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Sorry it's been awhile, folks! In my brief hiatus, some exciting things have happened in my life. Probably the most imporant, is that I got engaged. Stephen came to visit for a week and popped the question in Herastrau Park last Tuesday. Being abroad presented some interesting challenges. For example, ring is about a half a size too big, but I have to wait til I get home to resize it. And you have to call family/friends on Skype, which means a lot of people don't pick up the unknown number. It's also rough saying goodbye to your brand new fiance when you know you won't be home for another 4 weeks. Oh well, life goes on!
I also moved out the Baneasa, one of the suburb areas of Bucharest. I hesitate to call it a suburb, because it's actually crappier than the inner city. Europe is so backwards. However, I do get to live in a really nice house (a house in Europe, I know, didn't know they existed), for the next 3 weeks. And there are two cats that live with me, though they're quite shy and don't hang out with me as much as I would like. I have to take the bus into the city to go to work, which takes about 45 minutes. Another downside- I can't get in very much outdoor running, since there are no sidewalks and the drivers are crazy. However, this family has a membership to the gym/spa next door, which I can use while I'm here. It's actually really nice and has a hot tub and I can get my weekday runs done there. But I'm going to have to bus into the city to do my long runs on the weekend.
Also, Stephen located an apartment for us to move to when our lease is done at the end of August. We'll be moving downtown, which will be a nice change. We'll be on the 10th floor, which I'm sure Thor kitty will get a kick out of.
Next weekend, I'm taking a short, one night trip to Constanta, which is a city on the Black Sea. I went there last time I was in Romania (October 2008), but it was the off-season and not very nice. I'm hoping to spend some quality time with a beach while I'm there!
And it's official. I've bought my train pass to go to Sofia, Bulgaria and Belgrade, Serbia during the 5 days I have after my internship is done before I fly home. I'm excited about it, but it'll also probably involve some pretty miserable moments. I'm spending 4 nights on the road, 2 of which will be on an overnight train, and 2 of which will be in a sketchy Eastern European hostel.
Last but not least - I am getting very ready to come home. It's been fun, but I just want to go home. I have about 3 weeks left, then a couple days in Baltimore chillin' with siblings/friends, and then home to KC. So ready.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Not Constantinople
Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up here! Got back Tuesday from my long weekend in Istanbul with my friend, Natalie. I had a really great time and Istanbul definitely ranks up there in my favorite cities.
We both arrived in the Istanbul airport around noon on Saturday (I arrived from Bucharest, Natalie from Geneva). After a relatively easy tram ride downtown, we checked into our “hotel”, which was barely a step up from a hostel. We spent that afternoon/evening at a restaurant down the street, watching Germany destroy Argentina and catching up (it’d been a year since we’d last seen each other).
The next day, we hit up most of the major attractions in Istanbul. We started with the Blue Mosque, since our hotel was right across the street from it. It’s really pretty hard to describe how massive the outside of this mosque is and its position in the skyline of Istanbul. The inside was beautiful, though less impressive than how it looks outside. While this wasn’t the first mosque I’d been in, it always surprises me a little to see the fence that separates the area where women are allowed and where they’re not. And the small patch in the back where Muslim women were allowed to pray. No commentary, just interesting. Next, we headed over to Istanbul’s most famous attraction – the Aya Sofya. This was the opposite of the Blue Mosque – I wasn’t a fan of the outside, but the inside was by far the most interesting building I’ve ever seen. Built in the 6th century by the Byzantines to serve as a church, it was converted to a mosque after the Ottoman takeover. Nowadays, it’s a museum, but it looks like a mosque with mosaics of Jesus all over the place. It’s also a massive building with no support columns. And my favorite part was the kitten that was “sunbathing” in the spotlight at the altar. Next, we headed under the city to the underground cisterns. Basically, it’s where the water supply was for a really long time. Now it’s a massive, creepy, dark space covered in water and columns. There are also two Medusa heads that no one knows where came from. It was a pretty interesting space. That night, we hung out at a small restaurant by our hotel and enjoyed a Turkish Delight (nasty candy) flavored hookah.
The next day was primarily devoted to shopping at the Grand Bazaar, which is absolutely massive – over 4,000 shops and employs over 30,000 people. Though primarily for tourists nowadays, it was created in like the 6th century. Natalie and I had a good time trying to avoid all the really pushy shop owners. They enjoy yelling out what nationality they think you are (the strangest we got was Japanese, though German was more common) and asking if Natalie (who’s 6’1” and rail thin) and I were sisters. After a morning of that, we headed over to another mosque, which was closed for renovation and ended up at a restaurant inhabited completely by locals and where no one on the wait staff spoke English. That was interesting; still not entirely sure what I ordered/ate. Then we stopped by Istanbul University, which is massive, with over 60,000 undergraduate students. We finished off the day by attempting (and failing) to go on a Bosphorus River cruise, and ended up instead at the Galata Tower, which gave us a fabulous view of the city.
The next day, we only had a couple of hours to sightsee before having to head to the airport. Spent the morning at the Spice Bazaar and some really ritzy Turkish Delight shops, had another excellent meal and headed out.
I think my favorite thing about Istanbul was all the kitties everywhere. So cute!
Anyway, Stephen comes in two days (yay!). Then I move the suburbs for 3 weeks. Then I've decided to take the train to Sofia, Bulgaria and Belgrade, Serbia for that last week before I come home. Not that far off, strangely!
We both arrived in the Istanbul airport around noon on Saturday (I arrived from Bucharest, Natalie from Geneva). After a relatively easy tram ride downtown, we checked into our “hotel”, which was barely a step up from a hostel. We spent that afternoon/evening at a restaurant down the street, watching Germany destroy Argentina and catching up (it’d been a year since we’d last seen each other).
The next day, we hit up most of the major attractions in Istanbul. We started with the Blue Mosque, since our hotel was right across the street from it. It’s really pretty hard to describe how massive the outside of this mosque is and its position in the skyline of Istanbul. The inside was beautiful, though less impressive than how it looks outside. While this wasn’t the first mosque I’d been in, it always surprises me a little to see the fence that separates the area where women are allowed and where they’re not. And the small patch in the back where Muslim women were allowed to pray. No commentary, just interesting. Next, we headed over to Istanbul’s most famous attraction – the Aya Sofya. This was the opposite of the Blue Mosque – I wasn’t a fan of the outside, but the inside was by far the most interesting building I’ve ever seen. Built in the 6th century by the Byzantines to serve as a church, it was converted to a mosque after the Ottoman takeover. Nowadays, it’s a museum, but it looks like a mosque with mosaics of Jesus all over the place. It’s also a massive building with no support columns. And my favorite part was the kitten that was “sunbathing” in the spotlight at the altar. Next, we headed under the city to the underground cisterns. Basically, it’s where the water supply was for a really long time. Now it’s a massive, creepy, dark space covered in water and columns. There are also two Medusa heads that no one knows where came from. It was a pretty interesting space. That night, we hung out at a small restaurant by our hotel and enjoyed a Turkish Delight (nasty candy) flavored hookah.
The next day was primarily devoted to shopping at the Grand Bazaar, which is absolutely massive – over 4,000 shops and employs over 30,000 people. Though primarily for tourists nowadays, it was created in like the 6th century. Natalie and I had a good time trying to avoid all the really pushy shop owners. They enjoy yelling out what nationality they think you are (the strangest we got was Japanese, though German was more common) and asking if Natalie (who’s 6’1” and rail thin) and I were sisters. After a morning of that, we headed over to another mosque, which was closed for renovation and ended up at a restaurant inhabited completely by locals and where no one on the wait staff spoke English. That was interesting; still not entirely sure what I ordered/ate. Then we stopped by Istanbul University, which is massive, with over 60,000 undergraduate students. We finished off the day by attempting (and failing) to go on a Bosphorus River cruise, and ended up instead at the Galata Tower, which gave us a fabulous view of the city.
The next day, we only had a couple of hours to sightsee before having to head to the airport. Spent the morning at the Spice Bazaar and some really ritzy Turkish Delight shops, had another excellent meal and headed out.
I think my favorite thing about Istanbul was all the kitties everywhere. So cute!
Anyway, Stephen comes in two days (yay!). Then I move the suburbs for 3 weeks. Then I've decided to take the train to Sofia, Bulgaria and Belgrade, Serbia for that last week before I come home. Not that far off, strangely!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
From Craiova to Istanbul
Shortly after I wrote last week’s post, I took a day-long trip to Craiova, which is Romania’s 6th largest city. I went with a Romanian co-worker and we attended a presentation/round table on the closing of a democracy building grant the Embassy had awarded a non-profit there. The actual programming was pretty boring for me, since it was all in Romanian and I couldn’t understand it. However, that was all redeemed afterwards, with a massive, traditional Romanian meal. We ate at a small restaurant that is connected to an Orthodox church, and run by the priest’s wife. It lasted nearly 3 hours, and was pretty tasty. I though the appetizer was the main course, but then came the soup, coffee, main course, and dessert. And, of course, copious amounts of wine. This was during some orthodox holiday (something about Peter and Paul) that required them all not to eat meat, so everything was veggie, down to the last soy schnitzel. The train ride was about 3 hours each way, so I naturally slept sitting up with my mouth wide open, in typical Bethany fashion.
As for my day-to-day life, things are pretty much the same. I’ve been running a lot in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. So a lot of my time is spent running around the massive park by my apartment. So far no dog attacks, though I did have one run 2 miles with me once. I got paid for the first time today, which is good. I survived on 50 lei (about $15) for the last 3 weeks and I was running low on food! I did have a low moment a few days ago, when I was feeling very lonely and homesick. This is not like study abroad, where everyone is your age and everybody wants to be your best friend. Most people here have their own lives and families and friends. And I knew all of this going into it, but not having a close friend or family member around can start to grate on you after awhile! Fortunately, I see Natalie this weekend and Stephen in a couple weeks, so I’ll get recharged.
Speaking of this weekend, as I mentioned before, I will be in Istanbul with Natalie, my friend from Vienna who is living in Switzerland right now. I’ll be there from Saturday morning to Tuesday night. I’m hoping to hit all the main sights (Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Bosphorus River, and the Grand Bazaar) without going completely broke buying baklava and Turkish coffee. :) I’ll post after I get back and share some pictures. Happy 4th of July to my American friends and family! Eat a brat, drink a beer, and blow something up for me!!
As for my day-to-day life, things are pretty much the same. I’ve been running a lot in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. So a lot of my time is spent running around the massive park by my apartment. So far no dog attacks, though I did have one run 2 miles with me once. I got paid for the first time today, which is good. I survived on 50 lei (about $15) for the last 3 weeks and I was running low on food! I did have a low moment a few days ago, when I was feeling very lonely and homesick. This is not like study abroad, where everyone is your age and everybody wants to be your best friend. Most people here have their own lives and families and friends. And I knew all of this going into it, but not having a close friend or family member around can start to grate on you after awhile! Fortunately, I see Natalie this weekend and Stephen in a couple weeks, so I’ll get recharged.
Speaking of this weekend, as I mentioned before, I will be in Istanbul with Natalie, my friend from Vienna who is living in Switzerland right now. I’ll be there from Saturday morning to Tuesday night. I’m hoping to hit all the main sights (Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Bosphorus River, and the Grand Bazaar) without going completely broke buying baklava and Turkish coffee. :) I’ll post after I get back and share some pictures. Happy 4th of July to my American friends and family! Eat a brat, drink a beer, and blow something up for me!!
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