Istanbul is AMAZING

My lack of posts indicates that Istanbul has kept me very busy! My favorite things so far have been Hagia Sophia, the Grand and Spice Bazaars, and Chora Church.  I got to meet up with old friends and even meet some new ones...and of course the World Cup has loomed large over it all (our boys are quite obsessed with that)...but today I had the most intense Turkish experience of all I would say--I went to a Turkish bath! I won't share the dirty (or clean?) details here, but I'll tell anyone who wants to hear about it when I return!  Tonight is our last supper so to speak and I'm having a hard time deciding if I want kofte, kuzu, or tavuk sis...choices choices! Especially because Turkish cuisine is so good! But one thing is for sure, I know we'll be having Baklava! (I'll leave the Turkish delight tho...yuck!)  I can't believe it is almost time to go home...but all good things must come to an end...and I'm excited to tell everyone about my adventures!

See some photos of me in Istanbul below:

The first is of me in Hagia Sophia...the second is of me and Andrew Jelinek in front of the Blue Mosque!

Istanbul!

I have now arrived in Istanbul which means that my trip is more than half over :(  I am truly enjoying myself and don't want to leave, but I did get a little sentimental about home because of my birthday yesterday--thanks everyone for the wishes!!

I spend the last weekend traveling ALL OVER Turkey.  I was on buses for a total of 15 hours, a train for 13 hours, and several hours on minibuses (or dolmushes as they call them in Turkey)...But it was totally worth it!

Before we left Ankara, our last fieldtrip was to Ataturk's museum as I related...see me and Folke (our professor) in front of it below

I also had cocarech with the Kora girls for lunch on my last day--lamb intestines! It was in a sandwich, and kind of greasy, but not all that bad.  I ordered kofte as well though, just to be safe...

Okay so to my crazy weekend! We took an overnight train from Ankara to Izmir on Thursday night...we all had sleeper cars which was awesome! It was like having a hotel room on wheels...

When we arrived in Izmir the next morning, we took a mini bus to Selchuck to stay at the Hotel Nazar.  They drove us from there to Ephesus...a town that is just Roman ruins and nothing else.  Now I have seen Roman ruins in Italy, but Ephesus was completely different because there is literally nothing else in sight...makes you feel like you have actually stepped back into the 1st century...Below is me in front of the library, it was my favorite part of the city and the best preserved:

We also visited the last known house of the Virgin Mary--Marylemana as they say in Turkey.  It was truly awe inspiring to pray where she once resided:

Saturday morning we got up early and caught a mini bus back to Izmir, took a bus from Izmir to Ezine, took a mini bus from Ezine to the harbor, caught a ferry to the island of Bozcaada in the Aegean, and rode with someone in a truck to our BEAUTIFUL pension.  This place was truly idyllic...a 100+ year old farmhouse complete with vineyards, cherry trees, plum trees, and a quaint tree lined stone path to a private beach with a stone dock.  We spend 2 days/nights on the island, and I can't even begin to describe the amount of peace I felt.  It reminded me of Mackinac Island, but way better...hopefully the pictures help you to imagine.

After all of that ridiculous traveling, it was completely worth it.  On that score, I have learned about traveling in Turkey that things always appear when you need them to :)

We met a cool couple from Australia, the girl was 25, had quit her job and was just traveling for 5 months in Europe, Turkey, and Africa thinking about her life and having fun...it has been amazing to meet people as we travel...

The only bad thing about the weekend was that we made Folke seriously panic because it took us so long to arrive in Istanbul.  We stayed on the island enjoying the sun for a little bit too long...OOOPS hehe...we didn't arrive in Istanbul until 11pm, and we had class at 9am today. YIKES...

On that note, I am exhausted and am going to take a nap, but I wanted to catch everyone up on my amazing weekend!

Busy Days

Wednesday, June 2

Sorry for the long absence everyone! I have had a busy few days across the pond here! On Wednesday, our class took a field trip to Ankara Castle and to the Ancient Civilizations Museum.  Ankara Castle had an even better view of the city than Aysel Sabuncu but I was a little uncomfortable being up that high without any kind of walls! 

with the girls from Kora at Ankara Kalesi

The Ancient Civilizations Museum was really well put together and that day we had a lecture on the same subject which really helped me to tune into the importance of what I was seeing.  The most interesting things I learned were about letters that these peoples used to write to one another on tablets (I bought a replica).  The Professor who lectured to us was telling about how she had her final exam in this ancient language right before she got married, and the tablet she had to read was about a wedding!   We also learned about the sundisk and how this was an important symbol for the ancient peoples.  Ankara used to use this image as its municipal symbol, but the new AKP government in Ankara changed the symbol to a mosque.  People around METU don’t like that because it 1) isn’t secular and 2) is not unique to Ankara.  I also bought a replica of this because of its significance regarding the current political situation.

Wednesday night I went out with the graduate students at Kora who are our assistants and really enjoyed my time with them.  It’s really nice to spend time with professional women who are working towards a similar life to what I want to have.  Besides the four of them, Gokten, Lelya, Birce, and Duygu being AMAZING people and women, hanging out with them really gives me a sense of what it is like to be a Turk.  I’m really going to miss them when I have to leave to go to Istanbul...

Thursday, June 3                                                                                       eating carrot ice cream in Beypazari with Kora staff

The class went on another field trip on Thursday to Beypazari...a really touristy town that is quite quaint because of the houses built into the hills.  They are famous for their mineral water (which, I might add, is really good!).  We had a really traditional Ottoman lunch, complete with frothy yogurt to drink (which was really sour and gross) and dalmas and kofte and baklava for dessert! YUM! Best kofte (meatballs essentially) that I have had in Turkey.  Then, our really nerdy, but also hilarious, tour guide took us to a pasha’s house and to a silver shop which was nice.  Then we had the rest of the afternoon to explore.  All and all it was a really great day.

Friday, June 4                                          

On Friday, I left on a bus to Cappadocia for a weekend excursion with six others from my group.  I can’t even describe how beautiful and peaceful it was there...

We stayed at a sort of Mom and Pop’s/bed and breakfast place run by this really nice family.  I never cease to be amazed by Turkish hospitality. Everyone in town was so concerned about helping us out, it was great!

We went hiking on the first day, which was really scary for me, but I did my best! I even went all the way through a rock! And at one point I couldn’t see anything at all--it was really scary!! 

We saw a whirling dervish show which was kind of like a medieval times, dinner and entertainment thing.  I really want to learn more about that tradition and Sufism which goes along with it.

On Saturday, we toured the Goreme Open Air Museum which is a series of Christian Churches carved into the rock from the 11th century...the paintings on the insides were beautiful as well as the architecture. I was amazed at how similar the churches were to the ones I attend today...and what faith those   Christians must have had!  They built the churches in their flight from the Roman soldiers.  And the amount of detail they put into making their worship space worthy of their God, even in their situation is inspiring...

In the evening, Sarah, Noah, and I went for a horseback ride up one of the mountains.  The view was to die for...no photos though! I was afraid of falling off of Pearl.

Today--

I am sad that my time at METU is coming to a close.  Last night, Folke and I went to dinner with the graduate assistants here at Kora and we had just an amazing time.  Those girls are so inspirational to me.  They are so much more down to earth than graduate students in the states it seems.  We had great political discussions over a dinner at a fancy restaurant called Tike which means little pieces of meat.  The food was spicy, but I ate all of it and it was SOO GOOD! Right and Left here politically is really different here and the girls were helpful explaining that.  We argued a bit, but I definitely held my own!

Today, our class toured Ataturk’s Masoleum.  It looked a lot like the Lincoln Memorial.  Ataturk is Turkey’s Washington.  His vision for Turkey was just amazing.  I really admire the man and reading his biography is now definitely on my to-do list.  I wish I could explain better, but there is just an aura about Ataturk...

S’all for now.  Hopefully blogger will start working better.  I have been struggling to get on!

Turkey in the News Today

The news around here is all about the conflict between Israel and Turkey!  I find it fascinating to listen to university students and faculty here at METU discuss the incident.  Being on the ground actually living in the country you are studying makes it that much more intriguing...I am definitely liking the class part as well as the tourism portion of this trip thus far!

Classes started yesterday and we have had two excellent lectures.  I usually hang out with the female graduate students at METU who are coordinating our stay after classes.  Tomorrow we are having a girls' night out and going downtown--I'm really excited.  As a class, during the day tomorrow we are touring a castle and seeing the ancient civilizations museum.  This weekend, half the group is going to Antalya to log some beach time while the rest of us are touring ancient ruins in Cappadocia.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day! We didn't celebrate in Turkey...

First Weekend

I have just finished a great first weekend in Ankara, Turkiye! We explored campus, tried some local cuisine, went out in some local establishments, made it downtown, and I even shopped in a Turkish mall!  I even found time to do my reading :)  I would say my favorite experience of the weekend was mingling with the locals.  First, our waiters at Drunk (literally the bar is called this) loved us...and when we returned for night number two, they remembered both myself and another guy on our trip, Sean and asked for us by name as we arrived later than the others...there is a picture of Sean and me with our waitstaff below:

Last night, at a downtown cafe we danced with some Turkish girls who were celebrating a birthday! They even taught us a dance...check out the video below:




We were jamming to this guy...I thought he was really talented!


We also heard some great music at another downtown cafe, but they covered American music, including Elvis Presley...check out the video!




Well I probably should go to bed soon. It's almost midnight here and I have my first class in the morning at 10am, but have to leave the guest house around 9:20 because the walk is so long...believe it or not, this campus is bigger and more spread out than MSU! :)

First Days

The first full day here has been really great! But we are all very tired! After 19 hours total transit time, we arrived at the Ansyel Sabuncu (Guest House) at METU (Middle Eastern Technical University).

It is so nice here! Looks like a fancy hotel! We have 2 to a "room" which is really like a mini apartment with a kitchenette, living space, bathroom, and separate bedroom!

Each day there is complimentary breakfast which consists of hard boiled eggs, cheeses, meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, and jam.  Along with cay (tea) or coffee. At 10am today we made our way 30 minutes down the huge hill our Guest House is on to main campus to see our classroom. We also had a campus tour.  This campus is very spread out and MUCH bigger than MSU.

After our tour, Folke and Birce (one of the women graduate students coordinating our time in Ankara) set us loose! We ate at Pasa Kebap and I had a Kuzu Sis, which was basically a lamb, lettuce, and pita sandwich with rice that was equivalent to Mexican rice.  Others had Tavuk Kebap which was a chicken dish that looked and kind of tasted like an enchilada.  All of it was really great! and even though our waiter didn't speak any English, we understood each other and he was very patient with us which was good. We then went grocery shopping and caught a cab back to our place for only 3 TL which is $2 USD (1 dollar equals 1.5 TL or .67 USD=1 turkish lira).

Now we're all updating friends and family before grabbing a nap to cure our jetlag! Tonight we're going down to the Drunk cafe--the closest bar!

I'm going to try to keep everyone updated as much as possible but I just figured out that my camera card doesn't fit in my new Mac :( I have an XD card and the mac only takes SD cards...my new bff Sarah is going to upload my pics on her computer however and let me borrow hers from time to time.  Her computer won't connect to the internet so she connects through mine and an ethernet cord and so we have a good symbiotic relationship going :)

Keep reading and I'll keep posting! Miss you all already!

Leaving in 2 days!

I will be leaving on my first study abroad experience (though not my first time abroad!) on Wednesday! After a 9 hour flight to Frankfurt, a 5 hour layover, and a 3 hour flight, I will find myself in Ankara, Turkey! I have been reading up on my destination, but I still have no idea what to expect...I'm planning to spend my life savings on bottled water as you can't drink theirs and I will save critical comments about Turkey or its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk for my personal journaling as it is illegal to criticize the government in Turkey.  For now, I think I will focus my study of Turkey on two ideas--Turkey's efforts to officially join the Western ranks through the European Union and the barriers to the admission and the role of secularism as Turkey democratizes. Stay tuned for details of my experience!