Dubrovnik is amazing, but it has changed so much in the last year. It has suddenly become a tourist trap! There are groups of white haired English people roaming around on their rascal scooters and it is impossible to walk around without being in someone's photo. It's kind of too bad because last year it really felt like we were exploring the undiscovered. I suppose this is what happens, but I was really astonished to see how much it had changed in just 11 months. Nate and I have a really relaxing 2 days. We're still catching up on sleep and [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Verona yesterday morning and took a 1 1/2 hour train to Venice. Nate and I did some talking and realized we would have to make a couple of sacrifices to our schedule to please the budget and timetable we are trying to adhere to. Unfortunately, Venice had to be a part of that sacrifice. That means instead of spending the 2 or 3 days as we originally scheduled, we ended up with 6 hours to do the reader's digest version of Venice. We walked from the train station to San Marco square (I think that's what it was called...correct [View Full Entry]

---

---

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, disembarking the Oceanic II. Saturday morning was pure craziness...try to get 200 people checked out of their rooms, checked out of their onboard accounts, collecting their passports, and off the boat by noon. I did it...somehow...and in fact, I managed to get a 10:30 shuttle to Central Station in Amsterdam. Nate and I didn't have a place to stay for the night because we're both cheap and couldn't justify spending 50 Euros each for a crappy hostel somewhere 10 miles from town. Soooo we left our luggage in lockers at the train station and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, this will be my last post from the boat. We are all packed and ready to go. We had closing ceremonies today in which everyone cried and exchanged contact information. We just threw a bottle off the side of the boat with messages from everyone in the community inside...wouldn't it be cool if it washed ashore someday? Tomorrow morning my shuttle leaves at 10:30. We have to check out, pay our debts, return our keys and collect our passports so it will be an early morning to get everything accomplished. I don't have a place to stay for the night [View Full Entry]

---

---

It’s unfortunate we had only 12 hours in Lisbon. It’s definitely a city I could have spent a week in. We spent the morning searching for internet, getting our bearings on the city and eating delicious soup and spaghetti. In the afternoon, we headed to Castelo Sao Jorge which is a beautiful castle. I really have no idea of the history of the castle, which is a shame, but the building was very well kept and it overlooked much of the city. We spent a couple of hours walking the castle grounds, taking lots of pictures and enjoying our last day [View Full Entry]

---

---

I am in Lisbon! We found an internet cafe first thing so I dont have anything to report about Portugal yet, but I thought Id upload some pictures from the last week! [View Full Entry]

---

---

Two months from today is June 14. June 14 is the day I board a plane in Paris with two fully stuffed oversized bags and head back to the US. It will have been nearly 7 months since I was stateside…my longest time away yet. June 14. When I get home it will be less than 3 weeks until my 22nd birthday. My hair will have grown, my wallet will have shrunk and my entire view on the world will have been challenged, shaped and redefined. I won’t have a job, a bedroom or even a key to my parents’ house. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Let me tell you a little story about the Macquarie grading system. It is set up in a way so that you either get a fail (F), conceded pass (CP), pass (P), credit (C), distinction (D) or high distinction (HD). HD means your work is publishable with little or no corrections, D means your work is publishable with some corrections and so on. There is a curve set up so that basically in a class of 20, 2 will get D, 3 will get C, 14 will get P and 1 will fail. This set up results in absolutely no motivation [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our last day of AFP was decent. We went to the Topkapi Palace in the morning. Topkapi was built by Mehmet the Conqueror as a Sultan’s Palace. It was set up like a museum with relics of the past and a harem which was once the living quarters of about 300 women who were sultans’ wives and concubines, and their children. Lunch was served at a traditional Turkish restaurant that only served salads and meatballs. We ate what was given to us, although it wasn’t very flavorful, and washed it down with a yogurt/milk/water drink that is typically eaten with the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Istanbul is incredible. My first day in Istanbul was relatively uneventful. Nate and I wandered the streets and came across a pretty cool local market. We enjoyed people-watching and eating some delicious chocolate cake. For dinner, a group of us went to a local restaurant. The place wasn’t on any of the main roads and nobody that worked there spoke even a bit of English. They found a man that worked across the road and new a few words and phrases, and he helped us figure out what to order. I had a chicken and rice dish that was really good…reminded [View Full Entry]

---

---