February 15

Today I slept in a bit and woke up at 8:30. A few people were already at breakfast. There is definitely a morning crowd and a late crowd on this trip. I have turned out to be in the morning crowd, surprisingly. I like waking up early, getting the bathroom all to myself while my roommates are still asleep, enjoying a nice breakfast, and either doing some required reading for the next day, or reading whatever I want. Emily, Krentz and I are the early birds, soon followed by Mary, Caroline and Sarabeth. Actually, the gender divide provides the easiest distinction. Almost all the girls arrive at breakfast before the boys do. Some of the boys don’t even eat breakfast anymore.
But anyway, I had breakfast and the over the course of the morning, read my book and finished my required readings. We went to lunch at the same restaurant as last night. The owner was very happy to see us again, and brought us free salads before our meal and free hot apple tea (a popular drink here) after our meal. He was also happy to find out we will be here for two more full days. I’m sure we will be going there again at some point.
After lunch, we stopped by the grocery store. I intended to have my dinner at the hotel, especially since I found the yogurt I wanted and still had plenty of food from the market purchases. I ventured out again in the afternoon for a walk, and found a nice paved lane with lots of other people enjoying a walk and bike ride.
I finished The Devil in the White City and I already passed it along to Allie. She just finished The Bastard of Istanbul. Unfortunately, I only have one book left in my suitcase. I’m getting Mom to send some more books to a hotel where we will be staying in 2 weeks. Maybe I can find a book store in the meantime, because I will probably have finished this last book before the 2 weeks are up.
Oh, and I forgot to mention how absolutely beautiful today was! It was even fairly warm in the sun. Krentz was not too happy about that. I am going to laugh so hard if it rains tomorrow, but I won’t laugh long because, rain or shine, we will be outside looking at the sites.