Saturday, August 29, 2015

Getting ready for an adventure of a lifetime:D

Hi Everyone,
My name is Carina Lara and i will be studying abroad in Rabat, Morocco! My focus will be in the field of  Migration and transnational identities within Morocco's  highly diverse area. With this said I look forward to living in Morocco for a semester and making memories that will last a  lifetime!
My video: Shows my excitement when i  had finally found the perfect walking shoes to travel to Morocco in:D
 I searched and searched  for the perfect walking shoes...I tried them all....Chacos: couldn't understand how to get them to fit me well, Tevas....great but too expensive... then i had come across a pair of...Dr. Scholls cushioned sandals...and my feet immediately  were in heaven! Oh and guess what... they were on sale...yayyy!!!Now with my perfect walking shoes that just happen to be great for all types of Terrain whoop whoop!!!!I know  for certain i am ready to walk, climb, and jump all over Morocco:D

I fly tomorrow to Morocco and thought this song was perfect!
On the Road to Morocco: Bing Crosby


Monday, August 24, 2015

What's Most Important in Life: Food and Barbells

I'll make general post later, but for now, I'd like to talk about how to make all kinds of gains (gainzZz) in a country that's so opposed to it. If you're a foodie, you'll at least enjoy the pictures. If you're into barbell weightlifting and are fine with gaining weight, I think you'll enjoy it even more.

Squat Racks: They Do Exist!

Barbell weightlifting is even more niche in South Korea than it is in the U.S. partly people here prioritize being skinny and losing weight over becoming stronger. It makes me feel left out over here. You'll typically find one squat rack in the entire gym, and it may or may not have adjustable bar holders/catches. The fortunate thing is that because Korean don't often use barbells, that one squat isn't often in use. If you're a foreigner, they won't often talk to you, but you'll see them admiring ('mirin) the gains!

So what do you do after you're tired from a hard workout, and the employee is pissed off at you because a 185 kg deadlift is going to make noise no matter how slowly you put it down? Naturally, you stuff your face!




There are variations of bibimbap (비빔밥) and they range from around 4500-6000 won. If you eat at a restaurant, you'll get free sides (반찬) so be sure to abuse that. Well, maybe not at amusement park. They just want to rip you off there. If the restaurant has a version of bibimbap (such as bulbaekbibim: 불백비빔) that has extra meat on it, naturally go for that.


Korean BBQ is a favorite of mine, and it's easy macros if you get a buffet! Even the people who normally don't like to take pictures of food end up doing so when there's a big group and tons of BBQ cooking at the same time. If you don't eat meat, well...I'm sorry...

If you want some diabetes, there are dessert calzones that they make in the foreigner district of Itaewon (이태원). Honey toast and bingsu (빙수) are more common, though.

Actually, this post was delayed for a long time. I thought about finishing it earlier, but I suddenly became busy towards the end of my program. There are so many foods that I want to upload and share, but I don't really have much time to go through all of the pictures I took. At any rate, I hope this was at least pleasing for your eyes!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

The Strays of Istanbul


I admit that I didn't know what to expect when I went to Turkey. I had few concrete expectations, but the one thing that struck me immediately as we travelled through the city was the remarkable amount of stray cats and dogs wandering around the streets. On Maui, strays are common enough but I'd never seen them so prevalent in a city before.

In Istanbul, strays are everywhere. Whether it was the backstreets of Fener or the crowded walkways of Sultanahmet, there were huge dogs sleeping in the grass or on the cement (usually in the middle of the walkway) or wandering around in small packs begging for food. There were whole colonies of street cats picking through garbage or waiting outside of restaurants. They must eat well as most of the strays were fat and bowls of food and fresh water were laid out for them everywhere. (A Turkish woman told me that it would be a great shame to see a starving dog right outside a thriving restaurant.)

Perhaps most amazing, though, was how tame they were. I never saw any of the huge mutts growl or even bark at anyone or anything. They were lazy things for the most part, spending the majority of their time sleeping or leisurely marking their territory. When they wanted food, they'd follow you around and stare at you innocently with their big brown eyes. When we were touring one of the Prince's Islands, three dogs followed us through our entire walking tour, bullying cats out of our path as we went. (We named the leader of the pack Ismet after Prime Minister Ismet Inonu, whose house we were viewing on the island.) But I never felt endangered by them. The dogs all have tags, which signal that they've been spayed/neutered and given all their shots by animal control. The population is, from a logistical standpoint, under control.

The cats, on the other hand, are much harder for the authorities to keep track of. Litters of tiny kittens were everywhere, living in cardboard boxes and on first-story balconies, picking through trash and falling asleep on street vendors' pashminas. (I never saw a Turkish shopkeeper kick them out though; I even saw one particularly fluffy tabby completely claim ownership over a valuable Baroque-style armchair in an antique shop.) There was a sleek, white and muscular cat that picked through the garbage at the dorm that I called Scar after the huge, pink and scabby slash across his back and the smaller one across his face. There was also a particularly friendly calico called Elif, who loved hanging out in the dorm's lobby and keeping the security guards company. (She even tried to follow students into the elevator. "Wait for me, guys!") Then there was Elif's son, Julio, who was a sweet kitten with green eyes that the guards utterly spoiled with Turkish deli meat and shredded chicken. (They even took him to the vet when he got sick.) On the way to school, I always passed a black cat who took up residence beside the door of a restaurant called "The Fish and the Kebab." I named him Balik, after the Turkish word for "fish" and he would always try to play with me when I passed by.

All these strays were definitely not at all what I would have expected to find in Istanbul, but they've made the city feel a lot more like home.