I went into my last day of work not expecting anything other than some nice goodbyes just before 6:00 from my co-workers. I should have known that that's not really how they do things in Georgia; apparently there were plans in the works to do a big lunch out, and when those were nixed by the boss, some resourceful people still got something together that was better than anything I could have expected. At about 5:45, Keti sent out an e-mail telling everyone to please come upstairs for cake. Set out on the table in the main PAS space were two [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so this entry won’t go in chronologically from the other entries, but will instead cover a few events of the past few weeks that I just didn’t get around to writing about and want to make sure are in here for my own future reference. So here goes… On Saturday, July 18 (yes, I keep track of dates pretty well- call me a dork if you’d like), Heather, Julia, Michelle and I decided to go to a party in Saburtalo that an American who goes to school with Heather and Julia invited them to when they randomly met him on [View Full Entry]

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The past two days have been some of the most fun, yet most hectic, days I've had since arriving in Tbilisi in late May. Just a little over a week before heading back home, Vice President Joe Biden came for a 1.5 day visit designed to demonstrate the United States's unwavering support for Georgia despite its attempt to "reset relations" with Russia. Among the noteworthy points of my experiences during the visit were viewing his speech to Parliament live in the room, watching Air Force Two at both wheels down and wheels up, chilling in the same room as Ellen Barry [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so this week was a pretty cool one in terms of work (for a change) as I got to participate in a few events that included a bit of interaction with Georgians, which is a rarity that I originally thought would be much more commonplace when I first got here. Anyway, instead of dwelling on the internship's shortcomings, let me move on to the events themselves… Yesterday, I went with one of the new PAS Georgian interns to Rustavi for another American Corners Presentation. Instead of talking about Broadway this time, I did a presentation on my Semester at Sea [View Full Entry]

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So on Thursday evening at around 5:30, someone showed up at the Embassy who never in a million years would have been there if not for this summer. Since I know you're on the edge of your seat now, I'll go ahead and fill you in: my mom came to visit me in Tbilisi this past weekend! I know, crazy right? Turns out she misses me after all and came out for a few days to prove it. And since the secret's out now anyway, I can say that for a few days after visiting me, she went to Istanbul where [View Full Entry]

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It was another late morning for me, though Heather was up and moving by about 9. We hung out in the area for most of the morning, and then got lunch (my first meal) at around 12:30 and took the tram down to the Bosphorus for the cruise I’d been looking forward to since we arrived. (What can I say? I miss being a boat/ship!) We found one cruise for only ten lira and decided to take it. It’d be two hours, which sounded like a great amount of time. We didn’t go to the Asian side or anything (Istanbul is [View Full Entry]

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I stayed in bed for far too long on Saturday morning considering that we were only in Istanbul for a few days, but going to sleep late really does take a toll, and I’d rather see part of the city feeling awake than muddle through the whole thing half-conscious and grumpy. (And no, parents, I was not hung-over, just tired. All I drank all night were two beers and that margarita.) So the first stop of the morning was the Blue Mosque. We actually got to go in because it was Saturday rather than Friday, and didn’t even end up having [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so Heather and I woke up at around 9 (well actually, we both woke up long before then but didn’t realize that the other person was awake as well, as I feel like always happens), had breakfast in the rooftop cafeteria (which sounds much more glamorous than it actually is minus the view), and set out for Topkapi Palace. One of the three big sights in a row (along with Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque), the palace is where Ottoman sultans resided from the 1400s until 1853(ish?). It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has such [View Full Entry]

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In what is officially the most expensive spontaneous purchase I have ever made, Heather and I booked flights to Istanbul last week after impulsively deciding to take advantage of the three-day weekend rather than sit around Tbilisi for the Fourth. So, with a few days for preparation (about five), we packed up, left work a little early on Thursday, and hopped a plane to Turkey. By 7:30pm we were taking in the beautiful city for the first time through the window of a cab on the way to The Star Holiday Hotel in Sultanahmet, the touristy, older area of the city [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend was another fun one over here in Tbilisi. First off, Benni came to visit, which was absolutely awesome considering I haven’t seen him since I left D.C. back in December. I missed my roommate (1 of 9), and was really excited when I saw him getting out the cab at 4 something in the morning on Thursday after flying from Frankfurt. He slept all day on both Thursday and Friday while I was at work, but came to the Embassy on Friday evening for the “Hail and Farewell” party over at the Marine house. After an hour or so [View Full Entry]

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