next chapter

I made it back to America safely. The plane trip sucked so bad. I was awake for about 44 hours straight..meaning I didnt sleep on any of the three plane rides. My plan was to not sleep until I got on the flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta, however I didnt plan on having three little crazed kids in the row infront of me. At one point I had a little kid climbing on my leg through the seats haha. Oh well, I would rather them be laughing than crying. Its all gravy

quick list of what I have done since my return: eat taco bell, drink yuengling, drink vitamin water ( a lot), drive my car, ride my motorcycle, eat chipotle, train on a real bicycle (not a stationary one), eat moe's, hang out with old friends, hang out new friends, pet on beastie, catch up with my family...probably missed a few things.

Tonight I'm just hangin out, watchin game 7 of the Magic vs Celtics. Life is good. I gotta get a new membership for the gym tomorrow and try and get a job. Not looking forward to the job hunt, but I gotta get one.

I just wanna thank everybody one more time for following my blog and commenting on it. Made my day to get on and see a response.

So now I begin the next chapter of my book called life. Going to try and enjoy my summer, make some money, and hopefully travel a little bit if I have enough money. I'd like to visit NYC one more time, Chicago again, and spend some time in Orlando. Those three cities are the places I'll be applying for jobs next year, so I need to take a serious look..not just a tourist look.

love peace and future grease!

gone

just like wyclef said...january february march april may, I hear ya cryin but girl I can't stay

thats it. turkey is in the books.

Most of ya have been reading my blog from the beginning, I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me. I got a lot of love from everybody, and I won't forget about that ever.

I'm all packed up, ready to go. I'm headed down into town one last time to watch the Besiktas game...then back to the house and to the airport!

I'll see everybody soon!! Hit me up with a call or a text tomorrow evening, I'm gonna be soooo pumped to have my phone back haha.

I'll post one last blog when I get back to America, but this is my last one from Turkey! Love ya! Thanks again :)

interesting itinerary

first of, I apologize for the lack of posts the last couple days. The dude that runs our apartment turned off the internet, for no good reason. I really dont know why, but its not worth trying to talk to that handicap. So, instead I'll just not pay my utility bills before I leave. I paid for the internet for 4 months, not 3 months and 28 days. Especially the last couple days when I really need it so I can find out when my flight is, talk to my fam..etc. Oh well

now, back to the excitement! here is a rundown of my flight itinerary

Istanbul to Amsterdam

Leaves at 5:55am. Arrives at 8:25am

Flight number NW8510 / KL1610

Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes

Amsterdam to Hotlanta

Leaves at 10:20am. Arrives at 1:40pm

Flight number NW8621 / KL621

Duration: 9 hours 30 minutes

Atlanta to Daytona

Leaves at 4:10pm. Arrives at 5:26pm

Flight number Delta5240

Duration 1 hour 16 minutes

I have to leave my apartment in Istanbul at 5:45pm Daytona time....So for those keeping track, it will be right at 24 hours total time from my apartment here, to my house in Daytona. An entire day of my life...oh well haha.

o rly

so I was making an innocent trip to get some dinner on my own earlier tonight...and a series of 3 strange events happened in succession .

[first] I was comlimented on my ability to speak Turkish while ordering my dinner...well that only took 4 months.

[second] a Turkish girl hit on me...right after I was complimented on my turkish. Possibly they were related events, but I'm going to day no...for my ego. However, my Turkish failed immediately after and I no longer understood what my little Turkish delight was saying to me

[third] I saw a vespa with a giant hayabusa sticker on it. Mildly entertaining once I typed it on my blog, but rest assured I lol'ed when I saw it

oh and p.s....4 days. that is all

istanbul by the numbers

10 – stamps on my passport

2 – visas in my passport

13 – days I've spent in North America this year

5 – days I've spent in Asia this year

101 – days I've spent in Europe

1 – mile. The distance of my house from the Europe/Asia border

2 – out of 7 of the 7 Wonders of the Medieval world I have now seen

119 – days I've gone without driving or riding

3 – cab rides I've taken in Istanbul

102 – miles per hour was how fast the cab in Paris was going to the airport

4 – car crashes I have witnessed on the street

6 – countries represented by students in my studio

7 – countries I have seen on my trip

19,500 – miles I've traveled by plane

45 – hours I've spent on a plane

29 – hours I've spent on a bus

4 – different currencies I've used this year

1.6 – average exchange rate of the Turkish Lira to Dollar

1 – times I was sick in 2008

5 – times I have been sick while in Turkey

3 – average number of liters of water I drink a day while training

147 – pounds. my weight when I came to Turkey

161 – pounds. my weight after 3 months of training

50 – trips to the gym on the other campus

45 – minutes it takes me to get to the gym from my house

4 – step process getting to the gym. Walk, metro, bus, walk

35 – hours I spent on the metro making trips to the gym

25 – hours I spent on the bus making trips to the gym

3 – times my hard drive has crashed this year

11 – motorcycle races I've missed this year

123 – blog posts

400 – average number of views my blog gets per week

186 – pictures I've posted on my blog

14.36 – GB of pictures and video I've taken on the trip (thanks for cameras mom dad and lindy!)

20 – chicken pitas I ate the first month I was in Turkey

0 – chicken pitas I ate the last 3 months in Turkey

1.25 – dollars in costs me for school lunch

1,000,000 – thank yous for everyone that has read my blog!!

runway pt2

here are a few more pics that I got from some of my friends..enjoy!

where this picture was taken, there were tons of people behind her. I honestly cant believe I managed to get up there and dance haha.

creepy..but delicious

runway

last night was absolutely incredible. There is a week long Spring Festival going on here at my school. Last night they had a costume contest, so naturally I had to make a costume. There are a bunch of street vendors in Istanbul that sell these things called simit's. They are pretty much a circle pretzel kinda deal.

and I wanna be one...so I made my own.

So my turkish friends signed me up for the costume contest, and I was cool with it. I figured it was gonna be a little deal where I stand up infront of a few people....no. I couldn't have been any farther off.

Lemme try and explain what it was like. Imagine this : me in suspenders, with a fake mustache, dancing on a runway, infront of probably 200 people I dont know by myself, with the beegee's "stayin alive" playing, stobe lights, live DJ.....yeah it was ridiculous hahaha. But it was amazing. Good thing they were selling beer haha.

here is a pic I got from on of my friends from the volleyball game last night. How awesome is this!

p.s...... BUSTA RHYMES TOMORROW NIGHT!! OOOOOOO SNAP

busta bust

so I'm gonna break my neck on thrusday night!! I'm going to see the one and only Busta Rhymes live at this club here in Istanbul! It is gonna be amazing, I seriously am soooooooooooo pumped about it. My last day of class is thursday, and what a better way to celebrate than to go get some arab money.

Kinda getting sad that I'm leaving in 9 days. I've made a lot of really good friends since I've been here, and its depressing thinking that I may not see some (or most) of them every again. If any of them come anywhere in America, I am gonna hop on a plane and visit them...show them around like they have done for me! Just a really good group of people here, I can't thank them enough for helping me have an incredible trip.

o m g

holy crap. I will be first in line at IMAX for this

*edit* I just went on the official website....and it comes out on my birthday!! That means two things: 1) I get to go to Orlando with my friends on my birthday 2) I get to go out and get crunk in Orlando after the movie

didnt get arrested!

so the game last night amazing!!! no joke, I had the best time ever. Good game, good people, good drinks, just an all around good time. We straight shut the place down when we took our shirts off, even had the opposite team's fans cheering for us. I dont think many people (if anyone) paints stuff on their body for sporting events here haha. here are a few pics!

her name is Ferdag, but we call her Fergie

so I dont know if he was standing crooked or I just had too much to drink, but I wrote on Nick's back on an angle haha....so we had to get the gangsta lean to even it out

at the bar after the game!