Dublin & Northern Ireland!

Sorry, you guys. I was getting a little blogged out there for a while. But I'm back now, so all is right with the world.

After our adventures in Scotland, Kara and I met up with our good pal Emily in Dublin. After we checked into our hostel, we were able to scope out a sports bar a couple blocks from Trinity College that had the Giants vs 49ers game playing. Because this is being written weeks after the Super Bowl, I don't really need to tell you how the game ended, SINCE THE GIANTS ARE THE BEST AND STUFF. But, I digress.

WOOOO.

Okay, now I can move on.

Edinburgh!

And onwards through the British Empire we march!

After our journeys in London, Kara and I made our way to Edinburgh, Scotland. Ahh, Scotland. The home of golf, the Loch Ness monster, highland cows, haggis, and Sean Connery. What more do you need to know? Well, surprisingly, a few more things.

Our first stop in Scotland was The Elephant House. There are probably, like, four people who read that sentence and were like, "No way!" The rest of you (so, the other four) were like, "Elephant what?"

                           

London! Or, the Setting for Everything I've Ever Loved as a Child

'Ello, readers! (That's appropriate, since this post is about my travels to London.)

And what marvelous travels they were! I've always wanted to go to England, I've got family there, Harry Potter's from there, they have the best candy and they have fish and chips... the list of reasons is never-ending, really.

So you could imagine how amped I was to see this while riding the Underground:

DREAMS DO COME TRUE.

Brussels & Bruges!

Oh my gosh, you guys!

After a little stop at home and a whirlwind adventure around Europe, I'm finally back in Turkey! Crazy business, crazy adventures, but I'm glad to be back. I missed my students over the past month, and I think by now they've mellowed out over the grades they received on their Phonetics exams, so everything should be copacetic by the time my classes start later today. Inshallah.

Anways, readers, let me start from the beginning. I hopped back to my side of the Atlantic for a few days to catch up with some fam and friends, and it was great to be back. Even though it hadn't felt like I had been away for a long time, you don't always release how much you miss home until you go back. I'm really glad I went home, but I'm also glad to be back in Turkey. 

This guy!

The Holidaze in Türkiye

Long time no see, readers! Before I jump right into my European adventure posts, I didn't want to forget about my holiday season in Turkey, so if you'll bear with me, that'd be swell.

I think "holidaze" accurately portrays my experiences in Turkey over the holiday season. As the reputable source UrbanDictionary states, the word holidaze is a "term that defines the feelings of confusion and excitement people have between Thanksgiving and Christmas." Typically, I spend my holiday season down in Florida, where my family and I have a whole other bit of extended, non-related family we enjoy spending that time with. To be honest, Christmas for my family is a little different, since it's not a white Christmas and it's not cold and whatever. We celebrate Christmas for like four hours and then we go hang out at the beach. It was hard not to see those people, many of whom I have known for the better part of eight years. It wasn't sad that I wasn't spending my holiday in the sun, it was sad that I wasn't spending it with them. 

But luckily, I had a new group of great people to celebrate the holidays/holidaze with this year. And we had a real good time, if I do say so myself.

In mid-December the ETA crew in Mugla hosted about twenty of us for a Christmas extravaganza, and it was a blast. I got to see some people I hadn't seen since September, and I got to hang out with other I just love spending time with!

Like these two!

And these guys too!

 

Here's the dilemma I'm currently dealing with though: who looks better in the mini-Santa hat? You decide, readers.

The only downside to visiting the Mugla crew in their village of Akyaka was realizing that I'd have to go back to Balıkesir at the end of the weekend.

It's located on the southwestern coast of the
Mediterranean, and I hate my life.

Please don't make me leave.

We also had a really great Secret Santa/ White Elephant/ Pollyana gift exchange after an amazing Christmas dinner.

Pictured: ANTICIPATION!

I think, however, the gift I received with the real prize of the night. I mean, it could also win a prize for most terrifying, but that's neither here nor there. Thanks, EB!

 


Before Russell and I left for our comparatively dreary town of Balıkesir, we got a little bit of sunrise action in, which was BEAUTIFUL, of course.

 Bonus: Russell and I had massage seats on our bus back to Balıkesir!! Other ETAs: has this happened to you yet? I truly recommend it.

For my actual celebration of Christmas, I headed south again to Kara's town of Uşak to hang with her and Emily for the weekend. We made cookies... kind of...

It kind of turned into just one big cookie.

We had a Christmas tree!

We decorated the non-mutiliated uni-cookies!

Emily's Santa is accurate, I think.

BEST PART: TACOS FOR DINNER. It was the most super.

We also watched a ton of Christmas-y movies and made plans for our trip to Western Europe (blog posts pending).

The weekend after, Greg and I headed to Istanbul for New Years. Before the actual festivities, we joined our pal Ryan on a tour of Sultanahmet for a visit to the Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque.

Because your blog can't have enough pictures of Jesus on it.

And keeping with the theme of taking pictures of Greg taking pictures with Turks...

And then I made Greg pose like Jesus.

Pictured: sacrilege.

 We took a hop and a skip over to the Blue Mosque, which I've told you lovely readers about before. I'm just including pictures because it's one of my favorite places, that's all.

We also got lunch at the only Mexican place that I've come across in Istanbul called El Torito, which is right down the street from the Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque. They had slammin' nachos (and I know nachos) and I had a really great bowl of tortilla soup. I recommend it. Speaking of recommendations, I stayed in three hostels this weekend. Two of them, the World House Hostel in Galata and the International House in Beyoglu (right of Istiklal), were awesome. The other, Eastwest Hostel, ripped me off with the exchange rate they used to charge me. Don't stay there. Ever.

On to happier things: this döner kebap on Istiklal looked like a straight-up T-rex leg. It was ginormous.

After the discovery that Turks actually eat dinosaurs for dinner, we got ready to head out for our New Years Eve cruise down the Bosporus! 

So I can happily say I walked across AND floated under this bridge!

Even though it wasn't my typical New Years agenda, it was a blast. I got to hang out with people I like, in a country I love, all while doing something I never thought I'd ever do in my entire life. Did I mention I got to spend it with people I like?!

Not too shabby, 2011.