Home, with Turkish interjections that no one understands

So I am writing this throughout my trip home, which has turned out to be a loooong journey. In total, from start to finish it will span 4 days and will in total be 57 hours long. I spent my last week abroad travelling with Devin, another exchange student. We left the night after my birthday party to Plovdiv, Bulgaria after a tearful farewell to our close girlfriends here. We got to Plovdiv at 5:30 am and planned to catch a night train to Belgrade, so we dropped our stuff off at a hostel, tried to sleep on benches but were rudely awoken by a woman with a broom (aparantly we look like vagrants). So we made our way to the center of town and spent the day enjoying the extreme cheapness of Bulgaria. Cappucinno? 1 dollar. Giant slices of pizza? less than 1 dollar. Pints of beer (that isn't Efes, the singular brand in Turkey)? 1 dollar. Ice cream in all sorts of delicious flavors? 1 dollar. Our friend Max and his girlfriend are also travelling the Balkans and we got to meet up with them for half the day to see the sights (really, there isn't much but cheap things in Plovdiv), and then my first night train to Belgrade.

The train was alot more comfortable than the bus, so that was nice, but there was a time change so we got to Belgrade at a reasonable 7 am... but it was actually 6 am.... so we sat in a closed down pizza place next to the tourist office until 9. But we were able to find a really amazing hostel in this really cute neighborhood in Belgrade. The city was not really what you'd imagine from a place that was so recently in deep political unrest. All the streets were beautiful and treelined, there was a huge park/castle area where the Danube and the Sava met, and about every 20 feet you could stop at a little cafe to get coffee and relax. So this is pretty much what we did. Two other exchange students met us there and Devin left with them to continue their trip to Croatia and farther. I stayed, met up with Max and the girlfriend again, and then left via train at 9 on Tuesday night. The compartment was for 6 people and I had it to myself, which was nice, but kind of lonely after spending my time surrounded by so many people. In Sofia I found a day bus that got me to Istanbul by 7 and I was able to meet up with the girl who had my luggage by 8. We went to this Austrian man's apartment/secret bar that has free dinners on Tuesdays. Ive spent a fair amount of time here (did you hear? FREE dinner!) so it was the perfect thing to do on my last night. It's on the top floor of a building that looks over the city, so I got to enjoy one last sunset over the minarets and one last call to prayer.

And now, on to Frankfurt, then Chicago, then Grand Rapids. Its funny because I remember very clearly when I checked in at Grand Rapids. "Istanbul, huh?" said the woman at the counter with raised eyebrows. The woman at the desk here, I'm sure, has no clue what Grand Rapids is. It's going to be so different to leave this city to go back to the Midwest! Not that I think it's going to be bad, just a huge change. I am excited to see everyone, get a job again, start making more and spending less. I just can't believe this is the end of it all.

When I got back into Turkey from Bulgaria, I was like "ahh, now I can communicate!" I'm definitely nowhere near fluent, but I have conversations! I can get my point across. I can ask where things are. And when we pulled back into Istanbul, I saw the minarets in the skyline and I was seriously on the edge of my seat, trying to pick out the signts I knew...

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And now… I’m back. My computer died in the airport and I’ve just gotten around to making some final comments before I post this. Being home has been an overwhelming experience. I can’t explain my life in Istanbul really, partly because I can’t put it into words and partly because I don’t want to start believing it’s all over. But life goes on, I’m starting to get unpacked and organized. I start serving at Thirsty Perch tomorrow and start at Palisades on Monday. Until I get busy I’m occupying my time with the beach and books (I’m reading “Istanbul”, Orhan Pamuk’s memoir of my favorite city). I can communicate now, so that is cool too. But a part of me will always remain in Istanbul. I found this quote in the book that is so true.

"Life can’t be all that bad…. Whatever happens, I can always take a walk along the Bosphorus.”

My walks along the Bosphorus were taken frequently, alone and with friends, but always one of my favorite past times. One day I'll be back for one more.

And that is all. Life in South Haven can’t be half as interesting for you to read about :)

Goodbye Istanbul

I said goodbye to everyone and this amazing city last night at my birthday party. I can't believe I'm leaving. Plovdiv, Bulgaria tonight... Belgrade, Serbia at some point... and then finding out how to catch my flight on June 13. This will probably be my last update from Istanbul, I'll try to give some closing thoughts at some point soon, but thanks for reading everyone. Check back in a week or so to hear about my last week abroad :)

Done with school, summer is here, and it's my birthday!

I took my last final this morning at 9, turned in all my homework, and am done with school for the semester! Besides some grade grubbing ("PLEASE PLEASE PASS ME") tomorrow, I am completely finished. It's about 100 degrees out every day, so summer has definitely arrived and in full force for my last bit of time here.

Since I've gotten back from Spring Break, tons has happened... but the highlights were getting close with my roommate Miranda, summer concerts put on by Galatasaray (right on the Bosphorous) and Bogazici Universities, seeing more of Istanbul (new mosques, cool mosaics, fun shops with friendly shopkeepers), a boat party put on by my friends for all the exchange students (4 hours on a yacht with all your friends, tons of food, and an open bar!), long lunches at Arkadas cafe, laying out in the sun on campus, finding an unofficial bar owned by an Austrian man who lives there when it clears out at night, loving all my friends, figuring some stuff out about myself, and in general, LOVING my life. Obviously, my life is too full to write in my blog, haha.

Today I went out to eat at Arkadas with Miranda... and the guy who owns it is so cute... he gave us bracelets and a little cake with a candle. And I didn't think I was gonna get candles on my birthday. So crazy... I have been waiting to be 21 for a long time, but never ever did I imagine I'd spend it in this beautiful city, with such amazing people, blowing out candles at cute cafes and eating meze surrounded by Turkish people.

My friend Lizzie turns 21 on June 11, so we have a joint birthday party tomorrow night! So much cake is gonna be in my life! And then the next day I'm heading to Sofia, Bulgaria with my friend Devin. I think I'll get to Belgrade, and maybe some of Croatia before hopping back to Istanbul to catch my flight back to the good old USA. Pork products and medium rare steaks... here I come :)

I'm Baaaack

We made it back safely to Istanbul late Monday night after an amazing Spring Break! After we left Oludeniz we headed to Mersin to meet Can and his family. They were amazing people, drove us all over the area, fed us tons of food, and completely opened their home to us. I tried tons of new food (Tantuni -- Mersin style durum, Bici Bici -- an icy jelloey sugary summer treat, Ciger -- liver the Turkish way...). We had a huge Turkish breakfast spread every morning and Can's dad took us out for an amazing fish dinner one night. His sister, Ecesu, is 14 and speaks very good English. She joined us on several of our excursions... I even rode a camel with her!

We did a ton, but to sum it up briefly we hit up: Kiz Kalesi (a castle on its own island), the huge Caves of Heaven and Hell, a bay in the Mediterranean that was fresh water (and freezing... i still swam though!), Tarsus (the smaller town Can went to school in), and the mountainous area around Mersin where alot of people have second homes. It was nice because we had a car so we got to go where we wanted. And hanging out with a family was really nice after being surrounded by only students for so long. I played tennis (terribly) with Can's dad, rode bikes along the coast of Mersin, got my fortune read in Turkish coffee grounds by their family friend, saw a movie in the theater, went to a small amusement park, and got to drive a car. It was a very relaxing end to the break... and so hot too. They set a record in Mersin the day we left, I was dying even after the sun went down!

So now I'm back in Istanbul loving every minute of it. Summer decided to come while we were gone, its perfect weather, the trees are getting leafy and the sun is always shining. This does not help me study, but it makes me so happy! I'm off now to organize my life post-break... must not be distracted by this beautiful evening...

Here are the pictures from my break. I can't figure out how to add it to the sidebar since my blogger is in Turkish now... must find an American IP address. Or learn Turkish. I'll change it eventually...

Brothels and Boats

Funny culture story I have time to write before our bus leaves to Mersin:

When we were in Marmaris chilling on the pier with some sailors of various gülets (the big yachts) we met the captain of a Dutch-owned gület. The other sailors were making fun of his boat which was easily spotted by the long string of Christmas lights strung from mast to mast. But, Turkey is a Muslim country... they don't have Christmas and therefore Christmas lights are a less common thing. And they are probably called something different than Christmas lights... but that is all I know how to call them. Anyways, they turkish sailors were calling it the whore boat because apparently the only houses in Turkey that are decorated with lights like that are brothels. So this Dutch man had decorated his boat and sailed it to Turkey... and it reminded everyone of a whore house.

It just made me laugh to imagine these guys entering a RV park in the US, seeing all the gaudily lit up trailers and thinking of them as brothels.

Relaxing in Ölüdeniz

So today you find Sarah and I in the town of Ölüdeniz, just outside of Fethiye and 3 hours east of Marmaris. Can had to leave us a few days early to head to Mersin, so Sarah and I are on our own here. Since its so much more touristy (all signs in English and an attempt at Turkish is worthless - they just speak back in clear and perfect English) we have had no problems with harassment from creepy guys at all.

We spent one more day in Marmaris - this time on the yacht we had sailed from Bodrum. We sent Can off to the otogar (bus station), checked out of the hotel and dropped our bags off on the boat with plans to go to the beach and leave later that evening. Some friends of the crew who had a boat across the marina were there. One guy was a casino dealer in London who was getting ready to move to Vegas. He was Turkish but had perfect Engish so we told him all about our trip and our school life and our life in İstanbul over coffee. When he and his friends left Sonay, the ship's captain and Yilmas, his friend/crewmate took us for a driven tour of the penninsula of Marmaris. We saw all the small surrounding towns and stopped at Kız Kumu, a beach where a weird sandbar thing stretches out about a kilometer into the bay. So we walked out into the middle of this bay in the Mediterranean... you know... the usual.

Back at the boat they made us a big dinner and then we sat out on the pier eating octopus, a first for me. I did manage to get curry sauce from one of the octopus dishes all over my white tshirt and my one pair of shorts. I think it adds to the sexiness of my outfits a week and a half into the trip (aka they all are gross). Since no one was on the boat we got to sleep in the master bedroom and wake up early to catch a morning bus to Fethiye. Yay for free accomodation!

We're both really exhausted from the weekend so we spent the day on the big lagoon beach/national park that is always depicted on Turkish travel posters. We laid right at the tip of the penninsula (not in those very comfortable looking chairs but on the ground right next to them because they were 5 lira each -- its very annoying to be lying on rocks when there is a perfectly good chair next to you but whatever, money is lowwww). The water was kind of cold at first but I was able to swim for about an hour and lay out on the floating docks they have... ahh beach life.

Tomorrow we set up a 6 hour boat trip that goes around to 6 different places near the city... I'm not sure of them all but I know one place is Butterfly Valley (oooo) and another is some islands Sonay recommeded we check out. And at night we hop a bus to the Antalya area to meet up with friends who are on Spring Break in a really nice hotel. We're going to crash there and then head to Mersin for the final leg of the trip. Wooo travel!

But I'm exhausted and I have a nice clean bed in a little bungalow shack thing that I am very excited for... another big day again tomorrow!

Let's see if this computer likes me

Today it's a bit cloudy, we missed the ferry to the Greek island of Rhodes and we're feeling a bit lazy after the extremeness that was the last couple of days. My last post gave you a taste... but I'll recap what we've been up to since arriving in Pamukkale:

First of all... Pamukkale -- gorgeous. It's a natural formation of calcium carbonate that is created by flowing thermal springs at the top of a mountain. It was really sweet because you just take off your shoes and walk up this white castle-like slope that has tons of pools of bright blue water. İt looks like ice... but it's not. And at the top there are ancient ruins and an overpriced but really sweet 'Ancient Pool' where you can swim in the springs. It was perfect!

And once we finished seeing Pamukkale we caught a 5 hour bus down to Bodrum where we met Can, my Turkish friend who will be travelling with us for the remainder of our trip. He set us up in a nice cheap pension and we spent 3 days there... laying in the sun, swimming (very briefly) in the not-yet-warm sea, and exploring the castle and surrounding town. It was very relaxing... and at one of our lazy breakfasts was where we ment the crew to the amazing yacht we spent yesterday on. We asked about ferries to Marmaris and they told us they don't exist -- the coastline is so convoluted it really doesn't make sense to have a ferry system. So ferries travel half the way and then you take a bus. Buuuuut... they just happened to be leaving to Marmaris, the boat's home port, in a few days and we were welcome to join them for the 8ish hour journey for free. Ummmm yes please! So Thursday night we met Can's best friend's older sister in a suburb of Bodrum called Bitez -- it has a huge community of english speaking people who fell in love with the area and have moved there. So we spent the night sitting by the bay talking with Turks, Dutch, Canadians and Americans. And the owner was so nice he offered us dinner for free... they had an amazing menu though so we decided to splurge and actually pay for a really good steak. The place was amazing and for 20 lira we got 3 hours of conversation and beers and one of the best meals of my life.

The next morning we had to wake up at 5 am to catch a dinghy out to the yacht. We hopped on and found a 8 bedroom luxury wooden boat. You wear slippers all around it, I felt so classy! We spent the chilly morning cuddled under blankets on the huge cushioned bench at the rear of the boat and watched the sun rise over Bodrum. The crew was 5 people, so with the 3 of us we had a small group for this huge boat. They didn't want anything from us, and fed us coffee, Turkish breakfast, and a really good lunch. We relaxed all day... the trip actually took 11 hours due to a belt failure in the motor (it wasn't windy enough to put up the sails :(...) but we didn't mind and were quite sad to get off at the end of the day. They didn't speak much english so Can was really the only one who could talk to them... but we learned enough to find out that the trip we were on was worth 3500 Lira. Ha! And when we got off we arranged to buy meat in repayment and their chef would cook dinner for all of us. Can has family here in Marmaris too so we have a great Apartment Hotel place for really cheap... its the first hot shower I had had in a week so we were late for dinner due to my inability to leave the amazing shower. They still cooked for us and we hung out on the boat for a few hours before heading out to sample the nightlife in Marmaris.

We had some drinks with Can's cousin and his wife... they paid for everything... and then we went to a huge open air club. It was way overpriced so we were just dancing, avoiding the waiter's offers for 20 Lira drinks, when we met two British guys -- we'll call them Richie Rich and his cousin -- who are in town for the beginning of their summer. They were so nice and were genuinely interested in meeting Americans. The cousin was adorable -- he had never travelled outside of england before, despite being 21 he had just gotten his passport the week before. He was freaking out about prom and American movies and how he really wanted to go to America. And they are Richie Rich and his cousin for obvious reasons -- they even have a bodyguard. So now with Can and Richie we are set in Marmaris... we're either getting dinner at Richie's parents expensive restaurant or with Can's cousin and family.

Pretty much, I'm living like royalty, loving life and am so excited to see where this next week of break will take me! Later duudes...