Eek, so yeah. This post is also a day late. Due to yesterday’s being a day late. So super short post about this day. [haaaaa…like that will ever happen. But one can dream, no?]

Date: May 28^th

Location: Bursa/Ankara

Significance: Last day of being 18!

And the summary:

So a word about our group: late. Not the most punctual of peeps. So Mezut, alternating between pleading, threatening, and cajoling, set our departure time at 8:50 am. Lo and behold! Everyone was actually on the bus by 9:15! This is amazing. Only 25 minutes late. Pat on the back.

We leave Bursa and Mezut immediately starts talking about Turkish history. My memory of the 2-3 hour bus ride: “The Turks originally came from Central Asi-----And this is where we are all getting off!” I awake completely and utterly confused as we all begin to file from the bus. We all wander around oohing and awing at the beautiful courtyard (or in my case, blinking stupidly) before I finally get the courage to ask “Uhh where are we?” Mezut was a little insulted that I slept through his apparently wonderful explanation but alas. C’est la vie.

So location: Yunus Emre Shrine. Possibly burial place. A Sufi poet. Very cool. More importantly: the caretaker. He was ecstatic about our arrival. Honestly we must have been the first people to visit that shrine in living memory. So despite Mezut anxiously checking his watch and trying to shuffle us onto the road, we of course had to accept tea from the caretaker and chat idyllically. Oh Brer Fox, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.

Yes, I realize this is a lame picture. One, I couldn't find one on the internet. Two, all of my pictures are still on the camera. And three, the camera is upstairs and charging. Sooo tough luck.

We hit the road again, and this time I manage to retain consciousness, a feat in and of itself. Again, pat on the back. We stop for lunch. Mezut gives us twenty minutes because we really needed to hurry if we were to catch this museum in Ankara before it closes. An hour and a half later we get back on the road. Mexut has admitted defeat.

We arrive in Ankara at about 7pm-ish. Most of these times are ish-ish since Ellen forgot to bring a watch. Stupid Ellen. A few of us then go for a walk among Ankara, making a list of all the wonderful things this city has to offer. You know, like Ataturk statues everywhere, soldiers armed with machine guns guarding buildings, the lack of trashcans [this seems to be true just of Turkey in general], and this glorious sculpture of working men that have more muscles than I think is even humanly possible. [Totally going to put a picture here, but alas couldn't find one].

But yes, despite the slightly negative hype about this city communicated ever so subtly by our fearless leader, Ankara turns out to be a fairly pretty city, though people here smoke too much and there are no buildings of historical significance. We grab dinner at this place that supposedly has the best liver ever. Yes, you heard right. Liver. And this is me speaking, the girl who is so adventurous that she can’t even order toppings on her cheese pizza. But I tried it! Immensely disliked it. But I tried it. (Take that Dad! :-P). 

We meet back at the hotel and discuss the final ending to Love is the Wine. Interesting conversation. What was even more amazing were the chocolate goodies being passed around. Yumm. Afterwards, a few of us head off to find this great café that has a waterfall and a great view of this mosque. Alas the waterfall is turned off and the café closed. Dejected, we return to another café. Good conversation ensues, mainly centered around Heather, Mitch and Melody’s upcoming trip to Cairo – and their inability to speak Arabic – and their lack of a guidebook.

We return around midnight, and my wonderful roommates surprise me with a trail of paper all over our room all wishing me a Happy Birthday. Awww thanks you guys! [Big shout out to Kat and Narmeen!]. I then proceed to stay up way past my bedtime typing yesterday’s blog post. So you better have appreciated it. Constant sacrifice.

But that’s all for now! I was going to write today’s post tonight as well, buttttt I am tired and we’re going hiking tomorrow. Plus it was my birthday!!! Yay! And a very eventful day, so it would probably take the rest of the night to type. So yes, love you all, but my sacrifice for you…ehh everyone has limits.

So ta-ta for now!