Back AT LAST! :P With pictures of my holiday to Turkey

[Miss Z]

Hello PT :p How I have missed you!

I can't exactly remember when I was last on here... testament to how bleedin' long I've been absent I suppose! I will try harder to stick around and come back a bit more regularly in between particularly hectic periods.

So, what has been happening since I was last here? Hmm... well I spent a lot of May running round London trying to find a place to rent for next year, which was far more difficult than I anticipated. The London property market is (I believe the best way to describe it accurately) cutthroat! Properties would sometimes come onto the market as I was on the phone to an estate agent, but an offer would be made within the hour, before any of us had finished lectures for the day. Myself and my flatmates got through many phone bills, fingernails, and stiff drinks, I can tell you. ;)

Thankfully, we eventually managed to find ourselves a beautiful flat not too far from the RVC, with a reasonable rent (reasonable by London standards, that is. Listening to the average rents paid by my old college friends in other parts of the country makes my bank balance weep). Perhaps best of all, the landlady will allow us to keep caged pets! :D Will keep you posted on that one!

Oh, and I took my first year exams, and passed with a first class honours!! I was so overwhelmed, since I found the exams very tough, and was particularly disappointed in myself for making an incomprehensibly stupid mistake in one of the papers (completely wrote about the wrong thing, you cannot believe how many times I metaphorically kicked myself when I realised on the way out of the exam hall!). Despite that all my results came back so much better than I anticipated, and I was particularly happy that I was into the 90% boundary for my project work on microRNAs (which I'm told is pretty hard to do!). I worked with a very helpful and inspiring lecturer, who has invited me back to work in the laboratory with him in my third year. I'm hoping to take him up on that offer.

Anyway, the real purpose of this thread was to share a small selection of photographs from my recent holiday to Turkey with my family. We haven't been away as a group for a few years, so it was nice to have a break together again, especially for me after my first year living away from home. :)

For anyone who has facebook, I have the whole album on my page (photobucket loading times frustrate me, heh heh).

The view from the villa we rented. We had beautiful views of Incekum forest, and the Taurus mountains.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011005abb-thebalcony.jpg

Alanya was the largest nearby town, and after two hours of driving up and down Ataturk Blvd, we at last found the beautiful harbour (a bit of advice? Try to learn a competent amount of Turkish if attempting to drive and follow signs in Turkey ;)). Eating at restaurants with this view was a real treat.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011030.jpg

Oh, a bit of news I forgot, I finally had chance to take and pass my driving test! Better late than never I suppose. Wasn't totally brave enough to drive on the wrong side of the road only days after getting my licence, but nonetheless had to make a point of being in the driver's seat!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011049-Driving.jpg

More coming...

[Miss Z]

Not sure how many of you are familiar with my brother, but here is a photo of the pair of us in Alanya. He's 14 now, and suddenly gigantic (bear in mind that I am 6 foot tall, and those shoes add about 2 inches I reckon). I left my little baby brother at home when I left for university. Now look at the state of him! :p

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011034-KurtIAlanya.jpg

Last time we visited Turkey some years ago, we enjoyed the colourful markets, and safe to say they are as good as ever. The spice stalls always caught my attention (perhaps a new culinary interest ignited by being a student!)

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011127-spices.jpg

I have to admit it - I am a cocktail magpie. The more colourful and wacky, the more attracted I am to them. This is a Blue Cobra, I think my favourite of the holiday (and worked out at only about £4!) I blame the rather spectacular cocktail bar just up the road from university for this latest penchant of mine!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011275b-MeBlueCobra.jpg

As a family, we generally like to get slightly off the beaten track and stay away from the really touristy things, but we had to have a look at the bluer than blue waters of the Manavgat River, with its beautiful waterfalls. We also managed to negotiate a little riverboat cruise, which, although not nearly as incredible as the Kazinga Channel in Uganda, which I visited last year, had a charming beauty of its own.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011280-manavgatfalls.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011297-ManavgatRiverBoat.jpg

This is the ancient city of Side, with most of its ruins dating back to the Roman period. On the day we visited, temperatures were soaring in excess of 42 degrees C. We pretty much stayed for as long as we could bear it, then made a dash for it back to the car, where there was air con!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011311-Sidemarketplaceruins.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011311b-sideruins.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011317-amphitheatre.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011324-sidehousesruins.jpg

More coming...

[Miss Z]

I thought PT might appreciate this the most. One morning we spotted a tortoise on the road up to our villa, so we moved him out of harm's way. Random acts of kindness, especially towards our animal friends, always does seem to make the day better.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011331-Savingtortoise.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011333-Tortoiseclosepossspurthighed.jpg

Swimming in the Alara river was definitely a highlight, even though the water was very cold, and the currents took a bit of effort to swim against!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011344-SnorkellinginAlara.jpg

Probably the best day, however, was spent in the Köprülü Kanyon National Park. It took a very long drive to get there, including crossing a rather treacherous Roman bridge, but the views were oh so worth it. We also hired a raft on the river, and all four of us were pulled against the current by a surprisingly strong Turkish lad. He definitely earned his 70 lira!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011363-KprlKanyonNP.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011367.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011370b-thecanyon.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011372-OlakBridge.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011378-passingunderthebridge.jpg

Last post coming up..

[phesina]

Beautiful photos, thank you. What a wonderful adventure!

[Miss Z]

Finally, a few pictures of Turkish cats. :) We ended up 'adopting' two particular cats, whom we presume were strays, that stumbled across our villa. Firstly we were visted only by the female, who, after a few bowls of milk (I''m vegetarian anyway, and my family don't tend to prepare meat themselves on holiday), allowed us to stroke her. We wondered whether she was a stray after all, but she kept on turning up ravenous so we presume she wasn't being fed elsewhere! One night, my mother sneaked a bit of lamb from her meal at a restaurant home for her, and when we arrived home, there were now two hungry faces at the window - she had brought along her kitten!

The kitten was very nervous, but typically very curious, and couldn't resist chasing my belt. Soon he was popping in and out of the house. I don't suppose anyone had ever really played with him before.

It was a shame to leave them behind!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011394-Tiptoesface.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011391-Tiptoesposing.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011405b-Tiptoesbringsherkitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011413-pawnomz.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011430-gotcha.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011420-kittennomming.jpg

Hope you enjoyed!!

[moosmom]

Zara!!

I've missed you!! You are a beautiful young lady!! Your brother is growing like a weed!!!

I'm so glad you've had a wonderful holiday and totally enjoyed looking at the pictures. The cats are beautiful, especially the little kitten! Too bad you couldn't bring them home with you.

I'm beaming with pride here. I'm so proud of you and how far you've come! You're one special girl!

:love::love::love: and hugs,

Donna

[Pinot's Mom]

Great to see you again, and lovely pictures! We were in Turkey this past May; different areas than you were. We did find there were many kitties wandering as well. It is hard to leave them.

Glad you had a nice trip!:D

[chocolatepuppy]

Great to hear from you Zara!:D Turkey looks like a beautiful place! Best wishes with your studies!
Keep us posted whenever you can. :)

[Karen]

Great to hear from you, and thanks for helping out that tortoise! Thanks for sharing the pictures, and oh - I could have warned you about "little brothers!" They tend to do that, I went away to college and mine kept growing, he now is several inches taller than me, but I stopped at 5' 6" ... He grew to 6 feet, but hey, he knows he's still the youngest, so that's okay! I tried to warn his daughter, whose brother is 3 years younger, that he might end up much bigger than her, and I don't think she believed me!

[Alysser]

Woo Zara, seems like alot has changed! I'm glad to hear all is well though with you. It sounds to me like you had a very awesome vacation, you guys always seem to go to the cool place :cool: Great pictures! By the way, I'd prefer to drive on THAT side of the car ANYDAY. ;)

[lvpets2002]

:eek: WoW the Pics are so Stunning With Mother Nature's Beauty for sure.. Glad your back.. great pics thanks

[krazyaboutkatz]

It's nice to hear from you. Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures with us.:) I knew you'd do well in school and I'm sure you'll become a wonderful vet.:)

[Scooter's Mom]

Congratulations on the first year of University being completed!

I always love your vacation photos. The kitties are indeed my favorite photos. :) Thanks so much for sharing the photos with us.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

Congratulations on finishing your first year! That's awesome and you must feel so proud!
What beautiful pictures, every one of them!! And those kittens- too cute!:D

[Freedom]

First year complete, and with first class honors, CONGRATS! You must be beaming, and your folks must be proud of you.

Your folks must have enjoyed having the family together again for this vacation / holiday, the photos are grand. The scenery is beautiful! The view of the bridge, the spice market, all of it held me spell bound. Not an area I've ever seen before, so this is quite interesting for me.

Very nice to help the tortoise, bet that made his day! :D

Aw the mom cat and her baby kit, goodness, must have been tempting to smuggle them in a suitcase! How wonderful that they trusted you.

Thank you for this newsy post, what a lot you have happening at this stage of life. And now driving as well! He heee, look out, Londoners, here comes Zara!

[Miss Z]

Thank you so much, everyone! I thought the cat pictures might be popular, so I've posted some more in Cat General if you're interested (link (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=169038)) :).

Pinot's Mom, whereabouts in Turkey did you go? :)

[dab_20]

Great to hear from you Zara! You certainly have matured since I last have seen pictures of you, your very pretty! It feels great to finish your first year, doesn't it? I just finished mine, too. What are you majoring in?

Great pictures of your vacation! Looks like a lot of fun and very beautiful. Wish I could go somewhere unique like that.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Congratulations, Zara! So exciting that you got honors!

Turkey looks gorgeous. Don't feel bad about just recently passing your driving test, I still have to take mine :o.

Love the pictures of the cats, the kitten reminds me of Domino :love:. You should have taken one home with you ;).

[sana]

Really beautiful pictures! Welcome back to Pettalk and congrats on finishing your first year!! :D

[Miss Z]

Thanks, you three! It's great to hear from you too. :)


It feels great to finish your first year, doesn't it? I just finished mine, too. What are you majoring in?


Oh absolutely, although it feels quite strange not being constantly busy/stressed. ;) I'm doing a joint degree - vet medicine (BVetMed) and a BSc (Hons) in biovet sciences. It's basically seven years of work crammed into six years - hence the long absence. :p

Do I recall that you are doing something along the veterinary route too? There seems to be several of us; Bri and I try to keep up on what the other is doing with regards to studies. :)

[Roxyluvsme13]

Hey Zara, I forgot to ask, when do you have to return to university? I have to go back in 11 days.

[Miss Z]

Wow! I don't think lectures begin for me until the first week of October, although I'll go back down to London around mid-September, after I've finished my equine placement. It'll be freshers' week around then, and I'm on the horse riding committee this year so we'll be part of the college pub crawl. :D

Second year already! Excited, Bri? :D

[Roxyluvsme13]

Wow! I don't think lectures begin for me until the first week of October, although I'll go back down to London around mid-September, after I've finished my equine placement. It'll be freshers' week around then, and I'm on the horse riding committee this year so we'll be part of the college pub crawl. :D

Second year already! Excited, Bri? :D
So jealous, I wish we didn't have to go back until October; however, we got out May 10th, so I guess that explains why we're already going back. That sounds exciting!

I'm excited, but nervous. I have anatomy this semester, and I know that's going to be an extremely tough class.