Becoming a Local

My two month anniversary of living in Istanbul was on March 23rd 2013.
WOAH, two months already.
I've reached the point where I am finally familiar with the geography of Turkey and Istanbul.

People know Istanbul as a big city, but what they don't know is just how large it really is. In my opinion Istanbul is more comparable to the size of a state than the size of a city. I can't imagine a larger city in the world. And you would think that a city of this size must have its parts that don't necessarily resemble that of a city, but no, ALL of Istanbul (at least the bits I know) is built up and filled with hustle and bustle. One rarely feels the urge to leave Istanbul and travel to other parts of Turkey simply because Istanbul is so large and varied on it's own.

Here is Turkey...

               

You see Istanbul nestled on the southern coast of the Black Sea, right there on the Bosphorus River that divides Europe from Asia? That's me!

Now, Istanbul is so large that is divided into many many many smaller Districts.

The University I attend is in Sariyer but off campus we spend most of our time in the districts that make up that central grey area on the map below (no one really leaves this central area because the rest of Istanbul is mostly residential). My favorite districts are Beyoğlu, Şişli, Fatih, and Kadıköy. Beyoğlu has Taksim Square, the clubbing hot spot of Istanbul and what is unofficially known as the city's center. Şişli has the Galata Tower and, in my opinion, the best shopping. Fatih has all of the major tourist attractions that are centered in Sultanahmet, the center of the "Old City." And Kadıköy is the cool town where the ferry lands when you make the trip across the Bosphorus into Asia.



And each district is even further divided into different neighborhoods.
For example, this is a zoomed up image of the Fatih district...



Additionally, the areas of Istanbul have their own socially constructed regional names aside from the official names of the districts...



On top of knowing all the different parts of the city, one must also know the locations of all the different culture/heritage sites. Thankfully most of them are centered around the "New City" (Taksim & Galata area) and the "Old City" (Sultanahmet area) - all of which are technically within walking distance of each other but  it is quite a distance so we ALWAYS use the tram.





And yet there are even smaller divisions within the neighborhoods within the districts within the city within Turkey.
For example, Taksim...

 <<Taksim Square & Taksim Monument.

Sidenote: Istikal Street is the MOST CROWDED place that I have ever experienced ever. Day or night, rain or shine, there are always thousands of people walking around. It reminds me of walking through the hallways of my over-capacity high school in between class periods. Except Istiklal isn't only crowded at certain times, it is crowded ALL the time. 

All the while navigating through Istanbul using the numerous different public transportation methods [Dolmuş, City Bus, Metro, Tram, Ferry]. Each of which has their unique route and time schedule...



   

But my favorite story about getting lost in Istanbul does not take place out on the streets, it is inside the Grand Bazaar whose fully enclosed structure is comparable to the size of a football stadium. There are thousands of shops on the inside, and each shop is not much bigger than the size of my bathroom. The building is not rectangular which makes navigating the alleys and finding the exit rather challenging.

 << Arial view



Maybe now ya'll understand the immensity that is Istanbul?
Because I still haven't figured it all out. 

Cappadocia Blog

Cappadocia was this past weekend and the company that we traveled with asked someone to write a blog about their experience and they would pay them 150 Lira! So I snatched the opportunity and here is what I wrote...

(advice: if you click on the image it enlarges again and again)

And here are some of my favorite photos from the trip that I did not include in the ErasmusLand blog...

Open Air Museum

Climbing through the wall openings

City made for tiny humans. 

Stone City

Pigeon Valley

Fairy Chimneys

Camel rock at the Imaginary Valley

My ankles got swollen on the 10 hour bus ride there so everyone was calling me "Cankles."

Climbing around the Imaginary Valley

Laundry Catastrophe

OH
MY
GOD
SO
ANNOYING

So I live on the third floor of my dorm and the laundry room is in the basement. There are no elevators. I had stocked up a bunch of clothes in my room that needed to be washed and when I ran out of socks I decided it was time to do the washing. So I lugged my heavy laundry bag down four flights of stairs into the basement and sorted my clothes into three different loads. Amazingly there were three empty washing machines, perfect amount. So I put in the first two loads but when I got to the third machine the door wouldn't open. The lock was stuck. So I tried all my might to get it open with no success. But I didn't want to face the four flights of stairs any more times than necessary so I put the locked washing machine on a short 10 minute cycle hoping that when it was done the door would unlock like it should. So I waited in the basement for the 10 minutes, did some stretching, printed off some homework... and after the cycle was done the door still didn't unlock. So I went back up the stairs defeated. After two hours (because that's how long one proper cycle of laundry takes here in Turkey) I went back down the stairs into the basement, switched my two washed loads into the dryer and put my one leftover load into the washer. Back up the stairs. Back down the stairs an hour later to retrieve my dry clothes and switch the lonely load into the dryer. Back up the stairs.

Now this is where the real fun starts.
Back down the stairs an hour later.
My clothes are still wet and all the dryer doors are mysteriously open. I figured it was some stupid prankster who thought it was funny to make my clothes wet. So I restarted the dryer and went back up the stairs to go to sleep. This was Sunday night.

Monday I have class all day so I couldn't check on my washing until after 6PM. I head back down the stairs to the basement with full intent to take my clean dry clothes back up to my room and be done with it. NOPE. This time my wet clothes are sitting on top of the dryer and by this point they smell bad so I have to put them back into the washer again. Back up the stairs. Back down the stairs and take my clothes out of the washer put them into the dryer and try to turn it on, the dryer doesn't start. Move my clothes to the next dryer, the dryer doesn't start. So confused I look behind the dryer and all of them are unplugged. I then peek into the hallway to see if there is anyone who can give me some advice and a Turkish student says the housekeeping staff unplugged all the dryers because they were starting to smoke and it was a fire hazard.

Keep in mind this load of laundry has ALL of my socks, ALL of my underwear, my one pair of sweat pants, and my one pair of athletic shorts.

So I take my load of wet laundry to the next dorm over, "Dorm L". All of the dorms supposedly have the laundry room in the basement. However, as I discovered, Dorm L does not have a basement. So after finding one random set of a washer/dryer in the first floor bathroom I can't figure out to start this damn machine because it is different from the ones I have in my dorm. At this point I am laughing hysterically and slapping my laundry bag against the washing machines. And then a nice Turkish girl brushing her teeth walks into the bathroom so I ask for her assistance. Apparently she has never done a load of laundry in her life before because she just goes home for the weekend and gets her mom to do it but she helps translate the buttons for me anyways. Thinking I set the timer for one hour, I start the machine and head back to my dorm and back up the stairs. An hour later I go back down the stairs and over to Dorm L to retrieve my clothes and they are still wet! Kill me. So I set the timer for double what I had set it before, push a couple extra buttons, and the dryer starts to make noises that indicate the drying process has begun. So I go back to my dorm and back up the stairs and go to sleep. This is Monday night.

Tuesday I have class until 2:00 so after class I head to Dorm L thinking there is no way my clothes are not dry. OH but they are still wet, and smell bad again. Kill me. So at this point I don't even care that they smell bad. I am cursing up a storm, slam my wet clothes back into my laundry bag, and stomp over to the second closest dorm, "Dorm G". Dorm G has a basement and a laundry room and a dryer that is the same as the one in my dorm so I know how to properly work it. So I put my wet smelly clothes into the dryer and head back to my dorm and back up the stairs to sit on my bed where I am currently sitting writing this blog post. I swear if my clothes aren't dry the next time I go check I am just going into town and buying all new socks and underwear.

For real, its not like I could just lay out these items to air dry. It's an arm load of singular panties and socks. What am I supposed to do?

Comparisons.

Things TURKEY has that AMERICA should have:

• Peach Juice
• Delicious Pastries
• Delicious Chocolate 
• Ayran (a salty yogurt drink)
• Çay (caffeinated tea served at every meal)
• Lots of Cats
• www.Dizi-Mag.com (free and seemingly endless TV show access)
• 50 Cent Coin
• Bazaars everywhere
• Turkish Delight (except only the pistachio encrusted kind)
• Istanbul Card (money card that we use for every form of public transportation)
• Extreme Respect for Elders

Things AMERICA has that TURKEY should have:

• Public Recycling
• Free & Frequent Public Restrooms
• Less Littering 
• Social Courtesies (such as holding the door open)
• Walmart
• Big Grocery Stores
• Less Traffic
• Potable Tap Water
• Sour Patch Kids
• Netflix access
• Better Womens' & LGBT Rights

Black Sea Hike

Instead of doing homework today like I should have I decided to tag along with a small group on a hike from campus down to the Black Sea and enjoy the first short-sleeve worthy day of beautiful weather here in Istanbul. We kind of got lost but found our way to the old fort somehow anyways. It was amazing. I saw some cool butterflies and wild flowers that I havn't seen before in the states. We ran into a random cow along the path and a sheep farm down in the town near the fort. Climbed around the fort a bit and then dipped our toes in the Black Sea (which was quite difficult because there were no beaches - Shaina almost fell in).