Burasi Turkiye

Today was the coldest day of my life. It was entirely my fault, we were going to Sultanahmet to visit Topkapi palace (I would not advice this until the spring, when the tulips are in bloom and the cold doesn't knock the wind out of you), Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque, and I didn't dress appropriately at all. It wasn't until we stopped for some famous köftecisi (meatballs) after seeing the palace that I began to feel my limbs again. 


Although I've never felt colder, nothing knocked the wind out of me like walking into the Hagia Sophia for the first time. It was unreal how overwhelmingly beautiful it is. Every last detail of the church/mosque/museum was stunning, and I felt the same way about the Blue Mosque. I'm not sure which one is more breathtaking, I think it must be whichever you see first. I can't wait to go back once it's warm out and the sunlight is nice, but here are some photos in the meantime :)

Byzantine mosaics

the molding was my favorite part

Lillie

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

'A heart in love with beauty never grows old.' - Turkish Proverb

Sharpen your pencils...

Coming back to Istanbul is when the culture shock, or whatever you'd like to call it, set in. And fast. English is not spoken here (outside of the university, at least), and, more importantly, I don't speak Turkish. Registration was a disaster, for all students (but is basically over now, phew). And I still can't figure out public transportation. But each day I learn a little more, and then a little more. Here are the things I do know:

1) How to say hello, goodbye (only two of the three ways), please, thank you (all three different ways), excuse me, and numbers 1 to 7
2) How to order chicken kabob, spiced beef kabob, soup, bread, tea, and water at restaurants.
3) Where the nearest Starbucks are. I vowed that I would never go to Starbucks abroad, but here it is the cool place to go. It's very strange, very trendy, and very expensive, but the Turks love it! And there is the most beautiful Starbucks in Bebek, the neighborhood down the hill from the university (my dream neighborhood lined with tiny shops and restaurants), that presses up against the Bosphorus, so you can sit outside by the water while drinking your coffee.
4) That you should NOT pet all stray dogs, but cats are generally fine, and will sit in your lap during class.
5) That all exchange students want to take the same classes, and therefore none of us can get into any.
6) That the best Baklava is along the Syrian boarder, but there is a nearby pastry shop that will suffice.
7) That 'Carey' is my favorite Joni Mitchell song now.
8) That everything is cheap, except for laundry and alcohol (Efes not included).
9) That hearing the call to prayer when sitting along the Bosphorus is very different from hearing it anywhere else. It becomes the soundtrack to your existence. It follows you, instead of lingering quietly in the background. Garance wrote that she cried every time she heard the call to prayer during her time in Istanbul. I haven't yet, but I think that I may cry in its absence, which is sure to be the loudest sound of all.

In the first class that I attempted to get into, the professor read off a list of names and harshly commanded "if your name isn't on the list, go home and immediately drop this course" (my name was not on the list). Though my experience with him was brief, this professor actually reminded me of why I came to here, instead of any other place in the world. After forcefully rejecting almost every student in attendance, he told us that we were free to stay for the rest of class. He was going on and on about the importance of geography in history and modern day international relations for Turkey. About the warm water ports, and the meeting of East and West. Then he paused, looked out the open windows beyond the chalkboard at the Bosphorus, softly separating the Asian and European sides of the city, and said "I think this is the only classroom in the entire world where you can look out the window and see, for yourself, Turkey's precious geography."


So, at the end of the day, after all the frustration and discomfort and emergency chocolate, all that matters is that I am here. In Istanbul. And there is no where that I would rather be.

Ciao

'pass the pinot'

Today I was rejected from my fourth class because Turkish students need it to graduate, so they got first dibs. Then I went to 'TURKISH FOR FOREIGNERS' a class designed to teach Turkish to the foreign exchange students, and they didn't have enough room for 50 of us in the class.  Apparently the university wasn't prepared to absorb so many study abroad refugees from Cairo, but we all think it's some Istanbullshit. After our Turkish class, where the professor's English was the worst I've yet to hear from any teacher here (figures.... also, I'm running out of figs and need to go to the spice bazaar...) and we were totally lost, we walked back to the superdorm in the rain, feeling exhausted and hungry and much like the weather we were trudging through.

So, I napped. And then woke up to two things:
1) my roommate having a screaming match with her boyfriend over the phone... I slept so long I think she thought I wasn't here... So now I'm trapped in my cell-like room and want to make noodles so badly, but can't leave.
2) This message from my friend Lillie, who has the worst Turkish roommates who don't talk to her:


MY ROOMMATES STOLE MY ARUGULA. GOING TO GET FOOD. YOU ARE ASLEEP.

COULD THIS DAY BE WORSE NO BYE


It was one of those days that was so awful that it couldn't possibly be real, right? I laugh now, but let's just see if I make it into four classes before next week...

Too little, too late

Hello all! I finally figured out how to make albums, although it's frustrating so I won't be doing it all that often. There is too much to tell, and new things are happening constantly so, in order to not get behind, I'm going to give the highlights of my excursions, and hope that some of my favorite photos help elaborate on how wonderful it was.

Gaziantep: A wonderful town known for it's pistachio production (we had coffee made with pistachio grinds it was the most unique thing I've ever tasted). It was a beautiful artisan town (metal workers, carpenters, the best bazaar I've seen thus far) near the Syrian boarder, so it was fairly warm and dry, which was very nice.  It is also known for the Gaziantep Castle, which I cared significantly less about than the dried figs and turkish delight.

Antakya: People say, "after Jerusalem, there was Antakya" because that is where the first churches were built (St. Peter's Church, the very first, is pictured below) and essentially where Christianity took shape. Antakya is a place where, although it is 99 percent Muslim, different religious groups live in harmony. Janpiyer (pronounces like the French Jean Pierre) was a local 17 year old student who showed us around town and hung out with our group. The town reminded me so much of Stone Town in Zanzibar, I was glad to have a local leading us down the narrow alley ways. He came out with us later to dinner and a hookah bar, where he coined these phrases:

"my love is Ke$ha"
"You are drink vodka? I am drink lion's milk."
"Beer is for children."
"What's your purpose?"

Janpiyer participates in an interfaith chorus group, so he sort of embodied the accepting, peaceful spirit of Antakya. Although it's the birthplace of Christianity, only about 1,200 Christians remain in the area. 80 of which are Catholics, though many more attend Catholic church services because Orthodox services are performed in Arabic. The Orthodox Priest told us that he doesn't like the word "tolerate" and that people should embrace one another, instead of just tolerating each other. He thinks that to judge another person for their religion or for anything else that they were born as is to judge their creator.

Our last stop was the local synagogue, which was almost 200 years old. There are only 12 Jewish families left in Antakya and the rabbi flies in from Istanbul once a week, but that single synagogue has five Torah scrolls, all ranging from 300 to 400 years old.

We saw other things in Antakya - Roman ruins, Turkey's equivalent of a Rosetta stone, and a beautiful mosaic museum, but the par that stuck with me the most was our experiences with the religious leaders in the community. And the lunch the Janpiyer's mother made for us. Unreal.

Cappadocia: I'm so glad we finished off our trip here, in a cave hotel looking over the valleys and mountains in the distance. The natural beauty there was unmatched by anything I've ever seen. Our guide, Sevim, took us on a whirlwind tour of Cappadocia, but it was nice to be there (in spite of the snow) during the off season. We went to Red Valley, Monk's Valley, Imagination Valley, the Goreme open air museum (essentially a ton of churches carved into rock), an underground city, and we saw carpet weavers, ceramic workers, and the whirling dervishes, which is a whole separate emotional experience unto itself.

Here is the link to the slideshow of pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112452655084581483071/Excursion1?authkey=Gv1sRgCOyS7IydxaatTA#slideshow/5575837383425353186


I will write more about Istanbul as soon as I get the chance! First day of classes tomorrow (which could be a problem because I am only officially signed up for one course, and it's graduate level), so wish me luck! Ciao :)

The face that launched 1,000 ships

Gaziantep, Turkey. Approximately 25 kilometers from the Syrian boarder.

I just got back from a week long excursion sans internet. I don't even know how to begin organizing my thoughts, let alone my photos, but I thought I would start with my favorite. Enjoy.

much too much

My mom's worst nightmare may be coming true. She was scared that I would never leave Istanbul. It's quite, quite possible. I've only been here for a little over a day and there is already much to much to tell.

After what turned into a 26 hour traveling ordeal thanks to the lovely people at O'hare, including 4 airplane meals, 10 euros spent on airport internet access, and an adorable elderly Italian gentleman dropping two suitcases on my head while trying to lift them into the over(my)head bin with his less-than-toned arms, I arrived in Istanbul at 11pm on Sunday. I went straight to the dorm (which is bigger than my apartment in Michigan, minus the single bedroom that is made in a cruise ship fashion). Here are some updates in the best way that I can organize my thoughts right now:

1) My roommates are great. I have three total. One Turkish girl I have yet to meet. One Turkish girl from the Netherlands. And one American girl from Hawaii/WashU/my Duke program.

2) My sheets are not so great. They provided us with sheets that can only be described as straight up tarp. Like, the kind you lay on the ground before you put your sleeping bag down when camping. The bag says 'cotton' but it's discouraging when I can hear my roommate turn over in her bed in the next room because of the 'swishing' sounds. And when my bedspread repeatedly slides off onto the floor during the night in one swift motion do to its incredibly waxy surface. Nonetheless, things are good in the dorm.

3) Amongst the important things I remembered to bring (a bathing suit, a lint roller, goldfish) I forgot my contact case and solution. The food here is cheap and incredible (8 or 9 lira for a kabob with rice and salad and pita/naan like bread with about 1.5 lira to 1 dollar, plus the chai and bottled water are complementary), but everything else is expensive. Therefore, my contact solution was near 20 U.S. dollars... not ideal. And last night, at a club, a bartender tried to sell us a bottle of Absolut for 200 lira...HA! This is what it would cost to live in an Istanbul apartment for a month, to put things into perspective.

4) Ataturk is everywhere. Statues everywhere.

5) The walk to the university is UNREAL. Overlooking the Bosphorus. And it was sunny and warm here during the day so I didn't even have to wear a jacket. (pictures below)

6) Stray animals everywhere, and they flock to our group. Stray cats chill in classes with you and the teachers don't care. I named one dog Mr. Bojangles and another Norbit (Melissa - he is a white version of Jersey, aka his legs are shorter than the length of his head).

7) I'm walking so much my ass might actually be falling off (not the worst thing that could happen, I can't lie). Yesterday we walked to Bebek, the area down the hill from Bogazici's campus by the water with nice shops, hookah bars, bakeries, etc. The roads were so steep we had to lean back as we walked down and the way back up was quite the shlep. We were all sweating, had taken our coats off, and were panting heavily as we attempted to make our way to the top of the hill (not without stopping a few times to rest of course). Needless to say we burned off the pistachio baklava we had just purchased. Tourists typically take cabs up the hill, but some said they saw old men with canes and mother's pushing their children in strollers up the hill faster than them, so it's obviously something the locals master.

8) I almost died last night in a cab ride. It was like Fast and Furious (if Vin Diesel had been 75 years old). This man had NO FEAR people. No. Fear. We went over a city speed bump at 70 mph and literally all flew off of our seats. Apparently this is normal behavior.

9) We have been doing a lot of wandering aimlessly. I can't wait until we know our way around, or know enough Turkish to find our way anywhere. That's another thing, many people in the city don't speak english well. And they only seem more confused when we butcher simple conversational phrases as to why we would attempt Turkish. The people seem wonderful though. They come off kind of harsh, as all Eastern Europeans can if you ask me, but mostly they just don't want to be embarrassed if they speak english poorly, which is only all the more adorable. Besides that though some people definitely just think we're obnoxious, as they should. As they should.

10) Never say never. Youtube works here. My month of what I assumed to be justified video streaming was laid to waste.

11) I HEARD THE BELGIAN SONG that I posted at a Turkish club. Everyone on my program thought I was strange for knowing it.


Here are a few pictures I shot quickly on my way to and from campus today. Not the best but I just wanted to upload something so you could get the general idea!

Sorry if this was boring, I love and miss everyone back home. Soon I will tell you about today's orientation, which was unlike anything I've ever seen... Also, if anyone knows how to make a slideshow on blogs so I can stop looking like an idiot please let me know!

Dear Erica

You're so right, everything is better in Turkey.

A jet plane and a big idea

For my last post in the states, here are my final internet farewells. My favorite 'bits', if you will. Nothing can top the original Ode to Youtube, but I will genuinely miss these clips that bring me so much comfort.

1) Dave
2) Ellen
3) Dane (I don't normally like him, but this is too good)
4) Wanda
5) Jafar.....


There you have it folks. The next time I write to you I will be in Turkey. I'm still planning a trip to Cairo as well, because you can't let the man keep you down ;) <-- just kidding mom

Off to pack! Although Erica tells me, "don't pack too much, buy it there. Everything is better in Turkey."


Ciao for now. As Penny Lane would say, it's all happening.