(1/3) February 26: Roaming in Roma!!!

Classes… dun dun dun

Before I get into my Italian adventures, I guess it’s only fair to spend a few lines writing about classes. So Turkish eekk, kicking my American ass! I already have almost 200 vocab words after two lectures. My teacher moves sooo fast! She’s really really pretty so when she loses me I find myself just staring at her and thinking about how she gets her hair to look so full and gorgeous! But my goal for the semester is to have a strong foundation in Turkish so I actually spent two hours in the library (wtf only the few, the proud, and the brave) do that around here! Haha I went to meet Reuben because he had a break in between classes but instead of bullshitting like I usually do here, I spent two hours studying for Turkish and I actually made progress! The class just moves so fast that I can barely keep up with what page she’s on let alone absorb any information so for the rest of the semester I need to make sure I actually spend time trying to learn outside of class. My POLI classes haven’t really started yet so I will update on those next week! I tried to take a Calculus class because my classes here are pass fail and math is not my forte but it was impossible! The class was taught in English but the professor had a very thick Turkish accent and FLEW through the material which seemed to be the standard because everyone else kept up. But I also didn’t realize that this was the second semester of a yearlong class and I’m pretty sure missing the first puts me at a disadvantage. So I left after 40 minutes! I couldn’t take it, not to be cocky but it’s rare that I feel completely clueless, and I did. I felt like an idiot in that class! No worries though, I’m in the process of dropping that class and adding a International Law class (much more of my scene).

Roma :)

Reuben and I decided last week on a complete whim to come to Venice, but there were no direct flights from Istanbul so we flew to Rome. Since we left our apartments at Boğaziçi everything has been an adventure! First, we had to get to SAW, the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul by 10:00am. So after hours and hours of googling we decided the best thing to do would be to find a cab from our apartments to 4 Levent and then take the Havas shuttle to SAW. But of course today was no different from the last week in Istanbul and it was overcast and rainy. Can someone tell me why it is impossible to get a cab when it’s raining?!??!? We finally got one at 8:30 and worried the entire ride to 4 Levent (which is supposed to be about 10 minutes but ended up being almost 25 in rush hour traffic). Anyway once we got out we ran through the rain to find the shuttle but had no luck :(. We finally asked two very nice Metro information men who walked us all the way to the public bus to the airport so we figured what the hell and just hopped on! We got to the airport in perfect time and even had enough time to have a nice breakfast at SimitDonalds. Well, that’s not the real name; it’s called Simit Sarayi which means Palace of Simit (the pretzel/bagel babies). But this café is on almost every corner in Istanbul hence the name we so lovingly gave it, SimitDonalds. We ended up flying along with the Russian Federation Rugby team, cool I guess? Ugh I hate not knowing which teams are famous and which teams are the Durham Bulls. But they all had sponsored gear and were HUGE! So in my head I flew with the Russian equivalent of the Lakers!! Anyway we ambitiously had our books and laptops ready for our three hour flight to Rome but as soon as the plane took off we both passed out. It certainly wasn’t enough sleep because as soon as we landed in Rome I kept hoping the flight would be just a few hours longer!

Via Vignole

I had looked up directions of how to get from FCO, the airport in Rome, to our hotel which is about 15 to Flaminio Square by public transport. And even though both of us were thoroughly exhausted we made the most of our adventure to Hotel Villa Glori! Our directions led us to the Leonardo Express, which is a non-stop train from FCO to the Termini Station in Rome. The ticket seemed slightly expensive (14 euro) but everyone else was doing it and we didn’t know what else to do! It was fun though; we found a café in the train terminal and had our first bottles of Italian wine and a delicious chocolate pastry! Coming from Istanbul where alcohol is taxed like a mofo, a 3.5 euro quarter liter of wine was HEAVEN!


Wine and Pastries!!

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we lost track of time and had to run (full out wine still in my right hand, sprint) across the terminal to catch our train. It was exciting to say the least! After a 45 minute train ride we got off at the Termini station, and walked for another 15ish minutes to find the right metro. Then we got on a tram took us to our hotel!

Single?

We finally found our gorgeous hotel, tucked in probably the only quiet corner of Rome! (http://www.hotelvillaglori.com) More pictures later I promise! Upon checking in we realized that there was a mistake with the reservation and they had put us in a single room. We prepaid in dollars online so there really was no way in hell that we were going to pay the extra 30 Euro (per night) for a double. So even though I was looking forward to (finally) sleeping in a huge comfy bed we yet again arrived home to a gorgeous twin. Regardless the hotel was really nice and surpassed all my expectations of what we could get on a student budget in Rome. Since we were both exhausted and starving (no food since SimitDonalds) we headed to the nearby Piazza del Flaminio and grabbed delicious Roman pizzas and Peroni (Italian beer) for dinner.


Yummmmm


Peroni.

After that we walked around until we couldn’t walk anymore and of course I had a delectable bowl of Nutella gelato :)) Then at the elderly hour of 9:00pm we turned in after a long day of traveling. I’m just so excited to be outside of cold and dreary Istanbul for the weekend, I don’t even care that we paid 10 Euro for 8 pieces of calamari or that Reuben’s more interested in the beday (bedai? I have no idea how you spell it, the butt washer!) than he is with Rome. I’m just so excited to be here!

Classes, Caffine, and Nargile

I can't say this enough but I love Istanbul. Someone is seriously going to have to kick me out of this city/drag me on the plane back home. My day today really has solidified how much I love it here...

So yesterday was the official first day of classes but being the incredible study abroad student that I am I only have class Tues-Thurs! I think the universe knows that class is starting because all of a sudden the weather in Istanbul has become freezing cold and dreary :( It's like the world saying "Rhea, no more exploring and bullshitting. Stay inside and go to class!" Anyway, Reuben and I spent the day walking around campus and going to the medical clinic. Yeah I'm still having a lot of stomach problems but after going to the Dr it was confirmed that I had food poisoning which turned into gastroenteritis (sounds worse that it is!) she wrote me a prescription and I'm going back in three days! Haha most of the time we used google translate to communicate since it was easier than trying to explain my symptoms in Turkish but hey it's all good now!

In the evening all of our friends wanted to do something chill because we are not ready/won't ever be ready to trade our amazing time here for a night in the library. We decided to head to Bahçe Nargile, (hookah) the place I found with some friends last week that's more local and out of the way. It was nice we all just chilled until we realized that it was midnight and some of us (including me) had to wake up at 7:30 for class AH!

So this morning I realized that I left my phone at the cafe or dropped it but I wasn't too worried. So I woke up and started what what supposed to be a long day of back to back class from 9-2. Well I went to Elementary Turkish for Foreigners I which is going to kick my ass. The teacher goes so fast and speaks a ton of Turkish for a class which is supposed to be taught in English! Oh well I'm enjoying it and have already learned a lot. I had to run to the cafe and get an espresso shot in our 10 minute break. Let's just say I was NOT mentally prepared for two hours of Turkish at 9am! I rushed to my next class to discover that it was cancelled so I had a long lunch with my friend Tessa. Then we went to our next class together and yet again cancelled!

I figured this was the perfect time to head to the cafe to see if my phone was there. Luckily it was, wedged in between two pillows waiting for me :) The owner who's a young hot Turkish man came over and kept saying "Good chance" which I'm pretty sure was a like "wow what good luck that it's still here". Anyway, he invited me to stay for a çay and since I had nothing else to do I figured why not. He ended up sitting and semi-chatting with me (he didn't know English) and brought over his nargile. So then a few waiters came over to chill since the cafe was pretty much dead. Then to top things off his friend who's a popular musician around here came and played a private show for all of us. BEST first day of class ever! I just chilled, listened to music, had çay, smoked some nargile, and even got a little guitar lesson! He was really good too!


The owner, a waiter, and the guitar player. My new crew.


Looking like a fool trying to hold the guitar. I insisted that a lesson was unnecessary but he really wanted to teach me something so what the hell?



This is a video of the guitar player Ercan Ersoy (pronounced Ar-jahn Ar-soy). He has a fan page on facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/ErcanErsoyFanN ) check it out if you like this clip!

This is why I love Istanbul so much small things like this. I just went to pick up my phone and ended up meeting some amazing people and spending my afternoon doing something cool. To top things off he wouldn't take a Kuruş (the Turkish equivalent of cent) from me. I felt bad because I had three cups of çay and nargile but he assured me it was all on him as long as I keep coming back! Ah I can't believe this is my life these days!

Eeek it's been a week!

Sorry for the long pause between blogs but I really have settled out of the tourist lifestyle and into the Turkish. That and I had food poisoning not just diarrhea so I spent like 3 days in bed! But here's the highlights.

Registration

Impossible system just like at home but I'm pretty happy with my classes. I only got into three so I need to add one more but so far, only classes Tues-Thurs! I'm taking The Politics of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Issues in Turkish Foreign Policy, and Turkish I for Foreigners. Classes finally start tomorrow! I'm excited to get to meet more Turkish students and to hang out on campus. I think that will make my life feel less like a long vacation and more like real life...but hey who's complaining?!

My Buddy!

Tahır (Ta-hur)and I met up for Börek and the place I was describing in one of my first few posts. He is SO nice! Kinda quiet but he's a junior Management major. He works full time pretty much and studies really hard :) He was so helpful, the conversation was a little awkward and first but that's usually how it goes with these broken English broken Turkish things! But I decided to just go for it and pry deep into his life (my Mom and Aunts would be proud!) I found out about his star cross relationship with his girlfriend. His fisherman parents and lots of other funny and interesting facts about him. Haha in the middle of our conversation he said "wow Turkish girls no talk this much" Oops! He said it was a nice change though! I'm really glad that we got match up he's so willing to help :) He even took me on a like hour an a half tour around the two main campuses here and gave me the scoop on where to eat for lunch, buy books, and get coffee.

Valentine's Day!

I'm too lazy to get out of bed and get my camera cord but a photo blog is coming later in the day! Ok so since I've still been pretty sick going out to a Valentines Dinner where I could only order white rice didn't sound too appeal so...me and Reuben are going to ROME!!!!!!!! This weekend! We're leaving Friday and coming back Monday...we found a reasonable flight and just went for it! OMG I'm so excited:wine, pizza, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain! I'm sure it will be an epic outing! Viva la Roma!

Anyway things have been great here (minus the food poisoning) I love it as usual and I'm really glad I'm settling into a daily life. I feel less like a crazy person who has to see everything in Istanbul in a week and more like a Turkish woman everyday!

My explosive Valentines Day

Ok yes the title is graphic for those of you who have spoken to me recently but let's just say this V-day was not one for the books. First of all, Reuben's program took a stupid trip to Eastern Turkey for a week?!? They don't get back until tomorrow night but haha I've made such great friends here that I don't really miss him that much! But it's a good thing he's not here because my friend from Uganda came to visit, who you ask? Well that would be traveler's diarrhea/ food poisoning. It came very suddenly and was awful! Now that I'm feeling a little better I can kinda joke about it. I'm not sure exactly how I got it because I haven't eaten anything that someone else hasn't eaten as well. I guess something just didn't sit right with me. But honestly it was probably the worst 36 hours of my life, comparable to when I got Malaria two summers ago :( To make it worse I had a fever and the heat in my room doesn't work to well so I woke up every two hours to put on/take off my hoodie. Worst night ever! Also my roommate is on her phone all night and the walls are paper thin so I can hear everything!! I'm surprised I was so miserable,I've been to less developed regions and NEVER felt this bad. I'm sorry to be such a complainer but I felt awful and she's not very nice, I had to go next door at 3:00am to ask her to be quiet and she still continued to yell on her phone uggghh someone from home bring me good ear plugs!!!

Ok enough complaining, here's a funny story. So I've mentioned that no one speaks English here which really is true. Like professors do and university students but students don't learn English in high school so they pretty much just take a crash course the summer before college so they speak academic English. Anyway I ventured to the pharmacy but I forgot my phrasebook so the first two pharmacies I went to were very unsuccessful. I'm pretty sure both guys thought I was pregnant because I kept rubbing my belly so they were pointing in the general direction of the condoms eek! The third pharmacy I went to I said "toilet" and then rubbed my belly and thank god she understood me! I still came home and googled the name of the medicine to make sure it was legit! I'm feeling a lot better, not 100% but knock on wood the fever hasn't come back and my stomach still hurts but not as bad. Oh well hopefully tomorrow I'll be 100% because being sick is shitty. Literally.


This is a pic of the fresh market that is open on Saturdays. Hopefully I can come off my rice and toast diet in time to enjoy!!

Out at 11 in at 7

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been crazy since last Thursday. Ok so I went out a TON over the weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) I'm boring at home compared to here. I feel like a crazy weekend is like one night out...well not really but last semester was so rough with school and working that I was def more of a hermit. But nightlife here is INSANE! Every night my friends and I have just pregamed at someones apartment and then headed to Taksim (where all the bars are)it's cool because its a district in Istanbul strictly filled with bars, restaurants, and hostels. All my nights are blending together but I've had so much fun here! I've also been very good about not drinking too much. Anyway we usually just to Taksim and wander until we find a bar(s) that we want to go into. Ok so highlights of the nights out...Friday we met a Turkish girl Sema who knows a Turkish rock band that's famous here so we met them after their concert and partied with them?!?!??!?! Idk. That was our real first night out but I didn't have a phone/watch and had no idea what time it was but I was really tired so me and Tessa cabbed it back home. I didn't think it was that late because a lot of people were still out but when I turned on my computer at home it was 5am!!! There is no last call here ahh I'm not prepared to party like a Turk yet! Saturday night was more chill, meaning I got home at 3 haha. But we went to a club with live music, the cover band played Justin Timberlake!! I got so excited I almost peed my pants! Also being an American/foreign girl here is very helpful in terms of going out. My friends and I didn't have to pay cover anywhere and even got waved in front of lines at some places. Sorry to the Turkish girls who yelled no fair...come to America? They'll like you more than me there! Sunday was the ESN (Exchange Student Network) 's Traffic Light before Valentine's Day party. Like wear Green if you're single, yellow if you may be looking, and red if you're taken. I was skeptical usually club sponsored parties are so so but it was so fun! I had a really good time and of course was shamed the next morning by the pictures on facebook but whatever! Here's a few pics to keep you entertained!


My girls Tessa and Emma!


Honestly I don't know who this is? But he's cute?? Haha typical night out in Istanbul


We got our cab driver to fist pump with us!! YES!!


Is that a table I'm dancing on? Yes apparently it is :/

Nargile, Spices, and Turkish Delight

The past few days, as all days in Istanbul are, have been amazing! So Wednesday I finally slept in pretty late and some of my friends and I headed to Cehavir again. Haha I know, I know, I've only been here for a week now and I've already been to this mall three times! But I gave in and bought a pair of gorgeous brown leather boots! That's the style here all women weather knee length leather boots. Since it's still pretty cold out it's fitting. Also, Istanbul is crazy hilly and uneven so it helps that the style seems to be flat shoes!

Anyway the rest of the day was pretty chill. I took time to take my clothes to the laundry room for the first time and it is pretty pricey but I haven't seen a laundromat anywhere nearby. But I'm really glad that I decided to suck it up and just go down there. The old man, Mehmet, that works there is SO NICE! I ended up talking to him for about 15 minutes in broken English/Turkish. His son studies at Boğaziçi as well so he works in the Superdorm during the school year to be close to him!! Adorable!! Anyway in the evening everyone was pretty tired from all the crazy touring we've been doing so we had a chill dinner. I met two guys from Montreal, they're studying here too and seem really cool! I think they'll get along well with Reuben when he gets back. Surprisingly, there are barely and men studying abroad here. Boğaziçi is dominated by European and American women right now :) After dinner a small group wanted to smoke hookah but didn't want to go back to Cafe Tetto, which is the place near campus that caters to foreigners and is pricey. So on a whim I asked the delivery guy at the restaurant and he walked with us ten minutes down the road to a super cool place! Just another example of how people here go out of their way to be nice to you. He spoke no English at all but I was able to talk to him!! I'm so happy that I'm learning so much Turkish. I mean don't get me wrong we didn't have a heart to heart but I found out where he lives, and told him that I'm an American student studying here, and I LOVE Istanbul blah blah like little things. But whatever, it's still progress :) The place was really cool and very local which I love! There were a lot of student there just chillin. Anyway we headed in early and Tessa and I ended up just chilling in my apartment talking for a really long time. I really like her, we get along really well and I'm just so happy to have made such great friends already. I was worried about meeting people here and the first few days are a lot like freshman year when you don't think you'll have any friends but in the end I guess it all works out!
Tessa and I in front of the bridge!

Yesterday was a very busy and very fun day! For the first few days of the trip all of the exchange students were hanging out in a huge pack, I guess because you don't really know anyone too well and it's nice to have like a group to hang out with. But now that we've all gotten to know each other better groups have definitely began to split off which is nice. It feels more normal to like know a ton of people but like have your group of friends. I still really don't feel like I live here but it's a process and little things like that really help. So Tessa, Kaylah and I woke up and wanted to do something cool today. We were super adventurous and just opened up a guide book and picked something; we ended up at the spice bazaar which was AMAZING!!

The main entrance to the Spice Bazaar

I want to go there every week! I end met a man! He sells Turkish Delight and absolutely fell in love with me. He brought us a gold platter of Turkish Delight to try (this actually isn't uncommon everyone wants you to eat eat eat all day!)


But there's just so much at the bazaar and while it's still touristy, it has a more authentic feel than the Grand Bazaar. The prices are also a lot more reasonable.

Huge hunks of Turkish Delight. My favorite is the rose water kind yum!


Beautiful bowls that are pretty common here.


Every kind of tea you could possibly imagine!


They also sell tons of fish blehh


And olives :)

Anyway after we finished at the bazaar we headed into the New Mosque which is right beside the bazaar. It's my first mosque here so I was really excited to see inside! There are mosques all over this city, you think that they would all look kinda eh after a while but they are all so gorgeous. You can look at them and see how old they are, it's cool to think that they are the structures that really tell the story of this city.



An inside view

All in all another few great days! I'll leave you all with this gorgeous view I had walking to the vegetable market today. I don't know how anyone can be in a bad mood here when you wake up and see this out your window. Until later kids <3!

Picture Preview! (More to come later!)

Sink area. The bathroom part of the apartment is actually really big! The toilet and shower are the two rooms off to the sides.



View of the hallway to bedrooms. Mine's the first on with the boots outside!



View of my living room



Another view of my living room



My kitchenette



View from the other side of my room :)



Welcome gift from the ESN club. It says Boğaziçi University (pronounced Bo-ah-zi-chi)




My desk and storage in my room. It's so small you can kinda see the corner of the comforter in the bottom of the picture!



The view from my apartment



The "watchful eyes"

Someone will have to drag me on the plane home!

The past two days were so busy that even sitting on my bed right now makes my feet throb :/ I need to get used to the amount of walking I do in this city. Again I don’t have pictures today but tomorrow I promise a plog (photo blog)! Anyway I’ve done so much recently that I’m going to split this blog up into sections:

1. Börekçisi

In the morning I went to breakfast with Emma (NCSU), Caroline (UWash), Tessa (BU), and Reuben. We headed back to Börekçisi, which is the place that we went to with Reuben’s program coordinator that serves like the stuffed croissants. The waiter was the same one that we had before and he recognized us! It was so exciting but I guess when Reuben and I walk in its pretty easy to spot the only Black and Indian people in the town! I reached across the table to grab my sim card and spilled çay (chai) all over myself! Eek I was so embarrassed everyone in the small restaurant stopped and stared at me; I think I was so embarrassed that I didn’t even realize that I scalded my leg!! Haha oh well I guess that’s probably the least embarrassing thing I could do. This place is slowly becoming my new favorite snack/breakfast spot, it’s so cheap!

3. Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar was so cool!! I cannot even wrap my mind around how huge it is. Honestly we probably covered less than a fourth of it and we were there for more than two hours. But it doesn’t make that much of a difference the same stores are repeated over and over through the whole bazaar, souvenirs, fake designer things, lamps, hookahs, jewelry, scarves, carpets, dried fruit and nuts. But the market is a lot like India in that it’s really easy for vendors to spot Americans so when you come down an aisle all the shop owner come out and like yell for you to come to their store. But unlike India no one is really pushy and everyone is so courteous! People offer you çay in every store you to into and always want to talk to you, I just love the people here! Anyway, I ended up buying a keychain of the famous Turkish ‘watchful eye’. The store owner gave me a beautiful girl discount which included the keychain and three watchful eyes to hang up for only 5 lira which is like $3.00!! I could get used to that!

4. Transportation

Buses are pretty much the way to go to get around this city. Istanbul has a great metro system but it’s a lot like DC in that the metro stops are kind of far apart so buses really are the best. They come very often, are clean, and everyone takes them. Besides bus fare is so cheap you pay 1 lira and can go as far as you want! Anyway I think I’ve pretty much figured out the bus system to get to the main areas, well with Reuben’s help of course he’s better at that kind of thing! Haha the best part is that you don’t have to wait for a bus stop to get on or off, just kinda flag down the stop and you get on!

5. Hazal Ana

Hazal Ana is our favorite restaurant here. Reuben and I stumbled in on one of our first nights here and struggled with ordering since no one really speaks English and the menus in all Turkish! But we LOVED the food and it’s very reasonable for the amount of food you get. The atmosphere is just very nice. That’s one thing about Istanbul, presentation is everything in food even a bottle of water is brought out on a tray with a nice napkin. The motto here seems to be sitting and enjoy your food, no real grab and go fast food. But we’ve been back to this place many times and everyone knows us by name now! It’s nice to be familiar with something already, like they take really good care of us. Yesterday when I was leaving Reuben was inside paying and a homeless man started hassling me, this is the first homeless man I’ve seen in our part of town and as soon as he went to touch me a waiter came out and shooed him away for me. It’s just really nice to already have people you can trust that know and look out for you.

6. Ak Merkezi

We went back to Ak Merkezi to look for sweatpants and random things I need for my apartment and things Reuben needs for the trip the Duke program left for this morning. We didn’t find anything like a Target or Walmart ish store but I know there’s one close by. This mall was more upscale be definitely a nice place. I keep forgetting to take a picture of it. Even though this mall is a ‘normal’ mall for Istanbul it’s beautiful and huge! Haha going home will be torture for me!

7. Orientation

In the afternoon we headed to International students orientation which was really helpful. They spent a lot of time reviewing the registration system since it opens on Monday and classes start on the 21st (I know crazy right?!) But the ESN club, which is the Exchange Students Network, made a really nice presentation of all the events they have which includes: dinners, cocktail hours, parties, outings in the city, and trips around Turkey. I think I mentioned earlier that I joined but today they gave us a calendar of events and I met my buddy! Tahır (pronounced Ta-hur since the I has no dot above it). He’s big into the club and so nice!! I’m so excited to get to hang out and talk with him more. After orientation we all went to a welcome dinner on North Campus which is closer to my apartment. The dinner was in an on campus rooftop restaurant. Everything here is amazing! Like even the views from an on campus place are amazing!! Anyway after dinner ESN was hosting a party at Café Tetto. I like it but, it is definitely catered towards tourists, the food is more American style and the drinks are SO expensive compared to what you can get everywhere. So Reuben, Max (Reuben’s roommate who is from Oberlin College) and I headed to Cevahir (pronounced Jevahir) to find the bigger Supermarket.

8. Cehavir

The more I go to this mall the more I want to come back. Again I forgot my camera :( but no worries I’m sure I’ll be here at least once a week. Anyway today we explored the mall and found: the movie theater, the 4D theater, the roller coaster (!!!), the rides, lazer tag, a train , and arcade. This mall is just incredible! Anyway we went to Migros where I was able to buy bread and silverware and Reuben and Max (who’s here on the Duke program) bought stuff for their trip. We were pretty tired after all this and headed to the food court to grab something quick since we knew we probably wouldn’t make it back to the party on campus. The food court takes up another two stories of the mall; the first is traditional fast food. They actually had a lot of American places: McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Arbys, Popeyes?!? The second floor is more sit down nicer places and bakeries for dessert. We went to a waffle and crepes stand. It’s interesting here breakfast is salty foods like egg, olive, croissants with stuffing (cheese/meat) or salty bread. More American things like waffles are served like as a snack or dessert cold stone style! Like Reuben got a waffle with melted Nutella (the new love of his life!) kiwi, strawberry, and banana. It was DELICOUS! I’ll probably never be able to go to IHOP and just have pancakes or waffles again!

Ok well that’s enough for today I’ll post some pics of my apartment and update more tomorrow! Until later <3

Settling In

So Reuben has all the pictures and he's at pre-registration now so pictures from the past two days are coming soon... These past two days have been amazing! I hope the excitement of being in Istanbul never wears off because as of now I love everything about this city. So yesterday (Sunday) I was super drowsy and couldn’t get out of bed until after 12:00 but oh well I finally let jetlag hit me! Afterwards I had a breakfast of bread, nutella, and fresh oranges from the vegetable market and headed out to find cell phones. Unfortunately since it was Sunday most all stores other than grocery markets were closed so Reuben and I just explored South Campus where all of the departments are other than engineering and a few others are located. Let me just say Bogacizi has NOTHING on Chapel Hill. I thought the hills walking to the Fed-Ex Center and Townhouse were bad…little did I know! I really felt like I was walking up a mountain to get back to my apartment from campus! I had to stop and catch my breath! Also there are cats everywhere! Cats are like squirrels here, they dominate campus, they don’t bother anyone but just lay around all over the city and campus. Anyway after exploring we came back to the apartments so Reuben could meet his Religion TA, Zainab, and I headed to my room to unpack my last bag. After a while they both came knocking on my door to invite me on a walk to Bebek. Bebek is an upscale neighborhood at the bottom of the hill that Bogazici is on; Bebek located on the Bosphorous river front and beautiful! I am amazed how many times I'm just speechless for the views of this city, I literally have seen nothing more beautiful. We trekked down the hill and stopped at a café for çay and simit. Simit is a bagel like bread but much lighter and covered in sesame seeds. Zainab noticed many Turkish celebrities there from TV and movies since the neighborhood is so upscale but I haven’t started reading gossip mags yet so I was mad at myself for not recognizing anyone! Anyway we made the long uphill trek, and this trek literally was straight up the entire hill; probably about 500 feet. After that we just chilled for the rest of the night. We tried to catch the Superbowl but all the bars playing it were 30 mins away so we ended up just going to sleep! Anyway today we found the gym which is the American football team’s weight room under the stadium directly beside our apartments and worked out there/ ran on the track for a while. Afterwards we showered and headed to campus so I could get my id for registration. Everyone running registration was really nice student who were all member of the foreign exchange club. It’s pretty self-explanatory but it’s a club of Turkish students and foreign students; the club organizes events and trips I think it should be a good experience. I got a Turkish buddy who I can practice my Turkish with and hang out with! After that Reuben and I ventured to Cevahir which is prounounced Jevahir, this is the largest mall in Europe. We thought we could quickly look around for a few things but that was impossible in 2 hours we barely got through one of the seven or more floors oh well we have plenty of time to come back! Anyway later in the evening I met a girl from Boston University and the University of Washington. The three of us, Reuben, and some other guys all went out to Taksim which is where pretty much all the nightlife is…we had a great time! In Istanbul apparently it doesn’t matter if it’s a Monday or not everything was open and semi crowded! Pictures to follow…until then <3>

The Turkish Life

So today was my first real day in Istanbul since yesterday I didn’t get to my apartment or settled until after 5, and I was EXHAUSTED! But today was excellent! The day was spent similar to a traditional Turkish day! I woke up around 9:00 and went to breakfast with Reuben’s program coordinator who is a young American woman in her late twenties or early thirties. She studied abroad here twice when she was at Duke and loved it so much that she applied and received a Fulbright to come. After that she got her Masters at Bogazici fell in love and got married and now seven years later she’s still here! Anyway she was really nice and very helpful. She took us to a small café very close to our apartment but I can’t remember the name of it now. It was very reasonable and delicious! We had çay, which is pronounced chai, it’s the traditional Turkish tea. It’s served in a glass, which is about the equivalent of three shot glasses; it’s tricky at first because the glass gets so hot but the trick is to hold it at the rim. Usually it is taken black with two sugars, çay is similar to black tea but it has more of a bite at the end. We also had börek, which is similar to a puff pastry filled with either spinach, a salty feta like cheese, or ground beef. It is served cut into cross sections and warm, oh and delicious. Knock on wood so far everything I’ve eaten here I have absolutely loved!

After breakfast we wandered to the vegetable market, which was such a cool experience. It is similar to an American farmers market in that it’s only open on Saturday. All of the part of Istanbul we are in is very very hilly and the market is on one of those large hills. I just kept walking to check the different prices at stands and by the time I stopped I had gotten to almost the bottom of the hill and had almost half a mile up the hill eeek!!

In the afternoon we ventured to Taksim, which is the city square, probably equivalent to Times Square but busier and bigger. There are a lot of bars and resturants, it is just a generally very nice area. We took the bus here, which was an adventure since today there was a soccer match between two Turkish teams. The stadium traffic was INSANE!! Oh well you live and you learn. So when we got to Taksim we had kebabs for lunch and then went to a Nagile (Hookah) café to watch the game. The weather today was sunny but still chilly, probably warmer than home though. Put it this way, we were able to sit outside and smoke nagile in jackets without being cold. We decided to take the metro back to Bogazici which was an adventure all its own. There was no clear map but signs on the floor to tell you where to go. The metro is very clean and nice, it’s a lot like DC. Only problem was, we had an idea of what stop to get off on but didn’t really know where to go after getting off. But it wasn’t too big of a deal while we were wandering we went into a dessert bar for a snack and found an expensive shopping center. We tried to walk back but it ended up being to far and no buses were coming so we just gave in and took a cab, oh well it was only about 6 lira (~$4.00). Overall today was an excellent day!

Market

Reuben and me in the Nagile Cafe

börek

çay

View from a park near my apartment

I would land in a bright pink North Face in a city where everyone wears black...

I just woke up at about 9:15am in my matchbox room! And today is a gorgeous day in Istanbul, from my room I can see pretty much the entire city. Yesterday we landed at about 1:45 and got through immigration and baggage claim really quickly, I was actually surprised at how easy the entire process was. The cab ride over was when the jet lag really hit me :/ It took around 45 minutes to get to Bogazici, my university. Once we got here we checked in and were immediately greeted by the nicest staff! And my apartment really isn't that bad. I share with 2 other girls (who don't move in for another week or so), we have a kitchenette which has no stove or oven so I guess it's just cabinets and a minifridge! Also a common room and a very large bathroom. My room like I said is tiny, it's probably like 8 by 7 and thats being generous! But it has a ton of storage space and an internet connection...in any case I don't care because I LOVE it here!

Right not there are not that many people moved in basically just exchange students so walking around yesterday I met a lot of people from Boston University, Portland, Seattle, and a ton of Engineers from NCState! Actually Reuben and I went to dinner and drinks with a group of about 4 people from State, an exchange student from Norway, and a girl from Seattle. It was really fun and everyone here is so easy to get along with I'm really excited to get to know everyone better. We're all going to explore the city later today so more updates on that later.

Finally, the people here are sooo nice and friendly. It just seems like they really want you to enjoy their country so everyone, even the people who don't speak English (like everyone at restaurants!) Haha that made ordering a unique experience getting your meal was kind of a surprise to see what it actually was! Anyway time to meet up for brunch...until later <3

TOMORROW!!

AH so I leave for Istanbul tomorrow and I am BEYOND excited! I'm so ready! Minus the fact that I haven't packed yet...I know I know... but after waiting for so long I can't believe it's finally time to leave. My parents booked their flight to visit me in April and my sister's coming in about a month :) I know it's going to be so hard to be away from my family for so long but it's time to grow up and experience the world! Well I should get on this packing thing...until later be safe kids!