Steph and Spielberger Spherical Spectacular: i love space!

one last overnight bus ride (on the nicest bus yet) put me in izmir turkey, and finally in the same place as omid! then after 8 or so hours in the otogar (bus station) i was able to head out to space camp turkey! oh yes, omid works at space camp in the only turkish phrase i know - ege serbest bolgesi (the agean free zone). its a bit like the business parks out by the airport, but nonetheless we're having a great time. on his day off we headed to ozdere beach to soak in some sun and eat some of the incredible ice cream they sell everywhere here.

the next day i headed to ephesus with luisa, one of omid's coworkers. it is the most intact roman ruins i have seen this trip and really impressive. it was one of the most crucial, vibrant trading towns in the roman empire and also where paul preached (letter to the ephesians).

other than that we've been enjoying the bustling street culture of izmir, eating in cafes and having drinks and nargile (the hookah smoking thing) by the ocean at sunset. i head out tomorrow back to boston and its so nice to spend my last leg of the trip with omid and a bunch of new space camp friends! (for aislinn, mia, francis and amanda - i totally thought of you the entire time while touring the space training machines and mission logs - totally like disneyland but better!!!) and i was here during the 40th anniversary of the moon landing and we watched obama's speech on it too - so fitting.

here's a series of iphoto pictures taken on anna's (another space friend) mac because i'm having some trouble uploading my real photos from izmir which i will do upon my return!