Hello!

I don't know how many are still looking at my blog but I just wanted to give an update. I am at MSU now and I start taking classes in the morning. The transition from Turkey to MSU is a bit overwhelming but I am doing okay. I still have so much to write about for thus blog so I still plan on writing more about my journey. I haven't even talked about Cappadocia yet! Oops! I'll be very busy though so I don't know when I'll post next. Talk to you all later!

Stay Tuned!

Merhaba!

I know I still haven't posted about my 10 days of traveling and I apologize for that. I took my ME final today so studying for that took up a lot of my time the past few days.

I still have so much about my experience I want to share with you all, so please keep checking my blog in the next two weeks because I plan on making a lot of posts. Get ready to learn a lot mote about Turkey and my journey!

So, please bear with me and please look for my posts! :)

Thanks! :)

Studies

Just in case none of you believe that I have actually done some studying while I've been on this study abroad trip, here is a picture to prove it.

I'm studying for my final right now. Strengths of Materials has been a difficult class to take while abroad, especially since we missed a couple classes because of our excursions. The grading system here is different too.

Pray for me! The problems need to have the right answer or you get zero points for all of the work. I need all the good luck I can get! Lol.

Last Monday in Eskisehir! :O

It's crazy how fast this trip is approaching its end. There have been so many lasts, it's sad :/ As much as I am looking forward to going back to the U.S., I am definitely going to miss it here!

There are two special things about Mondays in Turkey.

The first is the fruit market that happens right outside of our apartment every Monday. The street stretches for blocks and there are so many locals selling everything from fresh food to clothes to home necessities. Everything is cheaper here than in other places around Eskisehir, which is great because everything is very cheap in the first place. I always liked taking a stroll all the way through the entire market, it is fun to walk through it and view all of the stands. The first peach I've ever eaten (crazy, believe me I know) was one I bought from this market. I wish they had something like this in East Lansing! haha. There wasn't much to cook with in the kitchen here so I didn't cook anything other than toast and grilled cheeses (bad I know). I do plan on cooking more at school though! We'll see how that goes...haha! I will have to skype my Mom and have her take me through her recipes step by step! :) Anyways, the fruit market was something I always enjoyed and I will miss it.

Below is a video of me walking into and within the market! :) 

The second is free beer night at Del Mundo. On every Monday evening, you can get a free glass of Tuborg if you bring your passport to the bar. So, we definitely have taken advantage of this over the few weeks that we have been here. Del Mundo is a traveler's bar meant as a hangout place for international people visiting Eskisehir. The people who own it have traveled all over the world and the bar is full of MISC. things they've collected from their travels. They have licence plates, travel guides, trays, flags, etc. We have met a lot of great people there and now I have friends from all over the world! My only regret is the one or two Mondays I didn't go. It is sad knowing I spent my last Monday evening there yesterday. I still can't believe I have been here for 7 weeks now! I also got a really good brownie with ice cream one night at the bar when I was craving something sweet! I have that pictured below as well :P hahaha!

My first free beer at Del Mundo

My last free beer at Del Mundo

The delicious brownie I had (and no, I did not eat this all by myself. haha. Michael helped me out) :d :)

Del Mundo has 3 floors. This is a picture of the stairs leading up to the second floor.

7 weeks...wow!

So,
I can't sleep cuz I'm up thinking about so many things. It's crazy I can say that I have spent the last 7 weeks of my life in Turkey, who would've thought a year ago that I would be studying abroad in Turkey for 2 months during the summer!! It's Definitely the biggest decision I've ever made, but also one of the best!
This trip has been quite the experience. It feels like it was forever ago when my biggest concern here was not having my luggage for 5 days. Its surprising to me how comfortable I've become here, I am just so used to things here even though it is so different than the life I left behind back home. I have become familiar with the unfamiliar.
I just keep thinking about the months I put into just deciding to come here and the months I spent preparing to come here. I researched so much about Turkey and the cities listed on the brochure we'd be visiting. I tried to come up with all these expectations and goals for this trip. Now, I am laying here thinking about all of the same places as memories from my own experience. Traveling was definitely my favorite part of this trip, there is so many unique and amazing places to see in Turkey! I even went on a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia!!!! What?!?!  I had talked about the thought of doing that for so long and now I have the most amazing memory of one of the greatest experiences of my life. This whole experience has been so different than I expected, but looking back now I never could have known what would become of this journey.
This trip by no doubt pushed me to my limits and there were days I didn't know if I could make through, but looking back now I see I have courage like never before. I believe strength is built from dealing with and accepting your weaknesses. It's a matter of keeping them from holding you back and choosing to look beyond them.
I've learned so much from this trip. I can tell I've changed for the better from this experience with all that I've taken from this trip. I've learned that in life you have to expect the unexpected. There is no way I could have prepared for this experience, it has been nothing like I've experienced before. I've learned that there will always be rough times along with the good times on life, but there is always a lesson to be learned and something to be gained from every experience. There have been a fair share of rough days here, but I've chosen to view them as an important part of the whole experience. I never would have been able to take away so many things from this trip if I had never left behind my comfort zone.
I am so glad I went with my gut feeling when that flyer first got passed into my hands in my class 7 months ago. I just knew I had to give the opportunity a shot.
With everything that has happened, I don't regret this experience at all; not even for a second.
Less than a week to go. Oh how time flies!

Weekend in Ephesus - Kusadasi

I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear about all of the places I went to during my 10 days of travel! I have finally gotten enough things off my to do list where I can afford to make the time for a post! haha!

We left for Ephesus around midnight on the Thursday of August 1st. We drove a long 8 hours toward Ephesus. We had a small private shuttle bus that all of  go on for our organized trips (awwww, I have to use past tense now because all of our excursions are over :( :(  ) . It was not the most comfortable bus and I lost many hours of sleep when traveling in the night, but we always got where we needed to go! 

We didn't go straight to the hotel when we arrived near Ephesus, we went straight to the house of the virgin Mary. After visiting there we went to see the ancient ruins of the city of Ephesus. After seeing Ephesus we traveled to the cave outside of the city of Ephesus know to be the place where the legend of the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus" takes place. I will talk in detail about each of these places in my next post. My plan is to break up the whole ten days into multiple posts so each post is not too long to read! I experienced sooooooooo much in those 10 days so I need to do a lot of posts to tell you all about everything! 

Anyways, after touring for a few hours in the morning to early afternoon, we drove to our hotel in Kusadasi. Kusadasi is a tourist city on the coast of the Aegean sea about 20 minutes away from Ephesus. It was hot and we were tired, so when we heard there was a pool on the roof we dropped off are things in our rooms and a few of us went up to the pool (pictured below). It wasn't big but the water was a perfect temperature and it was so relaxing! The poolside bar was serving free fries so I definitely took advantage of that :d Most Turkish people eat fries with mayo along with ketchup, so now I love eating fries with ketchup and mayo together! :) 

One of the best things about our hotel was that the bars served free alcohol all afternoon until 23:00 (11 pm) at night! Being legal young adults in Turkey, that was a big plus for us! There wasn't a lot of options but we weren't complaining. :) haha. We spent the day relaxing at the hotel enjoying the beautiful weather. The hotel provided free breakfasts and dinners during the day, which were served on the roof top. They had a lot of food to choose from and it was very good! My favorite part about our first dinner there was the chicken! :d ....and the table full of desserts! 

After eating we hung out in the hotel lobby for a while and then headed out to the bar street in Kusadasi. Bar streets was about 20 minutes away by taksi (taxi in English :p). We went to an Irish club and to a club with a stage next to the Irish club. I went to the club with the stage first and danced a ton! I was up on the small stage for awhile with some other people and friends from my group :) It was a great time. We got bored of the music in that club so we moved to the Irish club. This bar was really busy by the time we moved over to it. Naturally, I ended up on the counter dancing the night away ! haha. It is just too much fun to pass up opportunities to dance up high off the floor!  Both bars played a lot of American music and some Turkish music as well. American club music is VERY popular in Turkey. You hear it EVERYWHERE! In the mall, in the stores, at the water parks, beaches, restaurants, bars, dance clubs, etc. We were out pretty late and headed back to our hotel in the early hours of the next day so we could get a few hours of sleep before getting up to go sightseeing again. 

That day we hung out at the hotel again after sightseeing and I went to the beach to relax for a few hours. At night we went out again to places near our hotel along the beach. It was a great two days in Kusadasi! :)

There are pictures from Kusadasi below, enjoy!!!! :)

Our hotel for two nights! 

View of beach from the top of our hotel!

Dining area on the roof of out hotel!

Roof top pool! :)

The blue glass eye, you see this EVERYWHERE in Turkey!

Beach on the Aegean Sea coast!

Sunset on the sea :) :)

We went to the bar street in Kusadasi! It was a great time! :)

I ordered a Broadway cocktail, it was good! :)

It's not a good dance party unless I'm up on a table, stage, or counter top! :) I just love to dance!!! haha!

View of bar from the counter top!

Where to go on a hot summer day in Eskisehir!

Eskisehir is a huge city with a lot of buildings but not a lot of recreational areas and parks.
We live right in the center of the city right next to a huge shopping mall called Espark. Eskpark is as westernized as it gets in Turkey, most of the stores play American music.

Anyways,

When it got hot the first couple weeks here we went looking for some places to cool off in the water.

We found two great places to go to in the area! One place is called Kent Park and the other is Aqua Park!

Kent Park is a park around 15 minutes away by the tram that goes through Eskisehir. Part of park is open to the public during the day and there is a huge pond with brick walkways and a bridge. There are a lot of small cafe restaurants around and a stage for events. When you walk across the bridge and go straight there is a manmade beach that has an entrance fee of 5 Lira. There is a long stretch of a sand with beach chairs and umbrellas scattered about. You walk out of the sand up to a giant long pool that is deepest in the middle. The water is always nice, sometimes a bit cold though and it takes a few minutes to get used to it. There is always a lot of space in the pool for swimming every time I go. I like to swim some strokes for exercise, especially the backstroke! This is a good and inexpensive place to go and relax for a few hours while getting a nice tan! :)

Aqua Park is a small waterpark about 20-25 minutes away from our apartment. A shuttle's comes by Eapark mall every hour from 9:00-14:00 to pick people up free of charge to the watermark. It is only 25 Lira to enter the park for students. We showed our Anadolu IDs to the receptionists to get the discount. :) The park has one big pool that only gets as deep as a few inches over 5 ft. There is also a smaller kids pool with waterslides and a small play structure with slides. Also, a water park isn't a waterpark without a lot of body slides and tube slides! :) The park has 1 wide body slide and three narrower racing body slides. There is also a water ride that is a body slide ridevwhere you slide into a giant bowl and fall into a pool of water in the middle! There is one exactly like it at Kalahari, this ride was my favorite at the water park. There are also an open tube slide and a closed in dark tube ride. There is also one morw ride that I have never seen anywhere before. It is a a big yellow U like a skateboard ramp. You start at one end at the top and a worker pushed or spins you so you drop down the ramp. The drop is the best part, especially when the worker gives you a really good spin! :) You drop down fast and go up each side of the U until you stop in the middle and get off. It is best to go with someone in a double tube because the extra weight makes the tube drop faster and go up higher! This was a really fun ride! :) There was also a place to sit and eat at tables on the sun or in the shade away from the pool and rides, which was nice! The only annoying thing is that you have to get a card and put money on it if you want to eat or drink anything.

I have been to Kent park a few times and I've gone to Aqua park twice. Kent park doesn't compare to a real beach and Aqua Park doesn't compare to U.S. waterpark but both were really fun places to go while in Eskisehir! I probably won't go back to Aqua Park but I plan on going to Kent Park at least one more time after my exam! :)

I will write my posts about my 10 days of travel slowly over the next week or two. I will still have a lot to say once I'm home so those who are still keeping up with my blog please keep reading it the next few weeks! :)

Saglik Pide!! :D

Hey Everyone!

I know I haven't posted in a while, I apologize for that! I've been keeping very busy in Turkey.

I still haven't had time to sit down and write long posts about my travels since my class has kept me preoccupied this week. So, for now I will write a post about my favorite restaraunt in Eskisehir! :)

My favorite restaurant is called Saglik Pide and it is soooooo good! The first dish pictured below is called izgara kofte. It is meatballs served with pita bread. My favorite meal is the second meal pictured, izgara kofte yogurtlu. This is meatballs served with pita bread, a red tomato sauce, and yogurt. I have had this dish at least five times! Every time I have it it is just as good as the last! Seriously, I'm not joking, it is that good! :)

The third meal pictured is called Beyti Lokma! It is a tortilla with meat inside and the very delicious red tomato sauce on top!  The spices in this dish are very good! :) :d 

Also, you cannot go to Turkey for a meal and pass up a cay! All the people in Turkey drink tea constantly! I like it a lot now, especially with a lot of sugar added :)

This restaurant has a menu that doesn't disappoint! I've had the lentil soup there and it is soooo good! Iskender is another dish I've had that I've really liked! It is very similar to izgara kofte yogurtlu but instead of meatball the meat is thin slices of beef! SO GOOD! :) :d

I am going to miss this restaurant!!!!! :( :( :(

I saved a menu so I can try to find recipes for the dishes and attempt to cook them. It will never be the same but it is worth a shot to have these delicious meals again! 

Turkish food is good! :) :) :d :d

Izgara Kofte

 Izgara Kofte (Yogurtlu)

Beyti Lokma

Cay

~Saglik Pide Menu~ 

Back in Eskisehir

Hi all!

I am back safely in Eskisehir after 10 days of traveling around turkey! I can't even explain right now how amazing the past 10 days were! From seeing ancient cities above and under ground to taking a boat cruise to flying above Cappadocia in a hot air balloon, it was so much fun! I will have a lot of posts up about all the places I've been to and all the things I've done; so, get ready to see a lot about my travels on my blog!!! Please keep looking at my blog for updates for the next two weeks!  :)

Thanks!

Remember,

Life is an adventure! :)

Merhaba!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to say that I won't be doing posts until next week about what I've been up to since I will be away from Eskisehir until Sunday. We went to Ephesus this past weekend and it was amazing! This week we planned a trip of our own and traveled to Marmaris. If any of you are curious about it look it up! :) it's really fun here and we will be here until Thursday night. We went on a Jeep Safari today and are planning on going on a boat cruise tomorrow! Friday we head to Cappadocia! I will have a lot of posts about all the places I've been to up next week! So stay tuned! :)