post 14

I just can't tell you about the last few weeks...I'm sorry. Too much to do and too little time left. My plan is to enjoy my last few days in Europe, and then come home. I can't wait to see some of these faces, not pixilated. I made up the spelling to that world.

Caught Lolo on her way to the gym, she's still gorgeous.

Couldn't get google+ to work for me and Tan

Blabigail

Allison looking foxy. Also, you guys, my hair was huge.

Serious convo with my mama

Josh and Tanner

Favorite photo of Clay

Shelby <3

Dubes. Also, masks.

THESE GIRLS. Miss them too much.

post 13

Another week has gone by so quickly. I can’t believe how time is flying by and I am dreading my departure from Vienna. We have one more week here in Vienna before we take off on a night train to Italy and then to Salzburg. When we get back to Vienna, we only have a few more days and then I’m back to the States. I can’t think about leaving this city and my home and my sweet sweet host family and my friends and my life here or I will cry. Don’t worry, I will live it up these last few weeks.

Here’s the weekly recap:

Monday

The day was filled with school and homework. A few weeks ago, we bought some tickets for Norbert to see Elina Garanca at the Musikverein as an early birthday present. Unfortunately, he had a prior engagement and couldn’t come, so Becca and I had to go alone. We were sad Norbert couldn’t come see his favorite opera singer with us (he really loves her…he carries a picture of her in his wallet). She was really a remarkable singer and I enjoyed the concert very much. We were determined to get her autograph for Norbert, so we asked an usher and he told us where her dressing room was. We were unsuccessful in getting into her dressing room (apparently you have to be close friends for that kind of access), but she signed autographs in the lobby after the show and we got her to sign our ticket for Norbert. (We might have stretched the truth a little bit and told her it was our “father’s” birthday, but it was quicker than explaining the whole host father thing. I guess.)

Elina signing the ticket

The birthday ticket. We were stoked, which is my excuse for looking so pathetic.

After the concert we went and got gelato at Zanoni and Zanoni before heading home to deliver Elina’s message to Norbert. We couldn’t wait until his birthday on the 24^th, so we gave it to him as soon as we got home. I think he loved it.

Tuesday

Becca and I ran home from German class, which was actually faster than taking the U-Bahn. We went to the Hinckley’s for music class and left straight from there to Budapest. No running was involved in catching our train, which is a personal record. We were seated and breathing normally when the train left the station. Weird. But we arrived safely in Budapest three hours later where we made our way to our hostel, which was really nice and clean and felt like a clubhouse. Seriously, if you are going to Prague or Budapest soon, talk to me about hostels, because the places we’ve stayed have been very nice. Anyway, after we ate some homemade risotto at the hostel, we headed across the bridge to the Pest side of the city (did you KNOW that there’s a Buda side and a Pest side?!) and climbed up a little mountain to look out over the city. It was so warm and I took off my coat while we hiked. We enjoyed the view for a while before heading back down to try some Hungarian hot chocolate. It was more like hot chocolate pudding than a drink, but it was very rich and delicious.

View from the top

Becca and me at the top of the mountain (no coats!)

Wednesday

We got up and out into the city early so we could maximize our time. We headed up to the castle on the hill (I know no names from this trip. My brain has started to reject facts like names and dates because it is overloaded) and enjoyed looking out over the city again in the daylight.

Becca, Kiely and I split with the rest of the group to go meet up with Becca’s friend who is serving a mission for our church in Budapest. She and her companion had special permission to spend a couple hours with us, so we went to lunch and then they showed us a cute little bookshop in town. Then we went back up to Fisherman’s Bastian, which is really beautiful and I don’t know quite how to explain it, so just check out the pictures.

Fisherman's Bastian

We said goodbye to the sister missionaries and wandered back down to our hostel, stopping along at shops and stands that caught our eye. We joined up with the rest of our group and started the trek to the restaurant our professors recommended for dinner (they were here just last week). Along the way we accidentally found a booth that sold little pies. AND since it was Pi Day, we justified the purchase. They were really good and totally worth it.

Pies for Pi Day (and we know we should have rounded up to six, but we decided to truncate instead, so that we could each just use one hand).

Dinner was a little out of the way, but it was a very authentic place and I got a kind of catfish goulash, which was pretty tasty. We returned to our hostel and turned in pretty early.

Thursday

Becca, Alexa and I went out to check out the famous Hungarian baths in the morning. Luckily I have a strict policy that I always bring a bathing suit with me when I travel, because you never know when you will need it. I was very glad I had it because visiting the baths was my favorite thing we did. I can’t even tell you how amazing they were (or show you...I didn't take any pictures). They’re basically like outdoor public swimming pools, except that the water is really warm and there’s a bunch of old people there. And the old men play chess in the bath. Also, there was a sauna but it was about infinity degrees inside and I couldn’t even open my mouth inside because it felt like my insides were baking if I did. It was just so amazing to be outside in a swimsuit and not freeze to death. I even got a little sunburn, which I love and cherish. We met up with the rest of the girls and explored downtown, because it was a big holiday and there were lots of festivities going on everywhere.

Holiday festivities

We ate pretty much everything we saw, which is an unhealthy but an exciting way to live life. Kiely, Becca and I caught an evening train back to Vienna.

Lots of food on the train. Also, I wasn't trying to be cute, but a guy walked by and was staring at all our food so I had to defend us with my eyes.

Since we had a few extra forints, we grabbed some groceries to take on the train, but when we laid them out on the table, it was kind of embarrassing how much we had. Story of our lives, I guess. (Please note, again, that we did not have to run to catch any trains on this trip.)

Friday

We had our German final in the morning, and then Becca and I ran home. It’s about four miles (which is pretty long for me), so we count that as our workout. After we cleaned up, we went back into down. We rode the 37 strassenbahn, hopping off at a few thrift stores along the way. The weather was beyond perfect, so we did one of our Vienna walks for our class, and then we went to Tichy Eissalon. Ice cream stores here close for the winter season and open again in spring. Friday was opening day at Tichy’s, which was my parent’s favorite when they lived here. We waited out front for an hour (lines don’t really exist here; you just have to box people out to get to the counter and get your ice cream). It was worth the wait. We sat in the park across the street and I marveled at my very good fortune in life. We did a little shopping before going to the LDS outreach center for waffle night. We learned a traditional Austrian dance (the Schuheprater, I think it’s called) and ate waffles for dinner. I doubt I have to tell you it was a good night.

Becca and I are big fans of self-timer mode. Also, I am a big fan of her.

Saturday

Becca and I ate breakfast with Norbert and Liesl in the morning and then we went out to the Prater to rent bicycles. We rode them to the Donauinsle (the island in the middle of the big river in Vienna). The weather was too perfect and we brought a picnic and bought ice cream bars from the ice cream man.

Self-timer in a boat. It happened.

We rode up and down the island for four hours before returning the bikes and heading home. Later, we met up with some friends from Institute to go to Tichy’s again, and this time we sat inside. I got a banana split for the first time in like, sixteen years (I think the last time I had a banana split was at one of my brother’s Boy Scout activities or something). It was delicious and I loved it. Also, eating in an ice cream parlor is an experience everyone should have. After Tichy’s, we went to our friend’s birthday party, which was highly enjoyable. It felt like a regular weekend in Utah, which is pretty fun sometimes.

Sunday

Today we had church and the missionaries brought us a box of Schoko-Bananen, which is a really weird candy they have here. They’re like, banana flavored marshmallows covered in chocolate. Somehow they still manage to be a little bit gross. The elders knew that when they gave them to us…someone gave them a big case of them and they’ve been trying to get rid of them. When we got home, Norbert and Liesl had all their kids over for their son and granddaughter’s birthdays. We invited ourselves and sat out in the garden and ate yummy food and played with all their cute grandkids. In sum, my life is too good. I’m too lucky and too happy and I miss all of you and hope your lives are happy too.

post 12

Last week was pretty great. I'll just give you some highlights from each day. Stay tuned for a Budapest post at some point in the next few days.

Monday

We had school in the morning and homework during the afternoon, but that night Elder D. Todd Christofferson came to the outreach center in Vienna to talk to all the Mormon young adults in the area. We went early to work on homework and we were leaving to grab an orange and some yogurt at the Billa up the street before the meeting and right as we left, Elder Christofferson's car was pulling up. So we hung around and became the unofficial, unappointed welcoming committee. He was very kind even though I'm sure he is tired from traveling all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Becca invited him to get gelato with a group of us after the meeting and he said he'd ask his wife.

Paparazzi photo of Elder Christofferson

The meeting itself was very good and he and the other speakers did an excellent job and offered a lot of reassurance and advice. It was very powerful. Afterwards we went to shake his hand and politely declined our repeated invitation to gelato. A little group of us went to Zanoni & Zanoni anyways and it was delicious and fun. I like doing things that I would do in real life (since this is fake life), and getting ice cream with friends is one of those things that happens a lot in my real life. Then I Skyped with my top dudes, Tanner and Josh, for long hours and it was the best in the world.

Tuesday

In the morning we had class and then Becca and I were meeting some girls from our group at the train station to leave for Prague. We had looked at our tickets when we bought them and determined that we had enough time to run to Billa to get some snacks for the five hour train ride before we had to get to the station. We arrived at the Wien Mitte station and we checked the departure boards and didn't see Prague up there. We pulled out our tickets to see if the Prague station had a different name but discovered instead that we were at the wrong station. We booked it up the escalator back to the U-Bahn station and asked the first woman we saw how to find the Wien Meidling station. She gave us perfect directions, but told us it would take 20 minutes to get there. Problem: our train was scheduled to leave in 17 minutes. By some miracle, I had my cell phone with me (I always forget it and even thought that I had forgotten it that day until it started ringing in my pocket) and Paige called to ask where we were. I frantically explained the situation and she told us what platform the train was leaving from. The U-Bahn seemed to take forever and at one point we were packed in like cattle. When the doors slid open at Philidelphiasbruke, we started sprinting. Our huge backpacks full of everything we needed for the next three days were bouncing on our backs and I'm sure we looked like lunatics running through the station. I think I was yelling a prayer out loud that we would make it, but everything is kind of hazy. We sprinted up the escalator to the platform Paige told us, and we were relieved to see the train still there. But we didn't stop running because all I could imagine was watching it roll away with us heaving and panting on the platform. We ran past the ticket taker, who didn't even try to stop us (which is good because I couldn't speak and I might have thrown up on him if I'd tried). We made it onto the train with seriously 30 seconds to spare. It was madness.

Five hours later we arrived in Prague and our hostel looked like the Bernstein Bears built it (in the best way). It was clean and nice and we watched The Bachelor all together before going to bed.

Wednesday

SO gorgeous.

We lucked out with the weather and it was warm and sunny and nice. We went to a little lookout on a hill across the river from where we were staying in the Old Town and enjoyed the amazing view of the gorgeous city. Visually, I think I love Prague more than any city I've been to so far. Lots of red roofs.

Prague from the Charles Bridge. It can't help it how gorgeous it is.

We walked to the castle and explored that for awhile before heading over to the John Lennon wall and Charles Bridge. There was the sweetest band of old men playing on the bridge that you must see. Don't worry, they have a website. Also, Becca and I bought a CD if you are interested. I stood and listened to them with the perfect weather and the amazing sites around me and just felt really lucky.

John Lennon Wall

We went to Wenceslas Square where we found a stand that sold trdelnik (which we fondly call turtlenecks). It's a piece of dough wrapped around a rod and then spun over coals until the outside is toasty and the inside is still soft. Then it's rolled in sugar and almonds. So, basically it's heaven. We went to a restaurant for dinner where the drinks arrive at your table via model trains. Then we went out for dessert (not that we needed it) and returned to our treehouse hostel for the night.

Train Restaurant

Thursday

The weather was a little less gorgeous, but definitely enjoyable. We went to the Jewish Cemetary, and also every synagogue in Prague (I'm not being sarcastic, we really did see them all).

Jewish Cemetary

We went to a big church (cathedral?) in Weceslas Square, then we went to see the famous clock go off. The best part was the real live trumpeter that played a little song at the top of the tower.

The clock in Wenceslas Square

Then we took the metro out to Vyšehrad to check out the cemetary and church (thanks for the suggestion Drs. Hinckley!), which did NOT disappoint.

View from Vyšehrad

Vyšehrad Church

Something weird happened to some of my photos, so I don't know why the left side of this is purple, but it's still pretty.

From there we had to hurry back to the train station to get a train back to Vienna. Only we didn't realize that there was a connection on the train back, so Vienna didn't show up on the departure board. Surprise surprise...by the time we figured out what train we needed, we had to run to the platform to catch it. But then there was a snowstorm while we were in the train and it was so beautiful and it delayed us, but our connecting train waited and we made it back to Vienna safe and sound.

Friday

Becca and I ran around the Ringstrasse after class and then we did a walk for our Vienna Walks class and then we went home because we were tired and then we went to the Naschmarkt to get lunch and buy stuff to make curry that night.

Saturday

Homework, running, eating, resting. The musicians in our group gave a really impressive concert and a few of us went back to our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Prater afterwards.

Sunday

Church, Phantom of the Opera with Becca, Skyping with my old roommates/best friends and later with my family. Successful day.

post 11

Here's the thing, you guys. I had the best intentions of blogging while in Turkey so that I wouldn't have to do a huge post when I got home, and even typed one up on my phone and was trying to add photos when it froze and got erased. I took that as a sign that I needed to forget about it and just live in the moment. But now my real journal is out of pages and I haven't bought a new one yet because I can't find one that fits my specific requirements for a journal, so this blog is suddenly kind of important to me. Don't worry, I won't do a bunch of oversharing about my feelings or anything now that I don't have a journal...but this post will be long and there is another one coming soon, since I've also been to Prague and back since the last time we talked.

I'm going to try and recap for you by day, but it was such a whirlwind trip that I may get days confused. Try to stick with me.

Monday

We left Vienna in the afternoon. I was a little stressed (read: out of my brains afraid) because ALL that we had heard since deciding to go to Turkey for spring break was that we were going to be harrassed, robbed, taken, kidnapped, human trafficked, murdered, followed, and a number of other really unpleasant things. My desire to see Turkey won out over my fear of all these things happening, but when it actually came down to it and we were in the airport ready to take off, I was having doubts. We arrived in Istanbul in the early evening and cleared the passport and visa check without problems. We'd arranged for a shuttle to take us to our hotel and we enjoyed a thrilling hour and a half of driving through traffic (I'm 100% positive we were not in a real lane for the majority of the drive) while listening to an odd assortment of American music on the radio.

Kiely, Kristin and me in the shuttle.

Our hotel was about two steps away from the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace in the old city. The staff was so kind and almost immediately I was put at ease and felt safe. We walked to a little restaurant near our hotel for dinner and got our first taste of how Turkey operates. The main key to success in Istanbul is to flirt. Waiters stand outside every restaurant and when a group walks by they will get their attention and then immediately launch into a whole speech about their menu. Also, there is always a special, but just for the person they are talking to. I can't tell you how many times I heard the words, "For you, I will make special price. Just for you..." Anyways, we got lured into a restaurant with the promise of free apple tea at the end of our meal, which was enough for us (and put us on the path to a full on addiction to apple tea).

Kristin and I at dinner the first night

Tuesday

We woke up early to the sound of the call to prayer right outside our window. Over breakfast, the owner of our hotel basically gave us a personalized itinerary of the things we had to do while we were there. We followed his suggestions pretty much verbatim the rest of the trip. Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia which was built THOUSANDS of years ago and is so gorgeous. Stunning mosaics, domed ceilings, a crazy blend of religions...it was really amazing.

This is a nice view of the minbar in the Hagia Sophia and also the cats toasting themselves by the light. Cats seriously run this town. They're everywhere.

A view of the ceiling in the Hagia Sophia

Next we went to the Blue Mosque, or the Sultan Ahmed mosque. Its just across the way from the Hagia Sophia and they are quite the pair. The Blue Mosque is covered in gorgeous blue tile on the ceilings and is still a working mosque today.

The Blue Mosque

Inside the Blue Mosque

We visited the Museum of Islamic and Turkish Art, where I had flashbacks to my Islamic humanities class. Then we wandered and ate some delicious food before finding ourselves at the Grand Bazaar.

This is the only photo I got at the bazaar. I was just having too much fun inside to take any photos.

If you are a girl and you are ever feeling kind of low, just take a quick trip to the Grand Bazaar. As you pass every booth, you will be showered with compliments. Really innovative ones, too. For example, we were called Spice Girls, Charlie's Angels, tennagers, children, beautiful, etc. Also, they would say great stuff like, "Are you looking for your Turkish boyfriend? I'm right here." Or if you passed their booth without looking, they would say, "You dropped something!" and when you look back they would clutch their chest and say, "My heart." Of course, this is all a ploy to get your money. But it is fun and if you play along you can sometimes get some good deals. I can see how you might get into trouble in this country if you were a) alone or b) stupid. Heaven forbid the two overlap. But we were in a group and we used it to our advantage and had lots of fun and bought lots of stuff at the bazaar. That night after accepting free apple tea at one restaurant, we ate dinner at another one where we made great friends with the manager and he told us pretty much his life story and what it is like to be married and still have to flirt to get people to come into his restaurant. It sounded really miserable. But dinner was good and he was very kind and genuine.

Becca and me at dinner

Wednesday

We took a ferry up the Bosphorous, which is a strait connecting the Black Sea to the Marble Sea (which becomes the Caspian Sea). This is my favorite thing we did. It was perfect weather and the views were incredible.

Kristin, me and Becca at the top looking out over the Marble Sea

We docked at a little fishing village for a few hours and took a pleasant hike up to some old castle ruins. This is pretty much my recipe for happiness these days (nice weather + castle ruins), so I was happy as a clam.

The castle at the top of the hill. Obviously I was in heaven.

We ate lunch at a little cafe on the top floor of a building that gave us a gorgeous view of the harbor, then we bought some baklava and Turkish sweets for the boat ride home. Also, we witnessed the scariest dog fight in the world and had to be saved from the middle of it by a very calm and collected young man.

Friends don't let friends feed sweets to stray animals.

When we returned to Istanbul we went to the Spice Bazaar, which has the same vibe as the Grand Bazaar, with the added bonus of free samples of Turkish Delight and dried fruit.

Tea at the Spice Bazaar

Spices and teas at the bazaar

You guys, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I was pretty hard on Edmond for selling out his siblings for some Turkish Delight. But then I tasted real, good Turkish Delight, and I'm not saying I'd do what he did...but he's not as big of an idiot as I thought.

Various flavors of Turkish Delight

Thursday

We toured the Tokapi Palace in the morning. There were lots of rooms that I wouldn't mind having in my own house and the view over the Bosphorous was pretty wild.

The summer pavilion at Topkapi Palace

Also, a nice collection in their treasury. We ate lunch here before heading back to the Grand Bazaar for some good old-fashioned shopping and ego-boosting. But not before making the biggest mistake of our life and buying tickets to see a whirling dirvish show for later that night. When we got to the bazaar, one of our friends from earlier in the week told us that we could have seen them for free, all we would've had to pay for was apple tea (which we are fine doing...we're seriously addicted). Well, the tickets were paid for and there is no such thing as a refund in Turkey, so we decided to live with our decision. The guy who sold us our tickets was kind of (I mean really but I don't like to flame people on the internet) a tool/liar. He also put straws in my hair when I asked him for one for my drink, so I was not a fan. Also, the whirling dirvishes are kind of (way) boring.

If we're being honest, it was three guys spinning around for 45 minutes while the lights changed colors.

I get that it is a religious thing so it's kind of weird that we could pay to see them anyways, but I would not recommend this to anyone. Also, watching them made me dizzy and I had to close my eyes a lot to avoid getting sick.

The lowlight of the trip, for sure.

Friday

We visited the hippodrome. This is a pretty cool place because it is not only a mosque, but a market, a bath, a school, and more.

The Hippodrome (it has another name, which I think is Sultanahmet, but I can't be sure)

Inside the mosque

We also visited the Spice Bazaar and enjoyed some more samples, in addition to buying an ear of corn on the cob to snack on. At some point, we also visited the archiological museum, which was apparently no one's favorite, since I can't remember when it happened and this is what I found when I came out of one of the exhibits:

Three sleepy girls. They really slept soundly for 20 minutes like this.

We were all feeling a little tired and sick, so we returned to the hotel to rest before going to an Indian restaurant for dinner.

Saturday

We were all still a little sick so we relaxed in the morning before visiting the underground cistern from the 4th century.

Underground. It was pretty cool.

We accidentally fell for the tourist trap and dressed up to take photos.

Later, we made the trek out to Taksim Square. We explored the shops (Topshop, Nike, Adidas, etc) and enjoyed the busy atmosphere before returning to our hotel. I was really hoping Nike or Adidas would have an Okur jersey (everyone says "Utah Jazz" when you tell them you're from Utah because of Memo) or a Deron Williams Beşiktaş jersey from when he played over here, but no luck.

Taksim Square. At night is when it gets real crazy.

I thought looooong and hard about buying this sweater, but ultimately decided against it (but my birthday is in August if anyone's feeling charitable).

Not for sale, but I do love D. Rose

On Sunday morning we woke up early to catch our plane, and arrived home in time for Sacrament Meeting at the International Ward. We had no food and Norbert and Liesl were leaving for a ski trip, so we went out to dinner at a most amazing Mexican restaurant in the Prater where we will be returning ASAP.

Turkey was amazing and I really think just about everyone should go there. I felt safe and I had fun the whole time. Just don't pay for a whirling dirvish show.