Izmir, Turkey!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Thursday, August 12, 2010 11:40 AM

The following day, Wednesday the 28th, we had to wake up super early! Our tour was leaving at 7:30am! So we got up early and ate a little bit then headed out to Izmir. Our tour guide's name was Alif, but he let us call him Ali. Again, he seemed to be exactly what I thought a Turkish guy would be like. He was funny, but didn't laugh at his jokes and didn't make any hidden or unintended jokes.


Our first stop was about an hour and a half away, near the ruins of Ephesus. We were going to visit the Virgin Mary's house. On our way there I couldn't help but compare the scenery to that of Utah. Driving down the highway I was reminded of driving down I-15 from Salt Lake to Provo. It really did pay a very close resemblance to I-15. The major difference was that instead of an LDS Chapel every 2 minutes, there was a Muslim Mosque every 2 minutes. It was a scenic drive...I slept most of the way though.

Once we arrived at the Virgin Mary's house, we had to wait in a super long line to go through it. The house was very small and there wasn't a lot of room. Only about 3 or 4 people could be in the front room at once. This is where it is thought Mary came and lived after the crucifixion of Christ. It was cool to be able to visit this very sacred site. Just outside the house was a fountain. The tour guide gave all of us these little clay jars so we could fill it with water from the Virgin Mary's house. We did that, but the little clay jars leaked A LOT!! We had to improvise when taking the jars home.

My favorite part about visiting the Virgin Mary's house was the wall of wishes just outside the house. There was a wall where you could make a wish or leave a prayer. You would write it on a tissue or something and tie it onto the other ones hanging or onto the wall somehow. It was really cool to see all the wishes and prayers that people had left.

After we visited the Virgin Mary's house, we headed down to Ephesus. It was cool to see Ottoman ruins after having just seen Greek and before that Roman ruins. This is the place where the Ephesians lived and where the apostle Paul preached to the Ephesians. The ruins were in pretty good shape. There was also a little interactive play about gladiators from back during the Ephesians time.

After that we headed to a Turkish rug factory. It was actually really interesting to see how they make these intricate designs all by hand. They also showed us how they gathered silk from the cocoons. The people there were very friendly as well. They gave us all something to drink, I had the apple iced tea, it was delicious!

It was a very long day but a pretty cool day of seeing lots of interesting sites! Overall, I would go back to Turkey, in fact I plan to visit Istanbul next summer!

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Athens!!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Saturday, August 7, 2010 2:47 PM

The day after Croatia was a sea day, so we lounged around the pool all day. It was nice to be able to relax and try to catch up on the jet lag.

On Tuesday, the 27th, we headed to Athens, Greece! I have always wanted to visit Greece and I am definitely not done visiting Greece but I was excited to finally make it there. We went on a tour around Athens with some other cruise ship passengers. Our tour guide was named Helen and she was the epitome of what I have always imagined Greek women to be like. She was very funny, charming, kind and family oriented.

Our first stop was the Acropolis! I was so excited to be able to go see ancient Greek ruins. I feel very fortunate that I have been able to see ancient Roman and Greek ruins in the same year. The Acropolis was an amazing place. The views of the city was breathtaking from up there. Not to mention the amazing fact that the infrastructure is still in pretty good condition. I loved being up at the Parthenon. I would like to visit it again sometime but maybe when there aren't so many other people there. There were literally thousands of people, I would like to be able to appreciate the incredible structure in a quieter setting.

After the acropolis we headed to the Olympic stadium which was cool to see, since the Olympics first began in Athens. Finally after the tour part was over, we got dropped off in a little part of the city to go shopping and get some food. Of course I went straight for the gyros!! I love kebabs and gyros now!! My dad and I did a little shopping and then I wanted to walk around the town like I would've if I were backpacking. We looked at a very poorly labeled map and headed to Constitution Square. From there we walked around the city and found the cathedral and other nice parts of town.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Athens and look forward to visiting it again next summer when I take the ferry from Athens to the Greek Isles. I still have not visited the Islands and have always wanted to so that is what I plan on doing next summer!

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Dubrovnik, Croatia!!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , 2:31 PM


On Sunday, we woke up in Croatia. I guess that's once nice thing about a cruise, you don't realize you're traveling anywhere because there is so much to do on the ship so you just wake up in a different location!


We tendered from the cruise ship to the docks in Dubrovnik. We took a guided tour of the old city. It was a beautiful city. There was a lot of history there that I had never really knew about or ever really learned. The entire old city was surrounded by a wall, which was built as a fortress against different empires such as the Ottoman Empire.

The old city had a certain charm about it that made me love the country. The people were very friendly and the men weren't to hard on the eyes either. Overall I really enjoyed the short amount of time I was able to spend in Croatia. I would definitely go visit the country again.

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Venezia!!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , 2:14 PM

On July 22nd, I hoped on a plane and headed back to Italy! I was not really looking forward to the long flight but I was very much looking forward to being back in Europe and more specifically in Italy! I had my first taste of Europe, surprisingly in the airport terminal of the Newark Airport. Two little girls started playing their violins in the middle of the terminal and people were giving them money. It reminded me of the trains in Europe and all the people playing music for money.


My flight to Italy was not to bad, I watched movies and talked to the nice Italian man sitting next to me. Once I arrived in Rome, I felt right back at home! I made it to my connecting flight to Venice. My flight was a little late but I made it and met my dad at the Venice airport. I was super tired so we went straight to the hotel and I literally fell onto the bed and slept. I slept for about 2 hours and then we headed out to San Marco's Square. We walked around the city for a while and found a little place to eat. I saw a ton of backpackers and all I wanted to do was throw my backpack back on and head out with them.

We called it an early night since we were both still jet lagged. The next morning we boarded our cruise ship. It was a beautiful ship. I am not exactly the biggest advocate of cruise ships because I like to travel a little differently but I tried to keep a positive outlook. The next morning we would be waking up in Croatia!!!

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Back in America!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:35 AM

Early on July 14th, I headed to the airport and headed for Newark, New Jersey. That was my first mistake....never fly into New Jersey! I was greeted by, well...rude New Jerseyers. I immediately felt "Europe-sick". I wanted nothing more than to get back on a plane and head right back to anywhere in Europe. After tolerating the rudeness, I started making phone calls to everyone I had been missing while in Europe. It was good to catch up with my friends and family while waiting at the airport.


My flight to Richmond was supposed to leave around 4:30pm. I arrived at Newark around 2:00pm and to my disappointment, all the flights were delayed by at least two hours. After waiting for HOURS, I finally boarded a flight around 6:30pm to Richmond. I arrived around 8pm and luckily I only had my backpack so I didn't have to wait for any luggage. My mom was very excited to see me and was very hungry because she was waiting for me to have dinner. At this point, I was SUPER tired! We end up going to eat and around 9:30pm I had enough. I told my mom we had to go or else I was would fall asleep at the table! :) I know it was early but for me it was 6 hours ahead, so it was 3:30am. I went home and went right to bed...unfortunately, the jet lag took effect and I woke up around 4:30am in Virginia. I tried NOT to get over the jet lag really since I was going to Italy in a week.

Once I got home I had some goals that I needed to reach. I filed for financial aid for medical school, I went to my doctor to fill out paperwork for school, I sent in background check consent forms and I started looking for housing. I did everything within the first couple of days being back in the states. Another big goal was to purchase a car. My car was NOT going to make the trip up to Philadelphia, if it did then I know it would break down any day once I got there. I have had this car for a while and it was time for a more reliable car. I ended up purchasing a 2010 Honda Civic. I love hondas and I love civics so it was perfect for me!! I am excited for my new car!!

While being home I also had the great surprise of seeing Aimoku and Tyler!!
I ended up picking them up from Richmond Airport the day after I got home. They were in town for a wedding and it was surprisingly cheaper to fly into Richmond than into Baltimore! It was great seeing them again!! I took them for breakfast in Carytown, to the Galaxy Diner. Tyler wanted to eat at a real Diner, so I figured what better place!! :)

I also had to take the opportunity to go to Kings Dominion while I was home. The Intimidator 305 has gotten great reviews and everyone LOVES it so I HAD to go!! I went with Sarah Hill and Keenan! We had a lot of fun even though it was a bit rainy. The lines were SUPER short and the rides were soo much fun!! The Intimidator definitely lived up to all the hype!! By far one of the best roller coasters I've ever been on!!!

The rest of my time in Virginia was spent taking care of doctor's appointments, purchasing necessities like hard drives, computers, GPS. I feel a lot more prepared to start medical school now and I'm glad I came home, even if I have to endure this 10 hour flight BACK to Europe. There was no way I could have gotten everything done while in Europe.

I am currently sitting at Richmond International Airport waiting for my flight to... Newark!!! haha The pains of flying Continental! Although I actually quite like Continental, except for the whole Jersey thing. After Newark, I will board my long flight to Rome, then from there to Venice. I will arrive around 10:30am (Italy time...3:30am Virginia time).

Oh and if anyone was wondering, I'm pretty sure I finally got over my jet lag on Tuesday night...

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Last day in Barcelona!!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Tuesday, July 20, 2010 6:11 PM

On Tuesday, July 13th, I decided to get out and see more of Barcelona. On July 11th, I had decided to buy a ticket home for the 14th. I had a ton of stuff to get done before starting classes at Temple Medical School and there was no way I could get it all done from overseas, so I decided to come home for a week. You see, before I was accepted to Temple Medical School, I had planned on traveling extensively around the world until the end of December. Because I was going to be gone for so long my dad thought it would be fun to go on a cruise during that time. We found a cruise through the Adriatic sea for July 24th-31st. That was perfect because I would've been gone for a month and it would've been nice to see a familiar face. Well now that I got into Temple and have decided to come home, I find myself going right back to Europe for the cruise, only to come right back to the States and starting Medical School Orientation the day after I get back. No big deal though. :)


My last day in Barcelona, I went to places like
Olympic Park, Montjuic and Guell Park (Gaudi Park). It was cool walking around Barcelona and seeing different parts that I had neglected the whole week I was there. Gaudi park was really cool and had lots to see. The Olympic park was pretty nice as well, there was a Rugby camp practicing there as well.

After a day of walking around and getting some souvenirs, I went to the beach for one last time. I bought a doner kebab, in honor of Juliana, and then just sat at the beach. I headed back to the hotel early that night so I could wake up in time for my flight the next morning.

Wednesday morning I woke up early and headed back to the States. I got questioned over and over again at the airport because of the different flights I had. The itinerary I was starting had me going to Richmond, VA then ending in Venice, Italy. They didn't like that. I tried explaining to them my situation and they finally understood...sort of... and let me get my boarding passes.

The flight was VERY long to Newark, NJ. Then I found out my flight was delayed by at least 2 hours to Richmond. That was alright because I had a lot of phone calls to catch up on! Once I got to Richmond, my mom decided we should go out to eat. Granted it was only about 8pm but I was seriously jet lagged. To me it was 2am!! At dinner I about passed out from how tired I was. We finally made it home and I crashed around 9:30pm.

Overall, I loved my time in Barcelona and my time in Europe. There is nothing I would change about my trip. I loved the frustrations, the happiness, the stressful times, the people I met, everything!!! I loved how we traveled and where we traveled to! I would do it again in a heartbeat!

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Craziest day EVER!!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , 5:25 PM

After a few days in Barcelona, Juliana had to return to England so she could head back to Washington. So early Sunday morning, July 11th, Juliana leaves me in Barcelona and she heads back to Sheffield.

Since it was Sunday, I headed to church. I was leaving the hostel and heading to a different hotel closer to La Rambla so I took my backpack with me to church. I had a little bit of trouble finding the church since it was in the basement of an apartment building or something. Finally, feeling a little defeated by not being able to find the church, I see this nice little family in Sunday clothes so I asked if they knew where the Mormon Church was. They kindly pointed me in the right direction and then walked there with me...they were members of the church. :)

I was so happy to be in this ward for the day. The people were very kind and very friendly. I made friends with some of the ladies and exchanged emails. I was grateful I could understand everything as well. After church I headed down to the 4th hotel of my stay in Barcelona. I checked in and took a little nap.

Once I woke up I got ready and met up with the guys from Liverpool. I was all alone in Barcelona now so I was super glad I had made friends with those guys. We got a bite to eat at...McDonald's.... then headed down to the Travel Bar, "our" bar while in Barcelona. We found a table and sat down to watch the big match!!!

That night was the FINAL GAME!!! Spain vs. the Netherlands!!! It was a very frustrating game that ended up going into double overtime. Finally with just a few minutes left in double overtime...Spain SCORED!!!!!! That sealed the deal!! Spain won their FIRST WORLD CUP TITLE!!!! As expected, Spain went NUTS!!! We all headed down to La Rambla near McDonald's, weird I know but that's where everyone was gathering!!
It was probably the craziest thing I have ever experienced!! People were everywhere screaming, cheering, singing... there was soo much alcohol everywhere and people spraying alcohol all over everyone! People were going nuts for a really long time. A couple of the Liverpool crew made sure I made it back to my hotel safely that night. I'm super grateful for that because apparently after I left, some crazy stuff started happening, like some crazy guy pulled out a machete!!!

The next morning the town was a little quieter but people were still out celebrating!! I didn't get up and out of the hotel until well into the afternoon. Once I was awake enough I headed to the beach where I met up with the Liverpool crew. We spent the rest of the day on the beach just hanging out and recuperating from the long night before.

It was the guys last night in Barcelona so I decided to say goodbye at the beach and let them have their last stag night together without me tagging along. :) Turned out they didn't really do much after dinner. I was glad we had made friends with that lot of guys, they were great guys and we had tons of fun hanging out with them. Like I say, live life to the fullest and with no regrets!! Barcelona would not have been the same without meeting those guys!

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