The Big Catch (up)

Alright. So here's the gist: I'm out of time for updating this blog baby thoroughly. Life's a movin' and Ima tryin' a keep up!  So here we are. Just you and me. Talkin' bout my past. Here are some photographic highlights of my weekend travels for the last, oh, 4 months. Hang in there! 

Makin' this move to get set for the next 2 months on the road. Yep, all packed up, moved out, and ready to do some fun stuff! And attempt to share it here. 

(Ima try to, at the advice of a dear friend, Instagram the hell out of my trip. You know me--We'll see how it goes.)

Student trip to Hatay area--old Antakya & seaside Iskenderun. A-15 rooftop ice cream and van dance parties, whaaatt?!!

Black Sea mermaid chillin' in Trabzon.

Vogue and dork posin' at Sümela Monastery and in Trabzon tea gardens.

Peering into Syria and checkin' out the Iraqi stone work in southeastern Mardin.

Digging religion in 10,000 B.C. at Göbekli Tepe archeological site. (Nat Geo it)

Driving the booze cruise vehicle with friends through monastery-dotted mountains on Greek Xios/Chios. Also ran under live for-fun rocket fire during the island's Orthodox Easter celebrations. (Greeks. Are. Freakin. Nuts.)

Roadtrippin' Cyprus with an allstar Antep crew. (Absolutely breathtaking.)

(And politically contentious--the only kind of touring my dear Julia-government-major-NATO-intern does.)

Zebra mountain driving in Van at the doorstep of Iran. (Once I got behind the wheel in Greece, there was no stopping my rental car obsession.) Also visited the base of Mt. Arat, Turkey's highest peak, on this roadtrip with Alaskan and Montucky-ian companions.

Good gal-pal chillin', historic Gallipoli touring, and seaside fish nights in Çanakkale. WAS ON SO MANY BOATS!! (Plus one of the best travel mishap sagas yet. But that's for another day.)

American Instructors' Goodbye Partying with fave students. (Oh hey, Uğur!)

Takin' pics of my ridiculous pals in devout Şanlıurfa.

And posing for some myself--duh.  
Balıkli Göl in the background--where prophet Abraham/İbrahim was thrown from the mountain
into the fire that turned to water full of fish turned from coals. (Holiness aside, carp are nastyass.)

Swam to a castle in the sea and randomly Memorial Day adventured with the American Air Force at Kızkalesi.

Finished teachin' 'em up real good at work.

Said bittersweet goodbyes to students. (Heart [a lot of] them.)

Spent quality time with the BFFs--my Antep Fulbright family!

Chilled with my top Turkish ladies!! (They dig peace.)

Hosted a few out-of-town buds and showed 'em around all the best places (like this Armenian house turned cafe/unrestored museum) and made sure they tried all the important foods (food is the way of life down here and I happily have the balcon to prove it).

And here I am. Saying goodbye to GAZİANTEP, my home sweet Turkish home. Ima miss ya truly. 

P.S. Currently posting from İstanbul. Been here for 2 days kicking off my summer odyssey. Got my camera fixed day 1 :)