Itinerary

SWISS	Flight	LX1805
	Depart	Istanbul Ataturk Apt, TR (IST)
		27-Feb-13 (Wed) 05:20p
	Arrive	Zurich Apt, CH (ZRH)
		27-Feb-13 (Wed) 07:30p
	Flight Time	03hr 10min | Economy
	Aircraft	Airbus Industrie A321
	Stops	nonstop
SWISS operated by HELVETIC AIRWAYS	Flight	LX1494
	Depart	Zurich Apt, CH (ZRH)
		27-Feb-13 (Wed) 09:35p
	Arrive	Prague, CZ (PRG)
		27-Feb-13 (Wed) 10:50p
	Flight Time	01hr 15min | Economy
	Aircraft	Fokker 100
	Stops	nonstop
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________  >>>St Christophers at The Mosaic House Hostel (26-bed co-ed room)<<< _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bus Route Date Station/Transfer Arrival Departure Platf. Connection Coach/Seats Sat 02/03/13 Praha, ÚAN Florenc 07:00 22 Praha → Budapest (SA) 13 Budapest, zast. MHD busu 901, Könyves Kálmán k., u AN Népliget 14:00 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________  >>>BlackSheep Hostel & Bar (8-bed female room)<<< _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lufthansa	Flight	LH1685
	Depart	Budapest, HU (BUD)
		04-Mar-13 (Mon) 06:10a
	Arrive	Munich International Apt, DE (MUC)
		04-Mar-13 (Mon) 07:30a
	Flight Time	01hr 20min | Economy
	Aircraft	Airbus Industrie A320-100/200
	Stops	nonstop
Lufthansa	Flight	LH1770
	Depart	Munich International Apt, DE (MUC)
		04-Mar-13 (Mon) 08:35a
	Arrive	Istanbul Ataturk Apt, TR (IST)
		04-Mar-13 (Mon) 12:15p
	Flight Time	02hr 40min | Economy
	Aircraft	Airbus Industrie A320-100/200
	Stops	nonstop

Harlem Shake

Koc University Cafeteria. 

I guess such trends are popular in every nation.
Out of all the Harlem Shakes I've seen, this is a pretty well done one if I do say so myself...
Koc Pride.

Vocab Extravaganza!

      Since all my life has been for the last couple of days is studying Turkish vocabulary & spelling I figured I would share the wealth with all of you loyal followers....
      Out of the 250 words I have to memorize before tomorrow I picked some of my favorites to share with you... but then I realized you wouldn't be able to understand the pronunciation of any of them so that means you also get a lesson on the Turkish alphabet! It's your lucky day.

Günaydın  -  Good Morning

Ağaç  -  Tree

Hoşça Kal  -  Good Bye

Görüşürüz  -  See you later

Eczane  -  Pharmacy

Muz  -  Banana

Genç  -  Young

Aslan  -  Lion

Mümkün  -  Possible

Kütüphane  -  Library

Şemsıye  -  Umbrella

Üçüncü  -  Third

Kaç Yaşındasın?  -  How old are you?

Büyük  -  Large

Ders  -  Lesson

Yorgunum  -  I'm Tired

Buzdolabı  -  Refridgerator

Affedersiniz  -  Excuse Me

Saat  -  Time

Ayakkabı  -  Shoe

Gürültülü   -  Noisy

Öksürük   -  Cough

TURKISH ALPHABET 

Aa - (Ah)

Bb - (B)

Cc - (J)

Çç - (CH)

Dd - (D)

Ee - (A)

Ff - (F)

Gg - (Gey)

Ğğ - "Yumuşak G" = "Silent G" 

        ...this one is tricky... It is similar to the "gh" at the end of "weigh" in that it is barely pronounced if at all. It basically serves as a marker to extend the sound of the vowel that it follows.

Hh - (H) 

Iı - (Uh/Ih)

       ...this vowel is the hardest for me to pronounce properly... I like to think it sounds like the noise I make when I can't think of what I'm trying to say. Its very "throaty" and is pronounced with a wide mouth and teeth clenched.

İi - (E)

Jj - (Jzz)

       ... this letter is rarely used in the Turkish language and sounds like the end of "massage"

Kk - (K)

Ll - (L)

Mm - (M)

Nn - (N)

Oo - (Oh)

Öö - (O/Uh/Er)

      ... I don't even know where to start with this tongue twister. I can't ever pronounce it properly. It is supposed to sound like O but more "throaty" and with the lips pursed farther forward. It sounds like someone just poked you really hard in the stomach and this is the sound that came out.

Pp - (P)

Rr - (R)

      ... Depending upon where this letter appears within a word, within a sentence, and the person's personal preference this letter changes from sounding like the R we know and love to more of an L to a short of SH to being rolled to not being pronounced at all. There are hardly any pronunciation alterations in Turkish except for when it comes to R.

Ss - (S)

Şş - (SH)

Tt - (T)

Uu - (Oo)

       ... As in "moo" or "poo" or "glue".

Üü - (Ew)

      ... As in "boot" or "you" or "pew"

Vv - (V)

Yy - (Y)

     ... Treated exclusively as a consonant. 

Zz - (Z)

SIDENOTE: They don't have the letters Q & W & X

The language is extremely phonetic so every letter is pronounced on it's own without much influence from its adjacent letters which makes it easy to learn spellings even though learning the actual word is super tough seeing as English and Turkish are from completely different language trees and none of the words share any remote similarities at all. Actually, Television and Chocolate are kind of similar but I think it's that way with those words in every language on earth.

Ouch.

So most of you know about my whole scoliosis/spinal fusion situation...

^ Hey those are my insides! ^

And sometimes because of my abnormal spine (and the fact that I don't do the proper physical therapy exercises) I get some serious back knots and subsequent back pain. So after sleeping on this rock they call a mattress for a month I got some nasty pain collecting in my upper back. I went to the student health center on campus to see if they could give me any muscle relaxers or pain killers. The doctors hardly speak any English so I had to ask some poor sick Turkish girl who was in the waiting room to help translate for me. They gave me some mysterious pills and sent me on my way. After waiting for the pills to kick in and realizing that they weren't going to help my roommate convinced me to go back to the health center and try to get some pain cream or such. She escorted me to help translate. Upon arriving and explaining the whole situation again, the doctors offered to give me a muscle relaxer/pain killer shot. I was super pumped about this because my back pain was reaching the point of no return, I could hardly breathe. So the doctor says "expose your back" (or that's what i thought he said)... So i lift up my shirt to expose the point of pain and lay down on the table readying myself for the injection. But then my roommate goes, "no not your back, your butt." So I hop up really confused and try to collect myself. I've never gotten a shot in my rump before. But desperate times call for desperate measures. So I muster up the courage, lay down on the table once more and pull down my pants. I was visibly distraught because I hate needles so my roommate came to my rescue and held my hand while they stuck me straight in the ass cheek. A true roommate bonding experience. The shot worked and soon my butt was hurting more than my back. I'd call it a success. Observation that I take away from the whole experience? They are very forthcoming with their medicines here. More paperwork is completed when checking out at a retail shop then when getting an injection at the health center. It's a strange world I'm living in.

International status

Going to pick up my temporary residence permit for living in Turkey today! Now I will be able to leave and re-enter the country as much as I want within the next six months. This is good news seeing as I already booked a long weekend trip to Prague and Budapest for next weekend! Also we are in the process of nailing down our spring break plans. We get 10 days off (plus Thursday night for Travel) and I want to spend it in Italy, trekking via train all the way from the top to the bottom, (hopefully with a couple beach days thrown in there too). My friend Caroline and I both have connects in Rome so we will be spending the most time in that city being guided around by some "locals." But first we will fly into Florence and explore there, and after Rome we will journey to Naples for a few days. Hopefully these Italy plans pan out soon! Also, I am trying to plan a trip to Cyrus or Greece with some of my new Turkish friends because as long as the travel involves some intermingling between exchange students and Turkish students we can apply for a grant from the school to cover some of our travel costs seeing as it would be an "intercultural experience."

BURSA

Turns out I made it to Bursa after all! Thankfully another girl in our group also missed the 7:15 bus and was headed down to the ferry station trying to catch the 10:15 ferry when I called her around 8:30... Still a tight squeeze but I managed to meet up with her at the station two minutes before the boat was due to depart. It was fate. And we managed to meet up with the earlier group in Bursa only arriving to the city center about an hour behind them. Today was the most traveling I have experienced thus far in Turkey, and also my first time outside of the city limits of Istanbul.

Our journey proceeded as follows:
1. Dolmus from Koc to Sariyer
2. Dolmus from Sariyer to Hagiosman
3. Metro from Hagiosman to Taksim
4. Funikuler from Taksim to Kabatas
5. Ferry from Kabatas to Bursa
6. Bus from Bursa outskirts to the metro station
7. Metro into the city center
(travel around via foot for a while)
8. Mini Dolmus (5 seats) across town to the Hamam
(ask directions about 20 times while walking on foot until we find the correct building and then soak in the hot bath at the Hamam for an hour)
9. Taxi to back to the Metro
10. Metro back to bus stop
11. Bus back to the ferry station
12. Ferry back to Kabatas
13. Funikuler back to Taksim
14. Metro back to Hagiosman
15. Taxi back to Koc
HOME!

Ohhhh Noooo

WELP, cried for the first time in Istanbul this morning. I instinctively woke up when my body realized I had slept for way too long knowing that I was supposed to wake up at 6:00AM, however it was already 7:45 and the bus you were supposed to catch left at 7:15... Yuuuup. That moment when all you can think is "shit, that pretty much blows the next 15 hours of my life." A huge group of about 15 CIEE students planned a big day trip to Bursa scheduled for today to start at 7:15 sharp, no exceptions. I was ready for the pre-sunrise wake up, I was ready for the three hour travel, I was ready for the 10 hours of walking, I was even ready for the rain, but somehow setting my alarm got mixed up and lost in the shuffle. It's one of those things that I obsessively double/triple check, and sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because I'm paranoid that I forgot to set my alarm. Last night and the subsequent results this morning are the precise reason why I am so OCD about checking my alarm. This is the kind of situation where if you miss it, you miss it. There is only one bus running per hour on the early mornings of weekends to the town where we have to meet the ferry that connects with Bursa and only one ferry per every two hours that leaves from that station. And technically I could make the later ferry.... but that would require me to spend three hours traveling by myself along a transit which I do not know the route, on a cold rainy day, in a country where I don't know the language, and with a cell phone that doesn't allow me to make calls (so basically that's not happening). COOL, better to accept reality and move forward than to fret over something that you no longer have control over. So now what? I'm stuck here alone in my room when 15 of my closest companions are off on an awesome adventure that I helped facilitate... Good thing I have about 15 other closest companions that I can frantically try to get a hold of in attempts to cling onto their existing plans for the day. It would be torture to have missed this trip and not be able to find other things to occupy my time today, so hopefully it works out. Until then I have to wipe away these tears of disappointment, suck it up, admit defeat, go find some comfort food, and start my day even if it might not be the day I had originally planned.

Soggy Socks

An interesting story...

One that involves sloshing around in sopping sneakers from 10AM until 8PM. Somehow we all managed to keep our spirits up and still have a good time which shows the great energy of the awesome group of people I am studying with. [I was hoping that the other exchange students who I would meet in Istanbul would be ones to step out of the box and be both cool and quirky, turns out I was right.]

Friday was an organized CIEE neighborhood tour around Kadikoy which is one of the more historic towns on the Asian side of Istanbul. It was raining all day. But I didn't realize the weather forecast when I had gotten dressed in the morning so I had no raincoat and wore only flat cotton sneakers. Bad idea. (But a learning experience: ALWAYS prepare for rain.) Once I accepted the fact that my feet were going to be cold and wet for the rest of the day I could embrace it and focus on other things, like looking at all of the cool things in Asia! (even if they were hard to see through the rain and fog)...  We even made up songs and dances about how miserable we all felt to help lighten the mood. 

We went to an old train station, happened upon an exhibit of local art, ate dinner by the Bosphorus, walked through the fish market, checked out the famous Kadikoy bull statue, drank tea, and shopped around the streets. The prices were much more reasonable than in Taksim which is much more built up and where we spend most of our time. Since we were in Asia we had to use Asian style toilets, I'm starting to get the hang of it... unfortunately. 

My pruney toes straight out of my soggy sneakers after getting home from the long wet day. I needed to document this.

WEEK THREE

      Wednesday, February Thirteenth, marked my third week here in Istanbul. Time has been passing so quickly already! Almost a month into this endeavor, I can't believe it, I don't want it to be true. The other day I was walking up the staircase to S dorm because a group of us were meeting there for a quick dinner before the language exchange event and I had one of those 'moments'... I was walking up the stairs and it was a cold night, just like the very first night when we all arrived to Istanbul. I couldn't believe that I had already spent so much time here and have already become so comfortable with everything and everyone. Three weeks seems like such a short amount of time when you think in the global perspective but considering I am only here for a little over 4 months, 3 weeks is a huge chunk of my Istanbul time that has already passed. It makes me feel conflicted: happy and sad. I am so glad to be fitting in here and that the country and culture has beyond exceeded my expectations but on the other hand I am sad that the time has been passing so quickly! ...But I suppose that is a good sign, as the cliche goes "time flies when you're having fun." And so much fun I am having indeed! 

      Every day I force myself to try something new here, to go somewhere I haven't been, or talk to someone that I haven't met yet (this task however is relatively easy seeing as there is so much to see and do in Istanbul and on Koc campus). Since the academic semester is in full swing now I am trying to get involved around campus. I am still active with my original CIEE group, getting informed about all of the ISS (International Student Society) events, joined the equal rights movement here on campus called "eKUal" who meets weekly, also trying to keep up my semi-routine yoga class attendance, and as I mentioned earlier also participating in the language exchange program which is basically designed to introduce exchange students to Turkish students to help us intermingle rather than just stick to our groups. So much to do, so busy all the time. I hate to waste one single moment of my time here, basically having to force myself to stop and sleep every once in a while. Hopefully I can survive at this pace for the entire semester! Only time will tell...

"Cultural Experience"

Hannah & Si-Si & Sam & I went to support the Koç Rams Saturday at the Istanbul-wide Ice Hockey Championship game! WHICH WE WON 6-3! GO RAMS! At the game I learned that Koc means Ram in Turkish. Makes sense. I always thought our logo was a Conch shell because that's what it looks like and it kind of rhymes with Koç... turns out it is the horns of a ram, OH. (So we are the Ram Rams haha)

 Koç Koç Koç!

Behind the rink hangs the flag of Turkey, a giant portrait of Ataturk, and the Istanbul logo. 

 After the game we went out to celebrate in Taksim with the rest of the CIEE crew. Went to a shots bar and then a dance club called BEAT where I met a Deaf Turkish person (I love deaf people and know the basics of ASL) but unfortunately we could not directly communicate because he only could sign Turkish Sign Language and I could only sign American Sign Language but luckily his friend knew TSL and spoke English so he was acting as the middle man for us for a while. Good times in downtown Istanbul despite the rain. The rain can't stop me! This force of nature [me] beats that force of nature [rain]. I split the cost of an umbrella that are sold every five feet on the main street for only 5TL each (what a deal, only cost me about $1.75) - it was a cheap umbrella but effective enough for a one time use. At the end of the night the rain had subsided and I left the umbrella at the club for some other poor soul to use at a later date.

Campus Sunset

I love my university. The isolated location can be annoying at times when you want to pop over to a grocery store real quick but times like these when the world around you is astonishingly beautiful makes it more than worth the distance. 

Archaeology

Taylor and I made our way to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum today which just happens to be in Sultanahment, where everything cultural conveniently just happens to be - it's like they planned it or something :)  ...After taking four different types of public transportation we made it to the massive museum that is actually a courtyard of four different buildings because of the massive amount of stuff they have! [whoever curated this museum really let it get away from them (someone was purchase happy)]

The variety of exhibits really makes the fact that Turkey is a melting pot sink in. There is Egyptian influence, Asian influence, European influence, and others.

The actual iron chain of Ancient Constantinople used to block passage through the Golden Horn during times of war. 

The outside storage of miscellaneous archaeology finds that wouldn't fit inside the massive museum.  Just straight chilling in the elements for the world to access. There is so much history in Turkey they don't know what to do with it!

My new friend. An excavated mummy from one of the sarcophagus. He still has hair.

 <<<MORE CATS>>>

I squatted down to pet this little guy and he took full advantage, jumped right up onto my lap (got little muddy footprints on my jeans because it had been raining) and tucked himself into my scarf. SO CUTE!

Donated Kitty Condo at the entrance of one of Istanbul's many public parks. SO CUTE!

How would you like to call the grounds of a museum your home like this little guy does?

Night in Reflection

Beautiful night in Istanbul. 

After a full day of being tourists in the Sultanahmet District we ended in the Grand Bazaar and got lost. Lost INSIDE the Bazaar. I have never before had to ask for direction in order to EXIT a building. This place is literally a maze and every isle looks the same so it's not even like you could use land marks to help navigate your way. But it certainly a fun adventure. I didn't really mind getting lost because you get to shop all along the way. But this place is so huge, NFL stadium size huge, that once you do find your way to an exit you are still super disoriented as to where you are on the outside. So we wandered around. Found some other cool shops. They are everywhere. Shops here, tea there, another shop here, some pastries over there, boots, books, kebab, another shop, some coffee, and all the while there are street vendors selling things such as fresh caught fish, roasted chestnuts, baked goods, jewelry, and black market watches/perfume. Anyways, we followed the crowd and finally found our way onto a pedestrian populated street (with the occasional car that seemed to part the red sea of Istanbullus) which we figured would eventually lead us somewhere that we were familiar with. Along the way we stopped for a quick bite to eat seeing as we had just had a long hard day of site seeing and shopping. We got a well deserved pizza-esque meal, used the restaurants free&clean bathroom, and were on our way out when we noticed the bakery section.....! So we split a most delicious banana cake thing which was so delicious that we had to get another one in the chocolate variety. NOM! We then made our way back onto the street and finally oriented ourselves when we were able to see the Galata Bridge which we proceeded to walk across to find the Füniküler station (which is an above ground metro that connects the underground lines). 

The pictures below are the view of Sultanahmet (and the New Mosque) from the Galata Bridge. The reflection of lights on the water in addition to the contrast of old and new made this the perfect scene. 

School Grind

Hey Ya'll,
      Sorry it's been a while since I posted.
      School has started so now my schedule has picked up even more, and sometimes I forget that I am abroad seeing as I've started to make real friends and get into somewhat of a routine. It's hard to find time to fit in everything I want to do as well as everything I need to do. The first week of classes went smoothly. It was pretty laid back (as it is in the states), mainly going over the syllabus and not lecturing on too important topics seeing as it is still add/drop week. I'm really pumped about my drawing course! We already got a portfolio and list of materials we need to pick up but I'm finding this list to be quite a challenge because there are no art supply stores in Sariyer. Something different about the courses at Koc than the States is that we get field trips! I already know of at least two field trips that I will be taking this semester. One with my drawing class to get inspiration for our final project and the other with my Culture Heritage Management class to a Turkish archaeology site.

In other news, I finally have something to complain about in regards to Turkey...

No body picks up their trash (well that is a generalization).
Its beyond frustrating... especially on campus.
Yes I know they have employees who come around and clean up the tables but they also have a ridiculous amount of tray cabinets, recycling bins, and trash cans for students to use. But there still are always piles of trays left on the tables and trash scattered about. There are huge green posters everywhere in the cafeteria and plastered literally on every tabletop that describe the university's green movement trying to encourage students to use the recycling bins and clean up after themselves. Because if the students don't separate their trash into the recycling bins, it will all end up in the trash seeing as the employees are too busy to be bothered with separating other peoples trash.

And they put their cigarettes out in the flower boxes, poor flowers, poor gardeners. And it seems as if EVERYONE smokes cigarettes here. Even if you don't go near them on a night out, you always come home reeking of them because the smoke fills the city streets.

OK, rant over.

Turkish Rap

Aeroplane

WHOOP WHOOP CONCERT IN ISTANBUL LAST NIGHT WAS EPIC!

Spoils of War!

Yesterday we went to the Grand Bazaar finally! The shopping experience of a lifetime. It is an indoor football stadium sized maze of shops selling everything you have ever dreamed of. Each shop specializing in one item ranging from antique pocket watches to rugs to jewelry to Turkish coffee to local art work to plates to hookahs to anything and everything! And there are so many shops side by side selling the same type of stuff that the store keepers have to be very attendant to everyone who passes by. You don't go one minute without someone hollering at you to "spend your money here" or encouraging you that their products are "almost free" with an endearing "yes please" and "hello beautiful" every now and then. I am pretty sure they have memorized these sayings in almost every language so that not one potential customer is overlooked. Word around the block is that prices here are a little higher than shops in other areas of Istanbul because it is a big tourist attraction but its worth it for the experience. It is very important to bargain because the first price offered when inquiring "bu ne kadar?" (Turkish for "how much is this?") is always exorbitantly expensive. But with a little eyelash batting and scare tactics they will come down to a nice compromised price. I snagged a leather bound book of blank pages with an emblem of the evil eye, a wall hanging jeweled evil eye, and a shiny red&blue Turkish made bed cover.

The Old City

Sultanahmet District -

For full effect listen to this video while you read the following post. It is of an Azan, the Islamic call to prayer that rings through the city five times a day:

AYASOFYA

The largest building of this type I have ever been inside. There is nothing comparable to the sensation you feel upon stepping foot inside of this most spectacular World Heritage Site. After making your way through the museum entrance the room opens up to what seems like an impossibly large and mind boggling arena of religious symbols. There is no better way to describe it than the cliche that it takes your breath away. The light coming through the stained glass windows flooded the room making everything appear to glow. Gold leaf, mosaics, tiles, and detail painting covers every inch of the interior. Every which way you look there is something eye catching. It is remarkable to think about how much pain staking work went into building and decorating it especially when you consider that it was constructed in 537 BCE.

http://www.ayasofyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/tarihce.aspx

TOPKAPI PALACE

We only had an hour and half time slot for touring the palace and the exhibits within its walls however the shuttles being late and getting our museum passes shortened it so that we were so rushed after we finally made it inside. I for sure will be taking another trip here because I barely made it through any of the rooms and hardly had time to read any of the descriptions alongside of the artifacts. There was so much bling! So many golden thrones. Beautiful ceremonial suits of armor. And some really famous diamond that I missed :/

http://www.topkapisarayi.gov.tr/

BLUE MOSQUE

After waiting in the courtyard for 20 minutes until prayer hour was over we were allowed inside. It was only a brief walk away from the Ayasofya. All of the sites in the Sultanahemt district are so close together it is amazing! Even the Grand Bazaar is only two tram stops away. After seeing the Ayasofya the Blue Mosque had a lot to live up to but their beauty is so different they are hard to compare. The Blue Mosque is a lot less ornate and still a functioning place of worship. 

http://www.bluemosque.co/

(View of the Blue Mosque in the distance from one of the Ayasofya windows.)

If your dress is not appropriate enough, long skirts (such as the blue one Emily is sporting above) are provided along with head scarves. And no shoes allowed thus the whole place smells like feet. 

Unfortunate News

Two dead in suicide bomb attack on US embassy in Turkish capital Ankara
   article link^

After walking out of the Hagia Sophia today our mentors informed us of the bombing in Ankara at the US embassy that had occurred only 10 short minutes prior. Ankara is 5 hours inland from Istanbul via road travel. The news certainty put a damper on the rest of the day but we all tried to keep the mood light. We were reassured that being in Istanbul was the safest place especially Sultanahmet (the old city) because it is the cultural center of Turkey rather than the political center such as Ankara. Istanbul has much less everyday crime than the states and I feel more safe here (especially on Koc campus) than I ever have in Baltimore or Washington DC.

Garipçe Brunch

Traffic Madness

The traffic in Istanbul is ridiculous. I just got back to my dorm on a bus ride that was supposed to take one hour but we hit rush hour and football traffic which doubled our trip. If the traffic alone isn't bad enough, the style of driving in Istanbul makes it that much worse. Every time I look out the window I swear we are about to hit something whether that be another person, the median, or an oncoming vehicle. I don't know how the drivers have managed to get us safely to our destinations seeing as it's almost impossible to tell the difference between the road and the sidewalk - there always seems to be people and cars on both. And the fact that even when there is only a single one-way lane they somehow turn it into a two direction road. There must be some unwritten Istanbul driving rules but I haven't been able to identify any sort of organization yet.  

This video I found is a pretty accurate depiction. 

But add more cars.