Day Twelve: Sardis

The easiest and shortest day of our trip by far. I don't even remember much from today it was such a blur. We got up at 7:30 am (beautiful) and got on the bus at 8:30. Driving for around three hours we stopped at Sardis, a church of Revelation. In the book of Revelation and is charged with being dead and is given the command to "wake up!" The angel, also, claims that there are people within the Sardis church who have yet to falter and that they will rise with the Lord and walk with Him. 


At the site, however, we visited two main buildings: the Gymnasium, the synagogue, and the temple of Artemis. 
The Gymnasium was absolutely splendid; it was gorgeous. A two story building nearly completely reconstructed with gorgeous letters written adorning the columns and archways. Absolutely splendid. When you walked through the main doorway it went to a swimming pool which was pretty neat. It reminded me a lot of my sister, Angela. We actually found a tunnel and so Rachel and I went down into it. It ended about 100 feet from the beginning unfortunately. However the Gymnasium was beautiful though. Oh! We also met a group from Taylor in Indiana; they spoke English! It was probably the first non-accented English I've heard in the past two weeks. It was so great. 


The synagogue was rather small but super cool as it depicted the strong jewish presence within the city of Sardis. Cenk explained that this was incredibly important as Paul focused on going to the Jewish centers which later paved the way for Christianity. Obviously important. (: 


We then headed over to the temple of Artemis which was, honestly, just like all the other temples. There wasn't much special except that we saw a bunch of cute sheep on the hill side and Jim and Rachel was climbing on all the pillars. So. Yeah. I'm getting some major overload from being here.


After we left Sardis we arrived back in Izmir where we wasted an afternoon just relaxing in the hotel until dinner where we had fried chicken and french fries!! :D Oh how I miss American food. Now it's time for a packing party with the girls and then an early bed time because we have to get up at 5 am tomorrow. 


Love y'all!

Day Eleven: Aphrodisias, Laodicea, and Hierapolis

Dr. Evans described my feelings today perfectly: "sensory overload." At this point in the trip I'm really tired and would love to be in my own bed, with my own pillows, and with my own shower. I've seen so much marble that when I get back to the states I'm going to freak out and not understand why I can't find any naked marble statues of the Greco-Roman gods. I'm pretty much certain of it. While I love it here and I'm learning so much and still can't believe I'm in a foreign country: I'm kind of ready to be home. The days are running together because of all that we've seen. 

One more beautiful day though, although it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I'm not excited.

Anyway. We started the day at Aphrodisias (after a three hour long bus ride where I napped. so wonderful.) which, obviously, was the main city of Aphrodite. While it didn't have any biblical significance except for being an ancient city during this time, it was still a pretty neat place. It's highly renowned for the city's most beautiful sculptures as the sculptures are cut out of a very fine and malleable marble that can be carved into almost anything. Oh those sculptures were really pretty. And there were so many of them! I couldn't quite believe how many statues came from this city especially since over half had yet to be dug up (I see at trend here.) 

The coolest part about Aphrodisias was the stadium that the archaeologists found in near mint condition (relatively speaking as it has been buried for many years). It could sit 300,000 people in the stadium. It was so neat to walk around the stadium; it really just looked like an elongated version of a football stadium with stone seats instead of bleachers and there weren't any markers on the field. Dr. Evans pointed out that hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives were lost in that stadium which was a slightly sobering thought as the Roman government were exceptionally brutal, but it didn't take away from the coolness of the actual stadium. The kids decided to go into the stadium's chariot entrance and pick up icicles and have pretend javelin and sword fights; it was a pretty fun place. They also had most of Aphrodite's temple reconstructed which was beautiful, but still not my favorite. 

After eating lunch at this cutesy little restaurant and playing with their most adorable puppy (she was only a few weeks old mind you; still waddling around and falling over) we drove to Laodicea. Now, Laodicea is the last of the 7 revelatory churches and is known as the "luke warm" church. This city gets this reputation because they had running water going throughout the city through these pipes; however within this specific city they mixed their hot water and cold water (ta da! luke warm water!). Ephesus, in comparison, had running water but did not mix the two temperatures. However, we only spent about thirty minutes at Laodicea and most of it was still being worked on. 

I think my favorite part was an unknown temple which was still in ruins, but the neat archaeologists were super clever. What happened was that we got to walk up these stairs through a partly renovated gate "into the temple" and onto a floor of glass. Essentially we got to look down into the dirt in order to look at the work of the archaeologists on the site of the temple and see the different ruined columns, marble pieces, and archways that littered the floor. It was real neat; I hadn't seen anything quite like it yet. 

Hierapolis was, also, not a biblical city (not from my recollection at least; I could be wrong), but it was a most necessary stop. While we were all exhausted and just wanted to be back at the hotel, I'm glad we went. What was absolutely amazing about this site were the hot springs. On the edge of the city cliffs of naturally build up calcium made a mountain flat enough for the ancient peoples to build Hierapolis on top of it. That was pretty beautiful, but what made it neat was that underneath the city is a pool of hot springs which let out over the calcium cliffs, creating pools of super warm water. In fact they let us go out there without shoes on! Just think, my friends had just picked icicles at Aphrodisias a few hours earlier and now we were walking barefoot in the middle of January in Turkey where it had snowed just earlier that week! Anyway, while some parts were freezing, it was mostly warm and oh so beautiful with the sunset fading behind the mountains in the distance. The girls (Paige, Tiffany, Rachel and her mother) and I spent so much time in this place that we had to cut the tour of Hierapolis short and we only got to see its theater. While the theater was cool, we've seen a lot of theaters. 

I mean. A LOT of theaters. 

Well, it's close to bed time and we only have one day left. 

Love y'all. 

Day Ten: Ephesus

I am completely astounded at how big Ephesus was. I mean, we saw a good chunk of the city (probably more than a square mile) and that was only 10-20% of the entirety of the ancient city. The ruins were astounding: absolutely beautiful. It had several different temples, a huge library, a theater, two different Roman baths, a concert hall, a harbor, and thousands of houses. 
For those of you who are unaware, Ephesus' patron goddess was the Ephesian Artemis, different than the normal. Artemis is Apollo's sister and is the goddess of hunting and fertility; normally she is depicted as a beautiful, young huntress with some type of goat on either side of her. However, the Ephesian Artemis is depicted as a fertility goddess (more like the fertility gods of Asia Minor than a Greek goddess); she has many breasts and has all sorts of animals on her garments: goats, cattle, and the like. After Paul preached in the city for nearly three months in Acts 19 a riot finally broke about his teachings. It went something like this: 


The silversmiths of the city made small replicas of the goddess Artemis, whom held great revere within the city. This trade has, actually, been found accurate within the ruins as small Artemis' have been found within the ruins. Anyway. The silversmiths get mad at Paul because he has been preaching that gods made with human hands are, essentially, idols and that only Yahweh is God. Truth, yes, but the silversmiths were going to lose money if this preaching converted the whole city as they couldn't make money off of a god no one credited as a true god. They also mention the "temple of the great goddess" and the "theater" which I will expound upon later. Anyway. So the silversmiths start a riot against Paul and his teachings shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (Note that they do not simply say "Great is Artemis" but must add "of the Ephesians" as the Ephesian Artemis is far different than the normal pictured goddess.) Well, thankfully, the riot was settled by a city clerk as he reassured the citizens that the goddess image "which fell from heaven" was not taken in vain by these missionaries. 


So, first, the temple. 
The temple of Artemis at Ephesus is recognized as one of the seven greatest structures within the ancient world. It was absolutely huge. Unfortunately the temple was completely destroyed and the marble was recycled by some people to build the evangelist, John's, tomb and the basilica that stands over it, a mosque called Jesus, and a castle for some governor. Jim and I got a hoot out of that one. It was interesting (as we visited the site a little later) to see the Greco-Roman culture, the government, Muslim, and Christian structures all within a few hundred yards of each other. Anyway, the temple was beautiful and huge. 


The theater. 
The theater at Ephesus is one of the largest in the ancient world. Not the steepest as seen at Pergamum, I think it was (everything is blurring together these days), but the largest. I think Cenk said it could house over 20,000, but I can't remember the numbers. Anyway, it was just so neat to be in a place that Paul would have frequently visited to hear the political powers of the day speak, and do whatever they used theaters for then. It was just astounding to imagine sitting in a seat of St. Paul. Gorgeous. 


The image of Artemis. 
It was believed by the ancient Ephesians that the statue within the Ephesian temple "fell from heaven," which is why it was so important and so varied from the normal image of Artemis. I mean, it's pretty crazy how that thing looked. Just saying. Anyway, so, this statue (which no longer exists. sad day.) was huge. It is believed to be around six times bigger than a doorframe or some ridiculous height like that. Seeing as we saw one of the columns erect at the temple of Artemis, I would not doubt it. That thing was so tall. 


My favorite part of the Ephesian tour was a secret surprise our awesome tour guide (although I still miss Voula) prepared for us. We actually got to go on an "off site" tour with the main archaeologist of Ephesus and go see a cave from the fourth century A.D. where Christians were hiding out from persecution. Essentially we went hiking up the mountain about a mile (as Ephesus was located between two large hills with a harbor on one side) and to this small cave up on the mountain that was found around three years ago. The coolest part of this hike was inside the cave; inside the cave were fingerprints, inscriptions, and images of the twelve apostles, Abraham, Paul, and St. Thekla (a really, really early, traditional, Christian legend). We could take pictures but, unfortunately I can't post them anywhere. See, images of St. Paul are exceptionally rare especially ones from this early in the century. However, it was so neat that they trusted us enough to take pictures. I would explain the story of St. Thekla, but I didn't quite understand it so I'll let you all look it up on your own time. I don't want to get it wrong. 


However, that was pretty much the best part of the day. Oh it was so wonderful. That was pretty much the highlight of yesterday. 


Love y'all. 

Day Nine: Troas, Asos, and Pergamum

Before I tell of my awesome adventures for the day I must explain my absolutely hysterical morning. Well, night. ish. I don't really know. So! Anyway, let me tell you all the story before I get ahead of myself. 

We had a really awkward bed set up. Above my head, in reach of my pillow, were two lightswitches and an outlet. This is where the catastrophe started. Randomly my eyes open and the lights are on. I reach over and check my phone (in order to figure out the time) and this is what I see: "6:24." Considering our bus was leaving at 7am, I immediately assume that I had some how switched my phone alarm off and turned on the light without realization. This, is where my fallible conclusions began. Scared stiff and in hyper drive because I didn't want to miss the bus I hopped out of bed in a flurry and woke my roommate: "Tiffany! It's 6:30! We have to get up!" She, in a daze, looks at me as I run off to the bathroom in order to change and brush my teeth. I got ready and completely packed in less than 15 minutes. I look at my phone again and it said "6:43;" thinking I have plenty of time I begin to sift through my emails. However, the one I'm looking for isn't in my inbox and I become extremely confused, as I always have an email in the morning from a friend at school. Slightly bummed as my normal morning email is not in my inbox (and finally under the realization that my alarm, in fact, did not go off) I go into my alarm function to try and figure out why my alarm did not sound. 

Now, let me explain. My phone is in American Time instead of in Turkey time. So my alarm is set for "11:00 pm" as Turkey is 7 hours ahead of America meaning my alarm will go off at 6 am Turkey Time. Seeing as this is my normal alarm time, and now confused more than ever, I look up at the time again and it says "6:50 pm." Still delusional from my lack of sleep I say aloud, "Oh that's weird. My phone must have changed times. It thinks it's in Turkey time now." Obviously I did not recognize that it was, in fact, saying the American time. Now, my phone is pretty cool so I can have different times around the world clocked in on my phone. So I shift over to this section, and it tells me that in New York City it is currently 6:50 pm. Nodding in agreement I look down one more clock and it says that in Athens, Greece (the same time zone as Turkey) it is 1:50 am. 

Yes, dear friends, I had somehow hit the light above my pillow. The light turned on, scared me half to death, and I convinced myself that it was time to wake up without remembering that my phone is not in Turkey Time. So my roommate and I got completely dressed, packed, and ready to go. In fact just before I figured this out we were about to head down the stairs with all of our luggage at 2 am in order to find breakfast. When I come to the realization that it is, in fact, 2 am, I burst into a fit of laughter so loud it wakes our neighbors and a couple down the hall (who told us this at breakfast that morning). I explain this to my roommate and she, too, busts out laughing. I skype call two friends in order to tell them the story and by 2:30am we've finally quieted down enough to at least attempt to sleep. 

It was quite an interesting morning. 

Anyways. As the title suggests we visited three different sites this morning. We get on the bus at 7am (not 2 am as my mind previously thought) and we're off on the road. By 8am we reach Troas and we are warned that this site is not excavated yet and all we can see are a few pillars in the harbor. Boring, right? That was my initial thought. We get out to the place where these columns are and super pretty stones litter the ground, along with the columns and marble. It was just past sunrise and the Mediterranean glimmered in the morning light. To be honest, I'm almost starting to think that Troas was my favorite site so far. Anyway, so we hear a little about Paul's adventure in Troas from our tour guide as the kids and I (Jim, Paige, Tiffany, and Rachel) run around the beach and find skipping stones while taking pictures. It was pretty much the greatest 8am morning all trip. 

Cenk, our tour guide, puts us back on the bus and two minutes later forces us to get off again. I had already taken my shoes and got quite disgruntled with him. After all, I hadn't had much sleep because of my 2am adventure. Needless to say I get off the bus to the coolest archaeological site we've seen yet. It was completely overgrown seeing as next to nothing has been done to the site. So columns, arches, and rooms litter the ground along with over grown shrubbery. It was like a jungle excavation, no joke. We climbed, we jumped, we took pictures. Oh it was the greatest thing ever. I wanted to climb over an archway in order to get to the highest peak, but Cenk told me not to. Apparently the archways supported by wooden beams are not stable. Imagine that. So, needless to say, us kids were having a blast at Troas this morning. Oh it was so fun! It was just so neat to feel like the first explorer in a place where Paul visited. Yes, I know, there were signs and wooden beams (obviously not original), but the overgrown brush gave the site a feeling of newness. If that makes any sense at all. 

Well, we got back on the bus and drove another hour. We got off the bus at Asos and climbed up  the city in order to visit the Acropolis. For those of you who are unaware Asos is the city where Aristotle lived. Anyway, the acropolis is gorgeous. It was settled, obviously, on the highest peak of the city and you could stand on a rock and look over the surrounding hills and see ruins stretching in all directions. And, again, we pretty much got to run all over the acropolis without barriers. Jim stood on a column from the temple of Athena while Rachel climbed all over these rocks just for the fun of it. It was astounding to run free, take pictures, and (technically) be illegal as we let our imaginations run wild. Oh just to think of such structures built from pure marble, still gleaming in the morning light! It was gorgeous. 

Again, we got on the bus and drove for quite some time after that. Maybe three hours. I'm not entirely sure. (It's been a long day.) So, we come to Pergamum and we get to ride a cable car up to the acropolis, seeing as its 350 meters above sea level. (For those of you who are unaware, Pergamum is one of the seven churches within Revelation. I haven't studied Revelation pretty much ever, so I'm not sure what Christ criticized concerning this church or what their sin was.) This acropolis is probably my absolute favorite out of all the acropolis' we've seen. Probably just because of the theater, but we'll get to that. When we first get atop the hill all we see are ruins stretched all over the place. All down the hill, all up the hill (as we still had to climb a good 50 meters after that), and just everywhere. It was beautiful. So we go through and he stops us halfway up the slope in order to talk about the temple of Athena which was located at a terrace of the acropolis and the Pergamum library which was the rival to the Alexandrian library in the ancient world. Actually when the Alexandrian library burned to the ground and they were rebuilding the emperor sent some of the books from Pergamum to Alexandria. Unfortunately this library was completely demolished and nothing remains of the books or the library today.

Super sad. I love books. 

Moving on, Cenk pushed us further up the mountain to the largest temple I've ever seen. In Pergamum's day the emperors of Rome were beginning to be venerated as gods before their death when, before this period, they were only deified after death. So, on this summit of this acropolis the emperor built this ginormous temple for himself. However, the neat thing about this portion was that the people of Pergamum had to build a flat space in order to make the temple. So they created this elaborate, underground series of arches to support the foundations of the temple in order that the level plain would not fall due to earthquakes. I didn't quite understand it, but the underground system was pretty cool as we walked through it. Super nifty. Anyway! The temple was absolutely stunning (as they reconstructed part of the pieces in order that we could fully understand how big it truly was). 

We moved on from the emperor's temple and down the hill toward the stadium. Now the stadium at Pergamum is the steepest and largest throughout the ancient world, seeing as it could fit up to 10,000 people comfortably. It had such a gorgeous view and, apparently, was a Greek stadium that was renovated during the Roman era. It even had this super awesome underground staircase in order to get to the fabulous stadium. Rachel and I had the bright idea of going all the way to the stadium floor. It was neat and I got some really fun pictures, but the trek up made me so hot I had to take my jacket and scarf off (note that the weather in Turkey was around the 40s all day). Either way, it was an extremely impressive stadium. 

The adventure ended at an alter for Zeus which, funny enough, was taken to Berlin by the Germans before 1923. Yes, the whole entire altar. It can be found in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin. Some German had the wonderful idea to cut the altar into different pieces and haul it down the mountain and back to Berlin. Now the altar (although rebuilt within the museum) has straight lines that tell of its history. Ridiculous Germans. They ruined that beautiful artwork. Well, my favorite part of the altar (now that it's empty), is that God planted this huge tree right in the middle of the altar. It was almost a jab at those non existent gods saying that at that site so many pagans defied God with pillars of stone yet such gods couldn't protect its own altar. Where man built an altar of stone to venerate an idol, God planted a tree which no man could create. I was giggling over it, and I'm pretty sure I confused Cenk; it was a neat idea at the time. 

Well, after that we traveled down to Izmir (another hour and a half) and had fish for dinner. Now I'm sitting in my bed listening to the girls talk. However it's time for bed, so I will update again tomorrow! (Ephesus! I'm so excited!!) I apologize for the length of this post; like I said, it's been a long day.

Love y'all.

Day Eight: Troy

In all honesty, I wasn't very excited to see Troy. When I heard about the trip I was extremely confused as to how it fit into our trip focusing around Paul and the 7 churches of Revelation, but I'm glad we went. It was incredibly fun to see and interesting to hear the story of Troy (what actually happened, the Brad Pitt movie, and the legend by Homer). They even had a giant Trojan Horse at the front before you actually moved into the Archaeological site! (A fake one. Apparently there is no evidence behind a horse being involved in the attack on Troy. All we know is that the harbor eventually closed because of a nearby river bringing in too much silt and filling in the harbor). However! We got to take pictures n' stuff; it was quite hilarious. Well, anyway, my two favorite parts. 

First, I really enjoyed the back story behind Troy. Right now Troy is in the middle of a bunch of fields when, a couple thousand years ago, it was actually a harbor. In the ruins there are shells every where in the dirt and it's so neat to see proof behind the evidence. This, actually, happened with Ephesus too which was a cool tid bit. Additionally Troy was such an old city that there are actually 9 different "levels." This, meaning, that Troy has had history reaching back into 3,000 years old and you can find different artifacts from the Archaic period, Roman, and so on and so forth within the same ten feet square. Which, as our tourguide, Cenk, explained, is why the excavation of the site is taking so long. There is so much work that needs to be done over such a long period of time that it is super hard to find the money and people willing to work on the site. 

My second favorite part was one section of the wall that dated back to around 2,000 BC just about. Before this site all of the walls we had seen were made out of stone, either placed together and forced to fit (by the Greeks) or carved by metal and shaped to make squares (the Romans) this section of the wall was completely made out of mud bricks. The stark contrast between the mud and the stone somewhat made my day. It was just incredibly neat to see that the archaeologists were able to nearly uncover the wall. We also got to play around on a reconstructed stadium but everything else in Troy was pretty much blocked off because Troy is still covered and pillaged for its treasures. 

Onto Day Nine (: 

Love y'all.

Day Seven: Istanbul

Yesterday we did three things: visit the old sultan's palace and the blue mosque (which is right beside the Hagia Sophia), and go on a river boat ride through Istanbul's harbor to go see the other five palaces for different sultans and grand viziers. The palace was slightly a bummer just because we were all so cold because all Cenk, our tour guide, did was talk in front of maps and give us a rerun of the Ottomon empire's history. While interesting, I wish he could have done such when we were a bit warmer. In any regard he gave us about an hour to explore the different rooms which opened the court and, to be honest, the treasury and the weaponry were my absolute favorite. 

The treasury because it was just so neat to see the ornate jewelry and trinkets from the past few centuries. Gold, diamonds, ivory, jade. It seems funny to me how humans never change. Even with Solomon it is told to us that he had wealth beyond imagining, really, in 1 Kings 10. And, in Revelation, we are told of the splendor of the New Jerusalem and how it will be covered in precious stones and valuables gleaming for the rest of time. It reminds me that this world has been created, not only for God's glory, but for our enjoyment. After all, God is glorified in the good and the bad, with rocks and diamonds; His glory is not dependent on the giver. It is dependent upon himself. In that way these stones were made for us to enjoy, to marvel, and to wonder at the majestic world God has created for us. We don't change. 

To be specific, my favorite piece was a golden cradle. Yes, a baby's cradle. It was highly adorned with precious gems and covered in gold. The bed was a little over a foot, I think, so I'm pretty sure it was more for show. After all, I think a baby would just roll out of such a cradle. I'll have to put up a picture later for you all to see. 

The weaponry fascinated me because the weapons were nearly just as ornate and intricate as the jewelry. It astounded me how many precious stones covered the guns, swords, axes, and how each weapon was a different piece of art. And this was not just the ceremonial armor of the sultans, but of the actual soldiers. These weapons killed people, yet their makers decided to create them marvelously. These killed beautifully, not to be morbid. My favorite piece in this room was in the section labeled "prizes from war," essentially the plunder. In here was Czar Nicholas I's sword. I had heard of his story in history this past semester, and it was simply neat to see the webs of history interlacing in a way that the people of Turkey now own his sword as a prize. 

After the palace we went to the mosque which, in all honesty, made me extremely sad. Before we could enter we had to take off our shoes, as is their custom, but strangely enough they do not force the women to cover their heads. However Dr. Evans gave us this look that said we should which Tiffany, Rachel and I happily obliged. It reminded me of Paul when, in one of his epistles, he spoke about how when he goes to different people groups (namely the Gentiles and the Jews) he resorts tot heir customs as long as it doesn't go against the Law of God. For instance, when in Gentile territory he has no problem eating at their table and eating what he is given; however, in the land of the Jews, he resorts back to the laws of kosher. All of this is done in respect in order that his "weaker brother" might not stumble. (I think it's in Galatians?) Anyway, it was a beautiful building with high, domed ceilings that were ornately covered in floral patterns. As I stated before with Hagia Sophia, the Muslims do not believe in creating images of anything, so they resort to covering their buildings with floral patterns. 

To be honest, the building made me incredibly sad. As I was walking around the visitor's section (in between the large praying area for men and the significantly smaller area for women), all I could think of was that these people were praying to a god that cannot hear them. In fact their god doesn't exist and does not have the ability to hear them at all! It was so sad to watch them pray, to be so religiously aware of their responsibilities, and have no ability to enter heaven's gate in the current state their in. And, also, in their own religion they have no security of their future. They could live their lives as a devout Muslim, come before Allah, and receive punishment instead of paradise despite their dedication in life! How thankful I am for eternal security! How grateful that my God is big enough to look past my mistakes and cover them with the blood of Christ that I may partake in the glories that will come with the resurrection. I will be a part of His Kingdom because He has promised me it, and there is no reason to fear. Not only that, but God is so great that He has given me the ability to grow and "work out [my] salvation with fear and trembling;" He can make me better! How grateful I am for such a wondrous Lord! But how devastating it is to watch another fall into such atrocity that will, one day, lead to their downfall.  I almost wanted to join those women in prayer, but I figured that would be highly offensive and probably have a bad affect on their lives. Unfortunately. 

The boat ride had little significance for me. I listened to music, watched the seagulls and the water pass by, took a few pictures of some palaces, and talked to the girls while Jim sat across from me rather miserably (he does not like boats.) Anyway, it's time for bed. I'll catch up on Troy tomorrow, hopefully. 

Love y'all!

Day Six: Istanbul

In order to get to the Turkish border by 10:30 this morning we had to leave the hotel by 7:30. It wasn't too hard as I've been getting up early every day, but somehow today my roommate and I felt incredibly tired. It was so strange. In either case we finally rolled out of bed by 6:35 and was up at breakfast ready to go by around 7:00. The bus ride over was uneventful as I and the rest of the students were so tired that we all fell asleep an hour into the ride only to wake up at the Turkish border a few hours later. We said good bye to our Greek driver and tour guide (oh how I miss Voula already!!) and was picked up by a substitute driver who didn't speak English. 

To be honest, it was a rather terrifying experience. The Turkish border had cops every where and, of course, Jim was talking about his military training the whole experience just because he was on edge. He gave us the quickest escape route back to Greece (toward the fence instead of the building he said nearly five times) even though nothing happened. Of course not. Anyway. We stood in line to get our visas then stood around for thirty minutes while they checked our van then put us in another line to get stamped then off we went onto the bus. I'm pretty sure that driver was doing 90 all the way to the place where he dropped us off and we were picked up by our new tour guide, Cenk. The Turkish country side flew by so quickly, and EVERYTHING was covered in snow. Thankfully the snow eventually faded away (as I didn't pack for snow. Imagine that.) and by the time we reached Istanbul (which I slept for half the ride. I was so tired) there wasn't any more snow. Thankfully!

We saw the Hagia Sophia today. To be honest it wasn't nearly as fun as all the ruins we've been seeing of the ancient cities. For some reason I have this fascination with the Greek and Roman eras, their gods, and the times of Jesus and Paul. It's just incredible to me, so these great buildings that were built centuries later just don't astound me as much. After all, Hagia Sophia collapsed or was destroyed two times before they finally copied the Romans (imagine that) and built a dome that could withstand the earthquakes Turkey threw at her. Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm to see the museum (yes, it's a museum now. not a mosque or a church.) the building was gorgeous. Especially the lighting as the only unnatural light came from more than a dozen chandeliers that seemed to be floating a few feet from our heads. I loved those chandeliers; I'm pretty sure every picture I took of the interior had a chandelier in it. The only fun thing about the Hagia Sophia being a museum was the fact that the interior had both Muslim and Christian designs throughout. For instance, the original building was meant to be a church so icons and images of Christ, the Saints, and the Virgin Mary adorned the walls. In fact, over the years, images of the emperors and empresses depicted as saints (even though they're not saints) joined Christ and the Virgin Mary; however when the Muslims took over the building they covered the icons with wood then plaster (a few feet thick) because they don't believe in engraving images of people or animals. So flowers covered the walls for centuries. After the building was made into a museum they were able to uncover some of the images which were, mostly, preserved under the thick plaster. It was neat to see the contrast between the Christians and the Muslims in their ways of decoration. 

After seeing the building we meandered down some street in order to get some Turkish money then we went back to the hotel where a few of us (Tiffany, Paige, Rachel, Jim, and Dr. Evans) talked for a few hours until dinner. Most interesting conversation ever, really. I'm pretty sure we discussed theology, talked about bathing suits, and conversed about guns and laws concerning guns the whole time. So strange. Well, anyway. Dinner was pretty good, and now it's bed time. 

They have squishy beds and two pillows. I'm so excited. Oh the depravity of foreign culture! I am starting to miss my pillow. A lot. Anyway. 

Love y'all!