The Cirelli Family

On Sunday I photographed the Cirelli family.  It was so nice to meet this wonderful family, and I was honored that they asked me to take their family pictures.  This beautiful family of four recently welcomed Liam into the world so congratulations to all of them!  These two brothers couldn't be any more cute.  The two year old, Owen, is so photogenic and fun!  He loved getting to run around the park while Liam was so content and happy the entire time... I think he may have even enjoyed getting his picture taken.

The Johnson Family

On Friday I photographed the beautiful Johnson family.  Could they be any more picture perfect, especially with all of their matching Chucks?  JUST WAY TOO CUTE!  Elijah and Avari are two of the most adorable kids I know, and I was honored to get to photograph them.   I just love all of them so much ... they are an incredible family, and I am blessed to be good friends with them!  

Martha's 90th Birthday Party

Last Saturday I was privileged to get to photograph a dear friend of mines Grandma's 90th Birthday party.  The party was at Littleton United Methodist Church, where Martha has attended for the past 70 years.  Can you imagine going to the same church for 70 years?!  It was so much fun getting to see Martha celebrate this very special day with all her friends and family, and I was blessed to get to capture it.

Virginia: Norfolk, Colonial Williamsburg & Thomas Jefferson

This weekend (well Thursday through Saturday) my Mom and I went to Virginia to visit my Aunt Ann, Uncle Steve, my cousin Jayme and her baby girl Rylea.  Rylea just turned one on Wednedsay, and we were excited to get to go celebrate with her!  Although our trip was cut short due to good old Hurricane Sandy (we were supposed to get home late tonight, but ended up getting on a flight last night instead, and good thing because our flight today was cancelled and Norfolk is currently getting 10" of rain today!), we still made the most of the short time we had there.  On Friday, my Aunt Ann, my Mom, Jayme, Rylea and I spent the day in Williamsburg.  If you've never been, go!  Colonial Williamsburg served as the capital of the Colony of Virginia from 1699 to 1780 and was the center of political events in Virginia leading up to the American Revolution.  I was in love with the old buildings, the history, and the trees.  Rylea loved all the sheep, cows and horses! Not only did we get to see where Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry lived in the Governor's Palace, but we got to learn about the history and culture of the times too.  Besides going to Williamsburg we spent our time in Norfolk hanging out with the family, and being entertained by beautiful, adorable Rylea!  

It's That Time of the Year

It's that time of the year again when everyone wants their family photos taken.  Here is a much needed blog post of the three family portrait sessions (and the Mom-Daughter session) that I did this past weekend.  All four shoots were so much fun.  I was honored that these four incredible, beautiful families asked me to take their family portraits. First up is the O'Donnell family.  Although we couldn't get the little one in this family to have a serious smile for any of the pictures, I think these photos definitely show off her spunky attitude.  What do you think?  Could she have any more great faces?  And how about the other two munchkins?  Super cute, right?

Next is the Hicks family ... this shoot was so much fun with all the leaves and fabulous fall colors everywhere.  Not to mention the cute, stylish kids and the beautiful parents!  Thank you all for making my job SO, SO easy!

And finally, we have the Lamar family.  I have been blessed to know this family for many, many years now, and they just welcomed a new baby girl, Frances, to their already stunning family.  Congrats!!

And last, but not least we have adorable little Evie.  Poor Evie did not particularly want or enjoy getting her picture taken, but she definitely had a cute pout, and think the few that we did get were worth it!

The White Family

On Sunday, I was blessed to get to photograph the White family.  This incredible family was so much fun to work with.  With the beautiful parents, charming 7 year old twins, and an adorable baby girl, they sure did make my job incredibly easy!  The girls are so full of life, wild and fun, and I tried to get their great personalities to shine through these images.    The colors on the trees, and the fallen leaves couldn't have been more perfect for these Fall family photos.  Thank you so much to the White family for such a fun shoot!!  

A much needed blog post...

Well, since I have two weeks until I graduate I figured I should finally blog.  The quarter has flown by!  I have been so busy this quarter getting everything done to graduate, focusing on my classes, working, etc.  Here's a little glimpse of all that I have done over the past few months.  Let's see...  I've shot jewelry for an awesome company, August Designs Jewelry, which was started by one of my good friends (You should definitely check it out... you won't regret it!), and I also shot a few head shots of the owners while I was it!  ... I went to California, which I already blogged about ... I hiked around Rocky Mountain National Park, which was beyond beautiful and much needed to soothe my soul.  I watched the sunset over Sprague Lake ... I went on a field trip with my Advertising Campaign class to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  The Kizuna exhibit was going on, which features amazing bamboo installations from two very talented artists, Tetsunori Kawana and Stephen Talasnik.  The exhibit goes until November 4th so if you are in the Denver area you should probably go see it!  ... I went to a rodeo, the Refuse to Lose rodeo that benefits cancer victims and their families.  My cousin, a former bull-rider himself, is now a bull fighter (AKA, a rodeo clown who distracts the wild bulls after the riders fall off), and I was able to photograph him for one of my classes and my portfolio (Yes, he is the good-looking cowboy with no front teeth!) ... I re-built my entire website ... And I even learned how to use Adobe Illustrator a little bit.  It's been one eventful quarter, and it isn't done yet!  Stay tuned for more projects, my portfolios and more photos in a couple weeks!  

San Diego, Bass Lake & Yosemite

I never thought I would see such a gigantic tree in my life.  Brandon and I were driving through Yosemite National Park towards Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias, and I said to him, "How will we know when we see a Sequoia tree?"  We thought that the trees already surrounding us were pretty big.  But when we saw one we knew it.

A few weeks ago, Brandon and I took a trip to California.  I met him in San Diego, where we stayed with his Aunt and Uncle for a few days.  While there, we went to the San Diego Zoo and went kayaking in La Jolla.  The San Diego Zoo was so much fun.  It was by far the biggest zoo I have ever been to, and it was really cool because I got to see Panda Bears, which I have never seen before.  Kayaking was also really fun.  We went on a tour in the La Jolla caves, and it was really pretty.  We saw tons of fish, sea lions, harbor seals and leopard sharks.

After spending a few days in San Diego, we took a 6 hour train ride up to Fresno, where we stayed with Brandon's cousin for a night before driving to Bass Lake to spend the weekend with Brandon's grandparents.  Having heard so many great stories of Brandon's about Bass Lake, I was excited to be there and to experience it for myself.  We spent a few days boating, fishing and swimming in the lake.

On Friday morning, we woke up at 3:30 a.m. in order to drive to Yosemite National Park in time to drive to Glacier Point to catch the sunrise over Half Dome.  Neither of us had been to Yosemite National Park before, and it definitely was a site to see.  I wish we could have spent more time there because it was so beautiful.  After a short nap in the car, we then went to the Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias.  This is was my favorite, favorite thing about our entire trip.  We hiked around the grove, and I was mesmerized by the giant trees.  I have never experienced anything like them before.  If you haven't gotten to see them, I would highly reccomend it.  I fell in love with the Sequoia trees.  Some of them are over 100 ft. in diameter.  Can you even imagine that?

The next morning, we drove back to Fresno where we spent the day listening to live music, swimming in Brandon's cousins pool and relaxing in the hot tub.  We woke up early the next morning to take the train to Sacramento, and from there we flew home to Denver.  It was a great trip and I am so thankful for all I got to see, experience and do while I was there.  Thank you to Brandon's awesome family who took us in and took care of us while we were there!

Oh, and did I mention that I bought an underwater camera while I was there?  We had a lot of fun with this highly unnecessary purchase...

August 19. Reflection.

Tomorrow we arrive in Boston where I will be catching a flight to Denver, which means that my trip is coming to a bitter-sweet end. I'm sad that my adventure is already over... I feel like I just left the other day. Time really does fly by. I'm sad that I won't be in a different country every week anymore, and I'm especially sad that I have to leave all the wonderful friends that I have made since I've been gone. But I'm also excited to see my family and friends at home... I sure have missed everyone...and I'm excited to get back to "real" life. As I reflect over the past two months, I've realized that this was an adventure of a lifetime, and an amazing opportunity that I'm so grateful I got to experience. Here's a little bit of what I've learned over the past two months:

I've learned that I'm grateful for my home, my friends and my family. Over the past two months I've gotten to know a lot of the crew that work on the ship. They work continually on the ship for nine months straight and then get a two month vacation before spending another nine straight months on the ship. I can't imagine only getting to see my family for two months every nine months, especially considering how much I miss my family and I've only been away for two months. I can't imagine how much all the crew miss their friends and family, and I'm really blessed that I am able to see my friends and family whenever I want to.

I've learned that I'm grateful for my education. One of my crew friends told me one night that he wishes he would have had the opportunity to go to college. This made me realize how privileged I am that I do get to go to college and earn a degree. This also made me realize how lucky I am that I got to go to school on a ship while traveling the world for the last two months.

I've learned that I'm very very grateful and blessed that I was able to experience all these new places, divulge in new cultures and meet new people from all over the world.

I've learned that I shouldn't take anything for granted.

I've learned that people everywhere are all the same. We all have the same needs and wants even when we look different and live different lifestyles.

I've learned that I really love the ocean, and will be sad when I won't get to see it everyday in Colorado.

I've learned that it's okay to be a little messy, it's okay to stay up late, it's okay if my neighbors want to scream and yell at four a.m. when I have an eight a.m. class. I will survive.

I've learned that a lot of people don't like having their pictures taken, especially in Morocco.

I've learned that beauty is everywhere.

I've learned that a smile is a universal way to communicate, and I've learned that most people are very friendly if you are friendly to them, even if you don't speak the same language.

I've learned that friendships are priceless and worth preserving.

I've learned that the ship does in fact run out of peanut butter, and I'm really glad I brought a jar with me.

I've learned that I'm really afraid of monkeys and snakes. These animals should not be running wild through the souks of Marrakech.

Ive learned a lot about ships, boats, water and the ocean.

I've learned that I love to travel and want to see the whole world someday.

I've learned that there are a lot of kids in the world who don't have homes. I wish I could have taken all the kids who were at the orphanage I went to in Bulgaria home with me.

I've learned that traffic lights, stop signs and cross walks are just recommendations, and that pedestrians do not come first over here. I've learned to look both ways over and over again before crossing streets, especially in Morocco where I really would have felt better if there were some sort of traffic signals.

I've learned that there really is a God. How else did this wonderful, beautiful, complex world get here?

I've learned that no matter how hard I try I really really hate to shop.

I've learned that I'm thankful to have feet, even if mine do hurt all the time.

I've learned that living "dorm- room" style for 2 months is just enough time for me.

I've learned a lot of Spanish and I've learned how to say "take me to the ship port terminal" in addition to some words in Italian, Croatian, Greek, Bulgarian, Turkish, Arabic and Tagalog.

I've learned that I am not a good student when it comes to lecture hall classes with 700 students in it. I do not pay attention when there are so many people around me. I'm glad I go to an art school where my biggest class has 35 people in it.

I've learned that I'm incredibly blessed to have a wonderful family and great friends. Did I already mention that? Can you tell I missed you?

Over the past two months, I've realized how thankful, lucky and grateful I am that I got to spend my summer traveling, seeing new places, experiencing new cultures, meeting new people and making new friends. This really was a trip of a lifetime that I will remember forever.

August 8 - August 12. Morocco

Not only is today my last day in Morocco, but today is my last day abroad. At least for this summer. I can't believe that my adventure is already ending, and that today is my last day in my last country on this trip. The ship leaves from Casablanca tonight to head to Boston. I'm sad that it's already over... time really does fly by. My time in Morocco was definitely an interesting experience. I wouldn't say that Morocco is my favorite place I've ever been, but I'm glad I can say that I've been here and it was really really interesting to get to experience the culture here. Let me fill you in on what I've been upto the last few days while I've been in Morocco.

Let me start by explaining that right after leaving Turkey, I got really really really sick. It was definitely not fun, and it definitely put a damper on the beginning of my time in Morocco. I spent the first day in Morocco on the ship trying to survive through my stomach pain, and get better so that I could enjoy the rest of my time in Morocco. On Tuesday morning (not feeling much better still, but I forced myself to leave the ship) I left to go to Marrakech for a couple of days. After surviving a miserable three hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Marrakech, and the first thing we did was hop on a bunch of camels and went on a camel trek through the Palm Groves of Marrakech. I was so excited to ride a camel that for a while I almost forgot I wasn't feeling well. For the first hour or so of my camel ride, I was having the time of my life. I mean after all who can honestly say that they got to ride a camel in Morocco on their birthday? Did I mention that Tuesday was my birthday? But about an hour into the ride, my excitement about being on a camel subsided, and I remembered that I wasn't feeling well again. My head was throbbing, my stomach hurt and I all the sudden was seeing spots and thought I was either going to throw up or pass out. It probably didn't help that I was already dehydrated from being sick for so long, and then being on a really long camel ride through the desert in the beating sun in 125 degree weather. Yes, it really was 125 degrees in Marrakech on Tuesday. Needless to say, the last hour of my camel trek was pretty brutal. I was very grateful when my camel finally kneeled down, let me off and I was able to drink some water. Even though I felt really terrible, I'm glad that I forced myself to leave the ship and go to Marrakech... I'm glad that I got to experience a camel ride through the desert of Morocco. After our camel trek, we ate lunch at this little restaurant where we all sat on the ground and ate couscous and other things I couldn't recognize out of giant bowls.

The next day, we walked around Marrakech and saw everything that Marrakech has to offer. We went to the souk, which is a giant market similar to the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. And let me tell you... I never ever ever wish to smell the smell of this place ever again, but it was a really cool, crazy, overwhelming experience nonetheless. Just imagine the smell of sewage mixed with rotting meat (yes, I saw a loooot of rotting meat hanging up... in my opinion meat shouldn't be infested with flys and shouldn't be turning a nasty green color and raw meat should NEVER EVER smell like that) and the zoo. Maybe my gag reflexes were just heightened from being sick to my stomach, but I was very very glad to be wearing a scarf that I was able to wrap around my nose and mouth. Besides the smell, the souk was very interesting. It was all these small alleyways with shop after shop after shop along them, and people walking up and down them selling various miscellaneous things. Men were walking around with monkeys on leashes, and would throw them on the shoppers and wouldn't take them off their shoulders until they gave them money (thankfully this never happened to me, but I watched it happen multiple times... I was terrified that I was going to get a monkey put on me), and the same thing happened with snakes. Yes, real live snakes. They would throw these giant, scary snakes at people walking through the streets and wouldn't let you leave or wouldn't take the snake off you until you gave them money (thankfully this never happened to me either). Besides that, some of the shops were pretty cool. I got a pair of shoes, three bracelets, and a couple of other things for under 20 dollars. The bargaining in these shops was absolutely crazy. The entire souk experience was one that I never wish to relive, but am glad I got to see. Morocco is a crazy, crazy place.

Last night since it was our last night to all go out together, a big group of us went to get dinner. We went to Rick's Cafe, which is the restaurant they go to in the movie Casablanca. This morning I ventured out to go walk through the city of Casablanca one more time and to do some last minute shopping. I hope that no one at home is expecting me to come back with gifts for them because I seriously haven't gotten anything for anybody. Then after shopping I walked over to the Hotel Ibis to sit at the bar and use their free internet, which is where I am right now. I need to head back to the ship soon so that we can leave and start our voyage home!!

I had a great time in Morocco, and I'm so thankful that I'm feeling better and was able to enjoy my last few days here. I loved getting to experience the culture here... riding a camel, eating on the floor, shopping in the crazy souks, interacting with the people... I wouldn't trade my time here for anything, and now I'm ready to head home and am looking forward to it! I can't wait to see everyone at home in a WEEK!!!

July 29 - August 2. Istanbul, Turkey.

I am back on the ship headed to Morocco.  I have spent the last five days in Istanbul, and wish I could have at least five more days there.  Istanbul is such a big city with so much to do and see, and five days does not do it justice.  I tried to see everything I possibly could while I was there, and my days were jam-packed.  On Friday, we went to the Underground Cistern, which is an underground water reservoir that was built in the sixth century a.d. to store water for the population of Istanbul at the time.   The cistern now hosts occasional concerts, and is a tourist site known for it's dimly lit and beautiful pillars, and two stone medusa heads from the Roman structures.  We then spent the rest of the day at the Grand Bazaar.  The Grand Bazaar is the world's oldest shopping mall.  During the Byzantine times, the Grand Bazaar was the main market in Istanbul.  When the Ottomans came, the Grand Bazaar grew bigger and more diverse, and became the center for trade in the entire Ottoman Empire.  The Grand Bazaar remained Turkey's commercial trading center through the 1950s.  Today the Grand Bazaar hosts over 4,000 shops, and sells 10 times more jewelry than it used to.  My experience there was one I do not wish to experience again.  Someone should have warned me that if you do not like shopping then you should not go there!  Not only was the Grand Bazaar overwhelming, but the walk there alone should have been enough warning to make me turn back.  On the way there, I got run over by more strollers than I can count and get pushed and knocked around like I wasn't even there.  Maybe if I was a foot taller and ten times bigger, I would have been able to handle it, but seeing as I am really short and small, I got trampled all over.  I thought the Grand Bazaar would be better, but it turns out it wasn't.  There were just as many people in the Grand Bazaar as there were on the streets so I continued to get ran over.  Not only that, but I did not find bargaining very fun, and I did not enjoy all the men hollering at me, telling me I'm beautiful and yelling at me that I broke their hearts because I would not buy anything from them.  To say the least, my "shoppers anxiety" was at its peak.  I can't even handle going to the mall in Lone Tree, Colorado so why did I think I could handle the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey?!  Everyone I was with came back with bags and bags of souvenirs... jewelry, clothes, lamps, tea, you name it, they bought it.  What did I come back with?  Not one thing.  Most everyone I was with bought all of their souvenirs there and bought all of their gifts for their family and friends there so let me just say that I'm sorry that none of my family or friends will be getting gifts from Turkey.  Some of my friends even went back to the Grand Bazaar more than once.  Kudos to them, but the Grand Bazaar was not  my favorite place.  I can honestly say though that I'm glad I got to experience it one time, and it makes me even more glad to know that I never have to go back there again. I spent the next day seeing the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque.  The Haiga Sofia is FILLED with history so bear with me while I give you yet another history lesson.  For centuries the Hagia Sofia was known as the Megalo Ekklesia, or the "Great Church" of Constantinople.  The Greeks called it  the Hagia Sophia or Aya Sofia (that's the Turkish way of spelling it), which means "Divine Wisdom".  The Emperor Justinian built the Hagia Sophia between 532 a.d. and 537 a.d.  For 900 years it served as the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople.  When the Ottomans took over Constantinople in 1453, the Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror converted the church into an imperial mosque.  The Hagia Sofia remained Istanbul's most important mosque for five centuries.  In the 1930's during the Turkish Republic, the mosque was converted another time into a museum, in which it is today.  It retains elements of both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires and aspects of the Orthodox Christian religion as well as Islam.  The Hagia Sofia is overwhelmingly beautiful... I really enjoyed my time there.  We then ventured over to the Blue Mosque.  The Blue Mosque was built in 1609, and is called the Blue Mosque because of the blue color that dominates the inside.  The Blue Mosque is unique because it has six minarets.  According to Muslim tradition, the imam (the prayer leader) would climb to the top of a minaret five times every day to announce the call to prayer.  Today, an imam still announces the call to prayer, but over loudspeakers that you can hear all over the city.  The Blue Mosque is still a working mosque today, and going inside of it was an experience in itself.  In order to go in women have to cover their shoulders and heads, and must wear clothes that cover their entire legs.  As you walk in you take off your shoes and carry them in a bag with you.  Once inside, you notice that the women are separated from the men.  The men are up front in the main area while the woman have to stay behind the railing in the back of the mosque.  Everyone is sitting, standing, or kneeling in the same direction.  Everyone prays facing southeast towards Mecca, Islam's holy city.  It was a very spiritual experience getting to observe all of the Muslims' who were praying in the Blue Mosque at the time I was there.

On Monday, Andrea, Jenny and I took a ferry up the Bosphorus Strait to the Asia side of Turkey.  If you look at a map of Turkey you will see that the country is split in two pieces separated by the Bosphorus Strait.  One little piece of Turkey is on the continent of Europe and the other piece of Turkey is on the continent of Asia.   So we took a ferry through the Straits of Bosphorus to Asian Istanbul where we had lunch and reveled in the fact that we were in Asia.  From my experience Asian Istanbul looks, smells and feels exactly like Europe Istanbul, but it's cool to say that I ate lunch in Asia.

Yesterday on our last day in Istanbul, I decided to get a Turkish Bath.  I had heard that you can't go to Turkey and not get a Turkish Bath so after breakfast yesterday I walked through town to the Cembillitas Bath.  I had no idea what I was in for, but it was quite the experience.  This big Turkish woman, who didn't speak English, handed me a towel and a pair of underwear and pointed up this stairwell.  Not really sure what I was doing, I walked up the stairs where I found a small locker room.  I figured I should put on the underwear she gave me so I did, then I wrapped the towel around me, and walked back downstairs.  The lady showed me through these big doors that led to this big room that was as hot as a sauna with a big marble slab in the middle of it.  She pulled the towel off me, threw it on the marble slab and pointed at it.  If there weren't a couple of other ladies already in there laying on the marble slab, I probably wouldn't have known what to do, but thankfully there were a couple of people already in there so I laid down on my towel in the middle of this big marble slab where I waited for my Turkish bath to begin.  After thirty minutes or so the lady came over to me and poured a bucket of water on me, scrubbed my entire body, threw more water on me, poured bubbles on me, scrubbed me again, poured more water on me, etc.  It went on for an hour or so, all the while slapping me and yelling things I didn't understand in order to get me to roll over, sit up, stand up, sit down, lay down, turn over, etc.  At last she had me sit up one last time where she scrubbed my hair and face and dumped bucket after bucket of water over me until I was officially the cleanest I have ever been in my life.   If I hadn't watched a couple of people go before me, I would have been terrified, but by the time it was my turn I was ready for it and I actually thought the whole experience was pretty comical.  Yes, it was a little awkward having someone bathe me, and it was a little awkward being practically naked in a room with all these other women, but it was an experience that I'm glad I got to have, and I can honestly tell you that I have no more dead skin anywhere on my entire body.

I wish I could have gotten to sped a couple of more days in Istanbul... five days were definitely not enough, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.  I am back on the ship now, and will be in Morocco on Monday morning.  I can't wait!!  I will be in Morocco until Friday and then will be headed home!

Sorry for the really low quality of these images!

July 24 - July 27. Bulgaria

Bulgaria was one giant adventure, and I absolutely LOVED every minute of it.  Who would have thought Bulgaria would be my favorite place I've gone so far?  I wish I could be here for another week or two... I'm sad to be leaving already!  It is such a beautiful country. We got here on Sunday, and on Sunday morning I just walked around the city of Varna to get a feel for it, and then spent the rest of the day at the beach... it was nice and relaxing, but I got so sun burned!  That night we went to the music festival that was in town, which was very fun and really cool to get to see.  On Monday, I went on a jeep safari, which was awesome to say the least.  We all packed into these really old jeeps (our driver called them Russian Hummers), and got to ride around and see all of Varna.  We stopped in this beautiful sunflower field, where sunflowers were all you could see all around.  We also go to stop and taste fresh honey, which was so good... so good, in fact, that I bought two jars of it to bring home, and then we enjoyed a barbecue lunch and watched a little skit that our drivers put on for us.  All of the jeep drivers were so funny and crazy... I seriously thought that the jeep I was in was going to flip over a couple of times.  My friend and I were talking about how funny it is that at home whenever we get in a car we always put our seat belts on no matter what without even thinking twice about it, but here we are standing up in the back of safari jeeps off roading in Bulgaria with drivers that don't even speak English.  That night after the jeep safari we went bowling.  Bowling in 'Bowl'garia... cheasy, I know, but still how many other people can say that they have been bowling in Bulgaria?  On Tuesday, my friend Jenny and I went on an amazing adventure.  We had planned to take a bus to Burgas, which is this city that's about 3 hours away by bus and is known for the salt lakes and healing mud baths, and then wanted to go to Nessebar, which is this little harbor town that is on the way to Burgas.  So we left the ship in hopes to catch a bus to either Nessebar or Burgas, but when we got to the bus station the lady who was working couldn't understand us.  We couldn't even buy tickets for the bus because we couldn't communicate well enough to buy a ticket to where we wanted to go.  It is crazy being in a country where you can't communicate with the people at all.  Hardly anyone speaks English here.  The only word I actually know how to say is "da" which means yes.  I also know that "zdravei" is hello, but I can't even pronounce that, and "ako boicahte" is please, but I can't pronounce that either.  We were told that we should say "az ne govorya bulgarski", which means "I don't know how to speak Bulgarian", but do they really expect us to remember how to say that when we are out and about?  So anyways, since Jenny and I couldn't get bus tickets, we decided to try to find a taxi driver that spoke a little English.  We found one that spoke okay English, and he said that he would drive us to Burgas and stay the day there so that we could get back to Varna later that day.  It should have normally cost 200 leva (it's normally about 1 lev/kilometer, and Burgas is about 200 kilometers from Varna), and our taxi driver charged us 70 leva each way so 140 leva total, which is an incredible deal.... Jenny and I each payed about a total of 50 U.S. dollars, which is way cheaper than we expected it to be and we got to Burgas in an hour and a half instead of three hours if we would have taken the bus.  So once we got to Burgas,  Jenny and I walked to the salt lakes and healing mud baths.  It was an amazing site to see... all of these local Bulgarian men and women were laying in three different lakes.  One of them was  pink, one was clear, and the other one was black and murky.  As we learned, you first sit in the pink lake, which is filled with all this natural salt from the ocean and you exfoliate your skin in it... I'm not sure why this lake is  pink, but I do know that all three of these lakes are natural springs that were created from the ocean.  You then move to the clear lake and rinse off all the salt, and then you move to the black lake, which is filled with mud and you rub mud all over body.  This mud is known as "healing mud" and has natural cleansers and moisturizer in it.  You then let the mud harden and dry on your body, and then wash it off in the ocean.  So Jenny and I spent the next four hours enjoying our Bulgarian mud baths.  We sat in the salt and exfoliated our skin, rinsed it off and proceeded to rub mud all over our bodies.  After letting it dry, we ran into the ocean and washed it off.  Needless to say, it was a very cool experience.  We then met back up with our taxi driver and he drove us to Nessebar, and we walked around Nessebar for a while before going back to Varna.  Yesterday I spent the morning at an orphanage in Varna, and it was so wonderful to get to play with kids!  I miss all my kiddos at home so much!  They were all so cute, and it made me so happy to get to be there and see them enjoying themselves.  I wanted to take this little boy home with me... he was so precious, and he wouldn't let me put him down... he cried when I had to leave, and it broke my heart!

I'm now back on the ship and will be in Turkey tomorrow. I can't wait, but at the same time I don't want to go to Turkey yet because that means I'll only have one more country to go to!  This trip has been going by way too fast!

Once again, I'm sorry for the low resolution of these pictures... I'm posting them from the ship so I am only to upload very low quality images.

July 17 - July 21. Greece Pictures!

Sorry about the low quality of these images... I'm posting these from the ship so I am only able to upload very low quality images.  At least you can still see what I've been up to!

July 17 - July 21. Greece.

I'm sitting in my beautiful, wonderful hostel in Santorini enjoying a gyro and a bottle of wine.  What could be better?  We've spent the last three days here on the island of Santorini.  It's this beautiful little island south of the main land of Greece, and it's where the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed if you've ever seen that movie.  Poppi, the owner of the hostel we have been staying at, is the nicest little Greek woman.  She picked us up at the dock where our ferry came in, upgraded our room to a suite, and is driving us back to the dock in a couple of hours so that we can catch our ferry back to Athens.  Not only that, but she has been making us a homemade breakfast every morning, and she ordered us some lunch just now because she thought we needed to eat and gave us a bottle of wine on the house.  I think I could stay here forever.  I don't want to leave! It has definitely been a fun-filled week.  On Sunday when our ship docked in Athens, we spent the day wandering around Athens... we went to the Acropolis and saw the Partheon.  It was awesome to see, but I'm glad that we decided not to stay in Athens all week.  On Monday morning, as we were walking to the ferry to go to Santorini, we walked past taxi after taxi after taxi that were just lined up and parked in the middle of the roads.  We knew that the taxis were probably going to go on strike, but we had no idea what to expect.  This was all that I got to see of it, fortunately, but we heard that it got out of control.  All of the taxis in Athens went on strike, refusing to even move to the side of the roads.  They blocked in buses and other vehicles, and since they refused to move the buses couldn't move either.  This caused the police to come, which caused riots all over Athens.  Many taxis were even set on fire.  Needless to say, I'm glad I spent my time in Santorini laying on the beach rather than being stuck on the ship.  We spent the last few days playing on the beach and swimming in the ocean.  It was just the mini vacation that I needed!

We are heading back to Athens in a couple of hours, and will get there tonight.  I'm hoping that things are cleared up, and that tomorrow morning I will be to walk around Athens one last time before we head off to Bulgaria.  I don't have time to upload pictures from Greece yet, but will hopefully be able to tomorrow or while I'm in Bulgaria.

July 11 - July 14. Croatia

I'm sitting in Dubrovnik at an internet cafe before we leave here tonight to head to Greece. I wish I could spend just a couple more days here... I feel like I didn't get to see and do everything that I wanted to while I was here, but I guess that means I'll just have to come back some day. But neithertheless, my days have been jam packed with activity since I've been here. On Monday once we got here, I went on a Semester at Sea trip to this little village and a folk show. The folk show was about two minutes long, and since I am extremely short and was standing in the back, I couldn't see anything! But besides that we had a really great dinner that consisted of some sort of meat and potatoes and salad and lots of wine. On Tuesday, I went to Montenegro for the day, which was beautiful. However, we were in a bus for six hours of it and only got to explore for a couple of hours. I almost preferred the nice air conditioned bus compared to the 115 degree hott weather outside in Montenegro. On Wednesday I felt like I wasted most of my day... I woke up with a migraine and spent a good part of the morning in a lot of pain and throwing up. I hate the migraines that I get, but considering I have only gotten two really bad ones since I've left I guess they are improving. Still, it was a bummer to be inside in my room for half a day yesterday when I should have been out and enjoying Croatia. I finally felt well enough to get up around two and by four I felt well enough to head into town. We grabbed a bite to eat at this wonderful Mediterranean restauraunt called Nishta and I ordered a huge plate of falafal. Yumm. It was my first meal of the day, and I ate the entire thing. We then went sunset kayaking and snorkeling. It was awesome. It felt so good to be out of my bed and in the water! I love the ocean so much... I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to Colorado and there isn't any water to be found. We kayaked around a small island off the coast Dubrvonik, stopped to snorkel in a cave, and then kayaked back right as the sun was setting. It was so beautiful... I wish I could have taken pictures of it, but I wasn't able to have my camera with me! Today my friend Jenny and I got up early to walk around the city... I felt like I hadn't seen much of the city so it was nice to get to do this this morning. By nine o clock it was already well over a hundred degrees here so we were anxious to jump in the ocean, which we did for the rest of the day. I love swimming, especially in the ocean. I think I would live in the ocean if I could. Now I'm here, using the internet while it's available. We are trying to plan our Greece adventure and I can't wait. I wish I had some pictures to post of Croatia right now, but I haven't had time to upload them all yet so I'll post them while I'm in Greece.

We leave tonight and will be in Greece on Sunday! Athens and Santorini here I come!

July 4 & 5. Cinque Terre, Italy

I am currently in Venice, but spent the last two days in Cinque Terre, Italy. It was probably the most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. It's this amazing place made up of five cities (cinque means five and terre means city in Italian) that are all connected by hiking trails and a small railroad. We spent the two days there hiking around from city to city, swimming in the ocean, and relaxing. I could have spent my entire summer there... I almost just told the ship to go on without me. We got to Cinque Terre around 4 in the morning on July 4th. We had taken the over night train from Naples to there, and needless to say when we finally got there after our 8 hour train ride, we were exhausted! We weren't able to check into our hostel until 10:30 in the morning, and nothing opened in this little town until at least 8 so we had some time to kill. We spent the early morning watching the sun rise sitting on a rock on the shore of the ocean. We then were so tired that we all fell asleep. Some of us fell asleep on benches, some of us on rocks, and Jenny was brave enough to sleep on the street. We may have looked like we were homeless if it wasn't for Liz's leopard print bag. At 8 we enjoyed a delicious breakfast, and then walked around the city until we were able to check into our hostel. At 10:30 after checking into the hostel the man said, "Follow these stairs up until you can't go any higher. Go slow and take lots of breaks." Now let me tell you that Cinque Terre is a city built on the side of the cliff. They get everywhere by stairs. We had figured this out early in the morning, but when we had to walk up 350 very steep stairs (I'm not joking... Juli actually counted), we were not prepared. The stairs seemed to never end, especially since we all had to hike this with all of our luggage. After finally making it to our hostel, we dropped our bags and immediately went down the 350 very steep stairs, and didn't go back up until we absolutely had to go to sleep. We spent the day hiking from the city we were staying in to the one next to ours, and it was SO beautiful. Yesterday we spent the day hiking to all the other cities, and swimming in the ocean! Isn't it crazy that I've been on a ship for three weeks, have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, have been to Barcelona, Naples and Capri and had never actually touched the ocean? I was so glad to get to finally jump in to the ocean. Did I mention that I loved Cinque Terre?

July 2. Naples, Italy

Today we got to Naples, Italy! Naples is our first stop in Italy, and is where the ship is docked for the next couple of days until it moves to Civitivecchia. I have some big Italy plans and am looking forward to every moment of it. Today I spent the day Naples, tomorrow I am spending the day on the Island of Capri and Anacapri, then I'm going to Cique Terre, then to Venice, and then am meeting the ship in Civitivecchia. Naples is a cute little city filled with a lot of people, a lot of vespas, and a lot of laundry hanging outside of windows. Although I'm glad that I am not spending my whole time in Italy in Naples (it is kind of really dirty, there is a lot of theft here, and there isn't much to do) I'm glad that I got to enjoy Naples for one day, especially because the pizza is beyond delicious here. Naples, as you may know, is known for its' pizza so for dinner of course we went searching for a yummy pizza place, and boy did we find one! We went to Sofi's.. a cute little restaruant with AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS pizza. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I ate an entire whole giant pizza all to myself. Let's just say that if I lived here I would be a LOT bigger than I actually am.

July 3. Capri and Anacapri, Italy

Today I spent the day on the Island of Capri and Anacapri. It's a small island right off the coast of Naples, and it was BEAUTIFUL. Even though the Semester at Sea trip was kind of lame (so far the two SAS trips that I've been on have not been worth the money I spent on them, but oh well) I'm glad I spent the day there instead of in Naples again. The people were so friendly and the view was amazing. I am currently sitting on an overnight train to Cinque Terre where I will spend two days before going to Venice. I've heard that both of these places are absolutely amazing, and I can't wait for either of them!