The Trojan Horseless Troy

Day Three in Turkey began with The Gallipoli Battlefield Memorial of a devastating battle in WWI. Then we took a ferri over to the other side of Turkey where we visited the ancient city of Troy. The teachers showed us the big Trojan horse that was at Troy before we came to Turkey and hyped it all up to be way cool...well we got to Troy and the super cool wooden horse was completely covered by a black tarp. That awkward moment when you go to Troy and there's no Trojan horse...so what do we do instead? We reenact strange signs we find, take pictures of a random turtle, and dig for sea shells in the dirt. Probably isn't what my teacher would like me to remember about Troy but the fact that the place had Turtles in sea shells is pretty satisfying to me! Our Hotel was right on the beach, it literally looked like paradise. I was sad we would only be there for a night. So we lived it up while we could and finished with a good hour of girl talk. 

Gallipoli Battlefield Memorial

"Pretend like we saw something cool for this picture ok?" 

(on the ferri)

A cool picture in Turkey...that's all.

Cool sign Bro

 

Troy

Turtle

Seashells

No Trojan Horse :(

Paradise

The Surfing impersonators 

I could stay here forever!

Girl talk

Istanbul

Istanbul doesn’t know what just hit them; the J-rue crew are in town!
Day Two here in Turkey consisted of a full day of site seeing in Istanbul, shopping in the Grand Bazar, and a Boat ride around the Bosporus strait. 
 

Jennie and I in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul

Topkapi Palace

Inside the Blue Mosque--Stunning! If only everyone didn't have to take off their shoes to go in...the feet small kinda ruins the whole experience. 

Looking over the Bosporus strait

Party in the back of the bus! With Taylor, Mitch, and Anne

Basilica Cistern 

Shopping in the Grand Bazar

And more shopping

Boat ride

more boat ride

and again...

I love Turkey!!! So stunning, easily the best day yet here in Europe/Asia

It's nobody's business but the Turks--Day 1

Alright well, lots has happened since the last post but I'm going to back track a little and cover the highlights of our Turkey trip! I will warn you at the beginning, be prepared for picture overload! I'm not keen on writing too much so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, Enjoy!

DAY 1: FLIGHT TO ISTANBUL

 We couldn't resist, they had Magnum bars! The best ice cream bar creation that Israel has ever provided me!

Boarding the plane

We also can't resist the urge to take pictures of our dear friend Tess while she was in a deep slumber. And this is how Sawyer responds when you tell him to pose for a picture...

You might not be able to see it, but Turkey is right outside our window!

Landed!

My first Turkish Delight in Turkey...not too much of a fan.

Dinner with my older, wiser and more MATURE friends...Jeff and Tyler

Baklava: best dessert that the Near East has to offer.

And that is the end of Day 1 in Turkey, it was quite an eventful one but so exhausting and yet, Jennie and I still somehow ended up talking till 12:30 anyway.

We Come Running

I don't know how I was convinced, but I spontaneously decided to sign up for a 10K here in Jerusalem. Never have I ran 6.2 miles straight but apparently being here in Israel made me invincible and I could totally run a 10K with absolutely no training at all. At least I wasn't alone, around 60 of the 82 students signed up for either the 10K or the Half Marathon and only a handful of the students actually trained for it. Two days before the race I figured I should probably start my "training" and went for a run with a group of people who were training for the half. That was a wake up call. For those of you who haven't been to Jerusalem, let me just tell you that there is not one piece of this place that is flat land. Which means...you're either running up or you're running down. I was feeling pretty good about the down part but as soon as we hit those hills...boy was I in trouble. Later that night I felt a pretty bad sore throat coming on. I thought it was just from running outside and panting like a dog in 100 degree weather and figured it'd go away. But when I woke up the next morning and my throat was on fire I began to get a little worried. The day of the race came and I now had a full on cold. I was just praying that I'd still be able to run. A miracle certainly happened that day. When I began the race with the other 16,000 people there, I felt completely healthy and was able to finish the entire race with no problem. I was quite surprised with myself that I was able to run a 10k with no training and being sick! It was an awesome experience though and taught me that the Lord really is in every little detail of our lives. It might not be a big deal in the long run, but if it is important to you and you have faith in the Lord he will bless you.

Beach, Bikes, and Bartering

Last Sunday we finally took a trip to Tel Aviv. 8:30am to 9:30pm we were going going going. It was refreshing to finally have a trip with no lectures, no dirt tels, and no schedule! We had complete freedom. As soon as we jumped out of the vans, a complete view of the Mediterranean was right in front of us. The coast was just too much to resist. Feet were leaping out of shoes and people ran fully dressed into the water. Not aware that we were swimming I didn't bring my swimsuit and my desire to swim was not as great as my desire to enjoy the rest of the day without soggy jeans and sand in my shoes. Don't you worry though, I did borrow a pair of shorts so I could at least get in the water. 

Bartering for jewelry at the flea market in Tel Aviv

We biked all over the coast for 3 hours, definitely the best way to see Tel Aviv. We even went a little crazy and got two tandem bikes. That was an adventure working those, pretty sure we ran into a pole every time someone new got on.                  

At the coast right when we got off the bus. Could not love life more right now. 

Walking through an alleyway in old Jaffa 

Catchup

Apparently February in the JC = Midterms/homework overload/study till you fall over dead so my upkeep of blogging has faltered you could say so here's a quick update on what exciting things have happened thus far...

1) Arab night--call to prayer, authentic costumes and food, and best of all DANCING! 

2) Hezekiah's tunnel--1/2 mile underground tunnel made with little hand tools, switch on your headlight and dive into waist deep water, walking for 20 minutes through a 6 ft tall, 3 ft wide tunnel! Most adventurous thing I've done yet! 

3) V-day--No lovers, no family=everyone loves each other! Best valentines day ever! Plus, a lovely package from my mother...thanks Mom! Finishing with loads of chocolate and DANCING!

4) A day at the Zoo: I spontaneous decided to go to a biblical zoo in west Jerusalem. It was the best zoo trip ever! 

5) Seder Dinner--the traditional Jewish holiday that celebrates the passover. There was lots of singing, reading of the Haggadah of passover, searching for the matzah, eating, and even a bit of rapping...yep, rapping. It was a party for sure. 

So I had a much longer post that was way more interesting and descriptive but then it got deleted and I figured...eh, people don't have time to read long posts and I don't have time to write them so...enjoy the pictures! 

I'm on a camel, yah!

Check and check! I got 2 bucket list items crossed off the list this week! This past week we spent in Jordan. We had the opportunity to visit Mt. Nebo where Moses was first shown the Promise Land and where he was translated. We went to a few more stops and then had a four hour bus ride to our hotel. The next day was was full of adventure. We walked through the "valley of the crescent moon" which looked quite a lot like southern Utah. As we approached the great wonder of the world, everyone started to sing the Indiana Jones theme song and then it was right in front of us--PETRA!!! Check number one: visit a wonder of the world. We were all taking pictures when three men came riding on CAMELS!!! And yep, you guessed it. I rode a camel. Check number 2! The camel ride was certainly the highlight but after that we went exploring through the city. I had no idea that Petra was an entire city!! We hiked to this ancient Monastery and that was pretty cool. At the end of the trip we got to ride horses out of Petra back to the gift shops at the beginning of the trail. That was way fun! Unfortunately the horse ride was too much for my brand new camera and something inside it came loose and now it is broken. Luckily I have another small camera I can use, but farewell to "artsy" pictures. The highlight of the next day was easily Jerash. This is the place I did my report on and it was way cooler in person than in books. It was like the city of Hercules but in real life! Ancient roman temples, pillars, fountains, and more! I was sad we didn't have more time to spend there. It was a long four days and by the end I was very ready to come back to the center. It was such a luxury to be able to drink from the facet and eat fresh fruits and veggies again. And to not be sitting a bus all day...it was good to be back! Also, we got really lucky the day of Petra because it was perfect weather when we went and the next day it was pouring rain where we were and snowing in Petra!