Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see.
My time in Istanbul has come to a close. Now, onto the next adventure!
I'm taking the long road home: Belgrade --> Freiburg --> Berlin --> Amsterdam --> Brussels --> San Sebastian/Pamplona/Barcelona --> Roma --> Tuscany for almost three weeks to volunteer at a local summer theater in the Orcia Valley.
I will miss Turkey so much, but I feel like I really appreciated every day here while it was happening, so I have no regrets.
Ciao Istanbul, seni özleyeceğim.
I'm taking the long road home: Belgrade --> Freiburg --> Berlin --> Amsterdam --> Brussels --> San Sebastian/Pamplona/Barcelona --> Roma --> Tuscany for almost three weeks to volunteer at a local summer theater in the Orcia Valley.
I will miss Turkey so much, but I feel like I really appreciated every day here while it was happening, so I have no regrets.
Ciao Istanbul, seni özleyeceğim.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Roomies
Signe has already left, we all said our teary goodbyes this morning. Now, I wait to say farewell to my lovely Turkish roommates, Sisi and Özgecan, in the picture below. The people I lived with were definitely one of the best parts of being in Turkey. I can't believe our time together is already over, but I will patiently await my package of Tutkus in the fall.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Kerem ve Aile
Lillie and Jack have a Turkish friend who goes to school with them at Macalaster who just happens to live in Istanbul. He welcomed us into his home, introduced us to his family, including his beyond adorable grandmother, who fed us until we were stuffed like dolmas. It was a beautiful day... the generosity and hospitality of Turkish people is something that I will miss terribly when I leave this wonderful place.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Bosphorus Cruise
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| Arden'cim |
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| The Bosphorus/calm before the storm |
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| It was an open bar... |
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| Thing got bad pretty fast, aka our program coordinator was shotgunning a beer and our professor finished the bottle of hard alcohol that she brought |
Kabak Valley
The best of all.
We stayed in this really incredible valley with almost no people (although Mustafa, the camp owner, said that more and more people are trying to cash in on the area, even though it's a nature reserve and people shouldn't be building there) overlooking the sea. We stayed at Fullmoon Camp, slept in bungalows, showered outside, hiked to the beach and along the Lycian trail, and ate delicious home-cooked food made by Mustafa's family every day. They grow almost all of their own food and Mustafa also told us that all the people in the valley are going to get together this fall and harvest wild grapes in the area to make wine.
The Lycian trail stretches from Fethiye to Antalya and takes 27 days to hike (although Mustafa said he did it in 20). We used this trail to get down from the natural waterfall in the area, but on the way up Mustafa took us the 'canyoning route', which was essentially us climbing sheer rock face up a waterfall for two hours, swimming in natural springs to get across newly flooded areas where you could no longer hike or climb, and trying to ignore the spider webs that I walked through. It also resulted with some mild to not-so-mild injuries, including a shard of wood in my knee. While climbing I tried to hoist my left knee up to the next level of a rock, and ended up slamming it into a tree trunk. After me and my friend Vicki screamed as loud as we could for what seemed like minutes, I tried to take it out myself and almost fainted. Mustafa came over and just casually snatched it out of my knee while laughing, then we continued to the top of the waterfall.
Needless to say, it was an adventure! And at 40 lira a day (including all of the delicious food)!
We stayed in this really incredible valley with almost no people (although Mustafa, the camp owner, said that more and more people are trying to cash in on the area, even though it's a nature reserve and people shouldn't be building there) overlooking the sea. We stayed at Fullmoon Camp, slept in bungalows, showered outside, hiked to the beach and along the Lycian trail, and ate delicious home-cooked food made by Mustafa's family every day. They grow almost all of their own food and Mustafa also told us that all the people in the valley are going to get together this fall and harvest wild grapes in the area to make wine.
The Lycian trail stretches from Fethiye to Antalya and takes 27 days to hike (although Mustafa said he did it in 20). We used this trail to get down from the natural waterfall in the area, but on the way up Mustafa took us the 'canyoning route', which was essentially us climbing sheer rock face up a waterfall for two hours, swimming in natural springs to get across newly flooded areas where you could no longer hike or climb, and trying to ignore the spider webs that I walked through. It also resulted with some mild to not-so-mild injuries, including a shard of wood in my knee. While climbing I tried to hoist my left knee up to the next level of a rock, and ended up slamming it into a tree trunk. After me and my friend Vicki screamed as loud as we could for what seemed like minutes, I tried to take it out myself and almost fainted. Mustafa came over and just casually snatched it out of my knee while laughing, then we continued to the top of the waterfall.
Needless to say, it was an adventure! And at 40 lira a day (including all of the delicious food)!
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| Fullmoon Camp! |
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| The yummy food :) |
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| The top of the waterfall! We made it! |
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| Vicki jumping in the natural spring! |
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| Down in the valley, at the end of a long day of hiking. |
Friday, June 3, 2011
My Mediterranean and Me
My friends and I spent four days sailing along the Turquoise Coast from Fethiye to Antalya this may. When fourteen of us arrived at the boat, the only other people joining us were two adult couples looking for a romantic getaway. Needless to say they left the boat after 24 hours.
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| My friend Signe! The background is the important part here... |
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
February, gone.
I was just looking back at a post that I did in February when I was trying to get into my classes. It's so funny to see the way that things have turned out.
I made it into four classes, one of which (Ottoman Cultural History) is the best history class I have ever taken. Lillie's roommates 'who never talk to her' are now her best friends. My roommate's boyfriend has returned from his semester abroad in the states and... they now still get in fights over the phone. I have mastered all forms of public transport (which in this city, is a lot: buses, metro, light rail, funicular, ferry), except for the taxis, which continue to rip us off no matter how much we charm them with our Turkish skills. I can speak Turkish! In the past, present, and future (tenses, that is). The weather has shifted from rainy 50s to 75 and sunny every day. And, I'm leaving Istanbul.
It's unbelievable that I've made to this point. So many of my friends go abroad and have a love affair with the place that they live in. At one point I thought that's what I had with Istanbul, and with Turkey, but now I know we're in it for the long-haul.
I've had a full on relationship with this city, and this country. I struggled a lot, dealt with a lot of frustration and had to adapt. But I think that's why I feel so connected to this place, because I had to work for it.
As I finish up finals and plan my next big adventures, I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to stay here again... I suppose I chose it for that reason. Istanbul is a place that I thought I would never have the opportunity to live in again, it seemed so inaccessible.
But now I have an undeniable need to return.
The cliche that comforts me most right now is that 'all good things must come to an end'. It's not cheesy, I don't think. It's just true. Don't worry, this is not a final post. There is still so much to say, but there is also just so little time to say it.
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