The Second Trip Finale!

Antalya. Home of one hundred bazillion resort hotels, beautifully clear blue water, white sand, and the German tourist. This is where the District Conference took place.

For us exchange students, it was essentially a free all-inclusive vacation save for the morning they woke us up at ten to nine and told us "Oh yeah, you're presenting to Rotary today at 9! No one told you? Don't worry about it. Just make sure you wear your jackets!"

So apart from 20 minutes on stage, introducing ourselves and telling the Rotarians how much we appreciate this program, we ran around drinking free juice (that tasted mysteriously like Tang) and "creating table salt!" (as Carly put it) by jumping into the sea, then running to the pool and jumping in that, then returning to the sea to chase fish. (Thus creating a mixture of NaCl, apparently...)

For those of us who were more ambitious (or more afraid of the sun) there was also a fitness room, an indoor pool, and free wifi in the lobby. Blase and I spent 11 am - 4 pm one day exploring these possibilities while all the other exchange students got baked to a crisp. I too attempted the whole sunbathing thing (not during the hours in which the sun is highest in the sky, which when you listen to doctors is pretty much all day..) after liberally applying spf 45 and 50. All I did was mulitply my freckles. (Which then amused Garet for a good half an hour on the bus ride home as he played "connect the dots" on my arms and shoulders.)

The last night was supposed to be the Gala Dinner, a formal Rotary function to which we had been invited... up until the morning of. In a flurry of disappointment and annoyance (most of us had dragged formal attire across the entire country on the trip, and/or gone out and spent our allowance on something respectable to wear) we decided to have our own prom.

This involved getting all dressed up and eatting at the buffet like every night, then going to the "Disco" to dance to monotonous, brainless music. It was great fun, and we were all pleased with the outcome of a last minute plan.

At one point during the evening, Blase realised he hadn't yet swam in the sea and decided that now was as good a time as any. So Carly and I escorted him down to the beach (after he ran up to his room and changed into his swimming trunks) and convinced the staff there that we were capable of not drowning in the dark (something that should have been much harder to do than it actually was). Blase swam in the Mediterrainean by the light of the moon, and Carly and I waded in up to our knees in our dresses (though the waves hit much higher). It was a night to remember.

I was the only one to leave Antalya unsunburned, and took enormous pleasure in pointing this out every chance I got. Hey, this is a first for me. I don't think there's ever been a time in my life when someone else has sunburned and I didn't too. Or that I've spent a full day on a beach and not sunburned. Or that I've deemed it a day worthy of spf 45 and not sunburned. Or... well, you get the idea.

Antalya was the perfect end to our last trip, and a wonderful chance for us to spend a weekend together before everyone started leaving. Indeed, that was (and probably will be) the last time we were all together. Several students went home in the following week.

Maeghan