An Unconventional Vacation

This past week (14 – 21 November) was the religious Bayram holiday in Turkey so we had a week off school. Bayram was described to me as being the Turkish equivalent to Christmas, in the way that most people that celebrate Christmas will try to make it home to family. In the coming weeks before Bayram my friends Kaspar [Denmark] and Justin [Iowa] and I made plans to go somewhere but of course we hadn’t sat down and solidified a travel itinerary, let alone any sort of general plan of action. We knew that we wanted to go EAST. We knew that we wanted to do something unconventional and stray off of the normal tourist path. But mostly I think we knew that we wanted “to establish worldly connections and learn foreign culture and language through immersion” (to quote my mission on www.couchsurfing.org). Undoubtedly, we were all hungry to experience Turkish life outside of Istanbul.

So vacation finally rolled around and we went to buy bus tickets somewhere to find that every single travel agency and bus company had been fully booked – from this we learned quickly that when piecing together any travel plans in Turkey during Bayram it is imperative so reserve tickets weeks in advance.

We had to find alternative transportation if we hoped to have a vacation not in Istanbul. I may have suggested that we buy used bicycles and pedal as far as we could, but this may have gotten shot down quickly as an unrealistic tactic. Then the topic of hitchhiking to the East came up and we did some internet research (amazingly, we found much information on past foreigner’s hitchhiking experiences in Turkey and found most to be positive – http://hitchwiki.org/en/Turkey). It was decided. The next morning we located some cardboard for a sign and bought a fat black marker and set out for a journey On The Road, just as Jack Kerouac once did. Our University is conveniently located near to one of the two transcontinental bridges, and we got picked up within five minutes of sticking our thumbs out with a sign saying Doğuya doğru gitmek istiyoruz : We would like to go East.

To cut a very long and epic hitchhiking story short, we ended up making it to Hatay, which is about halfway across Turkey. Hatay, also referred to as Antakya, is around 1,000 km from Istanbul, the southernmost province, on the Mediterranean Sea, and nestled right next to Syria. To backtrack for a second, we hitched from Istanbul to Bursa to Eskişehir to Ankara (Turkey’s capital) to Adana to Hatay in about three days. I guess being a foreigner on a hitchhiking excursion here is advantageous – most of the Turks that picked us up let us know that had we been Turkish they would not have stopped. We never had to wait longer than a half hour by the road before we got picked up. Each time we hit the road we also brought along a cardboard sign displaying in Turkish where we hoped to go next. I think this also helped our cause because it exhibited the fact that we can speak some Turkish, and none of the drivers that picked us up could speak English.

We arrived at Hatay at five in the morning after bumming rides from a chemical engineer, a religious couple, a student, and an insurance salesman, among others. And, although we were all excited to reach our destination (we determined halfway through the voyage that Hatay would be where we’d go) we all agreed that it was the hitching journey that provided the most interesting aspect of the trip. It was a good feeling knowing that we were injecting a little piece of spontaneous wonder into each stranger’s routine. 

Due to the intensive nature of my classes at Boğaziçi and busy lifestyle I am finding that I have less time for updating the blog. So much has been happening here over the last couple months! I’ve been having a blast! Regrettably, as much as I would like to sit down and write a full account of the events that have transpired, words just can’t do any justice. In any case, here is a quick abbreviated version:

Within a week after posting a Craigslist Istanbul I landed an English teaching job at an American Culture Association language school (http://www.amerikankultur.org.tr/). I now teach Beginner to Intermediate English conversation skills to classes of 10 or so middle school or high school students once a week. Although many are telling me I am making a low average for Native English speaking teachers in Istanbul, I am psyched to be making more money per hour here than I ever have in America (and this is just a start…).

I have joined the Boğaziçi University Aviation Club AKA Paragliding Club. Soon enough I will be taking to the skies wearing a harness with an attached wide canopy parachute. We start training next week. Once certified to fly solo, I will be joining the club on various excursions to far away destinations around Turkey for some truly epic soaring. This is our website: http://www.buhak.boun.edu.tr/Gallery.html

On the 27^th of October the other Lexia Exchange student and I departed for a Lexia coordinated trip to Efes and Pamukkale. This was my first time leaving Istanbul since I arrived in early September. We toured the 3,000 year-old Ancient Greek-built city of Efes and visited Pamukkale – the most unusual geographical phenomenon; a giant calcium deposit that continues to grow with natural hot spring pools.

The Library of Celsus in Efes

Pamukkale

Turkish

My Elementary Turkish for Foreigners class is going especially well. Our teacher Bilgen moves the class along at a high-speed velocity. She demands much time spent studying outside of class (just to keep from drowning in a bottomless pit of endless vocabulary and inflexional and constructional suffixes). I am putting all of my efforts into learning this language and have found it to pay off both inside and outside the classroom. I am learning Turkish to be a very literal and grammatically straightforward language. No exceptions. Sentence structure-wise, it is quite similar to the Thai language.

The University

Classes started on the 27th of September. Boğaziçi University, considered Turkey’s best, is located on the hills above the Bosphorous Strait, near the ancient Rumeli Hisari fortress, built by Mehmet the Conquerer during his conquest of Constantinople, and is above one of the richest neighborhoods in Turkey, Bebek. Not only is the University regarded as the most prominent education institute in Turkey, it also has the most aesthetically attractive campus with many of the buildings built from stone. The University is a collection of four campuses: Kuzey (North) Kampüs, Güney (South) Kampüs, Uçaksavar Kampüs, and Hisar Kampüs. Originally founded as an American institution named "Robert College in 1863, Boğaziçi University was officially established on what had been the Robert College campus for over one hundred years. Boğaziçi University (Turkish: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi) has an enrollment of over 11,000 students. It has expanded both physically and academically since it's establishment. The south campus boasts a most magnificent view of the Bosphorous and Asian side and encompasses the oldest buildings of the University. 

The walk to Güney Kampüs

 The view!

 Mustafa Ataturk - the man behind Turkey's cultural, political transformation - Kuzey Kampüs

Kuzey Kampüs

I am currently taking Introduction to Sociology, Culture and Society, and Elementary Turkish for Foreigners. In addition to these classes I am also enrolled in a private Turkish class and a Research Methods Seminar that are exclusively available to Lexia International students. While I am the only Lexia exchange student who is studying here for one year, there is a girl studying here for this first semester – Jemma, from New York City. There are at least 400 other exchange students currently studying at Boğaziçi. Many are American, more are European: Italian, German, Dutch, Spanish, Danish and French constitute the larger part of the Europeans. And, unfortunately, the majority of them are studying here for just a semester. As was the case when I was part of a tightly knit study abroad group in Thailand, here I am finding it just as easy to get along with the other international exchange students certainly due to the fact that we all share the common interests of learning foreign culture and language, and specifically that of Turkey – an area less commonly represented in most study abroad programs. Undoubtedly, it is going to be difficult to say goodbye to friends as this semester comes to an end… 

The Saga Begins ...

Hello from Istanbul! Let me give you an idea of the events that have occurred over the last month:

I landed in Ataturk International Airport on the 6^th of September and was immediately greeted outside by a friendly mustached-man smoking a cigarette waiting with my name on a sign. He was to deliver me to the hostel I had booked prior to leaving Maine. Although it was perhaps a bit early to make any assumptions, his Lucky Strike cigarettes and well-groomed mustache confirmed my stateside preconceptions of Turkish male displays. This was the first time I have ever had someone waiting for me with my name on a sign at an airport. The initial drive from the Airport to wherever you are going is always an extraordinary and unforgettable experience. As Ahmet skillfully maneuvered the van at breakneck speeds through tight Istanbul traffic I got my first introduction to Turkish driving methods. Here, apparently speed limits and driving rules are nonexistent; drivers drive like rally car racers and laying on the horn every two minutes is necessary if one hopes to not get ran off the road. Indeed, getting from point A to point B in as little time as possible is the main objective, even if it takes running a red-light or steering down a one-way street. Buckling up and holding on as I attempted at a broken Turkish conversation with Ahmet I got my first view of the Marmara Sea on my right and on my left the city sprawl of the great Istanbul, not Constantinople.

Süleymaniye Mosque

At a Bazaar

The hostel that I stayed at from the 6^th to the 15^th was affordable and quite comfortable. Situated in Sultanahmet – the historical district of the city – the Cordial House Hostel is nestled amongst ceramic shops, kebab cafes, and carpet stores down a narrow and bustling cobblestone street and is surrounded by popular sightseeing attractions. Sultanahmet is the best base for sightseeing in Istanbul. Although I prefer not to follow the usual guidebook tourist trail when it comes to discovering a foreign area, I was interested in checking out this part of the city before I moved north along the Bosphorous into my university apartment. Considered the oldest city in the world, one is easily overwhelmed with a sense of the city’s antiquity. It is difficult to go anywhere without stumbling across something ancient and magnificent. I spent my ten days marveling at the incredible mosques, observing everyday Turkish life, sipping Çay tea, and meeting other travelers in the hostel (being my first hostel stay, I learned quickly that meeting interesting and worldly foreigners is an inevitable event and always will provide plenty of conversation). I suppose you could say that my initial entrance to Istanbul was anything but uneventful. Of note was a ferry cruise of the Bosphorous Strait that I went on with two German girls from the hostel and their newly met Turkish friend, Deniz. Ticket costs were reasonable at 10 Turkish Lira (~$7) for a marvelous two-hour tour of the length of the straight. Deniz, who has attended university in both Indiana and Berlin, is the son of the Police Chief of Istanbul. He is now one of my closest friends here.

Bosphorous tour ferry with the Süleymaniye Mosque in the back

...

The BOSPHOROUS Strait. Off in the distance is Asia

A fruit and vegetable market

Looking at the Sultanahmet Mosque from the a window in the Ayasofya

My exchange program coordinator, a foxy redhead named Ece, coordinated for me to get picked up from the hostel and delivered to my new apartment on the move-in date. I was expecting a taxi, what came was a brand new VW driven by an ironically toothless Turkish gent sporting a custom tailored plaid suit who spoke not a word of English. This sort of ride in style was a nice introduction to Lexia International’s first-rate treatment of its exchange students. And, yet another opportunity for me to practice some elementary Turkish with a local.

Superdorm. Taken from my window

I am now moved in to my three-bedroom suite in the ‘SUPERDORM’, a giant student dormitory building located at the Uçaksavar Kampüs at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi (pronounced: Boh-ah-zee-chee). Apparently it is considered one of the nicest and most progressive student dormitories in Turkey. While the rooms are comfortable, the facilities are nice, and the rooms are cleaned daily, it is, however, very expensive, the architecture screams postmodern soviet architecture, and the rules are a bit draconian. All guests must be signed in and out, and friends are not allowed to spend the night, for example. I am looking forward to finding accommodation outside of the Superdorm for next semester not only to save money but also to achieve more personal liberty. I have two roommates, Berk and Ömer, who are both studying English as a preparatory year at Boğaziçi prior to beginning their four year bachelors program. While the vast majority of students and professors are Turkish, the classes at Boğaziçi are all conducted in English (with only a few exceptions), so it is a necessity for those not fluent in English to take at least a year of English prep classes to achieve near fluency.

 Ribbon candy vendor

Signs

Interesting art ... can you spot it?

Valens Aquaduct

Experimenting with slow shutter speed

Photos are in no particular order.. Just a collection of my favorites so far.

I will update again soon! Ciao