Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

After a whirlwind trip through Western Europe (see pictures here), I was lucky enough to have a little over 2 days back in Istanbul again. I got to say a proper goodbye to my favorite products of Kansas (and Oklahoma/Portland/wherever you consider yourself from, Shakira), eat some delicious food (to see my food album, click here), and ensure that my last memories of Istanbul would be good ones.

They are.

But I suppose this is my “goodbye for now” post.

While staying in a hostel in the city I’ve lived in for four and a half months doesn’t make much sense, I ended up staying near Sultanahmet, right in the heart of the touristy part of Istanbul. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sultanahmet and the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, etc, but I don’t really love tourists.

In some ways, I feel like this city is mine. It’s my home, I cheer for its sports teams, and its citizens are like family. I have favorite restaurants whose waiters know my order, I can use its public transport like a pro, and it’s a place I’m proud to call home. While I appreciate tourists for pumping some life into Turkey’s economy, I feel like they’re invading. And it’s personal.

People come to Istanbul and see the aforementioned touristy things and leave with the impression that Sultanahmet and Taksim are Turkey. They’re not. Turkey is just as diverse as America in some ways. There is abject poverty and extreme lavishness. There is delicious food, and some…not so delicious food. There is kindness, a genuine sense of caring for fellow man despite being in a city of upwards of 15 million people, and yes, there is also crime. There are beautiful buildings and views of the Bosphorus, and there are slum neighborhoods.

Sure, Turkey is also different than the United States.

There are very few single-family homes in Turkey (but really, why do we need so much space if not to separate us further?).

Turkey is also a predominately Muslim country. America is still a majority Protestant country, but what does that have to do with anything? One of the most frustrating things about talking to people about my study abroad experience is dealing with their preconceived notions about Islam. Yes, the terrorists who were responsible for 9/11 followed Islam, but they were radicals. Let’s not forget that there are radical Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, etc everywhere. Religions teach about love and acceptance, but hatred breeds hatred. And Turkey is not hateful.

Turkey may not have reached the level of modernization of other European nations, but it’s getting there. Its public transport system seems to grow by the day and there are very few (if any) homeless people. They take care of their own. The city is meticulously cleaned throughout the day as well. A city of 15 million people sees it as a job to maintain the city’s honor by not littering. Novel concept, right?

Yes, Turkey shares borders with Syria, Iran, and Iraq. America shares borders with Canada and Mexico, so what?

Turkey also has its faults, too.

Problems with the Kurdish population remain a huge issue (somewhat comparable to Native Americans in the USA).

Gender inequality remains stark on some level. The glass ceiling is still in place.

Being gay is still practically a crime. Obligatory military service for males does not allow for gays to serve, but forces those who consider themselves to be gay to “prove” it in a humiliating manner.

There are few people with obvious mental retardation or birth defects. I’m not entirely sure why this is-if those people are hidden away from the public, if the defects are found before birth (and thus, the pregnancy is terminated-but this is not allowed under Turkish law), or if these defects are just extremely rare. It’s hard to classify this as a bad thing, but I’m just very unsure as to what the deal is.

Turkish bureaucracy remains entirely impossible to navigate, even for the Turks.

And after the elections of June 12th, the democratic future of Turkey under PM Erdoğan remains unclear with attempts to change the constitution being the focus of his campaign.

But despite its faults, I can honestly say that this has been one of the best experiences of my life.

Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Coming into this experience, people couldn’t understand why I wanted to come to Turkey, and honestly, I didn’t really know either. At first, I thought of studying in London, but my older (and sometimes wiser) sister told me to pick somewhere different. Things just fell to random chance in picking Istanbul. Yes, I’m a history/political science double major, but I had not once taken a class on anything remotely related to Turkey. In the end, I still don’t know how I ended up here, but I’m glad I did.

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

I came into this experience with a lot of fears and preconceived notions of Turkey and its people, especially with having not lived in a big city in my life. I only knew how to say “hello” in Turkish (and have only progressed to ordering food), feared for my safety in such a large city, and was afraid that the city would swallow me whole. I wondered what the experience of being an ethnic minority would be like. Instead, I found a city that welcomed me with open arms and took care of me like I were its daughter, despite the fact that I look nothing like a Turk (they consider themselves to be what we could call “white” by the way. Some food for thought).

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.

There is a tendency for us to get lost in the shuffle of a big city, allowing ourselves to just be a nameless face. But sometimes that’s necessary. Sometimes we need to see that the world is bigger than just us, just our wants, needs, desires, worries. Having grown up in smaller areas my entire life, I needed to see that the world did not revolve around me, and it was humbling. Sure, I still worried about problems in my own life, but there were millions of people around me who have the privilege of seeing the same city I did every day, and it made me not feel so alone.

Travel.

It’s hard to pick a favorite part of my experience, or something that I will miss the most. The truth is, I will miss all of it. I’ll miss the crowded buses and trams, the car horns, and the crazy traffic. I’ll miss the call to prayer, the city’s landmarks, and my favorite restaurants. I’ll miss walks along the Bosphorus, being on the continental divide, and my walk to school. I’ll miss the food, the people, and even the smell. Most of all, I’ll miss feeling at home.

Advice is a form of nostalgia.

Writing this blog has been an experience as well. At times, I didn’t take pictures of things because I wanted to keep that moment to myself. The blog has shared the past four months of my life with you and sometimes, I just needed moments to myself. I didn’t write about everything here, either. I hope that one day, you get the opportunity to travel to Turkey and can experience the things that I never told you about. Sometimes, you just need to see and do things rather than reading about them. Try Istanbul out, and you’ll see what I mean.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Well, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back on photos of yourself and recall in a way that you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you.

I remain grateful for the days I had in Istanbul, the travel around Turkey and Europe I’ve been able to do, and the memories I’ve made. I left with no regrets of places I wanted to go but never got around to, foods I wanted to try but never had the courage, or time I wish I had cherished. Instead, I left with promises to return, a carry on suitcase, and a few kilos of baklava.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Adventures on the Aegean

When my parents came to visit, they were kind enough to take myself and several of my friends to Bodrum, a very cute resort area on Turkey’s Aegean coast. We ended up staying a bit outside the city.

It was the first weekend we had where we were able to relax and sit on a beach (or a quasi beach) and not have to worry about where we were going to travel to next. It was a really great luxury.

Alongside sitting on the beach, we also traveled to the Greek island of Kos, about 4km away from Bodrum.

Kos was a very pretty island with lots of Roman ruins as well as lots of things dedicated to Hippocrates as that was his birthplace. We ended up walking around the city for a bit until starting our (what else?) food tour. We had some gyros, Greek baklava (which is incredibly inferior to Turkish baklava) and iced coffee. It was a very nice, short day trip.

I know this blog entry is incredibly short, but we really didn’t do much that weekend. It was, like I said, a very relaxing time that was pretty necessary for all of us before we started exams.

To see pictures (they're in the same album as my Assos and Antalya pictures): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1408720983311.2035681.1391040260&l=9b0e5229b7

Saying goodbye to Istanbul...

for now.

Before my update on the bombing here, my parents were in town for roughly ten days. I acted as a tour guide (yay) and showed them some of my favorite parts of Istanbul. They then treated myself and several of my friends to a very chill weekend in Bodrum, a town on the Aegean Sea. It was really nice to just have a weekend to relax. Oh, we also went to Greece for the day (the island of Kos).

I am hastily writing this entry and failing at being any sort of descriptive due to the fact that I leave in less than 24 hours for a 10 day excursion to Western Europe (UK, Ireland, Spain). Really not excited for the pound/euro but it will be really cool to see where some of my ancestors are from (hello McCormick, Johnston heritage!).

I will return to Istanbul for 2 and a half days before saying my final goodbye. I don't even want to go there. Expect some updates on Western Europe adventures followed by a very sappy, emotional goodbye to Istanbul (as well as pictures when I get around to it).

Can't believe I'll be waking up in America in 2 weeks. I'm so thankful for every single day I've had here.

Iyi akşamlar!