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!
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