Ouch.

Back in the U.S. of A! The journey home was a bit rough... our whole group went out for dinner the night before we left, and some friends and I went to another bar after dinner. One friend wasn't feeling too well, so a few of us went back with him and I ended up going to bed around 12:30 (anticipating a 6:30 wake up call) which isn't too bad... but THEN.... bear with me, this is about to get personal.

Around 1am I got the worst cramps EVER. I felt like a giant ugly troll decided to grab my uterus and wring it out like a wet dishcloth. And I didn't have any painkillers. I wanted to sleep, but I didn't want to wake anyone up at 1:30 am so I just toughed it out in the fetal position in my bed until 3am, when I knew some of my classmates who were on an earlier flight would be awake. I then took about 4 Advil and konked out for about 2 hours.

We then had a twelve hour flight from Istanbul to Chicago and a four hour layover in Chicago before heading back to Minneapolis. By the time I actually got to bed it was 7am on Sunday morning, Istanbul time so I had essentially just pulled two all-nighters. I still don't feel awesome but I think another night of good sleep should set me on the right track.

You can read in detail about the Istanbul trip at http://ellieandkristinadiscovertheglobe.wordpress.com/, but here are some more pictures from the latter part of the trip:

In the old village of Cumalikzik, near Bursa

Outside of Durumzade, our favorite kebab stand in Istanbul!

Inside the Hagia Sophia

Farewell cruise on the Bosphorus

Keith, Ellie and I enjoying some wine on the Bosphorus cruise

Tonight is going to be my first night back to Yoga... going to a candlelight class. We'll see how this goes... I'm a little nervous which is why I'm taking it easy with a candlelight class. I really wanted to practice while I was in Turkey but there was just no space in the hotel room, and free floor space in the gym was limited, plus there was really no place to practice in private and I felt really awkward practicing in front of everyone in the gym... so I think I've practiced twice in the last two weeks. Wish me luck!