I have no excuse for my lack of blog posts other than that I have been having an incredible time here in Armenia and don’t get the chance to sit down and reflect on my experiences very much. I won’t make blog post promises anymore but I will try my best to update as often as I can for the rest of my trip! It is absolutely mind-blowing that I have been in Armenia for over three weeks now and that more than half of the experience is over. Everyday I think to myself, “this has been the best day yet” and am overwhelmed when the next day I am saying the same thing again. While daily life here in Yerevan is always exciting (except for my internship which has been underwhelming), some of my best experiences thus far in Armenia have come from weekend excursions around the country. I won’t write too much about each location but I will post pictures with quick descriptions so that you all can see all the amazing places I have visited!
The first weekend in Armenia we visited four different famous locations. On Saturday morning, we drove to Geghard – an ancient monastery that was carved first into a cave in the fourth century by Saint Gregory the Illuminator.
After Geghard, we visited Garni- a Parthenon-like temple that was originally built in the first century A.D. by an Armenian king.
On Sunday morning, we went to Etchmiadzin Cathedral which is considered to be the most famous church in Armenia. We arrived just in time for church service and spent a few hours on the church grounds.
After church, we went to the Sardarabad Battle Monument which commemorates the defeat of the Turkish army by Armenian troops in May of 1918. The memorial is guarded by two lion statues which I originally thought were bulls and since I am a Taurus I really wanted to get a picture between them. We probably ended up taking over 50 photos of me trying to "hold back" the two bulls... here is the best attempt!
On Monday, July 4th, we had a day off from our internships because it is Armenian Constitution Day on July 5th. Our coordinators decided to take us to the city of Dilijan to a lake called "Barz Lidj" which is about two hours from Yerevan. We had lunch at the lake and some of use decided to rent canoes for 2000 dram (approximately $5) for 30 minutes. Thankfully, Jano did all the rowing and the girls got to relax and enjoy the scenery.
After a normal work week, it was weekend yet again and the second weekend in Armenia proved to be one of my favorite weekends so far. One of the reasons for this was the Birthright sponsored scavenger hunt that we participated in on Saturday. We were all split up into teams and dropped off in a random city on the outskirts of Yerevan and were told to complete tasks before finding our way back to the starting point. One of our tasks was to take a picture with 10 locals and I think our team found the cutest 10 locals (picture below). We also had to be invited into the home of a local that we met on the street... sketchy for the United States but totally acceptable here. We met a nice older woman in a supermarket and she quickly (and without questions) invited us into her home. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I wouldn't exchange for the world.
To finish off this incredible weekend, we all took a bus to Lake Sevan which is the largest lake in Armenia and a vacation spot for many city dwellers. Since Armenia is a landlocked country, this is the only place where one can find beaches full of swimsuit clad women, jet-skiers, wind-surfers, and bbqing families. Again, I have no complaints. The resort we went to is part of a really nice hotel and we spent all day lounging, eating, and sliding down the water park slides. Here is a picture of me from atop a mountain overlooking the lake (we visited a church at this location- absolutely picturesque):
That is a quick summary of all the exciting things I am doing in Armenia so far! We just returned from an INCREDIBLE four day trip to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) which I will write about in my next blog post so check back soon!
Thanks for reading!
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