The Long Lost Post - travels to America, Italy, Turkey, and London all included!

May 26, 2009
Hi to all. I sincerely apologize for leaving you hanging about what’s going on in my life these days. It’s been a tough few weeks. After returning from a wonderful holiday in Eastern Europe mid-April, I came back to the real world of tons of papers, projects, and impending final examinations. I was busy preparing myself for all of these, when some unfortunate and sudden circumstances arose. On April 28th, my grandfather, Don Glisson, passed away. I got the phone call at midnight that he had passed, which wasn’t expected for a few more weeks, and started making arrangements to come home to be with family. I left St Andrews 6 hours later to catch the first flight out Wednesday morning, leaving my seat in a final exam empty the next day. I wasn’t home long, but I am so thankful I had the opportunity to get home. I really needed to be with family at such a difficult time. I wasn’t home long, just 3 full days, before I turned around to come straight back to St Andrews.
I arrived back in St Andrews, not sure where or how to pick things back up. I had to quickly gather myself and get caught up on some work, as I was due to head to Milan, Italy with my cousin Amy for a quick business meeting. I spent the next 5 days I was home working non-stop. Amy arrived in St Andrews that Saturday for a quick visit and then we headed off to Milan on Monday. I spent most of the time in Milan in the hotel room writing papers and studying for final exams. However, I didn’t realize how close Milan was to Florence, where one of my friends is studying. Finding out it was only 2 hours away by train, I was coerced to go to Florence for one night to visit my friend Bekah and see a glimpse of Florence. The trip to Italy was really nice, as I got to spend some time with Amy and even got to visit Bekah, which was totally unexpected!

Upon arriving back in St Andrews, the study mode continued for the next two weeks. An uncountable number of words were written and studied while I finished off my last finals exams ever! What a relief! No more exams for me any time soon!
My cousin Jenny and her friend came up from London to visit that last weekend in May, which was really nice to see some more family! (May was just filled with family, it seems!) We did all the touristy things there are to do around St Andrews, and I really enjoyed showing them around. May was one hectic and extremely stressful month, to say the least!

On May 26th, I headed down to London on the train with my friend Meg. We would meet our friends Lee and Joe who traveled down a day earlier to take in some sights that evening for dinner before heading to London Gatwick for the night. The next morning at 6:00am we would board a plane and head to Istanbul, Turkey. Let me give you all some advice: 1) never book a 6:00am flight out of London Gatwick; 2) never book a 6:00am flight out of London Gatwick because it requires you to be there at 4:00am, which also requires most to spend the night in the airport; 3) spending the night on metal benches is highly uncomfortable and not worth it.

However, Istanbul was worth it! What a unique and beautiful city!!! I really, really enjoyed my trip over there, where we would spend 9 days in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey. We were originally supposed to only spend 3 days in Istanbul, but we enjoyed it so much, we rearranged our itinerary to spend a fourth day there. Istanbul consisted of so many great sights: the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Old Town which is known as Sultanhamet, a cruise around the Bosphorus, Topkapi Palace, hammams (Turkish baths), and delicious food!! The weather was gorgeous and HOT….and so welcomed!! It’s been 9 months since I’ve witnessed 80 or 90 degree weather! And the Turkish bath – worth every penny. If you are ever in Turkey, you MUST get a Turkish bath. I’ve never felt so clean in my life!

The Turkish bath was probably one of my favorite experiences. From what we had seen in the brochures, you wore a towel the whole time and someone just cleaned you. However, we were in for a surprise when we got there. The boys split up from us girls, going into a different building even. When we entered, there was this short, fat Turkish woman there who could barely speak English giving us orders: “Take off all your clothes and put this towel on!” Once we had changed, she led us into this room which was covered in marble walls, floors, with basins scattered throughout. She filled two basins (one for me and one for Meg) with warm water, and then, took our towels and snatched them off of us….SURPRISE!!! There we were, thankfully the only two people in this hammam, stark naked!! The little lady commanded that we SIT and rinse our body from our personal basin. She scattered off and came back a little while later in just a tiny pair of knickers (which were way too small for her) and a big ol’ purple bra. There was a large marble table in the middle of the room, where she instructed me to go and lay on my stomach. She then took something that was like an exfoliating glove and scrubbed me down, to the point when she was finished I had dead skin flakes all over. I then went back to rinse off and it was Meg’s turn. The next step was a “body cleansing and massage,” which was very nice. After she finished, she then scurried off again and came back a little later with a small stool, which she sat on and instructed us to come over one at a time so she could wash our hair. Let me tell you, it wasn’t as nice a wash as you get at the salon – I thought I may not have any hair left by the time she finished! At this point, we then went to sit in a sauna for about 20 minutes before finishing our Turkish bath. I have never felt so clean! Would definitely recommend to you, but you must go prepared for quite the experience!

When we adjusted our itinerary, I somehow got talked into taking an overnight bus down south to Selcuk, which is near Izmir. So after Day 4, we boarded a bus at 9:30pm that would take 11 hours. Not the most pleasant experience, but definitely a more efficient way of seeing the most you can in a little amount of time. When we arrived, we went to our hotel, took a bit of a nap before heading out for brunch and off to the beach. It was a beautiful day and we practically had the beach to ourselves! A very nice, relaxing day after spending 4 days going hard in Istanbul. The next day, we had booked an all-day tour of the sight of the ancient city of Ephesus, which is the place that the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians. This was probably the hottest day in Turkey, but the tour was great and allowed us to see quite a bit. In the afternoon, the tour took us to this sight that is believed to be the last home of the Virgin Mary. They believe that Mary came with the Apostle John to Ephesus to avoid persecution in Jerusalem. The home is now a small chapel that sits up on a hill. We also saw a small factory where Turkish carpets are made, which were beautiful!. However, they were way over our price range!

That evening, after our tour, we boarded another bus to travel about three hours east to a town called Pammukale. Pammukale in Turkish means Cotton Castle. It was a tiny village at the base of a mountain. The place was really surreal. It was a mountain of rock formations that had been calcified over the years, with hot springs as you walk up the mountain. At the very top of the calcified rocks, there was a large pool that claims to heal ailments. It was an absolutely stunning natural pool. In the pool there were random Roman ruins, including pieces of columns. It was completely clear and very warm water. We even spent some time swimming among the ruins! We spent the day wandering around the ruins that are above the ailments pool, including the Roman theatre and enjoying the warm weather.

After the day in the sun, we boarded a 9:00pm bus, and it was at this point that Meg and I split up from the boys. The boys continued east to Cappadocia and Meg and I boarded yet another overnight bus to Istanbul. We arrived at the airport the following morning and headed back to London. Our overall Turkey trip was wonderful, and so refreshing to be in HOT weather!!! I would recommend anyone to visit, as you get a much different experience from what you see in Europe.

Both Meg and I had family in London, so we spent the weekend with them. My Aunt Ann and cousin Jenny were there, and I joined them on Thursday night. It was such a great weekend just wandering around the city. We saw the show Jersey Boys one night, which was outstanding! I would recommend the show to anyone! We took a day trip to the White Cliffs of Dover and back through Canterbury to visit the Cathedral, and spent one afternoon in Borough Market, where many local merchants bring their fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats on the weekends. Of course, you can’t go to London without going shopping, and so we spent the last day on Oxford Street, fitting in some time for afternoon tea as well. Afternoon tea consists of tea, cakes, scones and clotted cream, and finger sandwiches. It was a lovely time with family before heading back up to Scotland for work on my dissertation.

I met back up with Meg on Monday morning and the two of us met up with the boys who had flown into London the previous evening. We headed back up to Scotland to buckle down and do lots and lots of work! These past two weeks have been extremely busy but so much fun!

Honestly, it does not get dark these days in St Andrews all night…it is still really light until after 11:30pm and it never gets completely dark. A couple of weekends ago, I went with some friends from the Management School to one of my friend’s cottages in the Highlands. We had a great day of visiting Loch Turret, the Glenturret distillery (which is one of the whiskies that goes into The Famous Grouse blend). After a full day of walking around the loch and visiting the distillery, we headed up to the cottage for a night of wandering around the farm land around it and enjoying each other’s company. The next morning we got up and packed everything up and cleaned up, and then even took some time to go shooting, which was the first time I’d ever shot a gun! It was a great little get-away from St Andrews!

Gary and Ruth boarded a plane on Sunday to fly east across the Atlantic and landed in Dublin, Ireland yesterday morning. They are currently doing a little tour around Ireland before meeting me in London Gatwick on Thursday morning, where we will then board another flight to go to Portugal. We will travel around the southern coast of Portugal before heading to Tarifa, Spain for the night and taking a ferry the next morning into Morocco. We’ll spend a couple of days around Fes, Morocco, and then head back up north across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gibraltar airport, where we will come back to St Andrews. We’ll spend a night in St Andrews before heading up to the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland for a few nights before heading back to St Andrews. It should be a nice trip, but I’m afraid mom and dad will be absolutely exhausted by the time we land back in St Andrews! I’m really looking forward to introducing both of them to my life over here, my friends, and sharing a bit of St Andrews and the Scottish culture with them!

Stay tuned in a few weeks for an update of our trip! Hope you all are doing well and would love to hear from all of you soon!! Sending lots of Scottish love and hugs...Cheers!