Istanbul By Day...

Istanbul By Night...

The Topkapi Palace is where the Sultans and the harems lived during the Ottoman Empire. It is truly a breathtaking place, one that could easily fill an entire morning of your time, as the number of rooms to go into appear to be endless. Unfortunately, while the Turks have done their best to restore the palace and keep it as in tact as possible, the amazing gardens that once complimented the regal palace no longer exist. Although, I can't imagine keeping up the gardens in today's market that Sultans once had during the Ottoman Empire would be a budget-friendly task. Instead, sans gardens, I took a liking to the fascinating and impressive tiling that is literally in every single room. You know how you might pick out really special tile lets say for your kitchen, well, the Sultan's didn't just stop there. IT IS EVERYWHERE! 

I have nothing to do today (what else is new?) so I decided the least I could do was start my day off right and get a load of laundry done. Well, an hour or so later I decided to check on my laundry only to find that I had never actually pressed start. Unfortunately for me this isn't the first time this happened ... 

I would write a proper blog-post about Istanbul except for the fact that I need to finish, edit, and print a paper in an hour. At least we can all walk away from this comforted by the fact that just because I lived abroad, I didn't change my procrastinating ways. Until then...

Up and ready to go to Istanbul. I have decided that it is in fact a very good thing that I had to wake up at 7:40 in the morning today in order to catch the 8:28 bus to catch the 8:58 train to get to the airport... confusing, I know. It is a good thing, however, because if I didn't force myself to wakeup at a normal time when most normal people wake up in the world on a daily basis, I would seriously start to question my ability to do so. Questioning my ability to wake up at 11 am, however, not so much. 

Tomorrow morning I leave for Istanbul for the long weekend. I know, not a bad way to spend what would be my Memorial Day Weekend. But, as I am in the Netherlands, the whole Memorial Day concept doesn't exactly apply. Regardless, off to Istanbul I go! I am really looking forward to the trip and having the chance to visit Turkey while I am abroad. I mean, it's not everyday that I can jet off to Istanbul. Speaking of which, I am awkwardly excited for my flight being that I get a meal onboard and can check a bag and bring not one, but two carry-ons. And you know what, it is very possible that I am going to check my bag and bring two carry on's just because. I'm pretty badass, I know. The best part is that I am meeting one of my really good friends there who is on vacation with her family. Aaaand, one of our other good friends from our sorority is also there-- interning in fact-- making for what is bound to be a fabulous weekend. 


What will I be doing while I am there? No clue. Great question. Lucky for you, I promise to write all about it, pictures included, when I return. 

I am pretty much Dutch

Today was a very exciting day. I walked into the salon that I have gone to for waxings and what not, this time for a haircut, and before I could introduce myself to the woman who was cutting my hair, she hurriedly exclaimed that she had seen me before in Bigoli. For those who are in the dark, Bigoli is a delicious sandwich shop in Utrecht that gets understandably packed around the 1:00 lunch hour. I mean, I know no one is ever going to mistake me for a local, being that I don't actually speak Dutch, and oh, you know I don't exactly look Dutch, but it is definitely exciting to be recognized by a local in one of the best local lunch places. 


What? You aren't as excited as I am? How could that be???

Another day, another blister

I walked out of my apartment today around 1:15 (I know, talk about an early start...) to go into town. After literally having the world's laziest Sunday-- i'm talking two movies, the season finale of Private Practice, and only taking off my pajamas to shower to then put on a new set of pajamas (at least I am clean!)--that for very obvious reasons I am not proud of, I decided that it was a necessity I get off my butt and go do something. Although, in my defense, there isn't anything open on Sunday's in Utrecht anyways but thats besides the point. I was wearing my favorite Lululemon leggings, flats, a t-shirt, and a cotton jacket; weather.com said it was a high of 71 and sunny. Well, 71 and sunny it may have been, but the ever unreliable weather.com forgot (surprise, surprise..) to mention that it was also terribly windy. 


While the wind may seem irrelevant to most, I have a strange fear of the wind that probably stems back to some super windy day when I was a little girl and believed I was going to be blown away. Unfortunately, to some degree, this irrational fear still exists, making bike riding in the wind one of my least favorite things to do. I know, you are probably thinking that I need some therapy or something to get over this wind-thing, and hey, you are probably right, but thats a discussion for another day. I thus made the executive decision, based on my fear of wind, that I would walk into town, as I couldn't rationalize taking the bus on such a beautiful day. Off I went-- fifty minutes later, I arrived at my favorite coffee shop, and yes my favorite barista was there, thinking that the walking into town thing seemed like so much more of a better idea before I had actually embarked on the journey. I mean, it's not exactly like town is conveniently around the corner. But then again, "convenient" is a word I have pretty much eliminated from my daily vocabulary since I got to Utrecht. 


Around 6 ish when I decided I had spent enough time in town, I began my journey back, standing at the bus stop for about 60 seconds before I gave myself a pep-talk and continued my trek. Well, guess who ended up having to stop at the grocery store, about twenty minutes into my walk, because two blisters had formed on my right heel. I swear, if I have gotten exceptionally good at anything since I have been abroad, it is always, and I mean always, wearing the wrong shoes. And, thank god that I never got my Lululemon leggings hemmed (yes, when you are 5'1 you have to even get leggings hemmed) because I pulled those babies down over my newly bandaged feet, making for a wannabe saddle-pant, tucked them into my flats, and continued on the journey home.


Will I walk into town again? Yes.
Will I wear flats? No. 
Will I start carrying Bandaids in my bag at all times? YES!!!! (I can only hope for sympathy from all of you for so long anyways...)

You know how you will drive along the same path everyday, always turning left at the exact same spot, and then one day you turn right instead, and a whole new world opens up to you? Well, that happened to me yesterday. But I was on my feet, not in a car (obviously, i'm in the Netherlands). Behind my apartment building there is more grass and sheep than the eye can see, which while it is picturesque and quite scenic, made me choose to always go one way versus the other whenever I set out for a walk or a run. While I appreciate the beauty of nature, there was something intimidating about being surrounded by more animals than human beings, usually sans cellphone. However, I must have been feeling quite adventurous yesterday as I made the right instead of the usual left, so to speak, and ended up on the most beautiful route. And, I most definitely wasn't the only one who had been back there before, as there were designated walking/running/ and yes, biking trails all throughout what I once thought was only grasslands. There was even a couple restaurants further in, and an entire quintessential Dutch neighborhood. And, only once, at the beginning mind you, did I almost get killed-- by a tractor, none the less. Welcome to the Netherlands!

As I was sitting at my desk chair earlier this morning, around 10:30, I was thinking what I could do to occupy myself until 2 when I wanted to take a yoga class. You have to understand, for the past two and half weeks I haven't really had much time to even think about what I am going to do, just more so about how I am going to get myself there to do it-- i.e. print out train tickets, make sure I have my passport etc etc-- so when I sat back down in bed, my day could only pretty much go one way from there. Sleep! I guess I am up for good now as it is already 1:20, which means, my nap sans alarm clock worked out very well timing wise. I had a funny feeling though when I woke up from this nap. Like, oh hey arielle, you better get this out of your system as real life isn't exactly like this: full night of sleep, breakfast, nap.... Good thing I have a month of fake life left :).