As I said in my first post, I am a very passionate liberal, meaning, although this is a travel blog, expect from time to time to see me blogging about topics other than my time in Istanbul. This is one of those times.
A few days ago, I overheard one of the other Americans telling a non-American student about how, "All Obama's done since he got into office was pass that horrible healthcare bill, and the Supreme Court struck it done, so he has literally done NOTHING since he became president."
On many occassions, when I hear someone spouting conservative or Republican (or Libertarian) viewpoints, I usually keep my thoughts to myself, because I have been known to bite other people's heads off when I'm talking politics. However, in this case, he was SO wrong I couldn't help but interject. This is a summary of what I said, along with some elaboration of my points.
First off, the Supreme Court hasn't even yet agreed to hear the case on healthcare reform, yet along struck it down. It is true that two federal court judges have ruled healthcare reform unconstituional, but two other judges, in separate cases have rules that it IS constitutional.
Staying on the topic of the healthcare reform bill, many people have legitimate ideological and practical problems with the bill. However, I have a few challenges to anyone opposed to "Obamacare":
1) If you are a young person under 26 years of age, or if you have any children under 26, who go off to college, get a degree, study hard, but in today's difficult job climate, can't find a job, you better kick them off your health insurance as soon as they graduate college and not let them stay on until they're 26. Very few young people want to be unemployed bums who do nothing with their life; and if they do, then maybe the parents are the ones to blame. However, these days, getting a bachelors degree is no guarantee of a job and many young people can't find work the insures them and can't afford their own plan. Allowing them to stay on their families plan is one less burden they need to worry about, since they already got to worry about employment, student loans, relationships, housing, food, transportation, etc.
2) If you have a preexisting condition, please let your insurance company know that they can kick you off their plan anytime.
3) If you are currently healthy and have no preexisting conditions, please tell your insurers that you won't mind if they kick you off once you get sick or put a limit on the amount that they are going to cover for your chemotherapy, organ transplant, heart surgery, etc.
If you are not willing to do any or all of these things, then please, reconsider your opposition to healthcare reform. And as for the "individual mandate," coming from Massachusetts, I can say that it has done wonders for insurance coverage here, and noone seemed to be screaming about its unconstitutionality when Mitt Romney was signing it into law.
As for non-healthcare related accomplishments here is an incomplete list of some of the other bills Obama has signed into law:
1) Banning pay discrimination against women
2) Expanding federal hate crime laws to LGBT Americans
3) Consumer protection from credit card company abuse
4) Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which I think we can all agree was long overdue, but would never have happened had McCain/Palin been elected
5) Wall Street reform to help ensure that the corporate irresponsibility which caused the Great Recession never occurs again.
This isn't anywhere near a complete list of everything Obama has done since taking office, but I think it does put to rest this notion that "he's done nothing." As for what he has done, it is fine if you think he hasn't done anything good; but looking at the list above, I'm hard pressed to come up with any rational arguments against any of them.
I have purposefully left out the stimulus package not because I can't find any reasons to support it, but because it would require even more typing, and I'm pretty sure many of think this post is too long already. So thanks for reading all (or some of this) and I promise, my next post will be Turkey-themed.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
HAGIA SOPHIA!!!! (and other sites)
Feb. 12
Today was easily the best day so far! All of the exchange students went for a tour of the Sultanamet district of Istanbul, which is where many of the historic sites are, including the Blue Mosque, the Sultan's Palace, and of course, the Hagia Sophia!
I am unashamed to say that I have wanted to see the Hagia Sophia since I was probably about 11 or 12 years old. It is one of the architectural wonders of the medieval world! And I am happy to say that I was not disappointed. The outside is of course incredible, but the inside is stunning. It amazes me that any structure completed in 537 AD is still standing, let alone one as massive and beautiful as the Hagia Sophia. Many mosaics and frescoes which were covered over by the Ottomans when they coverted the church into a mosque have been restored. We had about an hour to tour the building, and trust me, I cherished every second of that hour.
After Hagia Sophia, we attempted to go inside the Blue Mosque, which is even larger than the Hagia Sophia, but it was prayer time, so only people there to pray were allowed inside the mosque. Understandable, if I were inside a church, I'd probably not like having a bunch of tourists in the background taking pictures and gawking.
After the Blue Mosque fail, we went to the Sultan's Palace, which was gorgeous, and then to the ancient Byzantine cisterns, and then to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was grand indeed, absolutely huge, and certainly not like any backcountry, outdoors bazaar in Afghanistan. The bazaar is indoors, and the shops are all proper shops, with items ranging in prices from a couple kurus (cents) to a couple thousand lira.
Once we got back to the university, we were all pretty exhausted and went straight to bed. But it was all worth it, and did I mention that I got to see the Hagia Sophia?!
Today was easily the best day so far! All of the exchange students went for a tour of the Sultanamet district of Istanbul, which is where many of the historic sites are, including the Blue Mosque, the Sultan's Palace, and of course, the Hagia Sophia!
I am unashamed to say that I have wanted to see the Hagia Sophia since I was probably about 11 or 12 years old. It is one of the architectural wonders of the medieval world! And I am happy to say that I was not disappointed. The outside is of course incredible, but the inside is stunning. It amazes me that any structure completed in 537 AD is still standing, let alone one as massive and beautiful as the Hagia Sophia. Many mosaics and frescoes which were covered over by the Ottomans when they coverted the church into a mosque have been restored. We had about an hour to tour the building, and trust me, I cherished every second of that hour.
After Hagia Sophia, we attempted to go inside the Blue Mosque, which is even larger than the Hagia Sophia, but it was prayer time, so only people there to pray were allowed inside the mosque. Understandable, if I were inside a church, I'd probably not like having a bunch of tourists in the background taking pictures and gawking.
After the Blue Mosque fail, we went to the Sultan's Palace, which was gorgeous, and then to the ancient Byzantine cisterns, and then to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was grand indeed, absolutely huge, and certainly not like any backcountry, outdoors bazaar in Afghanistan. The bazaar is indoors, and the shops are all proper shops, with items ranging in prices from a couple kurus (cents) to a couple thousand lira.
After the Grand Bazaar, the bus took all the exchange students to Ortaköy, another section of the city, where we were all free to get dinner on our own. Unfortunately, the place my friends and I chose to go to was a nargile bar with very expensive food. We would have left once we realized the prices had it not been for the fact that we were seated on the third floor, meaning it would be almost impossible for a group of about 8 young people to sneak out, and our waiter literally stood over us waiting for us to order the second we sat down. We all ordered the cheapests dishes, but unfortunately, the food turned out to be very bland.
 |
| The Hagia Sophia in all its glory |
After leaving the bar, we stopped at a waffle vendor. All day the Turks had been telling us that we had to get a waffle for dessert, so we were excited to try them. In Turkey, waffles are their version of a hot fudge sundae basically, they make the waffle, and then cover it in toppings. I got mine with chocalate on 1 side, nutella on the other with kiwi, strawberry, and banana on top, but there were literally dozens of options for you to choose to from. It made the entire dinner fiasco not matter.
 |
| The inside of the Hagia Sophia |
 |
| One of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia |
 |
| The Blue Mosque |
 |
| Inside the Grand Bazaar |
 |
| Hagia Sophia again, this time at night |
To Asia (then Europe, then back to Asia, and then back to Europe)
Feb. 10
Today I travelled with two friends of mine to the Asian side of Istanbul. Getting there was quite a journey. We took a dolmuş from Koç to Sarıyer and then another dolmuş from Sarıyer to Beşiktaş and then we took a ferry from Beşiktaş to Üsküdar. One of my friends insisted that we could take a ferry from Üsküdar to the other place on the Asian where we wanted to go, so we got on another ferry. It was only when we were halfway on the water that we noticed that the Asian side seemed to be getting smaller and the European side larger. Oops!
As soon as we landed, we had to jump on another ferry to take back to Üsküdar, which was mildly embarrassing. Fortunately for us, a Turkish Koç student who was friends with my friends felt bad for us and picked us up in his car. We then drove past Üsküdar and closer to an area called Kadikoy, which is almost a mini-Taksim, with a lot of upscale shops, restaurants, and hang-out places.
We had lunch at a restaurant and then went over to a nargile (hooka) bar to smoke and to just hang out. One of my friends played the Turkish student at a couple games of backgammon, which apparently is the thing to do when you're smoking nargile in Turkey. After a few hours of hanging out, our Turkish friend drove us back to the ferries, where we took our forth ferry of the day to get back to Europe!
Today I travelled with two friends of mine to the Asian side of Istanbul. Getting there was quite a journey. We took a dolmuş from Koç to Sarıyer and then another dolmuş from Sarıyer to Beşiktaş and then we took a ferry from Beşiktaş to Üsküdar. One of my friends insisted that we could take a ferry from Üsküdar to the other place on the Asian where we wanted to go, so we got on another ferry. It was only when we were halfway on the water that we noticed that the Asian side seemed to be getting smaller and the European side larger. Oops!
As soon as we landed, we had to jump on another ferry to take back to Üsküdar, which was mildly embarrassing. Fortunately for us, a Turkish Koç student who was friends with my friends felt bad for us and picked us up in his car. We then drove past Üsküdar and closer to an area called Kadikoy, which is almost a mini-Taksim, with a lot of upscale shops, restaurants, and hang-out places.
We had lunch at a restaurant and then went over to a nargile (hooka) bar to smoke and to just hang out. One of my friends played the Turkish student at a couple games of backgammon, which apparently is the thing to do when you're smoking nargile in Turkey. After a few hours of hanging out, our Turkish friend drove us back to the ferries, where we took our forth ferry of the day to get back to Europe!
Surviving a Turkish Police Station
Feb. 9
Today half of our group had to go apply for our residence permits. It's kinda like the Turkish version of the Green Card; all foreigners staying in the country for an extended period of time need to have one. Technically, if a police officer stopped me on the street, my education visa in my passport would suffice, however, education visas are single entry only, meaning I cannot leave Turkey and then try to reenter without my residence permit.
So the 16 CIEE all crowded onto a bus chartered for us and took the hour long ride to the police station where our papers would be processed. We went through the metal detectors, then presented our passports, and then waited in a cafeteria for about three hours. After about an hour, the cleaning crew shut off the lights in the cafeteria, making us all feel even more abandoned. Finally, we were led upstairs, to a waiting room filled with other foreigners also applying for residence permits. More waiting ensued, before we were finally given the paperwork that we were to take to the Turkish police officers for them to process. When I handed my paperwork and passport to my officer, he looked it over, and then got up and left for ten minutes with me just standing there like an idiot! I'm pretty sure he was just taking his lunch break. Once he got back, he stamped about 3 sections (which took all of 20 seconds) and then turned in my paperwork. I will have to come back in about 2 weeks to a month to get the actual permit.
After all of our paperwork was processed, we all got back into the bus and back to the university.
Today half of our group had to go apply for our residence permits. It's kinda like the Turkish version of the Green Card; all foreigners staying in the country for an extended period of time need to have one. Technically, if a police officer stopped me on the street, my education visa in my passport would suffice, however, education visas are single entry only, meaning I cannot leave Turkey and then try to reenter without my residence permit.
So the 16 CIEE all crowded onto a bus chartered for us and took the hour long ride to the police station where our papers would be processed. We went through the metal detectors, then presented our passports, and then waited in a cafeteria for about three hours. After about an hour, the cleaning crew shut off the lights in the cafeteria, making us all feel even more abandoned. Finally, we were led upstairs, to a waiting room filled with other foreigners also applying for residence permits. More waiting ensued, before we were finally given the paperwork that we were to take to the Turkish police officers for them to process. When I handed my paperwork and passport to my officer, he looked it over, and then got up and left for ten minutes with me just standing there like an idiot! I'm pretty sure he was just taking his lunch break. Once he got back, he stamped about 3 sections (which took all of 20 seconds) and then turned in my paperwork. I will have to come back in about 2 weeks to a month to get the actual permit.
After all of our paperwork was processed, we all got back into the bus and back to the university.
Gettin Around Istanbul
I'm going to take this moment to stop reliving my experiences in Istanbul and give all of you a few helpful tips for getting around Istanbul.
Tip #1: If you are American, DO NOT RENT A CAR! Turkish drivers are, to put it mildly, insane. I cannot count the number of times I have seen a driver, 1 hand on the cell phone, the somewhere else besides the wheel, swerve through three lanes of traffic. Whether they are driving a moped or a bus, they all drive fast and crazy. I don't care what you may say about New Yorkers or Massholes, Turkish drivers are some of the scariest drivers I've ever seen. That being said, I haven't seen too many accidents, so I guess they're all used to it, and that's fine for them, but seriously, don't drive in Istanbul.
Tip #2: Always add at least a half an hour to all your travel plans, because traffic here is horrendous.
Tip #3: Come to worship the dolmuş (dohl-moosh). It is a minibus that has a set route to take, however they can stop at any time to pick or drop off passengers. In Turkish, dolmuş means "full" or "stuffed" because drivers will literally stuff as many people as possible inside. The upside is, there is only a flat fee to ride, and I have never had to pay for than 2 Turkish Lira, meaning they are a great bargain! Frankly, I don't know how taxi drivers make a living, except that they must make all their money from stupid tourists who do not understands the wonders of the dolmuş.
Tip #4: Like the dolmuş, most public tranport is actually very cheap and affordable, even for a college student. Ferries almost all cost about 1.75 Lira, though be careful where you buy your ferry pass, some ferries take tokens, some take tickets, and some just take the cash, so it is very easy to pay for a ferry token, only to realize that they ferry you want only takes tickets, so you have pay all over again. The metro isn't the best because it doesn't cover the whole of the city, but it is also relatively cheap, and I would venture to say, more modern than the T in Boston.
Tip #1: If you are American, DO NOT RENT A CAR! Turkish drivers are, to put it mildly, insane. I cannot count the number of times I have seen a driver, 1 hand on the cell phone, the somewhere else besides the wheel, swerve through three lanes of traffic. Whether they are driving a moped or a bus, they all drive fast and crazy. I don't care what you may say about New Yorkers or Massholes, Turkish drivers are some of the scariest drivers I've ever seen. That being said, I haven't seen too many accidents, so I guess they're all used to it, and that's fine for them, but seriously, don't drive in Istanbul.
Tip #2: Always add at least a half an hour to all your travel plans, because traffic here is horrendous.
 |
| A typical dolmuş |
Tip #4: Like the dolmuş, most public tranport is actually very cheap and affordable, even for a college student. Ferries almost all cost about 1.75 Lira, though be careful where you buy your ferry pass, some ferries take tokens, some take tickets, and some just take the cash, so it is very easy to pay for a ferry token, only to realize that they ferry you want only takes tickets, so you have pay all over again. The metro isn't the best because it doesn't cover the whole of the city, but it is also relatively cheap, and I would venture to say, more modern than the T in Boston.
Scavenger Hunt
Feb. 8
Today was probably the most fun yet. CIEE let us loose into Istanbul, with 100 lira, to go on a scavenger hunt into different sections of Istanbul. My group went to Üsküdar, which is one of the Asian side of the city, meaning I have now been to Asia!!!
Once in Üsküdar, we had to find these two mosques and a restaurant to eat. The restaurant CIEE sent us to turned out to be pretty expensive, so we just had appetizers. Nevertheless, they were very good, with endless bread, an artichoke paste, stuffed graveleaves, and a yogurt dressing!
The second mosque we were sent to would have been impossible to find if it wasn't for the help of a very nice Turkish policeman who, after we pointed to the name of the mosque on our sheet, took us on a long, winding 5 minute walk through the backstreets of Üsküdar. Once at the mosque, we were told to find its library and to say whether or not it was "very complex." You'd think that with a question like that, the library would be very complex and elaborate, but no, it turned out that the library was a single floor with some books.
After that we stopped to have some tea or çay (pronounced chai but really just regular tea) by the water. We listened to the call to prayers from all the different mosques. I have to say, it is very beautiful. Üsküdar, and much of the rest of the Asian side, is considered to be more convervative than the European side, and you definetly notice more headscarves on women when you are in Üsküdar. However Margot, one of the CIEE students who originally was in Cairo and then had to be evacuated to Istanbul after the protests begin says she is still shocked to see Turks going about their daily business during the call to prayer; in Egypt, people would get out of their cars and all business would halt whenever it was time to pray.
After we finished the scavenger hunt, we headed back to the European side and went to Taksim Square, which is the commercial center of Istanbul, where all the best restaurants and clubs are. We all had dinner together, and then a bunch of us went out to a bar called Ali Baba's for drinks. It was a fun time.
Today was probably the most fun yet. CIEE let us loose into Istanbul, with 100 lira, to go on a scavenger hunt into different sections of Istanbul. My group went to Üsküdar, which is one of the Asian side of the city, meaning I have now been to Asia!!!
Once in Üsküdar, we had to find these two mosques and a restaurant to eat. The restaurant CIEE sent us to turned out to be pretty expensive, so we just had appetizers. Nevertheless, they were very good, with endless bread, an artichoke paste, stuffed graveleaves, and a yogurt dressing!
The second mosque we were sent to would have been impossible to find if it wasn't for the help of a very nice Turkish policeman who, after we pointed to the name of the mosque on our sheet, took us on a long, winding 5 minute walk through the backstreets of Üsküdar. Once at the mosque, we were told to find its library and to say whether or not it was "very complex." You'd think that with a question like that, the library would be very complex and elaborate, but no, it turned out that the library was a single floor with some books.
After that we stopped to have some tea or çay (pronounced chai but really just regular tea) by the water. We listened to the call to prayers from all the different mosques. I have to say, it is very beautiful. Üsküdar, and much of the rest of the Asian side, is considered to be more convervative than the European side, and you definetly notice more headscarves on women when you are in Üsküdar. However Margot, one of the CIEE students who originally was in Cairo and then had to be evacuated to Istanbul after the protests begin says she is still shocked to see Turks going about their daily business during the call to prayer; in Egypt, people would get out of their cars and all business would halt whenever it was time to pray.
 |
| One of the mosques we saw in Üsküdar |
Beer, Politics, and How NOT to be a Stupid American
February 6-7
On February 6 and 7 we had some of our CIEE orientation, we met the people in charge as well as the other students going through our program. There are about 35 CIEE, out of about 140 total exchange students this semester. Of the CIEE kids, all go to American universities and all but two are American. Everyone seems to be pretty nice, we are all keeping an open mind. There are 4 of us from Clark University, we're the biggest single school amongst the CIEE group, who come from all over the U.S.
Along with orientation, we have been assigned mentors, Koç students who have volunteered to be our guide to the university and Turkey. Mine is named Fulya, and she is awesome to put it simply. On the second day of orientation, after taking us into Sarıyer, the northermost district of Istanbul, where Koç to buy cell phones and exchange currency, she took us by ferry to a much more lively part of the city called Beşiktaş (besh-eek-tash). There we met up with Fulya's boyfriend and went to a bar called Beerpoint where we had beer and proceeded to discuss over the course of about two hours issues like religion, politics, and Turkish culture.
One of the boys (who is an proud libertarian-Republican "social darwinist") told Fulya's boyfriend that he shouldn't introduce himself as a Muslim to Americans, because they will have a negative reaction. Not surprisingly, he took offense to this, despite being a secular son of two communists. It is interesting to see how even though many Turks are very nonreligious, they still consider themselves Muslim and take great offense at the stereotypes many Americans have. I just consider it totally rude for someone who is a guest in another country to start telling his hosts how they should act. American exceptionalism at its worst if you ask me. I am so sick of people being terrified of people simply because they are Muslim, clearly most people who are have never met a Muslim before. I can remember last summer when I got into an intense argument with a coworker of mine over whether or not ALL Muslims wanted to kill Americans. At this point I have been in Turkey, a country which is at least 95% Muslim, for over a week and not ONE person had tried to kill me or even tell me how much they hate Americans.
Anyway, after beer, Fulya took us to to a Turkish restaurant where we had kebabs, which actually come in wraps rather than on stakes here. Then we went back to school.
On February 6 and 7 we had some of our CIEE orientation, we met the people in charge as well as the other students going through our program. There are about 35 CIEE, out of about 140 total exchange students this semester. Of the CIEE kids, all go to American universities and all but two are American. Everyone seems to be pretty nice, we are all keeping an open mind. There are 4 of us from Clark University, we're the biggest single school amongst the CIEE group, who come from all over the U.S.
Along with orientation, we have been assigned mentors, Koç students who have volunteered to be our guide to the university and Turkey. Mine is named Fulya, and she is awesome to put it simply. On the second day of orientation, after taking us into Sarıyer, the northermost district of Istanbul, where Koç to buy cell phones and exchange currency, she took us by ferry to a much more lively part of the city called Beşiktaş (besh-eek-tash). There we met up with Fulya's boyfriend and went to a bar called Beerpoint where we had beer and proceeded to discuss over the course of about two hours issues like religion, politics, and Turkish culture.
One of the boys (who is an proud libertarian-Republican "social darwinist") told Fulya's boyfriend that he shouldn't introduce himself as a Muslim to Americans, because they will have a negative reaction. Not surprisingly, he took offense to this, despite being a secular son of two communists. It is interesting to see how even though many Turks are very nonreligious, they still consider themselves Muslim and take great offense at the stereotypes many Americans have. I just consider it totally rude for someone who is a guest in another country to start telling his hosts how they should act. American exceptionalism at its worst if you ask me. I am so sick of people being terrified of people simply because they are Muslim, clearly most people who are have never met a Muslim before. I can remember last summer when I got into an intense argument with a coworker of mine over whether or not ALL Muslims wanted to kill Americans. At this point I have been in Turkey, a country which is at least 95% Muslim, for over a week and not ONE person had tried to kill me or even tell me how much they hate Americans.
Anyway, after beer, Fulya took us to to a Turkish restaurant where we had kebabs, which actually come in wraps rather than on stakes here. Then we went back to school.
Departing and Arriving
February 4-5
I departed Logan Airport in Boston at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 5th. My ticket was bought through Delta, but I was flying Alitalia. My first flight took me to Rome, Italy, where I then had to pick up another to Istanbul.
The flight to Rome wasn't too bad. Alitalia served us both dinner and breakfast, and both times, the food was surprisingly edible. Transferring also proved not to be a problem. If you must fly international, Alitalia is not a bad bet, imho.
I arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, February 5th, at 1:45 pm local time (Istanbul is 7 hours ahead of Boston/New York). Being very tired and confused, I went to the stand that said "Visas." The lady behind the counter asked for my passport, and I gave it to her. Then she said "$20." I asked why and she told me it was for my visa. I told her that I already had my visa, an education visa that was stamped into my passport and for which I had already paid $58 to get. She looked at it, shook her head and said "$20 or 15 euros." At this point I didn't feel like arguing and figured it might be some sort of entry fee. I gave her $20 and she stamped a second tourist visa onto my passport. I knew I didn't need this second visa at all, but I figured it was useless talking to her.
When it was my turn to go through Immigration, the Turkish officer took one look at my multible visas, shook his head and just asked, "Why man."
"I know, I know," was all that I could mutter. He pointed me over to the table of policemen, who stamped a great big "Cancelled" on my tourist visa and sent me on my way. Twenty bucks, wasted!
After picking up my bag from baggage claim, I left the terminal and looked for the people from my study abroad program, or CIEE. They had told us to wait by the Starbucks to the right of the exit, but it was nowhere is eyesight. I walked all the way to the end of the terminal before finally coming across the Starbucks and a few other American students. We introduced ourselves and then proceeded to sit in absolute silence, trying to rest and waiting for our ride.
The shuttle that was taking us to Koç was about 2 hours late, but we were just glad to see it at all. We got on the bus and headed for the university. The airport and Koç are at two completely seperate points of Istanbul, so the bus ride was about 2 hours long, thanks to the Istanbul traffic.
When we finally arrived, we were given our room keys, blankets and pillows, and shown to our rooms. It was around 6:30 pm, but we were all exhausted, plus there was nothing to do on campus. After surfing the web for a little bit, I went to sleep
I departed Logan Airport in Boston at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 5th. My ticket was bought through Delta, but I was flying Alitalia. My first flight took me to Rome, Italy, where I then had to pick up another to Istanbul.
The flight to Rome wasn't too bad. Alitalia served us both dinner and breakfast, and both times, the food was surprisingly edible. Transferring also proved not to be a problem. If you must fly international, Alitalia is not a bad bet, imho.
I arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, February 5th, at 1:45 pm local time (Istanbul is 7 hours ahead of Boston/New York). Being very tired and confused, I went to the stand that said "Visas." The lady behind the counter asked for my passport, and I gave it to her. Then she said "$20." I asked why and she told me it was for my visa. I told her that I already had my visa, an education visa that was stamped into my passport and for which I had already paid $58 to get. She looked at it, shook her head and said "$20 or 15 euros." At this point I didn't feel like arguing and figured it might be some sort of entry fee. I gave her $20 and she stamped a second tourist visa onto my passport. I knew I didn't need this second visa at all, but I figured it was useless talking to her.
When it was my turn to go through Immigration, the Turkish officer took one look at my multible visas, shook his head and just asked, "Why man."
"I know, I know," was all that I could mutter. He pointed me over to the table of policemen, who stamped a great big "Cancelled" on my tourist visa and sent me on my way. Twenty bucks, wasted!
After picking up my bag from baggage claim, I left the terminal and looked for the people from my study abroad program, or CIEE. They had told us to wait by the Starbucks to the right of the exit, but it was nowhere is eyesight. I walked all the way to the end of the terminal before finally coming across the Starbucks and a few other American students. We introduced ourselves and then proceeded to sit in absolute silence, trying to rest and waiting for our ride.
The shuttle that was taking us to Koç was about 2 hours late, but we were just glad to see it at all. We got on the bus and headed for the university. The airport and Koç are at two completely seperate points of Istanbul, so the bus ride was about 2 hours long, thanks to the Istanbul traffic.
 |
| Goodbye snow covered, freezing Boston |
 |
| Hello Koç! |
First Post!
Merhaba (Hello)!
Thank you all for reading this, wherever you may be and whoever you are. I'm going to take a moment to introduce myself, my name is Greg, I'm a junior at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts where I major in history and minor in sociology. After I graduate, I plan on staying at Clark for 1 extra year to get my masters in teaching. After that, I plan on teaching high school history, at least that's the plan for now. I'm extremely interested in politics and current events as well, so although this blog is meant to chronicle my time in Istanbul, it's very likely that there will be times where I veer off course to comment on things happening around the world.
This semester, from February 5-June 13, I will be studying at Koç University (pronounced "coach" not "coke"), which is outside of Istanbul, Turkey. I decided to study at Koç because I have always been interested in the history of the area, but also because Turkey is such a fascinating country and because I wanted to go somewhere that was both different but not too dangerous (since my parents are paying my tuition, they do get a say in how extreme I go). Also, since they teach in English at Koç, I don't have to worry about not understanding a word the professor is saying; though it is still important that I learn at least some Turkish.
Since I started this blog a week after I arrived, the following post are mostly going to be from memory, I'll update more regularly as time goes on. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Thank you all for reading this, wherever you may be and whoever you are. I'm going to take a moment to introduce myself, my name is Greg, I'm a junior at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts where I major in history and minor in sociology. After I graduate, I plan on staying at Clark for 1 extra year to get my masters in teaching. After that, I plan on teaching high school history, at least that's the plan for now. I'm extremely interested in politics and current events as well, so although this blog is meant to chronicle my time in Istanbul, it's very likely that there will be times where I veer off course to comment on things happening around the world.
This semester, from February 5-June 13, I will be studying at Koç University (pronounced "coach" not "coke"), which is outside of Istanbul, Turkey. I decided to study at Koç because I have always been interested in the history of the area, but also because Turkey is such a fascinating country and because I wanted to go somewhere that was both different but not too dangerous (since my parents are paying my tuition, they do get a say in how extreme I go). Also, since they teach in English at Koç, I don't have to worry about not understanding a word the professor is saying; though it is still important that I learn at least some Turkish.
Since I started this blog a week after I arrived, the following post are mostly going to be from memory, I'll update more regularly as time goes on. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)