At the beginning of March I gave up on the skiing here as a true winter never came. The only skiing I did in March was when I had ski duty on the mountain supervising students. Today it's 70 degrees here and very spring-looking. Yesterday was the same, so I went out on my bike for a few hours...didn't wear sunscreen everywhere that I should have...my arms look silly!
The month of March was busy...busy with work, then busy traveling. My bank account hurts right now although my account of cultural experiences is flourishing.
In mid-March I returned to Barcelona for 4 days. I was there initially for work, but due to the timing of it all I was left with a couple days to wander around, but didn't do much of that because of the rain there.
My most recent travels took me to Istanbul, Turkey and Rome, Italy.
In Istanbul I met up with my friend Greg who I know from my time in South Korea. We spent 8 days touring Istanbul and some places outside of the city as well. Istanbul is unlike any place I've been to yet. I think some 95% of the population is Muslim although its government is secular. We had a lot of famous mosques to visit and heard calls to prayer 5 or 6 times a day. The Turkish and Muslims cultures were inescapable there, but that was fine as I was there for new experiences. The Turkish people in Istanbul were neither friendly, nor mean...they were just there doing their thing. I'm glad to have visited there as most people rave about that place. I had a good time while learning some new things, and I also marked that off my list of places that I would like to live :)
Here are some pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116289&id=1393045053&l=fb98a83bd9
After Istanbul I came back to Leysin for a couple of days and then went down to Rome solo. I reserved a bed in a hostel hoping to meet some people to wander around Rome with. I ended up being in a 4 person room where there was actually another guy from Missouri...how crazy! This was my 3rd time to Italy, but first time in Rome. This history of Rome is mind-blowing and to be there where so much of our history took place left me in awe. I would love to go back to Rome. My time there was spent on walking tours of the city, ancient ruins, and the Vatican. I got my share of history.
The only bad thing that happened in Rome was that another guy staying in my room threw up on my shoes during the night. That was not fun to wake up to. He apologized profusely the next day, so I did my best to laugh it off. Wish I had a better story to tell.
Here are some pics of Rome: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116285&id=1393045053&l=4dd69afd82
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