So done with school!
Trip Start
Jun 19, 2008
1
41
69
Trip End
Sep 04, 2008
Istanbul,
Turkey
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Yesterday, we got back to Istanbul at 7am via overnight bus from Kapadokya. We had landed on yet another bootlagged van, but this time the crazy driver drove back to Istanbul at a record speed. I had an hour so to nap before going to class like the trooper that I am. After class, I made sure to lock myself up in the room to finish my religion final paper! It is titled "Language, Religion, and National Identity", and I am quite pleased with the work. Then I was bored with nothing much to do, so I got Stephanie to come to the Grand Bazaar with me. Wow, now that I was actually there to shop, I could totally feel the heat and stimuli overload! I ended up splurging on some hand-made souvenirs that were probably hand-made by children in Bangladesh. Being the amazingly clumsy person that I am, I managed to drop the hand-made mug while sitting down at a restaurant table for dinner. Gule-gule... Back in the dorm and dejected about the mug, I tried to work on the history final paper but in vain. I was soon wrangled by my friends who wanted to go under the bridge for the classic combo: Efes and nargile. Bayram joined us and the atmosphere got so serious. He is so infatuated with my roommate and cannot deal with the fact we are all leaving in a few days. We are his only friends here or something, and Laura is apparently his only true love. I tried to console him by telling him that a guy I like also went back home far, far away and there's nothing I can do but to GET OVER IT.
Our favorite Turks
He wanted our phone numbers, so he can call us- oh gosh. I hope he meets a nice village virgin in Turkmenistan, so he can forget about the exotic beauty he met in Istanbul... Today, I had one productive day. I went to the other campus to return my books, FINISHED my history paper 2 days in advance, and went to Taksim to get a haircut! Hurrah! I was a little nervous about getting a haircut in a foreign land. I went to Babyface, the place where my friends and I got pedicures on Day of Pamper (see the July entry). All the hairdressers were guys (seemingly straight). It was very strange to have a metrosexual Turkish man wash my hair and trim it. He had big muscles and chest hair rippling under his tight white shirt. He did a pretty good job with the hair cut but did some crazy blow dry job, like one you would see in a Japanese magazine. My hair was straightened and bent at 90 degrees angle. Whatever, I thanked him politely and just brushed the wacky stuff out on the way back. Then I went to the Egyptian Bazaar to buy a replica of the hand-made mug, and sorted my things. I asked and e-mailed a bunch of people about shipping to the U.S. I am getting a little worried, but we will see... I have way too many clothes at this point and will need to throw out a garbage bag full of them. Maybe I can donate them, who knows. I brought most of those clothes with disposability in mind anyway, and they have gotten really dirty and loose over the past 2 months of abusive wear.
The Turkish students had their final exams yesterday and today, and the vast majority of them left today. They are from all over Turkey, like Malatya the Apricot City, Bodrum the Beach Town, Ankara the Capital, and Kusdash the Touristy Area. We got to know 5 of them particularly well, despite the communication mishaps and our drunken American rages. Two of them left at 4:30pm. Laura and I were so, so, SO sad. I hate saying good-byes, and it seems like something I do so often when traveling. One of them is not leaving until tomorrow, and we were all going to the Galatasaray (one of the top 3 Turkish club futbol teams) match against the Romanian club team tonight. We had planned to meet up at 6pm, but this kid nowhere to be found. We had seen him when the other Turkish kids were leaving, and he somehow managed to disappear in the 1.5 hour span. When we finally got ahold of him on the phone at 7:30pm, he was coming back from the school gym... wtf? It turns out that the game is TOMORROW! Miscommunication galore! I made sure that it was today though, so I have no idea how this happened. This is not good because a group of people in our program were supposed to go out tomorrow night for our ultimate celebration since it is our last night in Istanbul. Well, it turns out that the Turkish kid couldn't even get the tickets. I am really disappointed that I don't get to go to a futbol game, but such is life. I will think of something else to do with the 100ytl.
