"Turk means tough...guns, horses and women." - Cagatay

Hello all! I am in beautiful Istanbul Turkey and it has been absolutely wonderful... It's so hard to explain entering such a completely different world, but so familiar at the same time. It seems everything in town reminds me of something from home. In particular the people, but I'll get to that.

First, I have to tell you about the smells. Every moment here is a new adventure for my nose, some wonderfully delicious adventures, some not so wonderful adventures... Occasionally I will get a solid sniff of grilled corn on the street, or the smell of baking bread. Other times I will smell a strong musty body odor (this typically presents itself when one is packed into a tram like sardines, with all arms raised to hold on for balance)... but I hardly mind, because the next moment I smell something much better.

I've done so much while here, but I can't give you names or details. I can tell you that five times a day there is a call to prayer ringing through the air, and that tea is the drink of choice (delicious tea served in glass dishes without handles... still can't wrap my head around that but certainly prevents burnt tongues) and that the summer fashion for Muslim women is the khaki trench coat.


Cagatay, Mustafa, and Megan contemplating life and all it's wonder...


My coffee fortune... Mustafa showed me how to set it up, but no one could read it. Cagatay could though, he said I was going to be very rich. :)

Before my arrival my friend John recommended I meet a friend of his named Cagatay. Cagatay and his girlfriend Demet met us on the first day we arrived, within the first 30 minutes of our arrival. They were so warm and welcoming! We spent all day walking around Istanbul, finding little cafes and drinking good tea. I loved our talks about religion and politics and pop culture. Languages may be different but it always amazes me how similar people are, right down to their core.

The next day we met Cagatay again and his friend Mustafa. They took us to their neighborhood where we bought (well... they bought... Cagatay assures me that this is a traditional Turkish custom... women don't pay.) a lot of delicious food, the most amazing peaches of my life from the market, and more tea. Then we sat around all afternoon laughing about ridiculous things, like the cartoon CatDog... and Cagatay's love of the Lake House. :) It was fantastic.


Turkish tea... I will be bringing home a tea set and a lot of tea...

I am very tired again today, as I spent most of the day working on my presentation for tomorrow, so it is difficult to keep up with everything on this blog... but here are a few random observations.

1. Turkish men love American women... all white blue/green eyed women anyways. While we walk with Cagatay we don't get bothered, but as soon as we are without a man the comments start flooding. My favorites so far: "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me?" "You dropped your smile, would you like mine?" (Megan said) "Yes I totally agree" (Random Man) "Yes I agree too! What is the topic now?"

2. Et is Meat - Very important to know this word...

3. My new favorite football team is Fenerbahçe, according to Mustafa.

4. According to Cagatay Americans speak very fast and slow at the end. Think about it. You'll notice this is true.

Off to bed to rest for my early conference in the morning!

But first... one last picture of some yummy Turkish food. I can't get enough!!!!

"the weather will be great... 24 and sunny..."

This is one of the odd phrases out of many I hear while on the Tube. Seems I continually forget things that will become natural in the next few weeks... like weather in celsius and distance in meters. Even though I'm here, I still don't feel like I'm going to be gone for long... I don't know if it's because I feel at home in most places, or if I'm in a serious state of denial. Regardless, I've been having a ball!!


First landing shot in Iceland... looks like the moon...

Iceland was the first stop on the trip. Although Anya and I arrived at an un-godly early 6:30 am (1:30am home time) without a wink of shut eye on my end, we were energetic enough to head into Rekjavik. After drinking some coffee and eating what is most likely the most delicious chocolate croissant of my life we were off! (Insert funny story: Anya decided to get some Krona out of an ATM... not knowing what the hell the exchange rate was she pressed the "60.0" option. It didn't seem too extreme... however after some help from some friendly locals we discovered that she got 60 THOUSAND Krona...which comes to roughly $500 USD. Needless to say she had to make a little visit to the currency exchange station.) There was a direct bus from the airport into town and it was so early that we had the whole charter bus for ourselves! Our driver was fantastic and told us all about Iceland, from the trolls that like to party, to the mud holes and freshwater springs at his summer home, to the villagers Icelanders make fun of. (Think Alabama jokes...)

He drove us into town and told us all the great things to see, which we experienced for about one hour... then we crashed... HARD. At that point it would have been a solid 5:00 am at home and regardless of how undeniably COOL everything in Iceland is, there was no way to maintain our liveliness.


House with no yard... well... except for the roof lawn. Subsequent question, does this ever get mowed?


mmmm.. head of lamb on a plate...

We tried to rev up with more coffee but it was too late... Iceland was over. As we got back to the airport we had a few hours to kill and I was appreciative of the comfy benches that were available. We arrived at London around 8:30 pm their time and after meeting up with Megan, got to the hostel by midnight. It was at that point that I realized my left foot pinky toe was broken!! Ouch. Too tired to care though. Taped it up and headed to bed.

Today was fairly uneventful. After attempting to meet Anya at a sharp 8:30 a.m. to head to Cambridge, I ended up getting on a train at 9:45 a.m. Walked around Cambridge for two hours trying to find Wolfson and flag a cab that could potentially help me! After no luck I went to a random college and begged for assistance. They called a cab for me and as I pulled up to Wolfson I saw Anya. What great luck! Cambridge was gorgeous and I'm looking forward to calling it home for the next few months.

Tomorrow off to Wimbledon at 7:00 a.m.!!

9 Days to Go!

It's officially down to single digit days before my trip, and there is much to be done!

First off, I have no idea what to wear!! Yes, this is a lady type concern and I feel a little ridiculous for being concerned about it, but I am going to be in Turkey, Greece and Spain in the hottest month of the summer and since I can't go completely naked I have to find a way to be mostly naked, while protecting my ghostly white skin, in front of people. I haven't come up with anything good yet.
Second big problem is I have about 15 books I need to take with me! Books I've been wanting to read, books I have to read, and books I know I'll need... all in all this makes me wish I hadn't snubbed the Kindle. I'm not yet sure how to resolve this situation.
Third, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tie up loose ends. I have books to be returned, checks to cash, programs to be printed, and web bought items to be shipped! Will it all get done? Who knows!?
Mostly I don't feel like I'm leaving yet. Life keeps chugging along and I haven't really had to say goodbye to anyone yet.

Recent Negative: My generation kind of sucks... I am doing research for my presentation in Istanbul, and the subject concerns young professionals and their involvement and engagement in museums. I am doing a lot of reading on the subject and we're basically entitled, selfish, bastards. Now, granted we have an interest in social and environmental issues, as well as a concern for under-served populations, but MOSTLY, we're brats. The worst part is I find myself reading about my generation going, oh my, they're right! Take this trip for instance... I am spending an obscene amount of money to travel the world and have no regard for the long term repercussions of spending all my money without job security. I hardly care, because to me life is about fulfillment and I'm willing to make those sacrifices for myself. But in the end the sacrifices will land on my parents, who may have to support my ass when I return to the states to find I have no money and no job. And they will do it happily! - Classic Gen Y situation. Oh well I say! I am a product of my environment.

Positive: Um, I'm going to freakin' Europe!!?!