...and another!

We're safe at the hostel now, our rich tourist days being over. The resort was really nice--we had a good time relaxing, and no, we didn't go overboard with alcohol, because even though we are Americans and that would be expected behaviour, we are Americans in Turkey, which clearly qualifies us as not-your-average Americans. In fact, we didn't see one drunk person the whole time, and I didn't hear one American accent, although Ryan thinks that he may have.

The hostel scene is more our fit, too. Tuna and Monica, the owners, are really nice, and they can organise and arrange all sorts of day trips and stuff. There's a bunch of information about places around in the verdant little lobby, and the books even contain notes of thanks about Ferah Pension and messages of warning against other pensions in the area and gypsies trying to book people on tours, et cetera. O, Turkey. I'm looking forward to taking a boat tour down the coast for a day, and for seeing the ancient tombs up on the hills around here. Ryan, as I ask him, is looking forward to seeing Kayaköy (literally 'Ghost Village') and Butterfly Valley.

Peace!

itinerary

I'm posting quickly just to have something up here for when I direct people to this blog. As organised as ever, I've misplaced both copies of the itineraries that I received--go figure. O, well.

What I remember:

--Saturday, 05 July: lift-off to Spain; land in Madrid; get to our hotel in Zaragoza somehow

--Attend Expo 2008, among other things

--I have a free weekend in there somewhere, which I would rather have spent in either Barcelona or Madrid with my cos Laura, but Aunt Roberta apparently didn't think that the beautiful, hard-working little thing deserved a weekend in Europe, for 85% of which I would have paid

--Sometime around two weeks in: lift-off to Istanbul, arrive at our dormitories

--Sometime in the next two weeks: take a few-day-long trip down the Turkish coast

--Wednesday, 06 August: Ryan arrives in Istanbul

--My itinerary from here until 20 August is much more detailed, as we planned it all

--Wednesday, 20 August: lament my return to the United States; have return ameliorated by Boston

We'll be studying water in its many elusive forms: from ancient Roman ruins to modern city water systems, from the only desert in Europe across the Mediterranean to the Bosporus, from the countryside of Spain and the Turkish coast to the bustling modern cities, water's political and social impact, water economics, et cetera. I'm psyched, and so is my Sigg.

I'm quite excited about the organisation of this trip. My advisor is Turkish, and has lived in both Spain and Turkey, speaks those three languages, English, and who knows what else. Her area of expertise is food economics, which I know will play an interesting part in this whole water thing, especially in a world in which the vast majority (dare I say all?) wars and struggles boil down to quibbles (or brinkmanship situations) over resources.

More on that later. Until then, I'm going to continue making ridiculous amounts of lists in preparation and window shopping online in procrastination (I already have my duffle and an organic hemp day-pack (cinch), in addition to shoes (posh sandals, Aquarius vegan, and more...)!).