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
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