Mykonos, Greece

Why is Europe like a giant frying pan?

Because Greece is at the bottom!!! :)
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Greece is HOT! We took the day off from our actual duties and took a visit to Delos, an island known for being Apollo's birthplace. It was absolutely magical! Though there were a lot of spiky plants that scraped up my legs... and again, it was really hot. We were only able to explore for 2 hours (there really is no shade on the island) before we were all hot and tired and ready to return to Mykonos to explore.

(Delos Island, Greece)

So then we hit up Mykonos. And I don't know how to describe how beautiful the city was, so just take a look below for yourself. Greece just has a certain charm, I guess, and is irresistable. Looking at the photos makes me want to go back. It really is just that pretty.

Mykonos was designed in a way that was supposed to be confusing, so that pirates would get all confused when chasing people who lived there. But it really wasn't that big so it's hard to get truly lost, and was super duper enjoyable to walk around. My feet hurt a lot after... :)

(Mykonos, Greece)

Also, there are tons of stray cats! Seeing that I want to be a cat when I grow up, this was a nice thing to find. The cats, for the most part, didn't seem to be starving. I saw a lot of cat food around, and absolutely no cat poop... Mykonos takes care of their strays, I guess. I have at least 100 photos of cats in Greece alone... here are just a few highlights...

                  

I assume these photos don't need captions. Cats are so cute... and there were so many! Cat heaven.

Oh yeah, Mykonos has these five windmills on a hill. Not sure what those were about, but oh well. They were really picturesque and just added to the overall beauty of the city. So...yeah. Mykonos was really fun and I absolutely loved it!




Must Do:
- Get a gyro at Jimmy's
- Check out Amnesia
- Check out the beaches... the water is so so clear
- Take a ton of photos of the city

Istanbul, Turkey

Turkey! Seriously one of the coolest places I've ever been to.

(Hagia Sofia)

The mosques here are just spectacular. The bazaars are a bit bizarre, but really fun and busy. The people here are super nice (it isn't weird for someone you just met on the streets to invite you home for lunch or dinner) and there are so many sights to see, people to meet, and stray dogs and cats to pet...if you dare. I didn't really.

Turkey has the Turkish Lira, which is really quite a pretty word. Lira is totally something I'd name a potential future daughter. I could tell her that she's so valuable to me, I named her for money, except one lira is about 30 cents here... so perhaps 1000000000 lira would be a better name... hahaha.

(Probably a million dollars worth
of handwoven carpets.)

 We also got to stop by a carpet warehouse where they got us cold refreshing drinks and tried to sell us carpets. I asked about one that was 8.5 inches by 11 inches (the size of a standard sheet of paper in the US) and was told that it cost $725 (a bargain!!!) and was the result of a month and a half of work by a master carpet maker, and that it contained over 200,000 knots.

A little out of my price range, but definitely very pretty. The carpets were super intricate, and looked like a pain in the behind to make. What astounded me was the sheer quantity of carpets in the warehouse... years and years of hard work.

Just pure craziness, I tell you... hahaha.

We also visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, the Spice Bazaar, the Grand Cistern, and tons of other really neat places.

At the Spice Bazaar, we learned how to tell real saffron from fake saffron (real saffron in cold water turns urine yellow. Fake saffron turns barely yellow... sorry for the mental image!) There were bins of dried fruits, which were gorgeous because of all the colors!

(Dried fruit!)

We brought home some turkish delight, some tea, and a few trinkets. Turkey is just so so beautiful, and impossible not to love.

Another thing Turkey is known for are their turkish towels. They're expensive here in the US but super cheap in Turkey - anywhere from 5 lira (~$1.50) to 15 lira (~$5.00). I purchased two, and they're my new favorite thing!

(Blue Mosque lights)

When we were there, there was some sort of celebration and thousands of people were gathered in the area between and around Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, spending time with family and feasting after a fast. Lights were playing on the Blue Mosque and boy, was it gorgeous... I loved every moment of it.

Unfortunately, a couple days after we left, tensions started rising in Turkey, and I'm sure we've all heard the news (and more news... :( ). Prayers to Turkey - although I'm grateful that we got out of there in the nick of time... I'm devastated for those that didn't make it, or/and are still stuck in Turkey, terrified for their lives. It's really truly awful.

Let's Go to Europe For a Month!

I'll be heading off to Europe for just over a month (at least that's the plan...)

I'll be touching down in Istanbul, and then slowly making my way across the Mediterranean. Along the way, I'll be visiting Greece, Malta, Italy, France, Monaco, Morocco, and Spain. I think it'll be really really fun!

After Europe, I plan to fly to Taiwan and spend some time with family, but that can change depending on health issues and typhoons. Seeing that I start college July 26th (technically August 1st, but then I need to move in and do orientation, so I leave July 26th), I need to get my stuff done.

If things go according to plan, I'll be home on July 23rd. If things fail spectacularly, I'll either be home July 13th, or never... definitely hoping it isn't the latter. Bad jokes aside, it really is looking like the 13th. The last time I went to Taiwan, I got home three days later. I don't have the three days to spare this year.

But anyway, we're heading off to the airport soon. I'll try to post selfies and what not, but won't be able to post photos of the kids. It's apparently illegal or something, so photos of me will have to suffice. :)

Thank U RuyU :3

I've just really been copying and pasting these from facebook as I post them... this one is to my friend, Ruyuan.
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(She's on the left, I'm on the right. :) )

Today, I'd like to thank one of my best friends. Although I met her probably sometime in 6th grade, I didn't really talk to her until 5th period Murphy on the second day of school during junior year.
Forming a pod with Ru and Aggie was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Ruyuan has been with me for pretty much everything in the past two years. She was probably the reason why I stuck with AP Chem (surprise surprise) because she is an amazing study buddy. She also probably got me through Honors Math Analysis, because I'm pretty sure Murphy and I weren't on great terms, and I sort of sucked at trig. Also I got the flu and was so so confused 24/7, and she tried to tutor me. :)
But anyway, through late night skyping and hangouts, and countless rounds of FMK, I guess we got to know each other better, and now I know not to get her sushi...but she's usually up for a ramen or ice cream date. And then, somehow, I accidentally memorized her address (yeah, that doesn't sound right) and now she actually knows how to get to my house! I've thoroughly enjoyed filming math videos with her, Mon, Beth, and I guess Nicole, because it's really fun working with my closest friends. :)
There's a lot of things I won't be able to put into words and way too many memories to describe...a few highlights being tidepooling in Palos Verdes (poor starfish) and getting her very very sick during prom. She makes the best face expressions, which always cheer me up without fail. And then of course, grad night was amazing with her, as life usually is with Ruyuan around! :D
We've done so much together and to be honest, I would not have been able to get through junior and senior year without having Ruyuan around to make me laugh. She is one of the most wonderful people I know because of her big heart, and definitely one of the most hilarious people I know. I'm going to miss her so so much and I can't wait to see her grow at University of Puget Sound! <3 Thank you, Ruyu, for helping shape the person I am today. Love you <3

(SO CUTE <3)

Thank you, Señorita Peña!

I posted this on facebook, but wanted to add it on here.
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In 8th grade, even before high school ever started, I had a spanish teacher who was an angel to me. Her name was Ms. Peña, and it was her first year teaching at HMS. The class I had with her was Spanish 1-2.
I remember that first semester of her class was ridiculously easy. We learned the alphabet, colors, letters...all of which I already knew from the elementary school spanish courses my mother made me take. So I got an easy 94% first semester, which was fine. I expected 2nd semester to be just as easy. But then when second semester happened, I fell behind pretty quickly.
I started making some C's and D's 2nd semester of my eighth grade year, a time that was rough with adhd medication changes and other personal issues. And Ms. Peña noticed. She invited me in after school everyday for hours and helped me study. My grade dipped into the upper 50s and I worried. I worried because I was falling behind - my friends seemed to have no trouble and here I was, pretty much failing the class. I completely hated the spanish language.
Everyday, I spent three hours after school in Ms. Peña's room, painstakingly going over verb tenses and vocabulary words. She allowed me to cry, and then pushed me further. Her encouragement made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could do this. Then, I started understanding how to conjugate verbs and remembering definitions. Spanish became easier to learn... and I started loving the language and culture again. And then my grades started climbing.
Because of Ms. Peña's endless patience and never ending love for her students, I became the student I am today. She taught me how to persevere, even when everything seemed completely hopeless. I just wanted to pass the class, yet Ms. Peña guided me to a 91%. I went on to completely dominate 3-4 and 5-6! :)
So even if she doesn't manage to see this, I just want to say a huge huge thank you to her. Ms. Peña is truly one of the most caring and dedicated teachers I know, and I'm so lucky to have been in her class during the year that she taught at HMS. <3 She's definitely helped me become the person I am today.

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I wanted to do a bit of a series, I suppose, of thank yous to those who have helped me become who I am today. This is the first one...I'm really not sure how many there will be.

Hi.

My name is Charlene, and I love cats and all things purple. That's really everything I know of right now, to be honest. I'm generally a pretty clueless person.

Or at least I think I am.

(I've always liked travelling. :) )

What I do know is that I graduated three days ago, and I'm heading off to college at UCSB this fall. But before I do, I'm going to be doing a lot of travelling. So I thought it'd be fun to create a blog of whatever I do...sort of like a travel journal of sorts. But then I also want to document other things going on in my life, so... maybe not exactly a travel journal but just a regular public journal.

See? I told you I was clueless.

I'm quite the introvert, so there isn't much to this. I guess I'm making this so I can pretend I'm talking to someone, because people seem to find it strange when I just only talk to myself. And sometimes, I don't like talking to people, so if this blog experiment turns out to be a real thing, then I can just link people here if they want to know stuff.

In terms of this blog, I'd like to thank my senior year English teacher, Mr. Duvall, for making us blog as part of our senior projects. Although my first blog didn't really end so well, this one isn't academic so it shouldn't go the same way! And to be honest, I sort of liked the blogging, to a certain extent, so we'll see if I stick to this one.

Alright, there isn't much else I want to say, so here's where I end. Thank you for reading, and if you are...how did you find this blog anyway? Did I share the link?