Heartbreak: Not in İstanbul, Not Yet Home

Anyway, Liz and I were leaving to go to the airport the next morning after the strangely orchestral concert.. we checked out and left at about 11:30. Got on the bus with insane amounts of luggage and proceeded to get stuck in İNSANE traffic. Everyone got off the bus and just walked actually because it was backed up forever it seemed, due to the arrival of an İranian politician.. I feel awful to not know who, but someone super important. A girl we met on the bus, who was a graduate of Boğaziçi, told us we'd have to take the metro, but the stop was forever away it seemed and we had tons of luggage. Way way way too kindly, she and another girl helped us all the way there, since they were going to Taksim anyway. It was still alot of trouble to them to help us carry it all across İstanbul on the rough brick/rock sidewalks, up and down stairs at the metro and so on. Some of the escalators not working and that was particularly painful. Once we got to Taksim we had to take a shuttle to the airport... and things were slightly better then. I was pretty lost in the airport.. but managed to get on my flight to Amsterdam. The upshot of it is.. I was dragging stuff around for at least 3 hours..

Well I met a cool guy, also from Boğaziçi, on the way to get on my plane to Amsterdam. He's apparently there often, so he gave me some tips, complimented my Turkish and disappeared, at least until Amsterdam. I met him again when we got off the plane and he informed me of various things, like Americans not needing visas there, where the info desk was.. etc etc. Super nice guy, and rather attractive!

He supports Fenerbahçe however.... enough said.

Anyway, people at the info desk in amsterdam were relatively helpful, the first girl I talked to tried to get me a "cheap" hostel at 22 Euros (about 45 bucks) but the line was busy.. I wandered around aimlessly while she helped millions of guests without problems, fluently, in every language imaginable. I talked to the other guy later.. he was just about the cutest little thing ever and had an adorable accent. He also had problems getting through to hostels, He eventually got me one at 26 Euros and sent me off into the world with a map to my hostel, telling me to take the train or tramway or something.. I never really figured that one out.

I wandered about confusedly until I asked a guy for some tickets to *point at map* I bought round trip tickets and such. I got on the thing and went to central station, meeting a few other Americans who werent dumb enough to be traveling around strange countries in Europe alone. All were shocked that I went to Turkiye, dunno why... So at Central Station I had to find a bus to *point at map* and such. This took a few tries, my bus stop was actually across the street and around the corner. It was dark and cold, and I had a bag of the most random items ever.. those which I removed from my suitcase of 33 kilos (no idea what that means) in hopes of getting it down to 25, thus avoiding overweight fees of ungodly sums.

Basically, I jumped on several buses and asked the drivers if they were going *point at map.* They generally looked at me with a oh-you-pitiful-American sort of expression and pointed where the proper bus would come. I managed to find it.. and paid to ride. A million stops later the bus turned off... uhhhh wups, I walked to the front and the busdriver gave me that condescending look again... "you were supposed to get off three stops ago"
"Oh really.... well... uh"
"Im leaving in ten minutes... you can go back then"
"Really? Thank you so much!"
"in the end it doesnt matter"
*? smile and nod*

I got off and looked at the map on the last bus stop. Hmmmm, ok I'm here and.. HOLYCRAPLOOKATALLTHOSESPIDERS.. I had made the mistake of looking up and they were everywherrrrrreeeee I was kinda freaked out actually... Never have I seen so many in one place. I looked down at my bag of random things.. SPIDERS ach, all over, ech! so fast?.. At this point I gave up and got back on the bus with a frantic, twitchy sort of dignity (true story), both sad and relieved that they were spiders and not moths. The driver came back, we left, he told me when to get off and kindly gave me directions to *point at map*, again with the same kindly, pitying look..

I walked over there, you know, where he said and found the place, checked in, talked to the guy at the front desk about how long to get to the airport etc etc.. So I went to my room and got ready for bed.. set the alarm clock on my turkcell (soo happy I didnt throw it off my balcony after all, yesss). I woke up by myself at 6.. Dunno why, but I had a feeling something was terribly wrong. I looked at my clock, went back to bed.. later I realized that I was not only still on İstanbul time with the turkcell, but I also set it very wrongly. I didnt have time to eat breakfast cuz of this, ran out the door and toward the busstop. I found a tram/train thing at back at the central station and sat next to two more Americans who were disturbed about my having gone to Turkiye on a whim, all by myself.. I got to the airport, despite leaving way late, in time to catch my flight. The food they have on Dutch airlines is WAY better than American ones..

I took no pictures in Amsterdam, I was too stressed and heartbroken

Last things..

So at some point I wanted to make a post continuing to describe my experiences of İstanbul with posts of my favorite themes of photography in İstanbul. I will do this, however, I must first post about my last week or so in Türkiye. Pictures that I couldnt post because of construction-related internet issues and whatnot ensue below:

Alyssa using one of the computers in the building where we had lab. These are the ones that have stainless steel keyboards, which I am jealous of, and obviously no chairs, which I am not jealous of. I like this building though.. lots of glass and shiny everywhere, except..

The stairs are this awesome frosted glass, which looks super cool. However, they left the writing on the BOTTOM of them before they were installed. That means that it cannot be cleaned up.. this bothers me alot and reminds me of the fingerprints on the İNSİDE of my turkcell screen (Whyyyyyyy?). These problems cannot be undone now, as they are on the unreachable sides.. D:

Here's the open-air theatre, ironically one of the few places in İstanbul where smoking İSNT allowed.

I liked this stage set-up, with the chandeliers in colored boxes and stuff...

Barışarock, the all day rock concert I attended for the negligible fee of 3YTL. This was taken really close to the time we got there, early afternoon.

I love that strange rocker-type people play futbol at concerts in this country. Notice the sad guy on the right, he cant play because he has a girlfriend he has to spend time with. :(

These obviously way cool turks came to block our view. I love their hair.

Riding bikes with flags around in circles on the grass in front of the stage... dangerous? Well nobody got hurt..

It gradually got more crowdy, which İS a word actually.

Making fires..
I'm not sure what this is or why they do it, but they do and I took a picture of it! Lies? not so much, I was recently informed of this thing here ... So actually, its a folk dance originating in the southeast of Turkey. Most places to have their own, but this one is called halay and apparently everyone knows it.. anyway, thanks so much Olgun :)

Colorful smoke! Colorful Hair! Garbage...?! İn general, it seems there are very few trash cans in İstanbul, I dunno about the rest of Türkiye though. Anyway, people clean up at night I think.

This is the food/buy stuff! area of the festival grounds, at night it looked prettier :)

YEY! I had to climb the only tree around to see them, well Osman helped me up cuz I'm short and he knew it was important to me. I wouldnt have been able to see at all if not for that. There was a dude who climbed like all the way up this tree too, which was awesome of him.

So on the last Sunday I was there, before finals week (if you can call it that) Michelle and I attempted our sightseeing adventure, the one where most everything was closed. This was one mosque we went to, Yeni Cami I think. They were both in Eminönü.

The bustling street outside of it, very near the CLOSED Spice Bazaar.

The other one was very pretty as well, as you see here. I also liked the cramped, winding, hidden staircase leading up to it... Rustampaşa or something, I dont really know

Michelle enters the staircase to leave..

picture from the stairway...

The street outside.. naturally covered by the ever-so-popular red and yellow flags... Sooo, later that day we went to cook at Betül's, our writing and speaking teacher.

Some of the foods she and her friends made. So good!

A random picture of North Campus.The building to the left is the library. I went there once, they had a whole staircase blocked off and filled with potted plants, I approve of it. I dunno the other buildings. North Campus seemed small, maybe its just cuz we had no reason to explore it much. To the right is a small bookstore, cafe and the post office.

Alyssa drew on one of the rocks at Simit Sarayı. Never fear, most of them were defaced before we got there anyway. I should have taken pictures of some of them as they were quite artistic or possibly whiny and poetic. İts too late now, I cannot go back! v.v

So I mentioned all the noise and lack of internet.. here is the cause, just look at all those toilets and countless other pieces of.. stuff. Anyway, this constitutes somewhat less than half of the.. stuff. Construction or Destruction? We report, you decide!

We had visitors to our room the day of the final exam :D. The white and grey one was a frequent in our classroom, very friendly and distracting. The black one was new and they wrestled around a bit in Rebecca's bag. They, and the one that ate Alyssa's lunch under the table, were shooed out before the test..

The hall filled with students waiting to take oral exams.

This is the street right outside of campus, the one with several little cafes and stuff along it. I randomly took this picture from the bus stop, as it was likely the last time I'd catch a bus from there D: Plus that guy walking down the street was dressed rather nicely.. anyway

I was catching a bus to Beşiktaş actually, for my last ferry into Asia... Kadıköy to be exact. So here's a street scene of Kadıköy... and

... a MANAV! This is my destiny, Betül even told me so.

And a really awesome candy shop! So anyway, later that night I went to a concert with Alyssa....

The same open-air theatre as before, but we were on opposite sides. The concert itself was pretty amazing actually, and still strangely smoke-free, such a rarity in İstanbul.

This is the first band.. I think, I dont really remember. See the problem was that there were two bands playing and I'd never heard of either of them. Anyway..

I think its the second band here.. but I honestly dont know. Alyssa, Heeeelp!

The ends of these concerts are pretty exciting, especially this one because both bands played together for awhile, there were 11 people on stage! Anyway, see all the gigantic Avea balloons they throw out for people to play with? Avea had sponsored this whole series of concerts actually. Plus Avea is super cool and has the best music video ad ever that they would play before, during the intermission and after the concerts. In any case, some people would hold onto these ginormous balloons and carry them over their heads out of the theatre. I never got a good picture, but it made them look alot like ants in the bustling lines streaming from the theatre below us. It was one of my favorite things ever.

They give really random complimentary stuff out at concerts.. so here it is, containing some wet wipes, laundry detergent, feminine pads.. dishwashing soap...

Sooo, the next day, after that last test, which was luckily not included in our grade since advanced and intermediate students alike got the same test, there was a baklava party outside the building. This is just about everyone from the program, some of them tired enough to sleep on high and uncomfortable pillars. Later we went to Cafe BU to hang out with our TA, Aslı, one last time...

Uhm, so it looks like the van outside is just sitting in the treetops? XD I like Cafe BU because there are no buildings higher than it in the immediate vicinity, which is the really annoying thing about sitting on the roof in most restaurants. I always got mad when I saw people
in other places sitting 3 stories higher than me.... That night...

I went all the way back to the SAME theatre, luckily Alyssa and I discovered a much faster way to get to it the night before, for yet another Avea concert (I'm such a pro at attending Avea concerts)... By now I love Avea but maybe thats because I hate Turkcell and the phone they plagued me with, or maybe its that awesome commercial.. actually there are a million reasons to love Avea. Anyway! I'm with Liz here and we're in the middle now :) I dont know whats up with the new Patlican signs.. near as I can tell it still means eggplant or something..

Me and Liz before the concert! I cant imagine why Alyssa and I didnt take pictures of us at these things. Actually a guy sitting next to us, who Liz ended up not liking at all because he snobbishly told her there was no smoking allowed took this. Anyway, Alyssa left this night to go tour around Türkiye... I was heading home the next day.

Yey! concert. It was strange actually, what with the orchestra and all. That was unexpected.. Unnaturallll

The billboard I hate.. because it covered up an amazing billboard before I took a picture of it! grrr. I finally took a picture, but it was a month and a half too late. I dont know why I included this actually... ignore.

Later I'll post more and try to wrap it all up a little

Finals.. concerts..

So.. there is all sorts of ridiculously noisy construction happening in our dorm recently, actually it has destroyed all chances of internets in our room. Yani... no more Alyssa's computer! I must use campus computers, but this may be the only time I get to one before the endtimes :P Also this means that I cant upload pictures.

Aside from that I had an incredible weekend. Friday we went to Kadıköy to shop and celebrate 08/08/08, which is a really exciting day for me. It was lovely, I didnt almost die and I bought some cool stuff there. Saturday I went to Barışarock, an almost free all-day concert here. We were there from about 1ish (pm) til 2 or 3 am... it was a long day, but amazing. A few bands were great, most were just ok. Anyway, food was cheap there at least!

Sunday I went out to sightsee and/or shop with Michelle for awhile. That went relatively well, considering that everything was closed. See the plan was to shop at Kapalı Çarşı (the grand bazaar) but on Sundays it really is kapalı (closed :P) We didnt know that until we showed up. After that we were going to go to some other stuff, an underground cistern that's been made into an art gallery, an old hamam which is now just a historical building. These were also closed :( We did end up eating ice cream and then getting into a chat with some guys selling earrings, we sat down for çay with them. So after finding all of this stuff closed, we dejectedly walked to Eminönü on the water for a Balık Ekmek (fish sandwhich thing) which was amazing! Then to the Spice Bazaar ( I dunno the Turkish here.. uhhnnn) which, unsurprisingly, was closed. Bummer... anyway, we bought the stuff we needed from the stores around it, the ones that dont have to follow its rules! Then we went to see two more mosques, both of which were beautiful, I thought. By 4:50ish we were back in Etiler, on our way to Betül's (our yazma and konuşma teacher) to make dinner. We made a few American dishes and she and her friends made some Turkish ones.. it was lovely. Today was the last actual class. Tomorrow and Wednesday are tests and concerts for me.. then Thursday I leave. I know, who goes to 2 concerts on finals week? me? Ima be a nautical disaster by the time I get out of here..

I managed to fight off the ants that had viciously attack my room and chocolates last week...

Ungreat things

No, nothing that was ungreat happened.  I'm still having a fantastic time in spite of not getting a whole lot of sleep lately.  Besides that, remember my being sick back in the day? well I never actually recovered from it, but its back whatever it is.  I'm all congested and such nonsense.  It's probably the air here.  İstanbul has had it out for me since I came, so whatever.  In any case, lets recap whatever I can remember.  Next week is my last week here.  This week was thrilling, I suppose, ok perhaps not really.  I went to a concert on Monday evening, good good times.  We met a few exceptionally friendly turks, and had a lovely time, but got home late.  Tuesday I went to Akmerkez (= way upscale, massive shopping mall in Etiler (I think?), which isnt surprising since Etiler is one of the really ritzy semts here, moreso than anywhere I would live in the US.  Actually, I dont like it) Ok anyway, I went to Akmerkez with Liz to get tickets for another concert I will attend on the 13th.  Uh, Thursday I went to the modern art museum and to the bookstore and almost bought a dress, but didnt.  Tomorrow I'll hopefully shop a little.  I dont really have time to say more..

I'll update later.  Oh right, the Ungreat things I mentioned was that.. you shouldnt expect great things from me in the coming week, because my time is running short, I will be super busy with tests and last minute.. stuff.. and about 3 more concerts. byeee

So, last Saturday Michelle and Alyssa and I went to Topkapı Palace in Sultanahmet.  It was a little expensive with no student discount (we find that as Boğaziçi students we usually get one) D: But it was pretty cool.  Massive place.  

Anyway, this is the .. well the yard  I guess, or a wall or whatever.  Anyway, its outside of the place.
The main gates.
Sorry guys, infinitely more thrilling and attractive than the Greek... mm. I tried to restrain myself  though, as far as.. not taking 10 million pictures just of the old slabs of beautiful letters ><

This is the dessert kitchen! Yesss, my favorite place.  These pots were HUGE, the photo doesnt really do it justice.  I could have fit in them... scary.  In any case, I hope my kitchen looks like this someday.

Yeah, dont remember what this was the entrance to.  A really fancy room, actually the fancy room seen below.

Swords! I loved the weapons part actually.  Mostly Persian and Egyptian swords apparently.  Cant remember which these were.  Also lots of armor, axes, halberds, etc etc.. Ooh and..

These Turkish guns were more like works of art than anything.. pictures do no justice, yet again.  They were really quite beautiful, and really really big, taller than me (yes, thats big for a gun).  They had pistols too though.

Some part of the palace.. uhn, yeah.  The courtyard was massive and pretty too :) First court actually, where  you first enter you're in this courtyard.

Nice fountain :) Think this was in the second or third court, third I think.

View of İstanbul from the Palace cafe actually.  If you havent noticed (which you may not have since I take way more pictures of it then I post here, ya know) .. I like views of İstanbul, yes, İstanbul should be viewed lots and lots because its definitely awesomely beautiful.  Plus I love boats alot.. though they are covered by trees here.  Actually there is an amazing amount of boat traffic on the Bosphorus, how lovely.

Tiles and shell-inlayed doors abound in Topkapı Sarayı.. tiles.... tiles..... Tiles!......

TILES! and incredible windows.. and

... highly detailed wall paintings..

Beautiful domes...

and Tiles! and gorgeous windows.  Ok, its getting repetitive, lets move on..

This is actually in the harem section, which is an extra 15 YTL to get to DDD: but everything we've read tells us its worth it so.. here we are.  The court of the favorites, you see.

Uhh, tiles? and lovely detail work on the ceiling.  Any of you who know my artistic style.. can you imagine me trying to make something like this? I'd die... Tiles!

Another view of the yard thing.. after we left.

After Topkapı Sarayı we ate quick, at some Karadeniz-ish place (in reality I wouldnt know, never been to Karadeniz), the one with the waitor/customer kitten dispute of my last post.  We decided to go to the Underground/Basilica Cistern, uh, they call it Yerebatan or something in Turkish, but I dont know how to spell it..  Michelle assured us that it was incredible, and really cool, which is appealing in an İstanbul summer.  She also said you can have çay in there :D Apparently its her favorite place in İstanbul. Neyse, pictures I suppose.

Ohh its so lovely, kinda eerie, quite damp, dark, cool, BIG

Fish abound here, which I love, Alyssa not so much :(  Actually some are really really large, I wonder what kind they are too.  Some of the bigger ones had whiskers and I saw a few looking more like koi :P I wonder if someone dumped those in later.  Anyway, its awesome because apparently everyone had forgotten this thing existed for so long, but it was rediscovered when people started asking why you could catch fish from a hole in your floor in some areas.  That's the story anyway, and the explanation for why there were randomly holes in the ceiling.

So there was this one really strange pillar, most of them were just plain, like in the first picture. I think its a different kind of rock too.. There is also these things here:

Random head, no one knows where it comes from, who brought it here, when, why, how.. and why they had left it on its side.  I guess its not from here originally though.  Its cool, I kinda like the mystery of it all.  

Oh yeah, there were actually two, just at the bottom of some pillars, in the back corner of the cistern. One sideways, one upside down.. hmm.  So interesting.  So there is a place to sit and eat here.. we just had çay.  It was cool and relaxing Well the place was cool, the çay was hot, as it should be.

Sunday we went to an old synagogue that is now a museum.. and to see the Dervishes.  That was nice.  This week we're just busy, trying to study, get homework done, get everything we wanted to do before we leave done.  I need to be shopping for real..  Monday is the last day of class already. Then tests and I'll be leaving so soon, the 14th already.  It's coming so fast, the time just flew by it seems.  Anyway, I should be done? I dont know why I added a question mark there, but it makes sense I think :P