Today was an eventful day in Cappadocia.
 
I woke up this morning around 5:30 to finish getting packed and ready for the day. I made it to the union around 6 to eat the “continental breakfast” which was juice and pastries. We waited for a while so everyone could get checked in and to make sure that everyone had their passports. There was one girl who never showed up and she really missed out.
 
Once everyone was ready, we boarded the buses and made our way to the airport. The airport security in Turkey is interesting. They make you go through security before you check in for your flight and then again after you check in. It took awhile for the leader to check in all 80 of us. They then handed back out our passports and boarding passes. We had about an hour and a half left before the flight so we just relaxed and had some food at the café. There was free Wi-Fi in the airport so I was able to chat with a few of my friends online.
 
We finally boarded the plane and it seemed as though we took up most of the plane. We actually did occupy over half of the seats on the plane. It was an hour long flight, but I slept almost the whole flight. I woke up for the last few minutes, and thought I was going to pass out it was so hot on the plane. I was very happy when it landed.
 
Our huge group was greeted at the airport by 2 people who took us to our buses where we loaded up and left on our adventure. It was another hour drive to the Cappadocia region, so I fell asleep again.
 
To explain what Cappadocia is, imagine a region transformed from a blazing inferno into a flourishing village. Cappadocia, or “Land of Well-Bred Horses,” began with the eruption of two volcanoes, Erciyes Dagi and Melendiz Dagi. When hot ash was dispersed over the terrain, it created a thick layer of soft, porous stone called tuff. The wealthy
believed it to be barren land, but the poor saw a means of survival and a miracle of nature. The indigenous people used crude tools to carve sturdy homes out of this pliable substance. Eventually they carved churches, schools and an entire village. To escape persecution, the Christians also built underground cities.
 WNevsehir, the wealthy center of Cappadocia, is the provincial capital and largest town in the region. The landscape of Nevsehir resembles the surface of the moon.
 
Our first stop was at the underground city of Kaymakliı, where Christians hid during times of persecution. It was basically a huge cave city. They carved a city underground 8 levels deep. We were able to go down 4 levels (we couldn’t go farther than that because the caves still connected to areas in town that lead to people’s houses).
 
I absolutely love caves so this was an amazingly fun time for me. It even smelled like caves, hollow air. There were areas that were meant to be stables, kitchens, churches, bedrooms, and so on. We spent a good amount of time underground exploring before making our way outside. We then had a bit of free time to stop at the shops nearby. I got a few souvenirs including a small hand drum.
        We then made our way to a city to stop and have lunch (at 3:30 in the afternoon). Me and a friend of mine, Marsha, decided to wander town and find a place to eat together. We stopped at a place that looked like it had some good food and low prices. We sat on small cushions on the ground at a small metal table. We both decided to order traditional Cappadocian food. It was a beef stew that was cooked in a ceramic pot. They brought the pots to the table and broke them open with a machete. It was very unique and very tasty. They also gave us bread and rice to eat along with it.
 
Once we were done eating we loaded back on to the bus and worked our way through the region stopping to take pictures along the way. We stopped at numerous great panoramic spots to take some magical pictures.
 
After a few more hours we made our way to the hotel which was very nice. We were assigned roommate based on our last names. My roommates name was Courtney Brown and she went to UC Davis. We were able to talk about the city and some of the people who went to my high school that she was friends with. It was pretty strange how that ended up but was nice to have something in common.
 
Then we went to dinner in restaurant downstairs. It was a huge buffet that was absolutely amazing. It was one of the biggest buffets that I have ever been to. The desert bar was crazy big as well. There were at least 3 cakes there to eat. We all enjoyed our dinner and then made our way back to the buses to head to the whirling dervish ceremony.
 
We went to a very old building and then watched the ceremony. It was a bunch of men spinning around in circles. They would do it fast enough and long enough that they would go into a trance.
 
After the ceremony they gave us some tea to enjoy. We finally made it back to the hotel to go to bed around 11:30. It took me about an hour to fall asleep.
 
It think it was because it was such an amazing day!