So long, Prop. 8 - I will not miss you.

This past Wednesday I spent the afternoon at the Information Commons cafe on campus to watch the news come out about the Northern California Federal Court ruling on the constitutionality of the ban on same-sex marriage. I couldn't be more pleased by the ruling, but of course the struggle for equality is not over. Though the opportunity to bring the case to the United States Supreme Court is a step in the right direction, a ruling that does not favor same-sex couples will negatively affect the entire nation.
I am not entirely confident that the Court will rule in favor of same-sex marriage, but I certainly looking forward to all of the news reports, interviews, and pundits that are sure to entertain. On Wednesday I watched Rick on CNN compliment his reporter's interview taken at a gay bar in L.A. "Good job. You just asked two people in a gay bar how they feel about gay marriage...Keep up the good work."

Happy cows come from...wait, do they actually exist?

While I was home this summer, my dad and I watched "Food, Inc.," a documentary about the food industry and how it has gone from being a primarily farm based culture to a factory industry. First, you should know that I love meat. A burrito is not a burrito without carne asada and Thanksgiving is not a feast without the turkey, but "Food, Inc." opened my eyes to the ugly truth of where our food really comes from.

Most chickens are raised in dark coops with very little room to walk around. They, along with cows and pigs, are fed diets consisting mostly of corn so as to fatten them quickly. I understand the economics of most of these practices, but placing animals in close corridors increases the likelihood of diseases and the diets which are not what the animals have evolved on leave them deficient in nutrients which we benefit from when we eat them. Did you know that grass fed beef has significantly more omega 3 fatty acids than corn fed beef. Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to lower the risk of certain chronic diseases, and they are crucial to brain function. Deficiencies in omega 3 fatty acids can cause depression. With the oil spill in the Gulf Coast limiting our seafood options, we need to find ways of getting omega 3 fatty acids in other ways - choosing grass fed beef over the regular stuff I know you're eating is a great start.

I also read Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." It is an account of her family's attempt to grow all of their own food for an entire year. What they could not grow themselves (ex. wheat), they purchased locally. I was particularly influenced by this book because Kingsolver's oldest daughter was close to my age and she knew so much more about where her food came from than I do. Most of our food travels farther than the average person does. This uses barrels of oil that pollutes our environment. I love mangoes, but why would I eat a fruit from Mexico when we have amazing peaches and apples growing right here in the Midwest? It's going to be hard for me to give up my guilty pleasures, but if it means saving the world, I'll do it in a second.

Since I decided to only eat "happy" meat (3 weeks ago) I have stuck mostly to vegetarian options. I did eat some beef and a little bit of chicken because they were things that my friends had made for me, and I may be opinionated, but I am certainly not rude. I am also making a point to buy most of my produce at the farmer's markets in Chicago - there are multiple markets Tuesday through Sunday.

I do miss beef. I really want a steak burrito, but where am I going to find an environmentally/health conscious taqueria? Chipotle of course. Apparently, Chipotle purchases 100% of its chicken and pork and 85% of its beef from "family farms." I'm still not exactly sure what that means because their website is not very clear, but it certainly sounds good. unfortunately, 85% family farm beef is not quite good enough for me, so I suppose I'm back to chicken...ugh.

Reverse Culture Shock!!!

I definitely didn't realize how long I had been outside the United States until I returned. I thought that I would end up with pockets full of coins while I was in Europe, but i found out after a few trips to the drug store in Chicago that Americans have way more change than Europeans. You see, Europeans charge one euro or two euro for things, but Americans like when things aren't quite a dollar. Now answer honestly - Would you buy the candy bar that was 79 cents or one dollar? EXACTLY! I hate American money. I have found myself converting Dollars to Euros here - bad. I do appreciate that Americans know how to form a line - a skill that Italians seem to lack. Skyscrapers sort of scared me the first few times I walked through the Loop, and the ivy covered brick buildings of Chicago were actually a little disappointing compared to the Roman ruins I was so used to seeing on a regular basis. Possibly their weirdest part was being able to listen in on peoples' conversations and understand them! I was excited to realize all the gossip I would learn from just sitting on the train, something I was sorry to have missed from my adventures in Italy.

Usually when I come back to the United States from a trip to Europe I feel slightly ashamed by the lack of infrastructure in our nation and by the common wasteful practices most of us don't give a second thought to, but this time was different. I did feel mildly let-down by my country, but I was also very proud of my country. I had learned about the Italian government and how corrupt it is. I was amazed when I finally understood just how many liberties we have that we take for granted. Though I do not like what many of our biggest news stations have to say, I find comfort in the fact that they are not all owned by our government or president. I think it is terrible that most Americans can only speak English while most Europeans can speak more than one language, sometimes having to speak 3 or 4 just to get by in their own countries. Also, why do we have to pay boat loads of money to go to college when Germans can go for free? But we have things that no one else does. We have the Grand Canyon and National Forests in nearly every state. We have a huge variety of cultures, each bringing something new and different to the table. I don't know if I would have seen our country this way if I hadn't spent five months away from it. I'm glad to be back, but I want nothing more than to explore the world even more!

There is no way that really happened...

I have spent one hundred and thirty days of this year outside of the United States. I have lived in Europe for four months. I have been to Asia, and I have been to Africa. I have enjoyed beers paid for by my school and I have yelled at an Indian man in Italian. I have watched my parents fall into the traps of countless salesmen while managing to leave a country and continent completely empty-handed. My semester abroad was an experience I will never have again, but you can be sure that I will try my hardest to relive every moment, good and bad, because it was an experience that I never want to forget. Of course, all the days I spent wandering Europe would not have been half as interesting, or fun if I didn't have the friends I met and my support system at home to talk to and tell all my stories. Thank you for listening (and reading), especially since I was terrible at keeping in touch. These entries are my attempts to make up for that.

I told you about out Turkish tours, but somehow I didn't get to Istanbul! Firstly, Istanbul is the only city that is broken into two continents. 60% of the city residents live on the Asian side, while the European side is primarily commercial. The European side is then broken up into two parts - one is more modern than the other. This means that Istanbul has an old side, a new side, and a homey side. Tourists tend to stay on the old side, which is great, but we are not tourists anymore - we are world travelers. We do not sight see - we explore, and explore we did! Sure, the old buildings are cool, but did you know that there are about 200 Christian churches in Istanbul? That doesn't sound like much for a large city, especially compared to Rome's 400 Catholic churches, but did you also know that 99% of Turks are Muslim? We found a charming church at the top of the massive hill that makes up the new side, as well as the largest and most crowded shopping street I have ever seen. We also explored the Asian side, only after asking five taxi drivers to help with our iPhone directions to a well-known restaurant they probably would have recognized if we had known any Turkish at all. Is it possible that I actually miss having men try and sell me everything and anything they can ALL the time? Our favorite line - "Are you from America? I'm married to an American and I'm a professor...(5 minutes later)...I actually sell rugs too. Let me show you." Those Turks are sly.



After two weeks of traveling, it was time to go home - so we flew back to Rome. I suppose that's not home for everyone. I made my parents see everything I thought was essential on their last day in the Eternal City (contradiction?). I dragged my mom through the rain to see the Key Hole, which is literally a key hole in a door with an amazing view of the Vatican. UNFORTUNATELY, someone was doing construction and blocking the view! I thought my mom might kill me because I'm nearly certain she was losing feeling in her toes. Oops. That night we had a delicious meal next to a very emotional pregnant woman and went to bed, happy that our trip went smoothly minus one hickup that was easily fixed...JINX! I was planning on spending one more day in Rome while my parents were leaving the next morning for Chicago and then San Francisco. Well, it turns out that when American Airlines has a small hickup, they just cancel your flight at four in the morning. My parents managed to get on my flight the next day, which meant that they had one more day to see everything they needed to!

I had been planning for weeks what I was going to do on my last day in Rome. I wanted it to be a special day with gelati, panini, and Roma T-shirts. I had my gelato and I bought my shirt. I was mistaken for an Italian, I ran into my parents (like a local would run into friends), and then I got lost. It was perfect. We ended the night with dinner and drinks at Bir and Fud and a few more drinks at Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa (But what did you come here for?).

Leaving Rome felt like I was leaving a home behind because the John Felice Rome Center became our home, After a weekend away, getting lost on the trains, standing in lines for hours, yelling at Ryan Air, and paying too much for a taxi, it always felt good to see those big green gates and walking down that long road to campus. We always had such a sense of relief, as if we had been gone for weeks. Never mind the bad Mensa food that awaited us, we were home and there is no comfort like that of laying in your own bed (with borrowed sheets) and knowing that when you wake up in the morning you will be greeted by your family - friends, professors, Nella, Rinaldo, and all. Ordinary college life will feel like just that from now on - ordinary.

The story of the stork

We had a great time in Greece. The weather was perfect and we didn't have any trouble with all the demonstrations in Athens. We explored the mountain-top fortress of Nafplio and we enjoyed some leisure time by the Aegean Sea in Samos. We ate tons of gyros, but we never got a good explanation for why we were having so much trouble finding lamb on any of the menus.



Now we are in Turkey, and what a place it is. The Greek island of Samos is only 2 km from Turkey, and though the cultures are very similar, the Greeks and Turks are really very different. In our few days here in Selcuk we have encountered amazingly kind and generous people. Everyone is so helpful here, and they really love to host tourists in their shops and homes. In Greece the people were more indifferent to our presence. We never had a bad experience in Greece, but so far the people in Turkey have really surpassed the Greeks in hospitality.

We arrived in Kusadasi on the 9th by ferry. Our 200 seat ferry, carrying no more than twenty passengers, pulled into the port next to an American navy ship and a Celebrity cruise ship - those things are HUGE! A tour guide with a van picked us up once we had gotten our visas and then drove us to the Nilya hotel in Selcuk just 30 minutes North of the busy resort town.

The Nilya hotel is quaint and simply adorable. The courtyard looks as if it has always been here. There are lanterns hanging from the trees, cats prowling around corners, and birds nesting in the hall. I love all the fun nick-knacks around the building and the view that is perfect at sunset.



On our first full day in Selcuk we were picked up again by our tour guide and taken in a van to Effesus, the ancient city where it is believed Mary fled after the Crucifixion of Jesus. Mary's house is a reconstruction that is not very impressive. There is a spring that runs beneath the house and empties into three fountains - health, wealth, and happiness. Past the special water is a wishing wall of lovely napkins and tissues - I thought it was a cute idea until my dad mentioned how attractive the wall must look after a good rain.



July 1, 2010 - Now we're back in the states and I'm finally getting around to catching up on my blogging. I'm sorry it took so long!

After our quick trip to Mary's house, our tour guide, a young and particularly charming man from Kusadasi, took us to see all the other sights in the area. We got to see Pagan temples and the beautiful city of Effesus. If you love ruins and libraries, then Effesus is the place for you. Walking down the crumbling main road of the city, you can see a jaw-dropping two-story facade at the end of the road. With columns and statues on both levels, the building was once the library for the city. Walking through it you can just picture all the scrolls that were once housed there. Of course we had to take another picture with the Noe Valley Voice in front of the library that rivals our local athenaeum.



No Turkish tour is complete without a visit to a manufacturer or two, or three! The Turks are known for their beautiful hand woven rugs of wool, cotton, and silk, each unique to its region and maker. On this day we did not purchase a Turkish rug. However, my mom was particularly interested in the rugs but only decided against buying one when my dad reminded her we were broke! Certainly if you can't afford a rug Turkey will provide you with hundreds of other choices. Next stop, a leather store! No one on our tour knew what were getting ourselves into when we agreed to stop at a leather manufacturer's outlet. The room that we were led into had about forty chairs all surrounding a long and intimidating runway. Being the shy and nervous kid that I am, I never took out my camera during this entire experience, and I regret that so much! The loud techno music came on and soon after the beautiful Turkish models came down the runway in leather coats, each more beautiful than the next. At the end of the show three of the models came off the runway to pull three of us up! I said that I am shy, but ten years ago that would have been a serious understatement. A particularly handsome model grabbed my hand and took me backstage where he put me in a nice beige jacket and then led me back onto the runway. I actually posed on my way out! There is no way I was thinking clearly. I'm going to blame it on the Turkish dust. After admiring the leather goods inside and the peacocks outside, we were on our way to the pottery maker. My mom and I once took a pottery class at the Randall Museum so I know how difficult it is to spin clay, but what really impressed me was all the free-handed painting they did on the finished pottery. The store we went to had thousands of pieces on display, each one unique, and each hand-painted. I have decided that if I ever had more money to my name, I will return to Turkey and buy everything I think is beautiful. Of course, that will leave the Turks with nothing for themselves.



The place where we found the most beautiful things was on a street corner in Selcuk at the 24hr souvenir shop of Ali. We went in just to look at his hand-painted tiles, but we left with a friend. Though we're nearly certain he lied to us about being Christian, we found Ali to be a smart business man and a helpful local. He directed us to nearby restaurant with tandoor lamb (slow-cooked lamb that must be ordered one day in advance). We ate there two nights in a row. On our second night we stopped at Ali's shop to thank him for his help. I got drawn in by the beautiful boots and belts he had on display. He discounted the belt for me, but not before taking a humiliating picture that summarizes Ali and the Turkish people perfectly.



The one thing better than Ali in Selcuk was the invasion of storks nesting in the city on their way back from Africa. There were storks everywhere - on minarets, ruins, and light poles. The baby-delivering birds were graceful as they flew over us to feed their babies. The best moment was when we were wandering around before dinner and we discovered a plaza where men were haggling for fresh fish and ten or twelve storks sat watching in their nests on top of a row of ancient arches. Our Turkish adventure didn't end there - on to Istanbul!

Athens

It's hard not to be impressed by the Greeks.



Our hotel is right beneath the acropolis and right next to the plaka. A perfect location for great views, delicious food, and some good shopping. I bought a bag for only 8 euro to replace my old orange one.

Before we went up to the acropolis we went through the museum at the base of the mountain as well as the national archaeological museum a few metro stops away (yet another metro that puts MUNI to shame). We learned a lot about what were would see at the acropolis and visualizing what the city would have looked like in 300 B.C. became much easier.



The acropolis is huge, and they still haven't excavated everything. I think that the restoration work began in the early 1980s, and they still have a lot of work to do. It would be cool to come back and be able to walk inside the Parthenon.

It's all Greek to me

My parents and I have left Italy and now we're in Athens, Greece. They had a fabulous time doing all the touristy things in Rome while I suffered in the library studying for finals. Apparently, the four hour tour of the Roman Forum was very informative, but I think the highlight of the trip (at least for my dad) was our trip to Bir & Fud. It is exactly what it sounds like. Yumm.

Our first day in Greece has been pretty relaxing. We had some AMAZING food, a tasty frappe, and perfect weather. Now I'm just hoping this cold I seem to be getting holds off. Where's the airborne when you need it?!

We're off to explore at night! I'll put some pictures online as soon as the internet reception gets better and I don't have to sit in front of the bathroom door to get the one measly bar. Check ya later!