Midterms

The week after Cappadocia, I was rocked by two Midterms. The first one was for my Turkish class, which turned out to be not that bad. I might have over studied for it, but I also definitely studied the wrong material (the professor was however very vague about what was on the test. The other midterm that was right after that was Politics and Society of the Middle East. I totally wanted to ace that test, but regretably the night before, I wasn't feeling so well in the head and in the back. I had a horrible headache, which then caused me to have stomach irritation. That was troublesome. I got through it alright, but the test I wasn't so lucky in. The midterm was entirely essays, and I remembered enough to get by, but I also didn't know enough to get ahead. The next couple of weekends though, I have to stay near Istanbul because of all the midterms I am going to be having. It feels like the worst downer ever experienced because I didn't want to leave Cappadocia.

The next weekend after that all I did was study for my Matrix Theory or Elementary Linear Algebra Final. I don't think that it helped much though. When it comes to those abstract proofs, I just find it the most difficult thing in the world to piece together and to contemplate. Needless to say, it was bad. As I am writing this I am also looking at the answers knowing full well that I probably failed. It sucks! Matrix Theory has been my Achilles Heel it seems for the entire school year this year! No wonder why everyone despises the course. However, I have recently opted to become a Mathematics major at ISU. This has to do with my stubbornness to engage in challenging things that will inevitably make me miserable. I love math, and I feel like a coward if I don't live up to my potential.

Next week I have two midterms: Statistics and Game Theory. Those will be so much better I believe then the last ones because that kind of logic and math surrenders itself to my knowing!

The Next Two Days (3/14 to 3/15)

...were awesome. The next day after Turkey Nights was another day of adventure. We started the day with Breakfast at the hotel that we stayed at. Personally I don't mind Turkish breakfasts but I generally find them lacking in diversity. They seem to primarily include bread, cheese, some small fruit, a hard broiled egg and spread for the bread. However the fruit is traditionally olives or kiwi. This is unusual for me since I consider bananas, oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe, and on occasion strawberries as a breakfast fruit, and I can't stand olives. I like olive oil though. Afterward we took a short drive over to the Derinuyu Yeralti or Deepweel Underground City. It was really cool. This was literally a city/town under the ground. It was used by Hittites but they were developed and improved upon by the Christians who used them during times of invasion and war. They were also used for practical purposes as well, such as storing food. The underground city has around 8 floors. I got to see them all. Each floor is unique with respect to function. Some floors served as living quarters, where as the bottom floors served the purpose of religious activities such as a place for worship, baptism, confession, and school. The city was extensive though, and the tunnels spanned close to around 100km linking other cavern systems together. Regrettably however, these linked access ways were closed off to the public. Even then I am not certain I would have wanted to go that far underground anyway. The Cappadokian's that settled here must not have been very tall because it was incredibly difficult for someone who is 6'4" (1.91 m) tall to get through the small tunnels with out a couple of knocks to the head, and a stiff back from trying to bend over to avoid hitting the head. Not a place to go to if you get claustrophobic. I was getting a bit claustrophobic when a bunch of high schoolers rushed down one of the tunnels towards me, forcing me to retreat. I was then swarmed by a bunch of curious high school girls who actually had a pretty good understanding of English. However I didn't know how to ask them if they were 18 in Turkish (just kidding).

After the caves, we went to a potter who made pottery. We saw him make a really cool vase in a fashion that dates back 1000s of years. It was cool, and also funny. What he started with was a long shaft that he intentionally made to look at first like a penis. He got a kick out of it, and so did the rest of us. No matter how old we are, we will always laugh at the most immature stuff that defines our generation I believe. What defines mine may just sadly consist of fart, penis, and weed jokes. No matter. Some of us got some good shopping in. I for instance bought some small stuff of Hittite design, but I unlike others bartered for it. In Turkiye, everything can be bartered except for food at restaurants, clubs, and bars.

After that we went to the best system of cliff dwellings ever! The picture at the top of this blog is a perfect example of how glorious this site was. This carved out cliff side was one big intricate system of tunnels, caverns, houses, and churches. It was by far one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. I once said that when I die, I would like my ashes to be spread over Crater Lake, because I felt a strange kind of peace there. Now I can conclude that I would like at least some of my ashes to be spread of Cappadocia. This place was like a playground for adults. I went exploring, jumping down into caves that I should not have gone down in for safety reasons, and climbing up ledges that were without a doubt risky. But I loved every minute of it. I was a part of a group of 4 other enthusiastic climbers. There was Julie from Bogaziçi, and Jeff and Ian from Kuç University. All of us were American's studying abroad. We all decided to charge far ahead of the pack and to explore places that most people didn't want to go out of fear of injury, or fatally wounding themselves. We explored every little nook and crany of this individual system. We were even in a couple of places that few people ever visited. For instance, we climbed down a shaft to get to an area that nobody has visited for quite some time. The shaft was dark, creepy, and didn't offer a lot of room to maneuver but if one took their time and was careful it was safe enough to travel down. I loved every minute of it. We got see views that most people have never even gotten to see. We saw ancient paintings that were over a 800 hundred years old. We even saw some Latin and Arabic script carved into the rock that could be dated back to probably the Byzantines. It was an adventure. The four us ended our little excursion by climbing to the very top of the system. It required us to cross this narrow little pathway that was tilted downward from the horizon at about 25 degrees. Not that much of an incline but something that would definitely make us feel a little nervous. Then we had to pretty much do a simple pull up over a couple of rocks and we were there. It was easy for me considering I have done this many times. At first it was just Ian, Jeff and me. However Julie decided to join us and she was actually the first person to the summit. She was a brave soul. We each got on top and looked up. It was the most intense adrenaline rush I have ever experienced. The best high I have ever felt in my life was experienced on the top of that cliff. It was a shame that Mert kept honking the bloody horn at us. We decided to take the more "interesting" way down, which consisted of jumping off edges to other edges and exploring other things on our way down. That was a fun way of doing it. However Mert kept honking his horn at the Jeff, Ian and me. Julie walked down the safe rout with some of the others. Her loss I think, but she probably enjoyed herself. The part that sucks though is that we weren't the last ones to get back. That sucked because that meant that we could have climbed some more. By the time we left though, it started to snow again.
The weather this year in Turkey has been extremely volatile. Turkiye is on pace to set a record for having the most precipitation in one year ever in its recorded history. This whole time here has been filled with spells where it just rains for days and then clears up for a bit to become beautiful again. The interior of Turkiye has perhaps more extreme weather. It was warm outside the first day in Cappadocia, but the very next can be marked by a freak blizzard where it snowed the entire night, but during the day, it warmed right back up and melted all of the snow. And then later it did it again. I was very thankful that I bought that sweater right before leaving.

After the cool climbing experience, we went to a local winery and vineyard. It was actually pretty cool. Before we entered though, Nadine, Jon, and me started up a snow fight with all the other students. We were specifically going after our Dutch friends, but they were firing at us from an elevated position so they had a clear advantage over us. Thankfully we made a good stand thanks to my experience at throwing coming from baseball. Too bad the arm still hurts when I throw things. The tour on how they make the wine was quite interesting and I got into a cool discussion with one of them who knew a little English. Basically the Turkish wine industry does most of its business outside of Turkiye because Turkiye is not a wine drinking nation. The average Turk consumes on average less then one liter of wine annually. Turkiye however has a very large wine industry comparatively because of the large tourist industry in Turkiye. However around 98 percent of the grapes grown in Turkey are used for eating. This is in part due to Turkiye being a Muslim country. Even though Ataturk made it legal for alcohol to be made in Turkiye, it is still in low demand due to Muslim tradition, and it is also heavily taxed comparatively. This has caused Turkish wine makers to make a lot of cheap wine instead of a little bit of good wine. However these wine makers in Cappadocia were telling me how much pride they had for their wine. I saw why when they gave me tasters of their white, red, and blush wines from the previous year. I thought they were really good. It would make sense because some of them weren't cheap (but neither were they expensive). I was telling them though that they should try and export to America, but unfortunately they were in disbelief since the world economy isn't doing so well. Also finding American vendors would be no easy task. But the logic is simple. American wine can be categorized as being very expensive comparatively. Turkish wine, while keeping in mind the exchange rate between the New Turkish Lira (YTL) and the US dollar, would act as a substitute good in comparison to American wine. It might be treated as an inferior good, which would have the possibility of making quite a bit of money in a recession. The interesting thing though is I thought of of a couple of business opportunities with this wine. However, that is a conversation for another time. Basically I bought four bottles that will mature over the next decade, but I will not drink them. I have something else in mind to do with them...

We went back to the hotel after that. I crashed. A lot of people decided to go out and I decided after dinner to just stay, relax, and to talk to other people. It was fun meeting new people. I met a girl from the west coast who was fairly interesting to talk to. Apparently her and I had very similar reasons for coming to Istanbul. Then I met a girl by the name of Zhan Siren from Singapore. She was a surprise since I would have never guessed that I would have the opportunity to meet someone from Singapore in Cappadocia, who also studied in Istanbul. I got to learn a little about Singapore in the process. After dinner and dessert, we all decided to play a game of cards. The game was called Mao, and Em was the dealer. She was a tyrant! Basically the game was that she got to make the rules but she wouldn't tell us the rules. We had to logically figure them out. If we screw up on a rule then we get penalized. She was a horrible tyrant who crushed me into a million tiny pieces for the simplest of mistakes. It was fun, but to much at times.

The next day we ended our little trip with the Ilhlara Valley. This place had a lot of history, and in case you haven't noticed I am a big fan of history. The whole canyon is honeycombed with rockcut underground dwellings and churches form the Byzantine period. Due to the fact that there was a river running through this valley which provided all of the necessary water resources one needed, and that it was easily hidden, it was the first settlement of Christians fleeing from Roman soldiers. There are literally hundreds of antic churches caved and hidden in the volcanic rock. It was another day of fun climbing that was combined with picture taking of the beautiful scenery and all the Christian artwork that decorated the churches.

After that we took the nine hour bus trip back to Istanbul. Looking back at all of the experiences and adventure that I encountered, I recommend this place for everyone. This place I believe has something to offer anyone, as long as they appreciate the outdoors, a village life style and pace, and unique cultures. People described me as being in my element here. They were right. I am definitely coming back here, but when I do I am bringing a handful of friends who love to hike and climb.

More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.oswald/Cappadocia?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbSgqKu-OzJTQ#

http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.oswald/2009_03_15?authkey=Gv1sRgCLSIk7CAvJ-EgQE#

Cappadocia, the first night...

It was a wild night. Basically we went to this one night club that featured traditional Turkish dance routines, and a lovely selection of snack foods and beverages. The club was actually located in a restored dug out cavern that was originally built back during the time of the Late Roman Empire, early Byzantium Empire. The dancing was the best part however. They definitely provided us with a show, and at certain points throughout the night, they managed to involve all of us. They would force us off our seats and litterally make us take part in the festivities. It was fun, however it was especially embarrassing for me since they forced me and four other guys to go up and try to belly dance with this one excellent belly dancer. Needless to say that my belly dancing skills need improvement (even though I will never Belly Dance again!). Here is some excellent video of the festivities though.

Cappadocia: Day 1

Best weekend ever. We went to the very interior of Turkiye called Cappadocia. Millions of years ago, Cappadocia was a volcanically active region of the earth. Eruptions were perhaps common place and over time ash built up and formulated different stone and rock shapes and gave the surface of Cappadocia a setting that looks as if you on Earth's moon. The landscape is surreal. It looks like a dry area with little vegetation but that is a false reality. This place is known for its vineyards and wine industry. However what was by far the most facinating aspect about this area were the thousands of cliff and cave housings/dwelling that littered all the canyons in the area. Apparently Christians of the thrid and fourth century AD built them in order to hide from the Pagan Roman Empire that was killing them at the time. During the time up to when the Arab Muslim Empire invaded, the area flourished with its underground cave systems, carved out society, and how churches flourished. After the Arab invasion by the Mameluks, it became known as a place of tranquility where Muslim, Christian, and Jews lived together in harmony and they still do. My friend Lessa described me as being in my element here and she was right.
This place is loaded with valleys to hike down and explore, abandoned carved out homes within the cliff ledges to spend the night in, and tons of sites to see! This place is a must see for any outdoor adventurer. However the true beauty of this place is in its simplicity, its village atmoshpere, and the fact that civilization here coexists with nature rather then imposing on it. This place has modern technology just like almost every other place in Turkiye but it is viewed as a means to an end, and not a form of entertainment or something to utilize for personal well being. This is a chill place very much like Assos, and I was welcomed by every single Turkish person living there. It was amazing. It is funny because I have never felt homesick being here except at first when I was extremely shy and didn't know anyone. I now realize why. In Turkish culture, there must be some unwritten rule that encourages Turks to make guests feel like home in their country. This is something America might be lacking.
Also this place coexist with its surrounding instead of destroying the natural environment to make room for human expansion and productivity. I can see it on the top of the roofs. Almost every roof has solar panels either for electricity or for heating water. America wants to go green where as this place has been green for about 50 years now. Take that America. Also many families still use the dugged out caverns and homes to actually live in. Granted living conditions in these Fairy Chimneys, as they're called, aren't extravagent but they have actually made them livable by installing electricity and AC/Heating units in some. Most now are just used for storing things in, but some business actually operate out of them. The other thing I like about this place is the village life style. This place has a village atmosphere that forces you to slow down a lot. It was calming and relaxing. I was allowed to enjoy this place at my own pace, where as in the city of Istanbul, the pace is set for everyone it seems.
Our group of students from Bogaziçi and Kaç Universities left Istanbul around 10:00pm and arrived in the area of Cappadocia at around 7:30 in the morning. It was a horrible bus ride! I tried getting to sleep but the road was bumpy and the Thijs's–a friend from Holland who sat in front of me–seat was malfunctioning and it kept leaning back when it wasn't suppose to. Since I sat in the back I couldn't recline my seet so I had no leg room and was stuck between three other girls and two big guys in front of me. I tried to get some sleep but It never germinated. I was tired but when we reached the Hotel and then the Pigeon Valley I became wide awake. There was so much to do and see. I loved it. The valley was litterally covered in random little dwelling carved out of the sandstone rock. Also apparently the people who lived in these dwellings were probably excellent climbers. They built there homes to have different levels and to get one level, one would have to litterally climb up a small little hole using the small dug out holes where one would place their foot or hand. It was actually quite cool. It made me feel like I was at Upper Limits. There were litterally hundreds of places in climb in and out of. I eventually even got to the top of some and was able to look down upon my fellow travelers in superiority because I was the one brave enough to climb all of those floors. My experience at rock climbing really paid off. At one point I was climbing straight up a narrow shaft that extended about 20 yards until it reached the next floor. I performed some pretty interesting manuvers actually in order to prevent a 40 ft fall to my doom. It was fun though. However I was disgusted with Mert though for calling us back so soon but he definitely had his reasons.

We then went to Uçhisar to visit the Uçhisar Castle and to have lunch. Lunch was good, and filling. Remeber I was running on only like 2 hours of sleep so food was very important to me, and I became a machine when the food was served. We went to a place where you pay a certain amount and they would then bring out several small dishes of food ranging from tavuk (chicken) to liver and from pasta to rice. It was amazing and it gave me enough energy to soldier through the day thank god. The castle was cool though. Not much climbing though which was somewhat disapointing. We had to follow a fixed path because all other paths were blocked by metal gates. But the view from the top was unparralled. I also got to goof off because there were a lot of ledges to stand on and over, which, by the way, generated some excellent photo oppurtunities. For instance I got one photo of me taken where I was sitting on the ledge of the castle cliff side that had a straight 200ft drop. Feel the adrenaline! I took a picture of that just for mom...
After the castle, we went behind it to the Red Valley. That was really fun. There were a lot of Fairy Chimneys to climb. However I got a little pissed at Mert because he didn't let us spend a whole lot of time there. It was frustrating. Some people wanted to go back and sleep where as I, the person who only had about 2 hours of sleep, felt more alive then ever. I was running around, hopping from one opening to another, climbing through small little holes that I shouldn't have been climbing into, and climbed up to heights my fellow comrades wouldn't dare climb up. I actually managed to climb up on one the higher Chimneys to get close to the top. I could have gone longer, but Mert was honking the horn on the bus telling me to get my ass back to the bus. Anyway, that day was glorious.

Çanakkale, Troy and Assos Pictures

Here are some of the pictures, but there are more on my Picasa at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.oswald/Assos?authkey=Gv1sRgCLD_z8_r_s2p5QE&feat=directlink

Çanakkale, Troy and Assos (Mart 5-7, 2009)

This had to have been one of the best weekends in my life so far, and it was especially needed after the crappy week that I was having. Before I get into this at all though, I have to thank Em, Grace and Katie for coordinating all of the trip when I was unable to do so (look at previous post to know why). After our classes last Thursday, Lessa, Grace, Em, Katie, and I took a took a cab to a Otogard (Turkish bus hub). From there on we took a bus to Çanakkale, a small town on the opening of the Dardanellas Strait. The bus traveled along the European side of the Marmara Sea. We went down the Gallipoli Peninsula and then took a ferry at night to get to Çanakkale. We found where we were going to sleep for the night and we after a long a week we decided to just quickly get some actual food (all we ate the entire day was sweets on the bus), go see some live music for a couple of minutes, and then go to sleep. God I loved the beds. We were supposed to stay in a hostel, but they had heating problems. They decided to put us up in a hotel for the next two months and all we had to do was pay the hostel and the hostel paid the rest. It was awesome for one reason: the bed. In the superdorm, I have been forced to get used to this extremely hard matris, which has actually been hurting my back. That night however, I felt like I was sleeping on the best damn mattress ever! I loved it.

The next day, we got up early to see the ruins of Troy. It was made especially interesting because we had an enthusiastic tour guide who was fully aware of all the stories surrounding the city. We would actually talk to him about it, and he provided some interesting insights about the city that I didn't know about previously. It was a glorious experience though in it's own way. There was more of the ruins intact then I previously thought. It was quite a cool place. It was especially interesting for me since I love the story of the Illiad, the Odyssey, and would love to one day read the Aneid. If you are familiar with the Homeric stories then you can pretty much visualize as you go through the ruins the actual events that took place in Troy. However much has changed since then. I learned that the plains below the site of Troy were actually apart of the ocean for the longest time but I guess it changed. Troy is actually now very inland compared to how it once was much closer to the sea. But when the gulf that was right next to the city disappeared then Troy lost its geographical importance, so attempts to resettle the area met with failure. Most of what was left were stone structures found in the inner part of the city, and the walls. However much of the ruins were destroyed but treasure hunters who called themselves archaeologists. One in particular, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, found the treasure of King Priam and took most of it back to Germany. However the Russians then looted it after WWII and now claim it as their own. IT BELONGS TO TURKIYE!

After the tour we went back to Çanakkale to quickly visit the Military Museum which depicted the battle of Gallipoli and the Ottoman forces decisive victory over the Brittish forces. I learned something impecable though. The Britts had a bolt-action rifle capable of firing 5 shots before reloading. The Ottomans had German Maussers which were single shot weapons. How did the Ottomans defeat the Brittish? Serious cahones, courage under fire, and being very well trained. In order to repel the attacters the Ottomans had to have deadly accuracy and they had to rely on volley firing tactics! I saw the Museum, the fort, and the Naval Base with Lessa. The other three girls decided that they wanted to go see the Wooden Horse used in the movie Troy because Brad Pitt was once in it...lame. I got to see it but it wasn't anything to be like, "oh my God! I can now die happy!" Lessa and I just talked for a bit and walked up and down the water front that night, then came back to go to an Internet Cafe to check our email. I saw something disturbing though. World of Warcraft has invaded Turkiye apparently. After that, we went to get Durams for dinner, then desert and did work for school for the rest of the night.

The next day was by far one of the best days of my life. We got up early to catch a Dolmus (a small bus) from Çanakkale to Behramkale, also known as Assos. Assos was founded in the 8th century BC from colonists from the Greek Island of Lesvos. Many great Philosophers lived here including the famous Aristotle. There was a statue made of him near the entrance of the ruins actually (I took a picture with me having a dialogue with him). Alexander the Great retook the city from Persian forces later on, and St. Paul even visited briefly. Now it has been reduced to a small village that lives off Tourism. When we were there the village was dead on the outside, but there was still a lot of life to be had. We immediately went to the ruins of Assos which were situated at the top of the hill (for protection reasons). Once we got to the top it was as if we all found a little peace within us. We saw the remains of the Temple of Athena and we paid tribute to her in the form of honoring her with our presence by payment of 10 lira as an entrance fee. We were the only ones there. There were no annoying tourists, or rentacops telling us we couldn't go on top of the pillars. It was just us, the sound of the ocean below us, the wind, and the beautiful view of Lesvos and the town. The island of Lesvos where the famous female Greek Poet Sappho lived was literally right across the water from where we were. I wanted to go there but we just didn't have the time necessary to do it. For about four hours we just roamed around at our leisure taking pictures of the ruins, of ourselves, relaxing in the amazing view, and just being at peace. We also started climbing ontop of some of the pillars and just goofing off while reading from our guidebooks more about the town. It was peaceful. Later we also got to se the old greek towers that fortified and protected the hill during the times of antiquity. We did get to see the outside of the Hudavendigar Camii, a very old Ottoman Mosque. However due to renovation being made, we couldn't go inside.

We went back down and saw the only two street vendors that were open and decided to get some stuff from them to help stimulate the economy by pumping money into it. I know it is dated Keynesian economics, but hell it is also very reputable, and respected logic. We only saw one restaurant that was open and that was the Assos Restaurant. I ordered meatballs because I was feeling like I needed to eat cheep. However because we were the only customers he has probably had in a while, he gave me in particular a welcomed bottle of wine (FYI: the taste of this countries wine is growing on me). The owner was very nice to us and we were treated like royalty.

We then walked down the street to see the other parts of the ruins that were from the Byzantium era. We should have paid for it, but no one was working the ticket booth and the gate wasn't locked. So we just decided to go right in and start our own little tour. We started off on a pathway that went directly through a cemetery filled with sarcophagi that would literally in a matter of days start eating away the flesh of the dead. We danced upon the graves of the deceased (they are dead and don't care) and explored some of the more fascinating areas of the cemetery. We then made our way into the Necropolis which was awesome. It would have been truly a site to go back in time to see what Assos was like when it was a bustling city. There were remains of houses, and buildings everywhere. The walls that protected the city were truly massive. Imaging the walls of Helms Deep from the second LOTR film because that is exactly what it looked like. However the three best sites by far were the old sewer system that was built, the gymnasium and the theater! The old Theater was massive! It was used for plays, and early was a place where Gladiators fought and killed each other! Grace, Lessa, and myself decided to just goof around so we went through the evolutions of the plays in ancient Greece. We all started as the chorus but Grace stepped out and started to recite lines becoming our first thespian. Then it was Lessa and then me. We tried acting our Oedipus Rex and Em was very critical of our performance. This was by far the best part.

We walked back up to the Hostel that we were staying at and went to the same place we had for lunch for dinner. The hostel was a great experience. It was cheap and a fairly nice place to sleep for a weekend. Next time, however, I need to try couch surfing. The dinner was good. I had fresh caught fish. How did I know it was fresh. Because the guy gave me an entire fish with the eyes still inside. It was sea bass and like before he gave all helpings of wine. He especially doted with with three glasses of his finest Dry Red Wine. He then offered me Raki but I declined (the most alcoholic drink one can possibly order!). After dinner we decided to rest until midnight and we went back out into the ruins to see the part of the town that was on the waterfront at night, and to celebrate Em's 21st birthday in the Greek Theater. We even brought cake that we ate under the stars (and the view of those were amazing as well).

The next day, we had a long dolmus/bus ride back to Istanbul. However I will never forget Assos, Troy, and Çanakkale.

Murphy's Law-Turkish Bureaucracy

The beginning of last week can be summed up by the title of this blog. During that period of time I was dealing with the wretched bureaucracy of both Bogaziçi University and the Turkish Police Department.

The weekend before, I was having internet problems. Whenever my computer was plugged in with an ethernet cord, I would get a busy loading status, but the internet would fail to upload. I bypassed it though by getting a wireless router. However on Monday, they found out about it, had a network crash in my room and they shut down the entire network in my area because of it. That is when they axed my internet from me. They told me they sent an email to notify me, and I just looked at them as if that was the dumbest thing I have ever heard (how in the hell could I check my email when they take my internet away to begin with!). So for the past couple of days, I have been using the wireless at the Library and asking other peeps if I could borrow their computer. But what happened before that was just horrifying.

Monday morning I skipped my Matrix Thoery class in order to get all of my stuff printed out and to make the trip into the old city to the police station to get my Residence Permit. However I should have listened to the signs. The gods didn't want me to get the permit that day, especially Armis, godess of discord. The 43R Bus that I took to Kabatas hit a car and caused about a 20 minute delay since he hit the car well. Thank god everyone was alright (except the nice Mercedez Benz). But that is what happens when you drive and talk on the bloddy cell phone! Then the rain came, and came down hard. It was horrible waiting for the tram to get to the Police station. On average though the trip to the station takes about an 90 minutes. I tried to get work done, but there was this creepy older guy who was looking over my shoulder to see me scribble down notes for my Residence Permit and my Matrix Theory class. When I finally got off the Tram, I followed the directions that Em gave me and after 10 minutes I realized that her directions were just flat out wrong. I had a feeling that they were wrong but I was hoping that they would take me toward the general direction. I then decided to check the map and then I realized I went in pretty much the opposite direction! For now on I am going to trust my sense of direction over hers. When I got to the police station though and started waiting in line, Em called me telling me that they reached their quota for today and that they were not taking any more residence permit applications. I was almost in and they stopped!!! I walked back with Danhui who was in a similar situation. We stopped to get ice cream before we made our way back to the superdorm. That was the best part of the day. The next day was by far the worst day.

Because I had a lot of school work to do the night before, I got about 4 hours of sleep the night before. I woke up at around 5:00 to catch a bus a 6:00am. I was planning on skipping my Game Theory course and the first half of my Turkish class in order to get this residence permit done. I again took the bus and then the tram for 90 minutes to get to the police station and that day we were met by a mob of Bulgarians who all trying to demand the same thing we were after. Fourtunately we went got to go ahead by flashing our non Bulgarian passport to the police. However the police were totally decked out with body armor, bullet proof vests, and H&K MP5 submachine guns. Needless to say that they were intimidating. I had to wait for about another 90 minutes before they started to let anyone in the actual station. Then I had to wait a total of three hours for them to call my number. It felt like 6 hours though. Also in the police department I had to go to the bathroom. It was literally the most disgusting place I have ever had the displeasure of smelling. A toilet was clogged and leaking and therefore crap was litterally everywhere surrounding in the general area of the stalls. Worst yet, they had no toiled paper and I needed to get to the stalls. It was like being at Golgatha. When they finally called my number they checked over my things and then came accross to the letter from the rector and kept saying in "no good." They then proceeded to write down instructions in Turkish as to what I needed to do, but I triple checked everything before I went it baffled me. But they sent me back, and I gave the police (who were woman) a very sarcastic smile. They then giggled at each other. I would have blown up right then and there at the thought of having to wake up early the next day to do it again, but the man with the MP5 submachine gun discouraged the "Jerry Oswald" behavior. I then proceded to check over what went wrong with what Jackie brought. And then low and behold I saw it and I felt like an metereorite hit my chest. My rectorate letter was incomplete. Not only did it not have a stamp of approval but it also lacked the list with my name on it. The International Office screwed me over. I wanted to cry. I tried quickly going back to them to tell them what is missing and pleaded with them to make an exception. They just kept shrugging their shoulders and told me in Turkish that they couldn't do anything about it. I then made the two and a half hour long bus-tram trip back to the superdorm. I was listening to some angry fight music from DMX, Third Eye Blind, Thrice, Trapt, and Korn the whole way back. While I was waiting in Kabatas for the bus back to Eitler, I was standing in the rain by the waterfront with the incomplete letter at hand. Out of anger, I chucked the

When I got back I went directly to class which was useless because I missed the first hour. Between my Politics class and my turkish class I went back to the International Office and had them get me complete form. They were deeply sorry though so I just decided not to blow up at them and go get a pizza at the cafeteria. It was a time of need for me. When I finally got back to the superdorm, there were two notes on my door for me. The first one said that I was not going to have my phone in the dorm for some time due to some technical problems, and that they confiscated my wireless router. They stole the only thing that provided me with internet in my dorm. And now my only way to communicate was with my prepaid cell phone, which is expensive to bloody operate! That day was horrible. Then when I finally got to check my email at the library, my Game Theory professor contacted me stating that I missed a pop quiz. F***** Great. Not only that, I had to miss my Matrix Theory class again that day in order to finish getting the bloody residence permit. I was emo, pissed, and becoming slightly unstable...

The next day I repeated my morning from the day before...waited and did nothing for about 8 hours. I went with Ernesto, Olivia, and Elie. It would have been quicker but the power in the building went out at least twice, causing all activities in the station to cease. When I finally to the desk to hand in all of my forms they said okay and gave me my residence permit as I coughed up 90 lira. We all got finished at about the same time, and right when we exited the building the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Later that night I ate a chili dinner with Em, Lessa, Kristianna, the Katies, and Grace and then proceded to plan for the weekend. We were fortunate to have Grace's roomate make a couple of calls for us allowing us to book our bus tickets, along with notifying our hostels of the times we were expected to get in. Once it was all figured we watched Troy to prepare our selves for the actual Troy. The week went alright after that, but that was by far one of the most stressful weeks in my entire life!

Night on the Bogaziçi

Last Saturday night was by far one of the most fun and craziest nights of my life. I am going to be brutally honest with this post even though it will cause some family and friends to question, “Who is this guy. I don’t know him anymore!” I started off the night freezing my gluteus maximus off waiting for a boat that was late getting to the European side of the Bogaziçi. Once the boat came, I sacrificed 55 YTL (Yeni Türkçe Lira—New Turkish Lira) and received Fez, unlimited snack food, baklava, alcoholic beverages, nonalcoholic beverages and plenty of good/crazy memories that will be long lasting.




The night started off with wine, which is surprising for a college party. It was actually a tasty red wine. I drank it slowly thanks to the tips given by mother and father when I celebrated my 21st with them. I wish I could say the same for others. I could tell that people weren’t taking it as slow as I was. The party dancing got started off fairly quickly, but I didn’t witness that at first. I was busy outside on the deck with Em, Grace, Katie, and others taking pictures of the mansions along the Bogaziçi. The visuals were amazing. I just wish that my sister was nice, learned how to share, and let me borrow her sweet camera for this trip. My camera had a hard time getting good pictures when it was dark. I did manage to get a couple of good ones. I now want to live in one of them.

When I came back the party was in full swing. Conversation and laughter was coming from the people sitting down around the tables. I actually got entangled in a couple of them. Funny how much people loosen up in conversation when they loose a little bit of inambition due to alcohol. Then the party became a bit livelier. I was talking to the Erasmus students who helped organize this and they tried to explain how they thought they bought enough wine to last the night. It didn’t even last 90 minutes. I admit I had three glasses but there were others who horded entire bottles. I actually saw someone who I am not going to mention who actually stole a bottle from the bar and was hogging it all to herself. I also saw another guy, who I didn’t know, do the same thing. It was tasty, but since when did college students drink wine. I guess I am a biased Midwesterner, or maybe it is just because Turks and Europeans are more refined then us Americans.

I must say though the music was good, and it was all great fun. Most of it was American music, so I knew how to dance to it. However, the local Turks were not quite used to it, so I was busy teaching a guy how to dance to Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean. That was interesting. I also was enjoying good conversation with the girls I came with. We had fun exchanging fuzz, making fools of ourselves, exchanging gang signs, and relearning from others how to swing dance. I was also introduced to new game that they played in Holland. Karl showed me. Basically there are a couple of teams and every team has two people. They would line up in rows along a line, team by team, and opposite from them would be two cups of beer. The people playing would have to run to their beer, down it, place the cup back where it was, run around the cup ten times, and then run back. Then the next player does the same. You can probably guess what happened from that. I didn’t participate, but I did film it for future black mailing purposes. However I didn’t get the funny stuff that supposedly happened later. After all the wine was gone, they switched to beer. This is where I am extremely thankful for celebrating my 21st with my parents because they warned me about the possible nasty side effects of mixing drinks, most specifically the mixing of wine and beer. I was busy indulging in the snack food before I went to the ever so popular Efes beer. Also I drank it slowly. I wish others did the same for reasons I will mention later. However, as the night went on people started to get drunk and loose a lot of self-control. I saw one of my friends, whose name was ß@#OÇ&†å, literally straddle this one guy in the corner and had his way with him. It took the guy a couple seconds to realize what he was now allowed to do and started to do the same thing. Both of their hands were all over each other. This might sound bad, but it was actually quite funny. However I did get a little embarrassed for her since she wasn’t able to. Then I also saw one of my mates by the name of $ΩÂØ∏‰ with ÏÁ‰◊ı±Œ all over each other while dancing. However this act was a little bit more tasteful then the act just previously mentioned. I was also later approached by other friends, notably Penina and Jacky who asked me, “can you please try to get that creepy guy away from Ωßå∑®, and start dancing with her so that he will leaver her alone?” I agreed because he was going tiptoeing over the line that shouldn’t be crossed. But it only just started.

Apparently, when drunk, our Turkish comrades got intense. They were having fun but they were definitely taking advantage over some of my drunk female friends who were too shy in saying no. I have to respect the Turkish woman that night because they had no problem telling a man off when he was going to far on the dance floor. My friends however ended up being to polite when doing it, so the message was never received. This is where I came into play. I would have to be the one to tell the guy that he was doing too much because I was perhaps the most sober male there. I did drink a bit, yes, but I was smart and spread my drinks out and I actually ate my fair share of the baklava. The person who I had to save the most though was Grace. She wasn’t drunk at all but she had trouble saying “Siktir Git!” which is fuck off in Turkish. Now, I am not saying that was the correct thing to say, but she wasn’t assertive enough to get the guys named Murat to stop grinding up against her. It’s funny though. Every guy named Murat that she has encountered has been labeled as a creep by her. Bad luck I suppose. Anyway she owes me huge, because the only was to get this one guy off her was by literally dancing with him so that she could get away. I sacrificed some of my masculinity that night, and how did she repay me? She took a picture of it and posted it on facebook the other day. To bad it didn’t show my disgust in the act…

The wine and beer started going badly for a lot of people, along with the alcohol. One girl who I know started dancing with me and when she got closer, she must have seen the beautiful blue eyes and started forcefully making out with me. After a brief session, I decided that she was in need of fresh air, so I took her outside (I was in need as well). She continued to try and to make out with me though but was eventually called by her friends (who I must eventually thank for preventing it to be an even more awkward situation) to go inside. I took that opportunity to hide in the safety of the friends I came with who weren’t drunk at all. We were perhaps the only group that could walk straight. Later on though the wine and the beer mixture had their full affect and a lot of girls were getting sick from it and had to make trips down to the bathroom below deck. I remained upstairs enjoying the time as best as I could, eating the baklava that people weren’t eating because of sickness, and dancing with some girls who asked to be rescued. When the boot finally parked itself, I had to escort one of my friends that did not look good at all back to the Superdorm. She was got sick at the party and needed an escort so Em and me decided to escort her back to the dorm. I don’t hold it against her though. I blame the situation more then the people personally. When you’re on a boat for five hours with unlimited booze with your friends drinking, you’re inviting the consequences with it. Add it a rocky boat trip and no view due to fog outside (which limited the sights leaving only drinking to be a viable option for entertainment to some). We got her home though.

The very next day I received about a half-dozen facebook and skype messages all from different people thanking me for my services during the crazy night before. There would have been more though if others could remember the eventful night. Overall, I had a lot of fun. I had enough baklava that my face broke out the next morning (no regrets), I enjoyed some nice wine along with good music, had some great dialogue, and showed off my moves on the dance floor (along with learning a few new ones) and helped others enjoy the night as well.

Substitute Good for CTF: Futbol

And no, I do not mean the sport that Americans play that barely even requires a foot and confuses the hell out of the rest of the world as to why they call it FOOTball. By futbol I mean soccer (forgive me British man who dies inside every time I say the word). At Orientation I met a Turk by the name Fatih who was passionate about four things: backgammon (he beat me), school, watching Besiktas futbol, and playing futbol. That night we exchanged info so that he can call me when a they want to organize a futbol game. Last week was my first match with the guys. Needless to say, I didn't start off so hot. But I got better as the night progressed, and was actually able to contribute to our victory. I am also thankful that I wasn't the worst player out there. That was a relief. I played defense though the entire night but I on occasion moved up to play attacker/forward when the other forwards were tired and couldn't make it back up the field. I actually perhaps had the most endurance out of all of them. Either way, it was a great workout. I actually played against some semi-professional futballers. For instance, Thjis used to play futbol in a league back in the Netherlands that was actually highly rank, but I don't believe it was professional. Another player who I had difficulty defending against was Mehmet Ali and for good reason. He played professionally in Germany. Knowing his skills I especially played close attention to him trying to "ball-block" him whenever I can (there was a joke in there if you couldn't tell...hahaha). The worst though was when I had to play goalie and I realized how much skill I lost. I remember that I was an excellent goalie when I was younger. Now I have become timid. I must regain my intensity that I once had. This is my goal for the semester.

That and visiting more of Turkiye and good grades. Speaking of which, I am going to do something extremely exciting for the next two weekends...

(TO BE CONTINUED in...Raiders of Cappadocia, and coming soon is StarTroy)