season. One of my favorite visits was to the Church of St. John, which wasn't actually part of the trip. Over lunch the day we were in that town I just asked the tour guide if I could go and half a dozen of us went and took photos.

Mattie stayed with my host family until she left. So the last three days have been us running around like crazy trying to tie up all the loose ends. On Tuesday I discovered that the airline office that I'm supposed to go to to book my ticket does not exist. This left me very stressed for a couple of days, but last night (or really very early this morning) I picked up a card at the airport so I know what number to call. It's all good. We went to a hamam that was really nice, but sort of expensive. It was neat, and also kind of gross. They scrub off soo much dead skin it's disgusting to look at. But then afterwards you feel so good. I've never been that clean in my life!

Wednesday Mattie and I met a friend of hers and we went to the Grand Bazaar. The woman we went with knew some of the shop keepers, so that made it more fun. One of the best parts though, was walking through the entrance to The Old Bazaar (it's expanded over the years) and seeing the date. People were walking through that exact doorway before the Americas had been 'discovered'. Wow.

Yesterday all the exchange students got together in Ortaköy to say goodbye to Mattie. We ended up in a Mado, taking up the entire top floor and ordering nothing but icecream, fondu, and waffles. Last night was a mad repacking of Mattie's suitcases because her travel agent booked her only one piece of checked luggage. That was interresting. But we did it and got to the airport by 3am and said our goodbyes.

So now with only three days left of holiday my grand plan is to sleep.
Sweet Dreams,
Maeghan