Study Abroad Isn't Supposed to have Work

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but study abroad is not supposed to be one of your most rigorous course loads, with hours upon hours of homework and students cracking under pressure left and right...

seriously, cracking under ze pressure 

well, thanks to the McGhee Center and our dear Georgetown, students on the program are cracking. they are attempting to start a revolution and failing...

In the next three weeks, I have: a 20pg paper, a 10pg paper, an encyclopedia article (8-9pg), 3 in-class finals, and one take-home final. woof.

Will i survive? here's hoping because I really want to make it to Jordan to see my partners in crime (minus fi, who doesn't love us enough to come visit).

i will attempt to regale stories about cyprus and lebanon (the greatest country in allllll of the middle east, sorry lara) soon!

gule gule!

soooo many ninjas

So I have been MIA from civilization all all forms of my normal life for the past ten days as the nineteen of us wandered the deserts of eastern turkey and Syria. So instead of giving you boring details about the entire trip, i will instead tell the story through pictures (Read: too lazy to write 5 pages describing what we did)

1. Our trip started off rough, we had to wake up early and take a bus in the pouring rain through the windy roads of the Taurus mountains... we lost many breakfasts on that leg of the journey. BUT we ended up in the town of Anemurium, a huge complex of roman ruins, from the 4th century BC. and i took this fun picture on the pebble beach.

 2. We then ventured to an old Armenian castle. Also in the middle of the mountains surrounded by nothing but farmland. After the climb in flats (I always come prepared...) we lost half of our group and debated leaving without them...

Sylvia in front of her castle!

3. Our destination for the night was Urfa, a wonderful small town in Eastern turkey. We got to explore the town, the markets, and made friends with the local children - who loved to show off for us.

They liked to show us how they
could leap over the water. 

Our two best friends.

The Spice Market 

4. We stopped in this rural settlement to see the oldest university known in history. and got to ride CAMELS - in costume. dream fulfilled. 

ruins of first university 

my camel 

6. Next Stop, Antioch (now Antakya). We visited the Cave-Church of St. Peter, where the Christians used to meet in secret. The Pope made it a pilgrimage site, so alllll my sins have been absolved. Then we visited the Mosaic Museum and saw some very interesting mosaics...

Altar at Cave-Church of St. Peter 

"The Happy Hunchback"

7. After our two nights in Antakya in the horrible Mosaic Hotel, we got on the bus and headed towards Syria.... where I was stopped at the border and mocked for my laundered residency permit... but then we drove past the route of the silk road on our way to our destination of aleppo! 

the BFGs so happy to be at the silk road..

8. Aleppo was the first city we visited in Syria. It was crazy to see all the covered women, and unfortunately we turned it into a competition to see who could take the best pic in the stealthiest way...

But we saw the Citadel of Aleppo:

I have to take pictures of crazy asian ladies' outfits.. 

9. Another visit to a mental hospital... I think the professors are trying to tell us something.

Kari was left behind.. 

10. Marisa, Charles, and I got a rooftop tour of Aleppo ... SO ALADDIN

View of Citadel from the rooftops 

a sea of satellite dishes 

11. Aleppo wouldn't be complete without visiting a mosque... woof. 

They made us put on these awful skirts and head coverings... 

12. Visited a few ruins of old temples/churchs, and the Church of St. Simeon on a day trip outside the city of Aleppo. 

Ruins of an old church

Man thought we were going
to destroy something 

Amurrika 

13. Back in the city, we got to explore the souk (the market) and saw all that Syria had to offer. they had EVERYTHING. 

the Victoria's Secret of Syria.. 

creepy headscarf mannequins 

 14. Next, on the way from Aleppo to Damascus, we stopped at this awesome place in the mountains that was totally out of indiana jones. we went through a big passage in the rock where apparently some Christians used to hide from persecution. and then they established a convent there later on. It felt sooo good to be going to a church - a woman even recited the Our Father in Aramaic. It was beautiful and a much needed break from the mosques.

my sweet ride 

the sweet rock gully

15. Damascus was a huge change from Aleppo; a much bigger city with a lot more going on. It also had a lot more pollution... No wonder women cover their faces to refrain from inhaling the toxins in the air.. 

But we went to the Grand Mosque - also donning yoda cloaks - and went through the market place after visiting the biggest museum in Damascus - lots of artifacts. 

Our Yoda get-ups 

courtyard of the Grand Mosque

greatest eclairs one can find in the Middle East

Overall, the trip was a great success despite the fact that the 18 of us spent over 50 hours in a bus together. We managed to get through it without killing each other and got to see some pretty amazing stuff... and let's face it, the trip was better than getting back to class and doing work. 

Midterms and Papers, here I come...

gule gule!

The beach is so distracting...

Sorry for not writing on this for the past ... 2 weeks? Life in Alanya is pretty terrible.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. So basically I live in a resort town right along the mediterranean sea (tough life) The logman (our apartment building) is up on this horrific hill that leads up to the old castle dating back to the 13th century. The villa, where we take our classes and have our meals, is an even farther hike up that hill. In the heat, as much as this place is breathtaking, it. is. rough. So hopefully, the weather will cool down sometime in the next month so I don't feel like I'm going to die every time I go to school. Did I mention you take a short-cut through the forest?

Interesting Things I have done in the past two weeks...

if you look closely, the castle walls run along the top.
yeah, I climbed that... 

1. Climbed down most of the castle wall right along the Med; again, thought I was going to die, but survived - 10 points for gryffindor - and the views were insane. There is this one part on the hill that reaches out into the sea where an old monastery is. How the monks used to get to that place without tumbling to an instant death is beyond me, but the ruins are fun to see.

2. Started my Turkish lessons. Mehmet Bey is our professor, he's about 5'4' on a good day, but is the nicest man. He deals with our poor pronunciation and attempts to give us useful phrases to converse with the local people. Learning a new language after 16 years is hard...but I can say that I am very tired/very hungry/very beautiful/ and a diligent student. A+

3. Had class in the villa finally! The villa is amazing. As I said before, it's further up the hill, which, while you're walking to class is no fun, but the views from the villa are unreal. You look out onto the bay and our 'classroom' has windows on three sides to let you see the view all the time. And by 'classroom' I mean 3 walls of couches and you get to get cozy and comfortable. I suggest Georgetown takes note and installs some new classrooms like this back on campus. Hussein Bey is our cook at the villa and he makes our lunches and dinners. He is an amazing cook. Two people sign up for meals to help him each week, so Alison and I were first on duty for lunch last week. This was before our Turkish was any good (not that mine has improved) but it was a bit of a struggle to communicate with him; He smiled and nodded and so did we, so it all worked out wonderfully. Emel Hanim is the woman who organizes our life; sweetest woman; and we have the same conversation every time I get in the door. Hello, How are you, fine thank you and you? fine. And then I run out of things to say and have to scurry away before things get awkward...

The Cave we swam in. SO COOL. 

4. Took a boat trip around Alanya. This might have been my favorite 'field trip' so far. First of all, it counted as a field trip. We spent the entire afternoon out in the sun on a boat, got to jump off and go cliff-diving and cave swimming and swimming in the middle of the sea. HOW IS THAT A FIELD TRIP? I have no complaints and hope that we have more excursions like this in the future. Favorite part: We saw a sea turtle. I want one, sorry leo, but I have replaced you with a larger, more exotic version of yourself.

5. Met our host families! (sort of). We had a cocktail party on Friday, Sept. 24th, at the villa to meet everyone's host families. I met my host father, who doesn't speak a word of English, and I, as you can tell, am not the best conversationalist in Turkish. So there were lots of smiles and nods and then somehow we both realized that this was took awkward and went our separate ways. I do have a host mom and sister that apparently speak some English, so this will be good. I can practice a bit of Turkish and I can still have the safety net of English - lord knows I need it. *I also got to be DJ for a little bit, taking the reigns from Kahraman (our turkish professor) who insisted that we play Seal and Red Hot Chili Peppers all night long...

6. Went to Konya! Konya is a city about 6 hours away from Alanya through the mountains. We went there to see the whirling dervishes perform and to see some mosques (shocker). The ride down was pretty cramped and took 8 hours instead because we got to stop at the archaeological site, Catalhoyuk. This site dates back to 9000BC and we got to see part of the village that they had excavated. Gramma - I thought of you the entire time. After the detour, we made it to the city and got to stretch our legs before going over to the venue for the Dervishes. The performance was amazing; these men  (and in our case, a 4-5 year old boy was thrown into the mix) are able to spin without spotting and with their eyes close for a straight hour and not get dizzy. The whole performance was magic, with the reed flutes playing, and the twirling, and the singing. I suggest everyone see a performance sometime in their life - Turkey for thanksgiving anyone? On Sunday, we woke up early and went and saw a few mosques, some madrases (schools for Islamic learning), before heading back on the bus to Alanya. A rough few days, seeing that half of our group was dying of fever/exhaustion/what have you, but the dervishes were worth it.

7. And my favorite, WENT TO THE BEACH! The beach is amazing, although flooded with large Germans and Russians who should not be traipsing around in bikinis. But it is surreal to be able to go down to the beach in the morning, enjoy the sun and a dip in the Mediterranean before heading up to class. Every time I'm floating in the middle of the sea, I think to myself, THIS IS MY STUDY ABROAD?! Its overwhelming and wonderful and I think everyone should go to turkey on their study abroad - Julia this means you. (although the cat-calling can become quite annoying, but a host brother of a friend told me how I can shut them up so I look forward to trying that out...)

8. Met Bill Bey! Andria would probably kill me if she ever saw this blog and included Bill Bey in it, but Bill is her fiance and he came to visit and came to Konya with us and it was so exciting to meet him! Yes, I realize I am a creep, but they are the best. If only they would break down and invite me to the wedding...I still have hope, the semester is young.



gule gule!

Anka-blah

Ataturk's tomb. 

After a long journey on the bus, we finally made it to Ankara. Instead of going straight to our hotel, which most of us wanted, we instead went to probably the most important site in all of the city: Ataturk's Tomb. This was a compound celebrating the life and accomplishments of Ataturk. There was a museum attached to the tomb and everything was larger than life. The tomb itself was had mosaics everywhere but the actual supposed resting place of Ataturk's body was pretty subdued - a big coffin type thing but only in grey marble, nothing too fancy shmancy. My favorite part was the museum; we got to see the history of Turkey after Ataturk came to power - all the reforms and changes in culture. We also got to see wax figures of Ataturk at his desk; his clothing, his cufflinks, etc. That man had some sweet swag. There are also soldiers that guard his tomb, quite like the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington. The difference is, these soldiers looked so young! They barely fit into their uniforms and at one point during the changing of the guard, I caught one of the soldiers laughing. Big no-no.

The Complex - yes, I'm rockin'
tie-dye leggings. 

We left the tomb and finally got to our hotel in Ankara - the Kent Hotel - and let me tell you, it was no Noah's Ark. I have never missed Ali Bey and his family so much. This hotel room was just a bit creepy - the view was of a Turkish man doing his laundry on the balcony and there was no sunlight to the room. We didn't spend much time in the room anyway, so it all worked out.

Our friend, the injured pharmacy man.

The three days we spent in Ankara really could have been condensed into one and we could have gotten to Alanya (read: the beach) so much faster. On Monday, we had an early wake-up call to go to the Anatolian Museum. They had artifacts from thousands of years ago, with wall carvings of soldiers and charioteers, pottery and religious sculptures, and my favorite, jewelry from centuries ago. After the museum, we headed over to the Parliament complex. The building we walked into for security resembled an airport, but then once we got through that building, we got to see the more architecturally appealing buildings. The actual Parliament has a very mod look to it, orange seats, lots of bubble-type lighting, but the greatest fact of the day: the orange seats are made of the skin of gazelles. very luxurious but also quite expensive.

The day pretty much ended there, with dinner thrown in and a viewing of "How to Train your Dragon." Thank god I have other people who appreciate animated movies as much as I do.

Even Turkish ducks fly together!

Tuesday, Sept. 7th, we took a bus tour the city of Ankara. Ankara was turned into the capital city from a quaint town in the twenties, so it was easy to tell that it hadn't been building up its size and neighborhoods for centuries. They have a lot of slum neighborhoods, which didn't add much to the scenery, but it was interesting to see the difference between Istanbul and Ankara - to see how the capital was so less 'cosmopolitan' and european than Istanbul. After the city tour, we took a break in a park (a positive attribute of Ankara is the number of parks), and then ended up eating lunch at a restaurant in the park. A great discovery: Turkey has ducks, but not just any ducks, MUTANT DUCKS that are MASSIVE. and they fly together - hizzah - so I was thrilled to see that even thousands of miles away, Mighty Ducks is relevant to my life.

The most interesting part of our detour through Ankara was meeting the head officer of Religious Affairs . He spoke to us about his job (and how it has 'nothing' to do with the government). It was interesting to hear how he felt Islam should be practiced, and that there was a group of (presumably men) who discussed certain laws of Islam and analyzing the Koran to see what they felt the script was telling the masses. It was easy to see how removed this office was from the government, though, merely by its location a good 40 minutes outside the center of the city. We were set free to roam the streets, aka our small neighborhood, after the meeting was over. The most important stop was the grocery store to stack up on food for our 10 HOUR bus ride on Wednesday. Basically, hazelnut wafer cookies were necessary, as well as a jar of Nutella. Bedtime was early because of the early hour at which we had to be ready to start on our journey to Alanya.

I shall regale you with the tales of the tempestuous journey very soon. (i promise, mom)

Our luggage. I may have had the most, but I apologize for nothing...

And Then I Found Myself at a Police Station ... Twice

The Henry Ford Building - so American

This is the interior of their student
center. Gtown learn from this...

The 31st of August brought me straight back to junior year of high school. Why, you might ask? Because we took tours of three universities in Istanbul. First stop was Koç University - a school founded by a man last-named Koç who apparently owns a trillion dollar company and decided to form a school aptly named after himself. The school was out of Pleasantville. There was a long winding drive, surrounded by trees. We passed by identical buildings (we later found out they were dormitories) labeled A, B, C, etc. Don't get me wrong, the campus was beautiful, but it was a little too perfect. I'd probably get confused and go to the wrong building for class every day because they all look the same. We got a campus tour though, and then met the Dean and Provost and ate an amazing lunch on a terrace (very casual..). But the food was unbelievable - artichoke salad, almond rice, and profiteroles for dessert (also very turkish). 

the empty building that was supposed to hold
an exhibit in 15 days...there was
still dry wall being put up. 

After Koç, we went to another university, Bilgi University (which means knowledge in turkish). There we thought we were going to see an exhibit: Istanbul 1910-2010, but instead we just got to explore the building in which the exhibit was going to be held. Despite the fact that we didn't get to see the exhibit, the building itself was amazing. First, we went into an old factory that was being used as part of the exhibit - the architecture was very impressive. They also had old engines that were used to help run the factory that were massive - almost the size of our bus that has been taking us around everywhere. The new building that was erected to hold the exhibit was a modern interpretation of this factory (i think..). Lots of steel, tons of windows, and my favorite part - you could see out, but people couldn't see into the building. 

After the factory excursion, we went to one last university, Sehir University. I have no idea what 'sehir' means, but i'm sure it has something to do with education..  This university was recently constructed - and still under construction in most parts of the campus - but our professor, Kahraman, really wanted us to see it because it was the university he is a part of. This building was very modern with bright orange floors at some point (bad idea, it shows dirt/dust), and lots of metal. We listened to another professor talk about his research in Istanbul but it was very hard to concentrate - the conference chairs were too comfortable. 

We had to sprint back to the bus and attempt to beat traffic - unsuccessfully - because we had yet another lecture to go to, but this time, it was over dinner on the rooftop terrace of our hotel, listening to Andrew Finkel, a British reporter who's been in Turkey for quite some time, talk about the upcoming referendum to the Turkish constitution. All I cared was that the food was wonderful. Ali bey, the owner of our hotel, also owns a restaurant and we got to eat pasta - a wonderful break from lamb - and got to do so while Mr. Finkel spoke of important governmental issues. Very intellectual.

Her cartoon doors. WANT. 

Wednesday, Sept. 1st, was a pretty laid-back day. No early AM wake-up time, no long hikes or mosque visits. We went to the Turkish Cultural Center in Taksim Square. At first I was a bit sketched out - we go into this creepy building and up and even creepier staircase, but then end up in this magnificent office area with high ceilings and beautiful woodwork. We listened to a presentation on the center after being presented with a feast of tea, cookies, and coffee. After the lecture, we were off to a Turkish MP's house for lunch (Her son went to Georgetown so now we get to meet her and speak with her - gotta love the Hoya connection). Her apartment was INSANE. In the main area, there was an old elevator that you had to close both doors to, and then you go up in the metal cage. We couldn't figure it out for a while, but eventually understood that if the inside doors weren't closed, the elevator wouldn't go up... oh safety precautions. Her apartment was on the 4th floor, and the windows to her apartment door had glass cut-outs that were cartoon in shape (her husband is a famous Turkish cartoonist). The MP was so welcoming and talked to us about her party, AKP, and her role as a woman in parliament. It was quite interesting, but I was ravenous and the smells of lunch were distracting. We finally got to eat and the food was delicious. Although, Turkish people differ from Americans in the belief that chicken is acceptable as a dessert. I tried chicken flan (?). It wasn't horrible, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it for any future dinner parties. 

Proceeding the MP's luncheon, we found ourselves at a Turkish police station - No, Mom and Dad, I did not do anything illegal as I promised you to stay out of Turkish jail while I was over here - but we had to get residency permits to be allowed to leave the country and be able to get back in on our student visas. We were there FOREVER. I don't know how they get anything done because it was not a very efficient process, but we were eventually released and got to go home.

We lept back on the bus right after the lecture and were set free in our neighborhood to grab dinner. Some of my classmates and I decided to eat at this rooftop restaurant, with amazing views of the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. The sun was setting, the bosphorus looked gorgeous, and it was qutie the hot spot for romantic elderly couples. Apparently PDA is acceptable in this neighborhood of Istanbul...

Sept. 2nd was the trip to Edirne. We had to be downstairs in the lobby by 6:50 AM to leave at 7. I had this wonderful outfit picked out - tie-dye leggings and a CONSERVATIVE top (everything was covered from ankle to forearm to shoulder), but as I was about to reach the last flight of stairs to get to to the lobby I was stopped and told to go change. Apparently one cannot wear leggings to a mosque because it leaves nothing to the imagination. woof. So I was forced to run back up three flights of stairs and change. Needless to say, I am still bitter. But, I did get to pass out for three hours, drowning out the background noise of Gunhan on the microphone unsuccessfully trying to get the attention of 15 college students at 7am. Poor Gunhan... 

Marisa's hiding in the mosque 

When we got to Edirne, our first stop was ... a mosque! It was the 'old mosque' and had a reddish color scheme. I did see some girls our age not cover their hair and was stunned at their indecency. Atleast at the fact that the imam didn't say anything to them, while I was wearing a knee-length skirt the other day and was given toooo many dirty looks to count. The mosque itself was quite gorgeous with original calligraphy that filled the pillars of the mosque. After the old mosque, we saw another mosque, this time, it was a larger scale project. We got to sit down this time, and were lectured for a bit inside about the history. The mosque smelled a bit of feet - a downside to the whole taking-your-shoes-off situation, but it was pretty nonetheless. 

Our 3rd stop was a Roman castle/ruin. It was in the middle of a random road which was interesting to see how the old and new coexisted in this day and age. We made our way through a bazaar to get to lunch and were offered the delicacy of Edirne, liver. I tried it (be proud of your former picky eater, parents). It was actually fried beyond recognition so it wasn't too bad. The biggest obstacle of the day was - and sorry to be inappropriate - finding a bathroom. The restaurant didn't have a bathroom (which I find hard to believe..) but when asked where the restrooms were, we were showed outside, down a street and around a corner to a public bathroom. Usually, I would say this would be fine. But in turkey, they do not have normal toilets ... they have what we have named "the squatty potty." So if you have bad balance, I do not suggest you travel to Turkey. It was traumatizing and I'm sure I will need some sort of therapy to get past that dark experience... 

After lunch, we saw one more mosque and then were allowed to explore the bazaars. Sylvia and I decided to check out the school supply store (I found someone who loves buying notebooks/pens just as much as I do). After the pen store, we got some chai and then met back in front of a statue of Ataturk (quelle surprise), and then made the long trip back to Istanbul. 

Again, we had dinner on our own and a few of us decided to eat at a seafood place right by the hotel. I had pizza - again, after lots of lamb and ekmek, I had to spice things up. We were all exhausted by the end of dinner and just ended up going back to the hotel and passing out. These 10pm bedtimes are going to have to be broken when I have legitimate work to do... 

A view of what I wish was
my mansion on the Bos...

Yesterday, Sept. 3rd, was another pretty lame day. We started off the day at 9:30 (a godsend) and went to the Sabanci Museum - part of the Sabanci University and named after the Sabanci family. The Sabanci family was apparently enemies with the Koc family (a little Capulet and Motague if you ask me) but I would have to say the Sabanci family wins. Their museum (which was converted from their mansion into such) is right on the Bosphorus and has breathtaking views. The museum itself was quite impressive - covering 8000 years of Istanbul's history. The mansion which was converted into a museum also has an amazing view of the river. A few of us sat out on the terrace and drank tea soaking in the view - very Grace Kelly/Cary Grant-esque, especially because Frank Sinatra was playing in the background. 

Georgetown, take note. This is what all of
 our buildings could look like ..

After the museum, we took a ride to Roberts College (oldest American university abroad) and again, I felt like a junior in high school. If only I knew of these universities when I was a junior ... These were the old stomping grounds of Kahraman and Gunhan, so they were quite nostalgic about the place. We walked around a bit, grabbed lunch, were surrounded by dogs and cats as we ate lunch, each of them vying for our attention to get us to give them food - I couldn't resist. We got back on the bus, and 10 minutes into our drive BACK to the police station, we realized WE LOST CASSIE. Cassie is a girl on our trip who likes to wander off on her own ... so of course we all knew that if any of us got lost, it would be Cassie... so we had to completely change our plans and go back to the university - easier said than done - and try and find her. Most of us got to stay on the bus, but the search party of Gunhan and Colin went out to find her. While we waited on the bus, a snake was apparently in the road and a taxi driver stopped right before hitting it, got out of his cab, grabbed the snake with a handkerchief and proceeded to get back in the cab and drive away with the snake out the window - dinner perhaps? 

The greatest pens in the world 

Eventually, we found Cassie and tried again to go to the police station. We needed to get residency permits as I said before, so we had to wait in line as they randomly called out peoples' names (alphabetical order would have made more sense, but I doubt the Turkish govt. wants my opinion). We were there for an hour and a half in a stuffy room, but the lucky 10 of us who were called first got to go back to the hotel. Nap time was not disrupted, thank god.  

Dinner last night was a bit different. We all went to a traditional fasil restaurant in Taksim Square. The food was amazing; many different courses so, of course not realizing this, I filled up on bread before being able to enjoy the deliciousness. The most interesting' part of the night was the music. Traditional turkish music was playing and my professor wanted everyone to dance. It was a sight that was both intriguing and disturbing. Needless to say, I did not participate in the dance - I think it was in everyone's best interest if I refrain from dancing ... 

After dinner, we went out in Taksim, tons of fun; got to hear all the American music and some euro techno in between. Unfortunately, Britney did not play. 

I don't think Ataturk would be happy with this cafe. 

Today was a FREE DAY. We got to wake up whenever we wanted - don't worry dad, I was up at a reasonable hour of 10 am. A few girls had planned on going shopping in Taksim and then checking out the Grand Bazaar so we made our way to Taksim using the tram line. I always feel so official and legitimate when I use the public transportation in other cities. Walking around Taksim is so different from Sultanhmet (our neighborhood). So many different people, sounds, smells (good and bad). I loved the fact we could explore the city and not have to worry about staying with the group. 

a snippet of what to expect
at the Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar was definitely my favorite part. There was so much going on, you could find ANYTHING you needed there. They had shoes, bags, jewelry, lanterns, rugs, suitcases, etc. I managed to find a fez (so stylish) and my favorite purchase, a TURBAN. Yes, i promise I will put up a picture of this - my roommate actually got a snap of me in my aladdin pants wearing the turban so I shall be able to share with the world my newfound fashion sense. I don't think Alanya is ready for me. Or my professors for that matter...It will be grand. Dinner was at Ali Bey's restaurant. Ali Bey is the owner of our hotel and has been the most gracious host, always checking in on us and making sure everything is perfect. His restaurant was perfect. It even had an international section of the menu so I got to eat delicious linguine. After dinner, following tradition, we stopped and got ice cream and then wandered back to the hotel. Tonight will be filled with packing for Ankara. 7 hour bus ride here we come.. 

Gule Gule!

People Wear the Strangest Things..

Just chillin' in my head scarf in front of the Blue Mosque..

So the past three days have been filled with some great things... but the hardest thing to get used to while in Turkey has definitely been the dress code. I thought Turkey was a secular country (according to my knowledge), but its still pretty conservative in the way you have to dress - or in the way I have been having to dress. Now as we all know, I love my running shorts and flipflops. I have only been able to whip those out on one occasion - underneath my 'mosque' skirt. It was actually a stupendous outfit changing process. 

Saturday we went to the Blue Mosque, which was beautiful, but that also meant "mosque attire". I completely respect the culture, but its also unbelievable to see these women walking around, fulfilling their daily errands in 95 degree weather in trench coats and full head-scarves, etc. So instead of roughing it like the rest of my group, I was the American; pulling on a long skirt and taking it off after getting out of the mosque areas. Besides the whole covering thing, the Blue mosque was absolutely beautiful. It is massive, first of all, and the details were unbelievable. Everything was covered in mosaics or tiles, down to the smallest objects. The Sultan used to worship here, but now it is open to the public for worship - except men are usually the only ones that go to the mosque (women pray elsewhere...)

Wouldn't you like to wake up to this view every morning?

After the Blue Mosque, we moseyed over to the Topkapi Palace right near by. Unlike Buckingham or Versailles, this palace was spread out over many different buildings. I must say though, the Sultans had some sweet swag. An 86 carat diamond ring, surrounded by other smaller diamonds, for one, was in his collection. This diamond was found by a beggar in a garbage dump and was later purchased by the Sultan. We weren't allowed to take pictures, or I'd share this gem of an object (see what i did there.?) The view from the Palace was breathtaking; you could see across the Bosphorus and had an amazing view of the city.

Lunch came and went. Shocker, we had lamb again, but then we visited the “palace” and church of the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. Now, having visited the Vatican, I imagined the head of the Greek Orthodox church would have some sweet digs. He did, but not what I imagined. The church over which he presides is quite small, but nevertheless beautiful. It is covered in mosaics and gold, with chandeliers dangling from every part of the ceiling. As beautiful as everything was, I’d still be quite jealous of the pope…

Dinner was at the same place we’ve eaten lunch/dinner nights before, but then the real fun began. We went out in Istanbul for the first time. A few of us went over to Taksim Square, a bustling modern neighborhood which made me feel as if I was in an entirely different city. Music was playing everywhere, lights flashing, and so many people were wandering around. We were the only Americans in one of the rooftop terraces, but still tore up the dance floor – while everyone stared. No matter, not like I’ll see them again… Plus, in Turkey, instead of Tuscany’s pizza, the late-night food got to be chicken kabobs and bread. Yum.

Chris casually getting his shoes shined
outside a mosque ... the man wouldn't leave

Sunday, Kahraman (our Turkish professor), pulled some strings and got us a private tour of the Suleymaniye library, a very prominent library in Turkey. Its youngest volume is hundreds of years older than the United States (Sorry Amurrika). The head of the library gave us a tour, which was quite a privilege. People from all over the world come to research in this library and to use the documents that have been collected for hundreds of years.

Circumcision outfit.. ouch

After the Suleymaniye library, we tried our luck at the mosque, but because of their reconstruction project, we were unable to get in, but still saw the tomb of the Sultan who had commissioned this project (again, the head scarf was necessary). We were finally allowed free of the complex and went to lunch at a famous restaurant that was apparently converted from the Sultan’s guesthouse into a restaurant. The food was wonderful, and after a much needed break from the sun/heat, we were back on the bus on our way to a religious site that was not very touristy – but instead was packed with many Muslims who visited this place during Ramadan. I saw some boys in costumes that resembled the one that Aladdin wore after he wished to be wealthy (yes, I just referenced Disney), and apparently the boys have to wear them and visit religious sites days before they are to be circumcised (ouch). We got out of the crowds and stopped for chai, overheard a woman shouting about her husbands lack of ‘ethical code’ (according to a translation), which provided for some amusement during our break.

Back on the bus, we headed to the Panoramic Museum, a $17 million project that was supposed to focus on the conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans. Basically, it was one large dome with paintings all over the walls… It was interesting, but all of us agreed that it wasn’t $17 million interesting.

The best part of the day was towards the end – we got to see a documentary being filmed in one of the Ottoman castles that was supposedly used as a dungeon for Western ambassadors and dignitaries after the Ottomans would decide to declare war on their home countries. We saw a man dressed in a huge turban/hat and a large fur coat, followed by his bodyguards, emerging from the fog of a dark dungeon entrance. We asked if we could be extras – but apparently we didn’t look Turkish enough.

Dinner was all on our own last night. A few of us went to get pita sandwiches (the Turkish name slips my mind) but then the GREATEST part of the evening was the purchase of my Aladdin pants. Because there had been ‘subtle’ hints that I needed to stop wearing skirts to mosques (apparently knee length is only appropriate for SICP, not for Turkey), I decided that I would buy some pants. We went down by the Aya Sofya where we had seen these glorious pants before, and I found the most amazing piece of clothing in the entire country. Tie-dye, Red/White/Blue Aladdin pants (that apparently can also be worn as a jumper – I’ll stick to the pants for now). But it just screams Amurrika. So now, I can represent my country AND be modest. A win for everyone. 

View of Bursa from the mountainside. 

So today, we had to get up and be out of the hotel by 6:45 to  catch the morning ferry to Bursa. I do not do well with early wake-up times, so at 6:45 when we were supposed to be ready and leaving, I was awoken by my roommate frantically, and got ready in two seconds and had to run down the stairs ... strike 3 for tardiness? Thank GOD I knew what I was wearing...and YES, everyone loved my pants. Well that's what I'm going to say, despite my inability to translate the phrases that Turkish people were obviously whispering (or more like snickering) as I walked past them to get to our seats on the ferry. Oh, and our bus got to come on the ferry with us, so this was a legit ferry. like from the movies...

View of a mosque in Bursa

After the ferry ride, we got on the bus and apparently went to go pick up our official Bursa tour guide, but I passed out right after getting on the bus, so missed all of this, but woke up for the first stop on our tour - the tomb of a Sultan. Unlike the tons of tombs that we have already seen, this one was really modest. Again, we had to cover up, but this time I was totally prepared. We went to a few different tombs and a few mosques while we were in the town as well, and they were all very interesting, but (not to be rude), they all seemed to blend together. The cool thing about tombs, though, is that they had the Sultan's turban at the top of the sarcophagi - probably not the actual turbans seeing that they would be hundreds of years old, but its nice to think about. One thing I hadn't seen was a countdown clock to show the times of prayer - it was quite high-tech for such a low-key mosque. Oh technology...

The prayer counter. 

We stopped for lunch and got to taste some dish that Bursa was known for - we were starving so that may have made the food taste better. Apparently, candied chestnuts are also a delicacy of the region - Mom, I promise I tried it, but I may just have discretely disposed of it in my napkin. We got to walk around the bazaar for a while and explored; lots of gold for sale in Bursa, as well as silk. Many a scarf was purchased today by the chicas in the group - most likely to add to our collection of head coverings. 

Puppet Show

The greatest part of the day was the shadow puppet show. We went through the bazaar into this tiny shop; all 17 of us managed to fit into quite a small space and we got to watch the shop-keeper put on this shadow puppet show telling a folk tale. His many voices were quite amusing and he had different puppets representing ethnic minorities in the country. My favorite was the belly dancer - complete with movement - but unfortunately my camera died and I was unable to get a pic. 


We drove around the city more in our faithful bus with air conditioning and stopped for a quick bite at a Turkish mall in the middle of nowhere before heading back on the ferry. I got a hamburger and fries and couldn't have been happier. Don't get me wrong, I love lamb, but it was so nice to see some food that I recognized. I was recently informed that the meat patty could possibly have been comprised of lamb - I was upset - but I still stand by my original statement that it was indeed beef. I'm sure you're all quite interested to know this (all 4 of you now? i feel so popular). 

Sydney, my roommate, is now modeling all the different ways one can wear a head scarf. Maybe we'll try them out tomorrow. Get pumped for modesty!


Gule gule!

turkish wedding dress. hot. 

Sexy Asian tourist sweater - had a house
on the back of it - the windows
opened. mind. blown. 

Asian Tourists wearing total jumpsuits
to protect them from the Sun...