Update

I love couches. Soft ones, hard ones, anything with enough back support not to be called a bed. This is the life of a study abroad student though, no couch. I have a bed, I have drawers, I even have a sort of kitchen, but no couch. A year abroad and what do I miss? Yep, couches. When I go to cafes I practically leap into the welcoming embrace of the couch. I try to recall more normal times when life included a living room. Couches, though, belong in a domestic world that I haven't made it to yet. I sit on floors, beds, hard chairs occasionally, but home, home is where the couch is. However, while I might not be able to relax in a comfy couch all the time, I have gotten to sit on some amazing things; the top of Mt. Olympus, the theater in Ephesus, the fairy chimneys of Capadocia, the rocky shore of Patmos, the steps of Hagia Sophia, the warm marble of a Turkish bath in Istanbul; I've sat on the heights of the Acropolis overlooking the sprawl of Athens, and I've sat in the the Collaseum of Rome. I have sat in ferries across the Ionian and Agrean Sea, a vaporetti down the Grand Canal in Venice, and boats down the Rhine River and the Bosphorous Stait. I rode the Orient Express into Istanbul and took bus from Europe to Asia. I've ridden across the entire country of Bulgaria by train (not something I would reccommend) and taken trains into Romania and Italy. I am very satisfied with what I have been able to see (and sit on) during my year abroad, but I have to say, I am looking forward to sitting on the plane home.

I will post some more pictures soon...and I apologize for the lengthy delay in any updates.

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