guess the number, win a prize

not a whole lot happened today. Just straight relaxing. The guy that owns this place told us there is a Wal-Mart type place called Megro or something like that down the road. He said it was a 15 minute walk....45 minutes later still didnt see it. Its cool though, I got to see a ton of stuff on the way.

I was all excited cause I was hoping it would start getting warmer soon. Found out that February is the coldest month on average in Istanbul. hmmm, that put a damper on my excitement. I'm still on the hunt for a laundry mat type place. I dont have the patience to wash a mini load, then let it air dry for two days. I live life on an instant gratification basis. 

lets play another game. below is a picture I took out of the front of our apartment. whoever guesses the number of satellites closest to the actual number displayed will win some kind of photoshopped image from me. I promise it will be amazing. 

and yes, I shrunk the image to make it harder :)  the game closes at 5:00pm Istanbul time, 9:00pm central time, 10:00pm eastern time.

oh and yesterday I was walking around Istanbul and I spotted one of these

I tried to chase it down and get a pic, but he was weaving through traffic. Def the first one I have seen, I don't even think they are out in the states. alright errbody, talk to you soon!

lets try it

so this is a video that I made from a bunch of picture stills....lets see what happens when I post it

this is a quick clip of me being forced to eat an olive for the first time

my address

here ya go, sorry it took so long to get it. Thanks sarah! I actually have no idea where I am, so this address is news to me also haha.

Chad Pryor

Salim Bey Apartmani

Elmağ - ölçek sokak no:21/3

Harbiye/Taksim/Istanbul

Turkey

send me all things that are awesome and not available in turkey! AKA cheese dip, vitamin water, youtube....things such as, like such as (miss south carolina taught me that line). Thats all for now. I will post again later tonight and throw up a picture or 2, or 10. Who knows. see ya soon

pierce brosnan is turkish?

apparently.

I'm watching Goldeneye in turkish. Haha, its pretty ridiculous. Didn't really do anything today, just explored Istanbul via foot again. Somehow I have run into some guy TWICE now that has an uncle that lives in California and looks like Donny Osmond or something. whoever that is? pretty random nonetheless. 

pulled the trigger and bought some training shoes today. As most of you predicted, I bought the lime green ones. They are pretty much amazing, and I have to say I look stunning within them. The price wasn't bad either, only $60 USD. So they are my motivation. Now I just need school to start so I feel like I have a purpose for roaming around Europe. 

I have been introduced to delicious dessert / snack over here. I'm sure some, if not most of you have heard of it. Its called Nutella

its is sooooooooooooo good. just spread it on some crackers and enjoy. If you haven't had it, I def recommend standing up immediately, slamming your laptop down, and racing to the nearest world market. 

for the peeps that are in auburn studio right now: are my stickers still on the doors and in the elevator? I'm curious to see how long they lasted before they were removed / defaced. I predict 3 hours.

aight, thats all for today. keep the comments coming! love peace and fo-head grease

day of cleansing

I only brought a bar of soap to London to bathe with. Gotta pack light haha. So, for 9 showers I used only a bar of soap for shampoo, bodywash, and facewash. By the time I got back to Istanbul, my hair (which is growing out like a champ) pretty much felt like broom bristles. 

The shower this morning was glorious, I got to use shampoo AND bodywash. Only thing missing was this

I somehow forgot to bring a loofah from the states, so I have been looking for one for two weeks. Finally found one today, so I will be squeaky clean. 

Soccer stuff is everywhere over here in Europe. It has made me wanna play again soooo bad, so I'm gonna either try and play with a little team at the university or start our own intramural team with some auburn kiddos. I've been to the big nike stores in London and Istanbul and they have these new soccer / training shoes that I have to get.  Even if the soccer team doesn't happen, I'm still gonna try and get back in shape. I am way out of shape, lost a lot of weight over the past few months. But, its time for change.

Anyways, below are the 3 color choices I'm looking at. Consider this a game. Leave a comment with the shoe you think I am going to get, followed by the one you think I should get. 

back in da turkey

made it back from London! Since I have already talked about my trip in London, I'll talk about my flight today. 

Sat down in the emergency exit row. The lady at the ticket desk deemed me responsible enough for it...umm well at least I will get out first. If you are behind me, you are losing (at least that is what I'm told at Jennings). Upside to the exit row: mass amounts of leg room. Downside to the exit row: chair won't recline. So I sat up straight for 4 hours. 

I watched Eagle Eye, that movie was intense. Shia Ladouche is da bomb diggity. The food was really good, and I even got a Coke with it. Haha, well everyone else was drinking whiskey. So my buddy, Nick, he bought something from the in-flight catalog with turkish lira. He was supposed to get 2 lira back as change, but she came and asked him for one more Euro. We didnt have any euros, so he gave her a pound we had left from England. At this point I am entirely confused. Then she comes back and give him some triangle candy bar. So goes like this:

20 lira - 18 lira + 1 pound = triangle chocolate? ok 

Its nice to be back to Istanbul. Back with all my friends and cheap food. It is sooooo much better when the exchange rate is in your favor haha. Sandy!! what up sis! Made a new playlist for ya (and brent). Sorry for not updating it quick enough, oh and this time is shuffles. So it should play a different song each time you open it. 

No pictures from today, my bad. If you guys are visiting the site and reading my posts, leave me some comment love! Its hard to tell who is seeing this, and sometimes I feel like I'm blogging to a robot that doesn't talk back haha. 

Some things I miss from america (besides friends and fam):

-beastie

-moes

-my skeeter and 600

-shorts

-warm weather

-having to drive everywhere

things I don't miss:

-fat people

-nascar

-frat boys

-george w bush

-having to drive everywhere (yes, I miss it and don't miss it...think about it)

love peace and french fry grease!

sorry for the delay

yeah the internet machine thing was down last night. so...consider this a two day blog post. I'm pissed that I wasn't able to watch the Rolex 24 from over here. I read that the margin of victory was .167 seconds, AND I MISSED IT! Oh well, I'll hit it up on youtube, oh wait its banned in turkey haha.

Yesterday and today has really been fun. Just chillin out and walking around. We have met so many new people here, mostly French. It's our last day today, so we are just gonna take it easy and enjoy London while we can. Flying back to Istanbul tomorrow, I'm pumped about the $1.25 pitas. We start school a week from today (starts Feb 2). I'm def ready for that. As weird as it sounds, I miss school. Gives me something to do. I hope it keeps me busy, but I don't want it to be like Auburn where I have to be up all night every night.

Shout out to my pops! Thanks for cleaning up the house, sorry I am a pig haha. What up ashley, shawn, brandon, bender ball, kaylee, danie (sorry bout your leg, get better)..the whole DB crew. Everybody back in AU, what up! Hope you haven't gotten sick of Finn yet. Speaking of him, anybody know anything about that portfolio competition? I need my prize money! haha, jk.

I'll post up another blog when I get to Istanbul tomorrow, so it will be about 24-30 hours from right now. Over and out!


more fish and chips!


hairspray...in the rain


all of us and a friend from paris

shoomp off

Today was a big day. Most of it was spent on a bus, and I was catching flies in my mouth the whole time. In between states of coma, we visted Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Bath (all in England). First we hit up the Salisbury Cathedral. It was really cool, the whole town was straight out of The Cable Guy at medival times. I had some chili at a one of the local pubs, it was aiiiight. Wasn't near as good as my mom's! Love ya ma! After that we hopped on the bus again and went to Stonehenge. After many grassy hills and little stone walls, we got to Stonehenge.

That place is just incredible, beautiful. The stones are huge, some weighing up to 50 tons. Due to people vandalizing the stones, we were only allowed about 20 yards away from it at the closest point. So that was kinda lame, but its all gravy.

*side note* Lindy, there were a bunch of sheeps rubbing their heads together haha. I def thought about you

Our last stop was a place named Bath, England. They had some really of Roman baths there, but they wanted 12 pounds just to go in it. Now, if I could have showered in it without catching 42 diseases, I probably would have done it. But, they warned everyone before to not even TOUCH the water....so I didn't go in. That left me an hour and some change to wander around this little city. That is where I found the pic below of the amazing Capri-sun haha. But seriously, life is so different over here. So much slower, but not in a bad Alabama way. Just an easy life. Two days left in London! Had fish and chips again tonight haha, looks like I'll get it at least one more time before I jump on the metal bird. Alright, hope you enjoy the pics!

Salisbury Cathedral


the town of Salisbury


me playin with rocks


sheep!


one of my better pics


a river running through Bath


a capri-sun, with a twist off cap!!!!! o m g

cheers bloaks

today was another amazing day in London. Started out by going to Buckingham Palace. Got to see the guards marching around and changing around. Pretty crazy how old school it is over here, and plus they were wearing grey coats instead of red. I think it has something to do with the seasons, but I could be wrong, actually I have no idea. While over in that part of town we hit up Hyde Park and Green Park. Nothing special there, just another grassy knoll to me.

By the way, it was sooo cold here today.

Then we went to the Tate Modern museum. Museums make me tired, so I quickly found bench and took a nap while the other walked around. It was a good nap though. After that we took the tube and got some chinese food in Chinatown. It was reallllly good. Got me some egg fried rice (of course) and some sweet and sour chicken.

Then something incredible happened.

I RODE ON THE TOP OF A DOUBLE DECKER BUS hahahaha it was the best thing ever.

oh and also I got a Cinnabon, that was the second best thing ever. Gotta get to sleep early tonight though, we are leaving for Stonehenge at 7am in the morning blahhhhh. Oh well, for some reason I am super pumped to go look at some old rocks. Thats it for now! peace


guard is straight chillin


good thing the asian that took this picture got nothing but the fence. retard


the fountain out front of Buckingham Palace


mind the gap between the train and the platform haha


pretty cool 8 second long exposure. from my little camera that could


looking over the Thames to the St. Paul Cathedral


chinatown!


it was actually really good. london'sc chinatown is wayyy nicer than NYC's


this is for Will and my pops, check out this color SV

*ps* be on the lookout for another blog sometime soon of all the cool little cars and bikes that I have seen while being overseas!

rain

so it was wet and cold here today. rained early in the morning and around dinner time. It's all gravy though. Walked through the British Museum (where all the pics are from), then we walked around all the shops in Oxford Circus. I went to a Nike Town store, which is all Nike stuff and about 3 stories. The clothes were amazing, but I wasn't allowed to go and look at the AF1's, you could only see them by APPOINTMENT. I mean, I have a $150 pair of AF1's on my feet and I couldnt even look at the ones for sale. Oh well.

Got to see the Rosetta Stone today, even copped a feel on it.

Came back to the hostel and hung out with the other roomies. Tonight we had a group from America, France, Brazil, Canada, Swiss, Spain, and Australia. Really fun, but about 5 languages flying around. Just met a couple people from Boston, so we will probably chill tomorrow sometime. Going to Beckingham palace tomorrow, hoping to get a picture with a guard. Saturday we are headed to Stonehenge, and then back to Istanbul on Monday.

Miss everybody back home! Just wanna say a quick war eagle for the women's basketball team, they are straight dominating! take it easy, talk to ya soon!


something called an "Egg Burger", it was fabulouussssss


some random face exhibit, looks like Jim Carrey to me


a couple of dudes holding hands and squatting in Asia


this dude def has some capt'n in him


haha, by far the best piece on display. some dog

mind the gap

hey hey hey! another random day in London! its kinda late here and I'm worn out from walking around all day, so the pics are gonna have to wait until tomorrow. But in the meantime I can tell you about what I did today. Started out by going back to our favorite pub, the Golden Lion, and had an amazing dish called Chicken Liev. Pretty much amazing, as is all food in London. After that we walked / took the tube to the Tower Bridge, back to the London Eye and Big Ben. Got to see a lot of Norman Foster buildings, so that was exciting.

I'm just blown away by the amount of history everywhere in London. 2/3 of the buildings are super old school. Pretty cool. I'm excited cause I bought Craig David's newest album over here, something they don't sell in the USA. Later on in the night we started to just jump on random trains and let them take us wherever. It was fun, and I got to see a lot of the city. Ran across St. Paul Cathederal in the process.

After that we spent a few hours in the common area of the hostel talking to people from all over the world. Really awesome, its crazy what people think of America and how american pop culture has influenced the world. Btw, Obama stuff is everywhere over here. They LOVE him, so it made me proud to stand up and watch the inaguration the other day.

edit: its been raining here all day, so no Stonehenge today. Time to explore London again! Enjoy the pics!


infront of the Tower Bridge.....freezing


from a bridge over the Thames. Big Ben on the right


3 nights, 3 fish and chips


semi blurry pic of the St. Paul


phone booth!

wow

what an amazing day. woke up kinda late, we were def out late last night and the time change didn't help. Just kinda walked around and found this little pub called the Golden Lion. We had lunch there and had the something called "sausage of the day", and it was double d-licious. We ended up going back there later on to watch the Obama inaguration and enjoy some pints of local beer. Then we starting walking

and walking

and walking

in circles.

We were trying to find another good place that serves fish and chips, appropriately named "Fish and Chips". Hours later, we had no luck. But, we did eat at this place called Jumbo Eats....it was aight. The fish and chips were better than Long John Silvers, but not by much. We explored for a little bit, then hit up the convienience store and picked up some british beers. You can walk around public streets and drink legally here, weird, but amazing.

We came back to the hostel and were chillin out in the common area. End up talking to a ton of people, and the next thing I know is we are rollin about 15 deep, walking to Big Ben. We had people from Brazil, France, Australia, California, Idaho and the 4 of us. It was really cool just talking to everyone and hearing their story.

Big Ben was incredible, and I was lucky enough to be filming when the bell tower went off. Look for that in the future on the blog. We walked down the Thames river and saw the London Eye (big ferris wheel). After that, we headed back, it was about a 20 minute walk from the hostel.

Tomorrow we are gonna walk back down to the London Eye so we can see all the shops open, then hit up the London Bridge and tower. Only thing about London that is tough is that it is expensive! Its all good though, we have figured out the cheap spots to eat. Over and out for now, gotta get some sleep! Enjoy the pics!


me dominating the sausage of the day


mini in london! and that is some kind of smart car behind it


friends at the hostel


more friends!


the London Eye


Big Ben suckas

live from london

what up! I am straight chillin in London. I pretty much love it over here. The people are amazing, the food is amazing, the city is amazing...but everything is expensive. The exchange rate from the dollar to the pound doesn't help either. Its about 1.5 right now, and not in my favor. The flight was good, and the lunch on the flight was even better. Def the best on flight meal I've had to date.

Once we got to the airport, we had to take a 1/2 hour train right through the straight up country to get to London. The subway here (called the 'Tube') is awesome. Really easy, really efficient. I'm staying in a hostel in the heart of London called Picadelli Backpackers, it is right next to Picadelli Circus. Really cool place, rooms are nice.

First thing we did was go out and find some fish and chips. We ended up at this place called Rock & Sole, and the fish and chips were SO GOOD. I had cod with their tartar sauce, and I could've died then and been happy. We hit up a couple little local pubs after that. I had a pint of "Timothy ____ Landlord" (I cant remember the 2nd word, I'll edit it later) and a pint of IPA beer. Both were very good, lots of flavor.

All I can say is dang. The women are beautiful here. I mean, I was just walking around with my jaw draggin the floor. London has the most good looking girls per capita of anywhere I have ever been, hands down. I feel like I need to write that on Wikipedia or something.

Sorry if I haven't been on Skype or facebook or emailing much. I have to pay a certain amount for every 30 minutes I am using the internet. So, I felt like putting up a blog post would be the most effective. Enjoy the pics below, I have a lot more and a ton of video. Love, peace and hair grease!


fish and chips before I straight dominated


fish and chips after I straight dominated


a picture of the square that our hostel is in


yet another MS paint panoramic of one of the pubs we hit up

valet pimpin

hey hey hey!

Woke up today around 9:30am and felt good, looks like I'm fully adjusted to the time change! Too bad I'm going to another time zone tomorrow. On my way to London for a week tomorrow at 11:35am Istanbul time. Staying in a hostel called Picadelli Backpackers, sounds awesome. We only booked two nights. Not sure what is gonna happen the other 4-5 days we are in England, looking to hit up Paris and Stonehenge fa shoooooo. Maybe go explore random abandoned castles. Def some tea time, crumpets, and mass amounts of fish and chips are in order. 

Supposed to rain the entire time, average high for the week is 43F, average low 37F....lovely. According to google, London only gets an average of 13 days of thunderstorms per year. That fact is not only interesting, but exciting. Be sure to tell a friend, cite me, but remember to cite that I cited google which probably cited something else.

Today was awesome. Went down to the local street vendors and picked up a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice and a simit. They literally cut the oranges in half, and squeeze the juice into your cup when you order. The simit is similar to a pretzel mixed with a bagel...best way to describe it. Both were amazing, and the simit was on .75 lira, or about $0.46 USD. just plain awesome.

Then me and some friends hopped on the metro and went down 4-5 stops to a stop called "4.Levent". Levent is a much more business driven area, more high rise buildings and rich people. We took a cab ride (only $4.50 USD for 4 people!!) to this mall called Istinye Park. Preeettttty much the best mall ever. Imagine the Lenox mall in Buckhead, but times 2 and 4 stories. Every retarded expensive fashion brand you can think of..like uhhh coach, armani, and all that crap.  I ended up getting this purple/green/blue sweater for about $11 USD. Haha, sorry I'm cheap. 

I'm really starting to learn simple phrases and how to communicate and order food well now. I picked up a lil mini turkish-english dictionary today. Its only about 2"x2" and 1" thick, but it is da bomb diggity. 

*Side note* the police officers ride around on the european version of the V Strom suzuki, called the V Raider or something. Better than that, they ride two up. Yup, nut to butt all day. haha cracks me up

here are some pictures from the mall today, again excuse the horrible panoramics. I haven't gotten photoshop on my computer yet since windows died. So this is done in MS Paint....yeah...

the main entrance to the mall

top floor looking across

between the three of us, we spent $441 USD....to give you a hint I only spent $11

Nissan GTR in the parking lot!