Saturday, July 12th
After arriving in Izmir at 2:30am all I could think about was a bed, it didn’t matter where it was – I just needed to lay in one. A few hours later, I woke up and got ready to spend the day at the beach. For breakfast, there was bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, ham, mystery meat, boiled eggs, and olives. It made me laugh and think of home – I feel like for some of the group this was a bit of a culture shock, but I’m quite used to seeing veggies on the table for breakfast at my grandparents. I loaded my plate with the tomatoes, cucumbers, and bread, took a seat and inhaled the food (I did not really eat anything the night before while we were traveling).
We left for the beach around 10:00am and it was about a 45 minute drive away. One of our professors lives in Izmir so he took us to a local beach where there weren’t too many tourists. Michelle and I decided to walk along the beach near the numerous restaurants the lined the shore before we went back to the area where the group had gotten chairs and umbrellas. At first, it wasn’t too hot since it was fairly early in the day and we were all able to lay out in the sun, soaking up the Vitamin D that we all needed dearly since Freiburg had been a city in a pillow of clouds for the past week. But that whole laying out thing didn’t last too long…. It got really toasty despite the breeze and the Sea was calling our name. The water was a little dirty near the shore, but the further I swam out, the clearer (and colder) it got. Regardless, it was incredibly refreshing and I loved being in the water since it was the first time I’d touched a beach since March.
The rest of the day was a mix of tanning, sleeping, reading, swimming, and walking. I was able to finish “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” take a ton of pictures, and just relax.
Dinner was then served at the beach club we were staying at for the day – I didn’t eat anything “local” (I had spaghetti…) but it did the trick and I was able to watch the sunset and moon rise on the beach. At 10:00pm it was finally time to go and I started to realize that maybe I’d gotten just a tad bit burned, but all I needed was a shower and some lotion and my skin decided it was fine after all.
Alzebeth Roman
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<div><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(237, 237, 237);">My name is Alzebeth Roman and I am currently a Senior at North Carolina State University in Raleigh studying Accounting with minors in International Studies and Political Science. This summer, I will be studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany learning about the politics of the EU and its' neighbors. This is only my second time traveling out of the United States and my first time in Europe. In my spare time, I love service, reading, swimming, dancing, napping, and writing which I plan to do in my free time while abroad!</span></div>
