i've seen a lot of rocks in my day.

Excursion throughout Turkey is over now. I wrote this blog sitting in an airport in Madrid, waiting for the plane to Casablanca. Where of course I met Humphrey Bogart. I'll add that to my list of movie magic times abroad, right up there with seeing the Troy horse Brad Pitt touched. Epic.

We did a lot of touring around the Turkish countryside, and looked at a lot of ruins. Although listening to the history of the country while seeing the physical remains of those stories was a very visceral experience, the scenes all tended to blend together in a jumble of broken rocks towards the end of the trip. Because of that, I will give you highlights only of the best parts of the last week.

On Saturday the 19th we went to Pergamum (Bergama in Turkish). The ancient city is at the top of a large hill/mountain that our bus wound its way up, hugging the sides of the road and scaring the girls who are afraid of heights. The best part of Pergamum was the temple of Athena, situated on the highest part of the mountain overlooking the city and hills below. The temple was still very well maintained and majestic, mostly because we knew that in the ancient world it had commanded respect.

That day we also went to the ruins of Assos, located on a hill right by the sea. Here the temple overlooked the wide ocean and small blue bays where fishing boats were anchored, backed by the cliffs and hills of Assos. This site was the most peaceful to be at.

On Monday the 21st we went to Ephesus, where I got extremely sick. Despite that, Ephesus (Efus in Turkish) was my favorite set of ruins. The city is one of the most intact sites I've seen, perhaps even more well preserved than Pompeii. There was an entire area devoted to excavating the houses of the rich, which were decorated with elaborate frescoes and intricate tile mosaic floors. The downtown area of the city was still extremely complete, and because there were so many tourists in Ephesus that day, it was very easy to imagine the ancient city bustling with Romans and locals. It was easy to imagine John the Evangelist walking among the people, encouraging the church of Ephesus to grow despite persecution by the Roman power. Going to Ephesus is truly like stepping back in time.

On Wednesday the 23rd we went to Cappadocia, where there is an area of calcified land turned snow white. The local government pumps thermal water into man-made pools in this area once every few days, and the pools are crystal clear with a tint of blue against the calcium white of the land. It looks like winter there, but the calcium deposits are warm and so is the water.

Our Turkish excursion was very fun and extremely informative, but I'm ready to be in Morocco. Jill (my freshman and sophomore year roommate) is my roommate again for our homestays, and I'm happy to be with someone familiar. Truthfully I'm a bit nervous about the homestay. It will be interesting to adapt to the language and cultural routines of the people in Morocco, knowing as I do how different they can be from Western lifestyles.

Eh. I'll have fun. No matter what.

Wish me luck! All my best.

P.S. I edited the settings of my blog to let viewers who do not have a gmail account post comments as anonymous users. Just so you know...