*does not have excuse for the delay*

Günaydın world!!!! 

Let's just pretend we didn't take a 2 month hiatus from blogging.....just think of it like when your favorite band decides to "take a break" and then like 5 years later, they just drop an album out of thin air. Maybe you could even compare the three of us to Beyoncé and her self titled album that shocked the world a little over a year ago. I know I know the resemblance is uncanny. 

So let's get started with things Pratibha did not already mention in her long ass blog post that I may or may not have edited and posted because it was just sitting in our draft folder....talk about slacker jesus. Randomly early March, I just decided to book a flight to Dublin for the world's favorite holiday that they think is just dedicated to drunken foolishness aka St. Patrick's Day! I was told by a friend studying in London that a large group of Bostonians that I galavant with at school were all reuniting so I took it upon myself to crash that. Aside from the weekend being filled with great laughs, decent beer, better accents, greasy pub food, seal sightings, and GOD's gift to the world, Carroll's Clothing and Gifts, my first AirBnB was absolutely perfect. Claire and her trusty sidekick, Woody the dog, were so warm and welcoming for my short stay and I can honestly say Dublin's inhabitants blew me away with kindness. May I also mention that friends of friends, aka Lillian, are much appreciated in all areas of the traveling process. 

After that trip I needed some time to recuperate, which was perfect because my 21st birthday was approaching...I am also fully convinced that no matter what birthday it is, the day becomes less and less exciting for the one blowing out the candles... Nonetheless, my birthday was full of everything I enjoy in life.

1. Delicious food (notice the order hur)
2. Great friends
3. Wine
4. Strategy murder games (which always make for fun disagreements and temporary rage)

What I was most excited for after my birthday was my wonderful trip to Budapest to reunite with Kelsey "Kelsey Right Now" Cowher and of course the fact that I could reenter Boston and order a drink alongside my favorite pulled pork nachos at Sunset Cantina. Kelsey is studying abroad in Paris so she decided to plan a trip with me to Budapest, which got crashed by Pratibha....and Durant..... The more the merrier right. We stayed at the most hip hostel in Pest called "The Lavender Circus." The hostel was full of stenciled decorations, antique furniture, and even cooler hostel workers. We went sightseeing all day on Saturday which exploited the sad fact that Pratibha was breaking in a new pair of shoes... Blisters for days. She was a trooper so I have to commend her. I would have been in the fetal position near the Hungarian Parliament Building begging for bandaids....oh wait that's exactly where Prat took a nice break. 

The city is truly a mishmosh of European influences and I loved it. The currency exchange also helped my spirits out... 1 dollar equals 277 forints. We were ROLLING in the dough. After our long day of walking and picture taking, we went back to the hostel for a nice home cooked hungarian stew which was accompanied by Palinka (strong ass brandy) and good company. With no intentions of just relaxing and staying in, we were doing exactly that (especially after 8 or 9 shots of Palinka). After all the trips I have had thus far, I have noticed that we underestimate the pleasure of just sitting back, conversing with new friends, and laughing about how hard it is to drunkenly build a card tower. 

Anyways..my mom and sister arrive tomorrow for a nice week Istanbul fun, including all the sights I have not yet seen! ALSO, I WON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING. Money runs the life of an abroad student for sure. 

A special shout out to Mr. and Mrs. Kenney!! (Karolina's parental units). They encouraged us to get back at it with the blogging and here I am procrastinating my hw!!! Thanks for the procrastination inspiration guys!

TTY SOON I promise. I think... 

*spongebob narrator voice* one month later

it's been so long (again) since I've blogged god sorry I'm a MESS! School's been getting pretty crazy and traveling almost every weekend, as amazing and fun as it's been, can be a little draining... blogging has honestly been at the bottom of my list week after week but I'm pushing through tired eyes to get this out there bc I don't want to forget a single thing once I'm back home in 2 months (WTF.......ok)

SO since I've been gone..... we went on a trip to Izmir, Ephesus, and Pamukkale..... and honestly, if you ever find yourself in Turkey, definitely try and make trips out of Istanbul. It's so worth it. I mean, yes, you won't get bored of Istanbul quickly, but it's such a tiny part of Turkey as a whole that I feel like you're missing out if you don't see at least some of these other places :-) yeah so me, Kyle, Carla, and Lauren flew into Izmir on Thursday and had an interesting car rental experience that involved Lauren renting a car with her Australian learner's permit bc Kyle was still 20..... shakily driving us out of the parking lot ("Which one is the gas and brake again?") and then doing a quick in-car switcharoo with Kyle out of the Enterprise workers' line of sight so we could make a speedy getaway. completely illegal but hey! Ended up being the cheapest travel option so we made use of it

The actual town of Izmir is full of cute restaurants, surprisingly energetic nightlife, and bars for days. Also some prostitutes...maybe one would even say many.. Not as raging as Taksim, which is probably why I loved it, but it had a very similar feel to it so we felt right at home. also I'm pretty sure I had pesto spaghetti every night for the 4 days we were there but no regretz............. U gotta do u sometimes

Pamukkale was our Friday excursion and it was SO F*CKIN COOL like! Google for a better idea of how beautiful it was in real life but .....it's basically just cascading clear hot springs in salt deposits where people go to wade in the water, sometimes fully sit, bathe.... it was an experience. PLUS Kyle completely ate shit as soon as we walked onto the ground!!! it was a truly magical moment for us and the Turkish bystanders (Kyle fall count: 4) hah

We saw tons and tons of ruins in Ephesus and Pamukkale and spending time with everybody was so great (missed Karol tho)! I would probably go back to that area of Turkey in the future, maybe during the summertime? The beaches and coastal islands are supposedly gorgeous, akin to the Greek islands, and not as touristy. definitely up my alley

The day I came back, Grace arrived in Istanbul for a couple days. It was so good to see her and catch up on ~life..... just seeing another familiar Boston face was so refreshing. We did all the typical touristy things, got harassed at the Grand bazaar (lololololol love it), went to delicious restaurants with her family friend JP (who was literally the kindest human being in the world), explored Karakoy, etc......miss her already but I know it's gonna be a thousand times sweeter seeing her again in the fall when we're SENIORS omg Kill me............

After Grace left, I went on a mini trip to Bursa with Karolina, Gwen, Anna, and some other people, and it was actually super fun despite the travel troubles we ran into beforehand. Running from one ferry port to the other trying to find space was tiring, but we eventually made it to the city and while it didn't offer as much as Izmir did, traveling with new people made the whole trip worth it. We went for breakfast the next day in a quaint village that seemed very touristy but was truly just full of kind people serving delicious foods and selling their colorful handmade goods. such a nice, albeit brief, getaway

In the midst of all these visitors and weekend trips, there HAS been hella amounts of studying in the library, studying in my bed, studying in cafes.... studying until I pass out basically. 5 classes ain't so fun for a simple gal like me. However, I did manage to fit in the latest season of Broadchurch into my schedule which was nice. I always like making time for ME aka sitting in bed with a Magnum bar and Netflix..... and I do miss Chipotle every now and again. But I'm enjoying the time spent with abroad friends, Karolina and Kyle................... and my eyes are literally closing on me in Simit so I'll save my weekend trip to Budapest and my upcoming Paris trip with the GF ABBY for next time! Time abroad seems like it's coming to a close so quickly but then it's off to India for 2 weddings and maybe an internship in Boston over the summer? who knows but exciting things are happening and grades are just a number........ *she whispers to herself with shaky reassurance*

Until next tiiiime...

guess who's back........ back again.......

welllllll hello friends.... it's been a while since we've blogged and we all feel pretty bad about it. our deepest and sincerest apologies to our huuuge fanbase.....of 5 people total probably. aka 3 of whom are close relatives and 2 of whom are friends we've basically had to hold at gunpoint to feign interest in our lives abroad :~) ANYWAY

since we've been away, we went on a weekend trip to Cappadocia (which Kyle already blogged in depth about so I'm gonna hold back on it) but it was such a beautiful place! definitely a must-see if you're ever in Turkey for longer than a week. we didn't go out on hot air balloon rides (which is the typical tourist activity but it was hella $$$ so I was like nah) but the rest of the scenery was pretty amazing. lots of caves, fairy castles, and underground habitats... super interesting and I loved sharing a 3-person room with my BFFs Karol and Emily. turkish night was wild

the day we got back also happened to be the first day of classes so that was a super fun transition from weekend getaway to real life. I'm taking 2 math classes (diff eq and numerical analysis), current issues in accounting, a sociology class centered around Central Asia, and turkish for foreigners! nothing has been too bad so far but then again, we're not really in too deep yet. I have my first paper for sociology due on Monday which is a bit daunting but shouldn't be too bad... it's a super interesting class with lots of chill people and the professor is American so understanding her isn't difficult. for my current issues in accounting class, however, the first info session was a lecture hall FULL of turkish students (90% of them male) and I quickly found out that I was the ONLY foreign exchange student. really loved being called out and then walking to the front of the room alone so the professor could tell 2 TA's to explain the class to me outside while he explained it to everybody else in turkish..... ha but it seems like a pretty easy class, so hoping for those straight A's!!!!!!!!!!!!! (LOL LOL LOL)

anyway.... in addition to classes and scholarly things, we've done lots of exploring the nearby neighborhoods like bebek (which has the most beautiful starbucks in the world), besiktas, and other waterfront sites I don't know the location of............ sue me ass

this is a special section just for emily. she's our favorite ray of sunshine

 blue mosque and hagia sophia.... just some hidden gems of istanbul.....even the most expertly trained eye may miss these.......

we've also had the misfortune of navigating difficult residence permit shenanigans (special thanks 2 our turkish buddy uğur who helped us out big time by serving as translator), but made up for it by spending a lot of weekends out in taksim (so so so fun), and had our friend rob over for a weekend visit (which was OK I guess.... jk love you roberto) I did the whole blue mosque/hagia sophia with him and Kyle, both of which are so stunning and full of fascinating history.... definitely worth a trip. mj also visited for a day and we actually ran into each other at galata tower and then went out to dinner at our favorite local restaurant (mutfak). it was so great seeing all these BU people in istanbul :~) our friend emily's friend james even visited for a week and we looooved spending time with him. miss him everyday. hope ur reading this james but ur probably not.........wishful thinking.....we also have been eating the most delicious desserts gooooddddd I'm gonna gain a milli a milli pounds, I swear. there's a bakery on top of our hill called pogacici and we go there nearly every single day, it's disgusting. but hey! we won't be able to get this kind of baklava back home so! might as well

the past 3 or so weeks have been quite the blur tbh....from live american rock covers at taksim bars to spoken word poetry nights to eating the most delicious falafel at 4 AM to late night airport adventures to a week of unexpected blizzards and icy streets............. I can't wait to see what the next three months hold. expecting a visit from the bff Grace in 2 weeks, a trip to ephesus and izmir, spring break in Greece, Paris with Abby... so yeah! hope you all had a beautiful february and I'll see u sooner than later eeeee