Class Time: TBA

Today is the first day of classes here. However, one of my courses has the meeting time listed as TBA. I find this mind-boggling. The course has no time and no location.

I don't have any classes on Mondays so I decided to search for the history office and find out what's going on with TBA.

Step 1: Contact advisor (Thursday)

Class exists. Should hear about meeting time before classes start.

Step 2: Find contact info for professor. (Thursday)

Fail. No contact info on the university's website. Must be a Fulbright or a visiting faculty member.

Step 3: Ask the history office. (Monday)

Somewhat successful. I asked around once I got to the history building. The door was unmarked. There was one person in there. I had no idea how to explain my problem in Turkish so she handed me a phone so I could explain it to someone who spoke English. I was told to contact my advisor, whom I had previously asked about this conundrum.

Step 4: Contact advisor again (Monday)

This is normal. Happens quite often. The class may not start until next week. I now have contact info for the visiting prof.

Step 5: Contact prof (Monday)

Tuesday: News from the prof... we get to pick our meeting time. Awesome!

In other news, this is an Obama cookie. Yes, an Obama cookie. We spotted them at a bakery near campus and thought it was a must.

On Fortresses

I suppose I'll start with fortresses. From the first time I wandered around campus, I found myself wondering about the "castle" I could see from there. A quick google maps search told me that it's not just a castle, it's the Fortress of Europe, or Rumelihisari in Turkish. It was built in 4 months in 1452 in preparation for the siege of Constantinople. It has been partially destroyed twice, once by an earthquake and once by a fire. I didn't know this before I came here, but Istanbul is on a fault line.

It would seem obvious that to get to Rumelihisari, you just follow the signs. This, however, is not entirely the case. The signs took us down a really winding path until we got to a locked door. Knocking doesn't mean you get into the fortress tho. The fortress also lends its name to the neighborhood around it, so I suppose the signs pointed us towards the neighborhood. We later found out that we knocked on the door of a closed turret.

The fortress is right along the waterfront, so we kept walking downhill, picking the streets that appeared to go down to the Bosphorus. In the end it probably would have been faster to take the road we know goes down to Bebek and then hang a left along the water instead of going the long way around. It was good to explore though.

Inside of Rumelihisari is a large courtyard with an ampitheater. A few of the turrets were open, so we wandered around before deciding to climb the walls. Little did the Byzantines know, the Ottomans had elevators!

The fortress has a more authentic feel than most castles I visited in Western Europe, namely because it lacks guardrails, caution signs or anything that would really hinder you from falling. Coming across a pit of death made it more fun. The steps are narrow, worn and uneven. They wind up so that in some places you have about 6 inches turn around and continue going upwards. I was under the impression that people were shorter in the middle ages, so I have no idea how they would have climbed some of these steps.

Brent braves the narrow stairs.

Above: one of many spots where you could easily fall to your death. Fittingly, this opening leads to a graveyard.

The climb was exhausting. At one particular point, we had climbed all the way to a turret, only to find that the turret was closed. By the end of the day, we had climbed pretty much the entire fortress, or all of it that was open.

It's also a great place for cheesy pictures.

When we had climbed to the very top, we sat down to rest and chat and watch the tankers go by. Couples were also taking lots of pictures from various vantage points. It was entertaining to watch other people take posed photos and muse about what dating is like here. All the guys we saw seemed to be several years older than their dates. I haven't figured out if that's considered the norm or if appearances are deceiving.

One thing that I was really amazed at was the lack of stray cats in the fortress. They're everywhere else and it seems like a great place for cats. Lots of trees to climb, stairs, places to hide, birds to hunt. Perhaps the large German Shepherd that the guards keep in the fortress wards off the cats. I don't know.

Crossing into Asia

I have now walked on three continents. Not bad. Not as many as some of my friends, but I’m getting there. The whole trip was a bit of a misadventure really. It was 6 hours of “I wonder what happened to Brent…” He had told us he’d meet up with us before we left, then that he’d meet us at the bus stop, then at ferry, then somewhere in Ucaksavar (oo-chok-sa-var). We never found him till we all got back to the dorm in Etiler (et-ee-layer).

(FYI: Istanbul is made up of 27 districts. I can’t figure out the special characters on my keyboard, so spellings are a bit off.)

It’s a 7 minute ferry ride from Kapatas (cop-a-tosh) on the European side to Ucaksavar on the Asian side. Nonetheless, the one we took back had a snack bar, in case someone should get hungry in those 7 minutes. The afternoon was cold and hazy but the forecast for the next 10 days is much worse so we went to Asia anyway.

As it was absolutely freezing out, we set out to find a café in which to meet up with Brent. Wandering northward from the docks for 15 minutes yielded no cafés. Definitely not in Europe anymore. There would have been 30 in that space. Wandering back southward we found a little café that was actually floating in the Bosphorus. Needless to say, this made it difficult to describe its location. We sat down for tea as the whole place bobbed in the water. It was definitely moving too much for any of us to brave ordering food. The café would be a neat spot to go in the spring. It had roll up plastic windows, like the ones at some Mexican restaurants back home, so that in better weather it’d be an open air patio café.

By this time the sun had set and our stomachs were grumbling, more from hunger than from seasickness. We once again set out to find Brent, who seemed to have gotten contradictory directions in Turkish about 15 times. Once again, we stood out in the cold in front of what we thought to be a well-marked place. Still no luck. We found a restaurant and sat down for a bite to eat. We pretty much resigned to the fact that we wouldn’t find him with directions like “Once you pass a bunch of kebap stands you’ll see a café across from a mosque.” I mean this as no cultural insult in any way shape or form, but that could describe a lot of places in Istanbul. It’s kind of like saying “I’ll be the one wearing orange” at a Texas football game. Moral of the story: we need a Harry Potter style marauder’s map to locate where everyone is because we’re all failing at learning street names.

Instead of continuing our search, we wandered a bit inland. When we found nothing but neighborhoods, we turned back to a dessert shop we had passed up. I have no idea what it is we ate, but it was delicious and cheap. For 8 lira, the three of us split two desserts. The first tasted like rice pudding, but had the consistency of the inside of a roasted marshmallow. It was gooey and sticky and yummy. In hindsight, it would have been great with coffee. The second was shaped sort of like a chocolate flask. Inside the chocolate casing were 4 layers. The top was some sort of chocolate mousse with crushed pistachio, then a layer of darker mousse with chocolate chips, then a cake layer, then a fudge and hazelnut layer. I think Elise has the names written down somewhere.

It was getting late and we didn’t want to miss the

last ferry, since we didn’t know when that was exactly, and believe it or not hopped on the wrong boat. Instead of going back to Kapatas, we ended up in Besiktas (Besh-eek-tosh) and of course, being a good Normandy Scholar, I found a WWII monument. Mark stuck his head inside one of the cannons, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a stray cat had made that its home.

We didn’t know exactly where the bus stop was in Beskitas so we decided to walk in the direction that the buses were coming from. After a frozen hike past gloriously lit (government?) buildings, we ended up back at Kapatas waiting for the bus. Of course, we just missed it and got to wait in the freezing cold for 20 minutes or so, however we were in good spirits. The bus finally came and we found that we had in fact gotten off of the ferry not even a block from the bus stop. At least we now know where the bus stops and how to get to Ucaksavar.

Exploring the European Side

I've spent the last few days exploring Istanbul with some friends and trying to get my bearings. So far I've been to the areas of Etiler (where the university is), Bebek, Taksim, Beyoglu, Beskitas, Sultanahmet and the Grand Bazaar. The university is pretty far north of the Golden Horn and the touristy areas (Grand Bazaar and Sultanahmet), which makes food cheaper, but complicates transportation. The buses, trains, trams, and funicular are quick, efficient and cheap, though we have to pay for every transfer.

My room

Above: view from campus

A few brief things before I get into any stories: I have 3 flatmates. I've only met one. She is a chemical engineering masters student from Tehran, Iran and apparently went back there for 3 weeks the morning after I met her. The other two roommates are Turkish and I haven't met them yet. They probably won't be back for 2-3 weeks, around when classes start.

As I mentioned, we figured out the bus system and spent an evening wandering around Taksim.

This is a hip area of town that's always really crowded. The main street, Taksim Caddesi, is mostly pedestrian, though taxis and trollies often come through. It's lined with Christmas lights that go on for miles. My pic turned out a little blurry, but if you look at the top you can see a santa with an xmas tree. Restaurants are relatively expensive on the main road, but we've found some good stuff on the side streets. Mostly we've been surviving off of fruit, baked goods and kebaps, which range from 1 lira to 10 lira from what we've found, depending on what part of town you're in.

Kebaps are not kabobs served on a stick, they're actually meat (chicken, beef or lamb) carved off of a large skewer wrapped in either a pita, baguette, or Lebanese bread (ie tortilla) and usually involve assorted vegetables. I've had one with lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Other places use onions, beets, cabbage, sheep cheese, pretty much whatever is fresh. Some of them also have a spicy sauce put on them. I have no idea what it is tho.

Turkish coffee is extremely strong and served in elaborately decorated espresso cups. Some places serve it with little cookies, others with a glass of water. You can only drink it to about the halfway line before you get to the thick dregs at the bottom. It's about 2 lira near campus, with the cookies, and about twice the price in the touristy areas.

Tea is also a big staple here. I've had two of the main kinds. Tea is served in curved glasses without a handle and is cool enough to drink once the glass is cool enough to touch. Many places serve apple tea along with black tea, which is simply delicious, especially when it's cold out. Yesterday at the bazaar we stopped for tea three times. Apple tea tastes like warm apple cider, especially with a little sugar. It's a delightful way to warm up from the cold. I have also seen blackberry tea at a few places and tried to order it, but mispronounced it so badly that they brought a different kind.

Other culinary delights: roasted chestnuts sold on the streets, especially in Taksim. Rice pudding. Sweet bread (similar to Mexican sweet bread). Warm rice milk with cinnamon. Pastries stuffed with sheep's cheese. Many varieties of Turkish delight, including a humorous one we saw in the spice market called "Turkish viagra."

Landscape and getting around: Istanbul has more than a few hills. Some of these have roads built on them, others have stairs. The walk down to Bebek was a good example of these hills. If you look far down the road you can see a tiny little woman walking up. I don't know how far down we went in feet, but we walked all the way down to the Bosphorus. The trek back up was a good 7 flights of stairs at least. Some streets have sidewalks, but cars park on them. The curbs are really high everywhere and I think it's to discourage people from parking on the sidewalk. Pedestrians walk in the street, except on main roads. Cars don't stop for pedestrians. It's more or less a mad dash across traffic to get to the other side. Some lights have pedestrian signals but you'll probably still get honked at if you're crossing during the walk signal. The stray dogs (at least around campus) bark at and chase the cars and taxis. For some reason, the drivers who won't stop for pedestrians actually slow down and try to avoid the dogs.

We spent yesterday in the Grand Bazaar, which is the largest market in the world. Unfortunately, I was so paranoid about pickpockets and such that I didn't bring a camera. My friends have pictures tho. I sort of learned how to haggle, but didn't buy anything. Inside the bazaar is a labyrinth of shops selling trinkets, gold, silver, rugs, and anything else you could imagine. We wandered outside of the old bazaar and found more shops in storefronts. A few wrong turns put us in a very traditional part of town where they sell head scarfs and needless to say we stood out like a sore thumb. I also figured out that I need to get a solid black scarf because covering my head with an orange plaid scarf to go into a mosque simply looks ridiculous. We went into two different ones. One was built around 1505 and was decorated with painted designs. It was beautiful but very spartan compared to the New Mosque that we visited later in the day.

About 20 minutes from the Grand Bazaar is the Spice Market, which is near the New Mosque. We went up there for some food and just to wander around. Outside of the Spice Market is a open-air plant and pet market. I was kind of freaked out by the jars of leeches. The pet market was just selling birds, but the area was so full of stray cats that it was hard to walk without one dashing in front of you. All the strays are well fed and tagged, there's just a lot of them.

From there we walked across the Galata Bridge, where there are a lot of seafood restaurants on the lower level, and fishermen on the street level. We hiked up to the Galata Tower, which is an old prison/lookout that now has a bar and club on the top floor. There's a discount to most of the historic places associated with our student IDs so we decided to go back once we get those. From there we took a stroll up to Taksim, following a few winding streets through the musicians area of town where every window is selling guitars, mandolins, violins, cymbals, etc. Once we found the xmas lights, we just followed them to the main part of Taksim. I think we had to have walked at least 12 miles by the end of the day. We left at around 10am and got back after 10:30pm. Needless to say, I'm taking today off.

Arrived

I arrived in Istanbul this afternoon. The flights in were fine. Uneventful. I slept most of the time because KLM doesn't have a movie selection. There was the expected long line to clear immigration and a bit of a hassle finding my bag, but it's all good. I found the shuttle driver for the hostel. As we were waiting for another passenger, we saw six policemen arrest a guy and drag him back through a security checkpoint with news crews following the whole thing. I have no idea what it was about, but I guess it'll be on the news.

There's snow on the ground outside, just a thin layer that fell this morning. The tree trunks are highlighted by snow where the wind has piled it up. I wish I could have gotten a better look at some of the drive in, but the drivers here are actually more aggressive than Houston. From what I have seen there are just so many layers of history here. New apartments next to medieval city walls. A children's slide shaped like a castle next to a castle. I'll write more about my impressions later. Right about now I need to shower and round up some dinner. Getting from the plane to the hostel was a 3 hour ordeal.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I'm all packed up and ready to fly out today. I have successfully gotten over the cold that has been pestering me for the last week. My only concern now is which baggage requirement I will be held to at the airport this afternoon. I have one big suitcase and a messenger bag. The messenger bag is no problem; it's a carry-on. The suitcase on the other hand weighs quite a bit. It's too big to actually fit on my scale at home so I can only guesstimate how much it weighs. Right now it looks like it's around 44lbs. Here's the issue: US to Europe flights have a max of 50.5lbs for the bag and Europe to Europe flights have a 44lb max. I connect in Amsterdam, so I don't know which standard I'll be held to.

I'm not really nervous to go. It just hit me this morning that I'm actually (finally) leaving and that I'll be gone for five months. It's not substantially longer than I'm away in Austin or anything like that. I won't see the extended family any less often than I already do. Somehow distance makes a difference though, in their minds more than mine, I think. I noticed that with all the goodbyes. I have grown accustomed to being away. More than anything, it will be difficult adjusting to being away from Austin. I've gotten used to a certain routine there and living among my friends who are more like family. It has been strange enough being away from them for the past two months in Houston, but it was comforting to find that things went back to just the way they were when I was up there on Saturday. Hopefully the same will be true when I come back in late June. I'm sure I'll miss quite a few jokes and come back slightly confused about who is dating who, but it's all good.

I think Sugarbear has figured out that I'm leaving. The bag has been on my floor for a week as I slowly packed. She is once again curled up on my bed staring at it. Well, pups, I'm sorry but I've gotta go. I have one or two more things to throw in the bag, a few hours to sit around and wait and then I'm leaving on a jetplane.