now in Istanbul

Hey all--

another quick post as I am in between touring by day and going out by night.

I arrived in Istanbul last Saturday and so far, I am loving it. I am staying with Tolga for a majority of the time, but I am also (currently) staying with Arin who is another AFS student who lived in Waukesha. Its wonderful to be able to have such great and familiar hosts because it means that I can really experience Istanbul not just in terms of the architecture and history, but also in terms of the culture, people and homelife.

In the last three days, I have done a lot of the tourist stuff (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace) but also just met Tolga and Arin's friends, gone to bars and nargile (hookah/sheesha) cafes and eaten some great home cooked meals. I haven't seen Tolga in 10 years and Arin in 3, but we've seemed to pick up right where we left off. With Tolga its fun because when he was in the US 10 years ago, I was 11 and he was 18 so there was a gap between us in terms of development. But now, I am 21 and he is 27, and though there is the same age gap, we can relate more and hang out as friends rather than annoying little sister/ too-cool-for-school older brother.

Tonight I will be going out with Arin's friends, tomorrow Tolga and I will be sailing the high sea to Prince's island in his AFS friend's boat, and Friday we will be road tripping to the south of Turkey to stay at Tolga's family's summer home.

I am hoping to be able to fully update yall on my intellecutal musings from the past 3 weeks when I arrive back in Athens and have a few days of downtime to upload pics and sit at the computer all day long.

Side note: My blog access has recently been limited because when I go to my blog page, the words in top are always in the language of the country that I'm in. Since I am not too skilled in reading Greek, Arabic or Turkish I always need assistance before I am find the button to push for "sign in." O, the troubles and hardships that I must go through.

Quick Update

Greetings my loyal followers! 

It has been a minute or two since I was last able to write so sorry for that.  Right now I am living the dream in Cairo, Egypt.  There is so much to say about this trip that I don't know where to start. I've experienced everything from the Pyramids to the Valley of the Kings to nasty Egyptian men commenting body to American-themed British parties to meeting incredible people to boat rides on the nile to riding in a $60,000 Audi thats been to Darfur and back to road tripping through the Egyptian desert AND MORE.  These last (almost) 3 weeks have been a whirlwind of experiences to fill a lifetime.  I have learned so much--not just about modern and ancient Egypt, but about myself, my limitations, my abilities and my perception on people and the world.  

Since I have a slough of topics that I want to touch on, I will save this wall post for when I have more time. Right now I am headed downtown Cairo to a Synagogue with a bunch of British friends that I met over the last few weeks.  I have recently experienced many non-Middle East things in Cairo, but not yet have I experienced the Jewish Middle East. I'm excited. 

Before I sign off, I will share with yall my mostly-finalized itinerary for the rest of the summer.

May 30-June 10: Istanbul, Turkey and some time on the western coast/Aegean Sea with Tolga (my Turkish AFS brother who lived with our family in 1999)

June 10-June 23: return to Athens, travel throughout Greece. Possible destinations: Thessaloniki, Sparta, Delphi

June 24-July 1: Greek Islands of Mykonos and Santorini

July 2-July 5: Dublin, Ireland

July 5-July 15: Galway Ireland

July 15: return to my homeland of Wisconsin, live in Waukesha as I once did in a former life.

July ??-July ??:  trip to Washington DC mainly to have a Egypt 2006 reunion and visit Khalid but also to see various other friends who will be there 

August 10: move to Madison to begin MRC training

August 10-May 2009: clinical depression begins as I resume a normal life 

the art of relaxation

ya sas! 

In the last week or so, I have been able recall why its called "the lazy days of summer."  I have been in Athens for almost a week now and while we have been going out into the city, doing some shopping, walking around different neighborhoods, we really have nothing pressing to do.  When I made plans to come here, I kind of just, bought the ticket.  I didn't really consider what the plans were.   Up until yesterday I was feeling really guilty that I wasn't doing anything "productive,"  but then I talked to my parents and I was reminded that for the rest of my life I will have something productive to do.  Never again (well, maybe when I retire, if there is such a thing as retirement when I get to be 60) will I be able to sit around for days on end, watch re-runs and movies from the 80s on TV and sleep til 11 am every day.  In Spain, I surely was spoiled and my life was more relaxed than it was in the US, but I still had papers to do, classes to go to and deadlines to meet.  But here in Greece this is like VAY-CAY-SHUN! Thus, the title of this album, the art of relaxation. That is, you really have to know how to do it to enjoy it.

Next week Tuesday I will be heading to Cairo! After writing in my Facebook status update Maria is "going to Cairo in a month" and after telling a few Egyptians that I would be in Cairo, I remembered what Egyptian culture is all about: hospitality, hospitality and more hospitality.   I got offers to be picked up from the airport, to be taken out to dinner, to stay at people's homes, to go out for coffee.  I'll be flying to Cairo by myself, but I have the idea that I won't be alone while I'm here.  

I am trying to plan a trip to Istanbul for late May/ early July, but I don't have a travel buddy for that trip. So at this point I am trying to contact the Turkish people I know there and see what I can conjure up.  

I would like to try to tell all about what's new and surprising in Greece, but to be honest, there's not a lot new and surprising.  I am not as "immersed" in Greek culture as I was in Spanish, and I am living with Georgia who is Greek, but also American,  so I do understand that I am not getting the full cultural experience.  But even if I was, I question how different things would be.  Yesterday, Georgia and I went downtown Halandri (the subburb that we live in) and found ourselves stopping by Hagen Daas to use the bathroom, then heading to Zara and Bershka to shop.  Zara and Bershka are found all over Europe and the prices are in Euros.  The music they played was by artists like India Arie and Chris Brown.  The names of the clothing articles are all in english (T-Shirt, Blouse, Bags, Jacket).  The only thing that reminded me that I was in another country was when a woman asked me something in Greek and I just stared at her dumbfoundedly.   

Something I realized since I came to Europe is that I always find myself with tons of change.  Very rarely do I just have bills in my wallet.  It has gotten worse since I came to Greece. This is why:  One of my weaknesses in the Spanish language is numbers. If someone says to me "that will be 45.87,"  I don't even try to process the rest of the number I just hear "cuarenta," round up, and give them a 50.  Thus, I end up with almost 5 euros in change. It was especially bad at the beginning because I couldn't tell the difference between Euro change.

Especially here in Greece where I can't understand a dang word (except for thank you, yes and no) I hope to GOd that there is a computer screen that will show the price and otherwise just hand over the biggest bill that I've got.  

By the way: way to go, Maria , for choosing to go to the only European country with non-latin alphabet.  Other than recalling what the lazy days of summer are (when at home relaxing in the apartment), I am also recalling my first few days (wait, no, the whole 6 weeks) that I was in Egypt. I am beginning to be able to recognize signs and words, but by no means can I read Greek.  For example, if you put the greek words for Pharmacy and Theater in front of me, I can discern them.  But if you told me to say what they are right now or spell them, not gonna happen.  

Much love yall, until next time. 

a continuar...

            The goodbye dinner was wonderful, my roommate Ojilve made chicken and salad and rice (while Luis helped by cutting up some fruit.) I made a cold cous cous salad with feta, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions.  My roomies also surprised me with a “Happy Birthday Miss Wisconsin” cake at the end!  They are such great people and I was so lucky to have been placed with them.  We weren’t great friends nor did we spend all our time together, but I always felt comfortable coming home and I got to know each one at different points during the semester. If I ever make it to Latin America or the Caribbean, I have homes in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

            Leaving the Resedencias last night was really odd. I only lived there for 4 months, but upon leaving for the last time I realized that felt such an attachment to that place. It’s the shittiest shithole I’ve ever lived in, what with the nazi graffiti on the signs, the bathrooms smelling like sulfur, the unreliable and awfully slow internet connection and the broken heaters in 0 degree weather, but despite all that, what a great four months I’ve spent there. 

            Many times I was frustrated being surrounded by Americans all day long. I had classes with only American students, I traveled almost every weekend with Americans and the when I went out, I at least started the night with Americans.  But in the end, I realized how many connections with Spanish and Latin American people I made.  Just starting in the last month, I would find I was the only American a group of Spanish people.  Even though I had a cell phone for the whole 4 months, I actually started using it in the last month.  In fact in this last week, my cell phone was blowing up! I was getting calls and texts from people left and right: something that did not happen 2 months ago.  I was even invited out for drinks and to people's houses in Alcalá.  Great timing, eh?

And in terms of spending a lot of time with Americans...While it may not have been the best way to culturally immerse myself, it was great having people in the same situation around.  Seeing that my roommates were all masters or doctorate students in law, computer science, engineering and business administration, they did not have the same semester goals that I did.  They were were not able to travel every weekend or go out every Wednesday night to Nivola.  For that reason, it was great having other people on my program to do those things with.  And in fact, I hung out most with people from UW Madison who interestingly enough, I had never met before.  It is very interesting that we all grouped together and it could be for a variety of reasons: we all lived in the Residencias, we all have common backgrounds, we could talk about people and places which were familiar to all of us.  But at the same time, there were other people in the residencias and there were other people whose backgrounds were more in common with my own, but I still ended up chillin with Madison people.  Figure that one out.  

So now when I get back to Madison, I have a group of new buds with whom I can spend time, rave about Spain, share Residencia gossip, swear in Spanish and most importantly, drink wine and calimochos (a drink popular in Spain made with Coke and cheap boxed red wine). Ahh...thinking of all that me pone triiisssteee!  

So as you can tell from my blog, there have been ups and downs throughout the semester but it was DEFINITELY a positive experience. As I sit here now in Georgia's Athens apartment I cant believe its done.  I'm most sad I wasn't able to develop relationships with a lot of the Spanish, Latin American and Arab people that I was just getting to know,  but at least we all have Facebook, MSN messenger and Tuenti (a facebook-type site that is popular in Spain).  

Well, I need to move on to a happy story to keep me from going on to Facebook and flipping through everyone's pictures.  

Today, as Georgia and I were opening her Athens apartment and listening to the Cuban group Orishas, I realized I accomplished one of my life goals in the last week.  Have you ever seen Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights?  Well, that's one of my favorite movies and I watched it several times last summer over and over (when I was unemployed).  After watching it, I was enamorada with the scrawny Cubano main character.  It became one of my life goals to dance with a Cubano.  Turns out I met a guy in Alcalá who is Cuban, and who has a real name but who everyone calls Cubano anyway.  Turns out I see him at a party and turns out that we dance. together.  just like I had always dreamed.  life is good. 

Speaking of the good life, I am now in Greece with my friend Georgia. I have been here since yesterday, and so far we have just been relaxing.  Since we are the first people here since last August, we had to open the apartment and do a bunch of cleaning.  So we did that yesterday and today, went to the grocery store, and then moved in our stuff.  I didn't realize how pooped I was until I had a moment to sit down and relax.  But now that its just Georgia and me in this quiet apartment in northern Athens, windows open and birds chirping, I can't peel myself off this couch.  

I wrote about this earlier, about not knowing anything about Athens, but when I arrived to this city, I realized that I am really helpless without Georgia.  Luckily, she is very helpful and doesn't mind speaking and translating for me.  But let's be honest with ourselves, I do not know a ANYTHING in this language.  I can't say excuse me when I want to pass someone or thank you for the waiter bringing me food.  I can't even read a dang menu at a café or labels at the grocery store.  When we went this morning, I was just picking things up and being like "wellll, this looks like what I normally eat."  Also, luckily, its a Carrefour grocery store (just like they have in Spain) so I was able to recognize a lot of the same products and buy some of the things that I usually did in Spain ( I can't believe I'm writing about Spain in past tense!).  It's strange going from a country where I was finally able to communicate and where people were asking why I could speak the language so well to a place where I turn into a complete mute.  Being such an independent person, it is rather frustrating, but it also makes me more inspired to learn some Greek phrases.  Right now, I'm trying to learn the alphabet so I can at least start sounding things out and thus, be able to write down the words that I learn.  

So the plan for the rest of today is research Greece, take a siesta, watch Spanish movies that I stole from my roommate's pindrive and then make dinner. 

Downtown Athens tomorrow.

Reminder: my birthday, May 9th. 

 

On my way to athens

FEWSH!

 

I’m in the airport right now waiting to board my flight to Athens.  What a week it has been.  There are so many things that could have gone wrong, but luckily, Alhamdulillah, everything has gone well. Let me explain:

 

1.                     Exams:  I finished exams Tuesday morning and got 2 of 4 grades back. Both A’s.  I just made it with a 93 and 94 in those classes.  With the amount of studying I did this semester, that is quite a miracle. Fewsh. 

2.                     Packing:  Since I am going to Greece, which is an inter-Europe flight, I was limited to 28 kilos of luggage total.  20 for the checked and 8 for the carry on.  I had to send some stuff home.  I had three options:  send a suitcase home with a friend, UPS or Correos (Spainish post).  After checking all the prices, Correos told me it would be 115 Euros to send a 20 kilo box of stuff to the US, UPS told me 300 and United is $200 for an extra suitcase.  I obviously went with Correos.  I was stupid enough to put this task off until the day before I left just because I just didn’t want to deal with it.  (One of the things about studying abroad that you realize is that if you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you). SO, I finally lugged all my winter clothes and shoes to the post office and after having to go in and out of line several times after being advised what to and what not to do, I finally got the dang box sent to good ol’ Oakview Dr.  And although I had to pay 95 Euros, it was less than I expected. Fewsh.

3.                     Transportation Strike:  Georgia’s mom sent Georgia an email yesterday telling her about the public transportation strike in Athens, of all days, today (Friday).  So we had two issues to deal with. 1) Would our flight to Athens be canceled since it we are flying with a public Greek airline? And 2) How would we get from the airport to the apartment?  Luckily, Georgia’s mom got in contact with her uncle who lives in Athens and he 1) called the airline for us this morning and then called Georgia to let us know that the flight was still on and 2) will be picking us up from the airport. Fewsh.

4.                     Luggage Weight:  On the Olympic Air website, it says that for every kilo over the regulations, you have to pay 15 Euros.  I looked high and low in the Resedencias and there was no scale to be found, so basically I was shitting my pants thinking I was going to have to pay upwards of 100 Euros in overweight fees.  We get to the airport.  I’m wearing 6 layers of shirt, one light sweater, a scarf and a spring jacket. And tennis shoes.  I was obviously trying to wear as much as I could on my body so that it wouldn’t add to the weight of my suitcases.  We get to the ticket counter.  Put the bags on.  JODERRRR, my big one was 24 kilos and the smaller one was 10 kilos.  (and I had a purse with my computer and a huge book in it, which I was trying to hide behind the counter so that the airline people wouldn’t see).  As I stand there sweating like a pig (not in any reference to swine flu, by the way), I get ready to pay (6 kilos x 15 Euros=) 90 Euros and then the man was like, “Well, here’s yalls tickets!” and then Georgia and I took our tickets, trying our best not to make eye contact with the people at the ticket counter.  We walk around the corner and then jump up and down in celebration that we just saved 200 Euros.  FA-YEWSH.

 

 

So its 2 hours later and we are now on the flight to Athens.  Hasta luego, España! Que triste.  Although Thursday was technically my last day, I celebrated the “despedida” on Wednesday.  First of all, Jan, Lauren and I headed to Parque Retiro in Madrid to drink wine (which we later found out is highly illegal in el Parque Retiro) and take in some sun.  There’s also a pond in the middle, so of course we had to rent a rowboat for a while.  On our way back home, we passed El Prado (the famous art museum) and it occurred to Lauren that she had never seen Las Meninas before.  It also just happened to be that it was 6:05 and the hours of free entry are from 6-8 pm every weekday.  Jackpot!

            We speed walked to the entrance, picked up our free ticket and ran to the entrance (we had to get home soon to prep the “cena de despedida.”)  Before being able to enter, we had to pass our bags through a machine like they have at the airport.  First, Lauren was stopped as the woman turned the screen around asked “What is this?” 

            Lauren answered “ Umm.. es para el vino,” as she wasn’t exactly sure how to say “It’s the corkscrew with the cork still on it.” Then they stopped Jan who was right behind her because there was a large object inside her bag.  Jan pulls out an empty bottle, the woman security guard looks disgusted and the man just laughs and lets us though.

            We booked it to the Las Meninas room and then back to the Atocha Renfe station to get back to Alcalá.    

 

 

We’re about to land, must close laptop.

officially done

hola chicos y chicas

i have finished all my exams for the semester. my semester in spain is over.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

4 months is no where near long enough to really, thoroughly learn anything. sure my spanish has improved, i have met tons of people from all over the world, and I have had wonderful travel experiences. But I have yet to see Flamenco show (other than the one I saw at the UW Memorial Union Theather). I still have only enjoyed Madrid nightlife once, and limited are the times that I've spent with just Spaniards. I obviously cannot complain about the amazing last semester that I've had, but there are still many things that I have yet to.

I chose this shorter study abroad program because I was planning on going to Sudan for a wedding on May 5 and having and AIESEC traineeship this summer, but in the end that didn't work out. I am really sad that the trip to Sudan didn´t work out ( a tear falls everytime an Arabic song comes on my ipod) but again, I can´t complain because I have a crazy amazing summer coming up.

I am leaving for Athens on friday at 12:55 PM and we´ll arive around 5 pm.
I really have no idea of what to expect in Greece. I know that I'll be staying with Georgia in her family's apartment in Athens. I know they have air conditioning and that Georgia's aunt and uncle live below us. I also know how to say ''I want water, please'' in Greek (Theló neró s'para kaló,) but that is about it. Oh, and I have checked out some NYT travel section slideshows on Athens. I am diving straight in without really knowing anything

I´ll be in Greece with Georgia until May 12th (we are thinking of going to Sparta for a few days) and then on May 12th, I´ll be heading to Cairo until May 23 (just bought my ticket a few days ago!).

At first I was really nervous about returning to Egypt after being there 3 years ago because I realized that when I was there last time, I had everything made for me. The airport pickup, the itnerary, the meals, a place to stay. But then after starting to contact all my American and Egyptian friends, I remembered I have nothing to worry about. I have a place to stay for all 10 days, a friend is picking me up for the airport and my AFS host family told me I can come over whenever. Although the host family then added that added that they´ll be there ''Inshallah.'' So I'm hoping that God is, in fact, willing that day.

WEll I was going to add more, but I have to head to our "graduation" and the "entrega de diplomas."  Hasta pronto! 

mission accomplished

This will be short, since I should be studying for my exams coming up next week.  

So last night there was hippie themed party in the Residencias sponsored by the Residencia committee or something. It was 10 Euro to get in and for an open bar.  So of course after one or two drinks I became a little more social and began to work the crowd. I met some random guy and we began talking. After a few minutes he asked me where I was from and I told him "from the United States, as you can probably tell from my accent."  

and here's where it gets good:

His response was " No, you don't have an accent."  

i dont have an aaaccent, i dont have an  aaaccent ! ! ! !  

how exciting is that?