Istanbul - love at first sight.
Trip Start
Jan 02, 2011
1
11
20
Trip End
Sep 14, 2011
Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday, May 8, 2011
As I mentioned in a previous entry, I purchased my flight to Turkey spontaneously and slightly irresponsibly after a couple too many glasses of wine. As i sit on the plane back to France sufficiently depressed to be leaving, I've concluded that it was easily one of the best decisions I made the entire semester. I don't think that I have ever been so tempted to miss a flight home - though I can't deny that when it actually almost happened I went right into panic mode. Anyways, here I am on my way back, once again fully acknowledging how spoiled I sound when complaining about returning to my "real life", which can hardly be described as difficult.
For reasons of potential content overload, I wanted to write two blogs for what I considered as two separate experiences in Istanbul. Even with these intentions in mind, I was severely underestimating the amount of blog-worthy things that can happen during two weeks in one city. In retrospect, considering the fact that Istanbul has half the population of Canada, and must be one of the most insane cities in the world, I was being quite naive. Anyways, as this entry is long overdue, brace yourself for my attempt to describe two of the best traveling weeks of my life...
Week 1 was basically my time to be touristy, which included seeing the sights, stuffing my face with delicious Turkish food, and unfortunately feeling extremely under the weather through it all. Being alone in a place like Istanbul was exciting and appealing to me, as I had heard lots about Turkey and really believed it was somewhere that suited all of my traveling interests. By the first morning, I had already met a decent number of cool people, and as expected had completely fallen in love with the city. However, when the soar throat from hell kicked in accompanied by splitting headaches and a raging fever, I was really wishing I could trade my 26 bed dormitory (complete with ice cold showers!) for a more comfortable living situation. To feel so sick and energy deficient in a place I was enjoying so much was extremely frustrating...all I wanted was to go out with the amazing people I was encountering and enjoy the limited time I had in Turkey. Luckily, a trip to the pharmacy was able to curb the symptoms of my sickness and I managed to keep on exploring Istanbul.
Although I was somewhat sick, I still managed to see some amazing places with some really interesting people. On the first day, two hilarious Mexicans showed me the grand bazaar and the largest mosque of the city, followed by endless hours of nargile smoking in a cafe. The second day I managed to find an American guy to keep me company while exploring the Asian side of Istanbul. This worked out perfectly for the both of us who were in no rush to sightsee but rather in favor of escaping the tourist traps that were unfortunately overtaking Sultanahmet, the old part of the city where our hostel was located. That said, I truly believe that all things are touristy for a reason, and this was no exception. From the roof of our hostel, you could see the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque on one side, with an incredible view of the Bosphorus in the opposite direction. The catch of this stunning scenery, however, was having difficulties walking to the end of the street without being hassled by copious amounts of Turkish men selling copious amounts of...well...junk!
As I mentioned before, I met enough people initially that I never really needed to walk around alone in the city; however, the first time that I split off from the group I noticed an immediate difference. In the short distance from the Blue Mosque back to our hostel, I was approached by at least 5 different Turkish men who wanted to take me for a tea, nargile...one even proposed a fresh fish dinner by the seaside! Although as a girl I had to be skeptical, the last one was seriously tempting ;) Amongst it all though, I never felt unsafe or threatened. This to me seemed interesting, as in France we experience similar types of "harrasment" on a daily basis, but often with a true sense of danger. The general feeling I got from people in Turkey, on the other hand, was that they simply: a.) wanted use me to practise English, b.) had the typical perception that all Western women are like Madonna or Brittany Spears, or c.) genuinely wanted to help out and show tourists a good time. The latter of the three seemed to be the most common, and I just honestly could not complain in any way - coming from France to Turkey I felt a world of difference in terms of the way people treat you, their willingness to help, and the welcoming feeling of the culture...unfortunately after living in France for the semester, I really cannot say the same good things. Although I have personally had an amazing experience, and really hate to generalize, it has not truly been a result of the French culture or people. Turkey was a striking reminder for me of how much the people of a country can make or break the experience - in Istanbul, they absolutely made it.
I was already convinced that Istanbul is one of the greatest places in the world, but the arrival of a best friend from home definitely more than welcome, especially when I still wasnt feeling too good health wise. Steph and I have been lucky enough to see each other in our temporary European homes this year, and to meet up again in Istanbul was the perfect way to conclude what we have been referring to as our "long distance relationship". Steph and I went a little crazy with all things Turkish, most particularly, and as always, food. Whether it was kebap meats, tea, or sweets, it seemed as though we were constantly consuming something which managed to take up large portions of our time. Somehow though, we managed to find a bit of time to sightsee and partake in Turkish cultural experiences, the most interesting of which had to be the hamami. Although going to the hamam (Turkish bath) is common amongst tourists, we were lucky enough to have been recommended to a local one by Steph's friends. Although I was fully prepared mentally for the experience, meaning that I was ready to get completely naked and scrubbed down by an old Turkish lady, it was still mildly uncomfortable at the beginning to say the least! However, Steph and I sucked it up and tried to relax as much as possible and enjoy the process. Unsurprisingly, those Turks know what they're doing - I have never felt so clean and exfoliated in my life as I did after this "bath". I can honestly say that if I lived in Istanbul, I would gladly pay somebody once a week to deal with my dead skin and notouriously dirty feet. To top it all off, we wound up in a completely random part of the city, where we wound up finding insanely cheap meals, dried fruits,, and of course sweets. Amongst days such as this one, Steph and I managed to entertain ourselves quite easily in Istanbul...another day was spent exploring an island off the coast, and many many hours were spent haggling with vendors in the bazaars. By the end I was extremely sad to say goodbye to my Euro-Canadian partner in crime, but was also extremely excited for the following week and thus, part two of my Istanbul adventure began...
As if I didn't love the place enough already, participating in a 5 day Model European Union Conference, organized by Turkish students for students from around the world, was enough to make me obsessed. Until a month prior to 'Galatasary Euroforum', my knowledge of the EU was basically non-existant but doing the conference made sense for numerous reasons - great for the resume, the perfect way to meet interesting people, along with highly praised social events which may have also been a slight motivation. When I was assigned to represent France, the second most powerful country in the Union, I realized that coasting along the sidelines and keeping my mouth shut as little as possible simply would not fly here. Also, I really did not want to look like a complete idiot in front of a large group of academically inclined people whose studies are mostly based around EU politics. Luckily, at least for the beginning of the conference, I managed to focus hard and do my best to participate in the discussions despite being extremely intimidated and undereducated on the topics.
At the beginning things went quite well, but by the end I must admit that the social events took a heavy toll on my academic inclinations...turns out, all of the hype was 100% true! Luckily, I was not the only person who enjoyed the nightlife, and my fellow delegates of the European Council were all in a similar position by the middle of the week - underslept, underfocused, and underinterested. Whether it was a snobby cocktail party with the General Secretary to the EU, belly dancing on restaurant tables at Turkish night, or admiring the lights of the Bosphorus from an evening boat cruise, us nerds who participated in this conference managed to get a little bit crazier night by night. In addition to the good times had with the other international students, it was particularly great to get to know the Turkish organizers. This conference was completely professional and scholarly, while allowing participants to experience Turkish culture and have way too much fun partying as well - and it was completely organized by a small group of university students volunteering generous amounts of their time. To me, this was extremely impressive. On top of their hard work all of the organizers were so eager to get to know all of us or help with any issue we had...one girl even showed me around different parts of Istanbul on her morning off just because I decided not to take the city tour with everybody else. Another guy showed us a few of his favourite spots in Taksim after we would finish the daily sessions, simply to try and help us get the best possible impression of his city. Overall, I really cannot stress enough how the local students made this experience all the more unique, and can only hope that one day they will come to Canada so I can do the same for them. I have never been so sleep deprived in my life, but still almost missed my flight (partially on purpose) because I was having such a good time...Istanbul is one place that I am positive I will go back to.
I suppose I've gone on long enough about my obsession with Turkey, so all the other random stories and strange details will have to be left out until my next irresponsible decision :) As they say in Turkish teşekkür ederim (thank you) if you actually read this entire blog! A tout...
