Pictures of me standing in front of various things

i don't know what to do with my hands, ok?! pictures are awkward

Maiden Tower

I've lived 10 minutes from the tower for 3 months and it's taken me the whole 3 months to actually walk down to it and take a picture. The weather was so crappy we didn't even walk the whole way there. It counts that I saw it on the ferry twice a day sometimes, right? ;)

there's a few version of a legend that go with the tower... the one i remember involves a snake. A emperor heard that someone was going to try to kill his daughter or something so he locked her in the tower. Then one day someone smuggled a snake inside a basket of bread and it bit her and she died. 

that was the story I was told when I got here. I have no idea if it's the real one or if it's true or what,  haha.

anyway here is a nice picture of some fisherman:

love letter to istanbul

xoxo

Tomorrow is my last full day here!

I can't believe I've been here 3 months. It doesn't seem possible. I don't want it to end, but at the same time i'm ready to move on to the next adventure. I've eaten tons of amazing food, met so many wonderful people, and seen such beautiful sights.

*sigh*

I hope to write a lot of things down about my time here once I get to Italy.
right now though I'm going to log off and go get some rest so I can enjoy the day tomorrow (even if it's going to rain :-/) we're getting waffles!!!! om nom nom.

Istanbul Archaeology Museums

 Istanbul Archaeology Museums/İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri are overwhelming. haha I'll be straightforward. But for the price, you can't beat it! We went Tuesday and neither of us knew the price before hand. It's located right in the heart of all the tourist attractions, and directly next to Topkapi palace, so I was already prepared to pay a lot. Nope! 10 Lira! Score! for 3 museums  A lot of things were under construction (along with everything else in the city at this time of the year, womp womp) but still. h-o-l-y c-o-w. There was so much! I didn't even get to half way through the second building and I was ready for a nap. So much to take in a read. Everything is ancient. I think it's amazing to see all of that kind of stuff since we don't really have it in america since we are such a young country. 

apparently pre-nups have been around forever. I wish the text would have shown up better :(

"tiled pavilion"

inside the pavilion. I die. gorgeous.

only 10th century. no biggie.

a few random pics.

Because I am doing nothing today. Sitting here getting my things ready for my trip and doing laundry. I'm on my 5th cup of Çay I think. haha, oops.

ready to go!

I dont even know why I bought halley. It's gross. But for one lira, i'll take it. Chocolate is so expensive here :|

Spring has Sprung!

Finally! It's been so warm here the past few days. Today I left the house and left my coat at home ;) Usually I take it and by the time I get to the bus stop (only a 3 minute walk from the house) I am sweating and regret bringing it. So today I threw caution to the wind and just left it home and brought a sweater. OMG. It was so nice. It was in the 60*F range. I ate lunch outside in the sun and gbslkbgalgajdkkl. It was bliss. I snapped a few pics of our magnolia tree this morning. It's so gorgeous. Tomorrow I bet it'll be even more beautiful. The whole city is looking amazing, at the end of last week flowers were planted just about everywhere. On the highway they have the skyline of the city outlined in flowers. In Kadikoy there are some nice outlines of birds I want to try to take pics of. 

Au Pairs in Istanbul

All the au pairs I know here have all had a hard time meeting other au pairs. One told me that it's common to just meet other girls through your host family. Like, their friends have au pairs and they will introduce you to them. There wasn't many places online to find/meet up since Istanbul is not the most popular place to au pair (although, there is tons more here than I thought. and apparently even more in the summer) So my little group of friends and I thought it would be a good idea to start a group where it would be a little easier to connect. There is on fb group but it's not used much. I also don't think there are many actual au pairs on it. It seems to be more turkish, live in nanny types? ah well.

so.

the new facebook group.

--> Au Pairs in Istanbul <--

“If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another.

The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience.

If this sounds too mystical, refer again to the body. Every significant vital sign- body temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on- alters the moment you decide to do anything… decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction.”

-Deepak Chopra

trips, trips, trips!

I've been busy planning some trips lately. March 14-17th I'll be going to Cappadocia with an erasmus group from here. I'm so excited! I remember seeing pictures of it before I left home and thinking "yep, need to go there" can't wait!!

Hopefully i'll get to do the hot air balloon ride :D :D
 something to check off my bucket list ;)


and then in April....

EGYPT!

One of my au pair friends and I are going to go to Egypt for our birthdays! They are only a few day apart, hers the 28th, mine the 30th. We were talking on Saturday about how we both wanted to go on a trip this year to celebrate and on Tuesday we bought the tickets :) I remember learning about the pyramids in 4th grade, we were making pop up books about them, the memory i have is crystal clear. I  told my friend who sat next to me I would go one day. Welp. Looks like that day's almost here :)