Ramble On

First thing’s first: I AM DONE WITH GRAD SCHOOL! I have turned in all my papers, finished all my classes, passed comps, and completed all my presentations. It feels great to come home at night and not have schoolwork to think about. About two months ago, my cousin Cara and I were talking about her upcoming trip to Istanbul. She told me about her great set up and it sounded like it would be a great way to celebrate the completion of my Masters degree. So I bought my ticket for the day after my last class. After two months of craziness involving much more than just school and work, I am now on the other side and looking at job searching, apartment searching, and just figuring out the next general steps for life. I am so excited to see what unfolds. Since there is very little certainty in my life, it’s probably best I just stick to writing about what I know, and that is mainly what has already happened. So I will do my best to recount the even...

After having gone to bed so late, we definitely woke up late the next day. I got up to try out the fitness center at the hotel and had a great time listening to the odd Turkish radio choices pumping at full blast over the stereo. When I got back, Cara and I got ready and then headed out for our first crack at the Istanbul mass transit system and to see what the Spice Bazaar held for us. We enjoyed the cheery tune the turnstiles play when you slide in your token to gain access to the trains. It sounds very much like when you win an extra life in an old school video game. Istanbul is built on seven hills. They are VERY steep hills and the city, in all its modernity, has dec ided that no one should be forced to walk them if they don’t want to. So you can take these underground funiculars down or up the hills as you please for a mere 1.75TL. Taksim Square is perched on one of these hills but our hotel was very close to the tram stop so transport was a breeze. ...

I started each day at the hotel with a trip to the fitness center. The floor to ceiling windows in the smallish room overlook the square and I found myself able to block out the painfully outdated radio selections just by watching the crazy flow of traffic around the square. The cars weave in and out of each other and the nonsensical traffic patterns of the square itself make for an almost mesmerizing distraction. I also found that when I did put on my iPod, The Hold Steady and Rilo Kiley made my morning that much better and at certain points, the traffic seemed to be pulsing with the beat. Cara was kind enough to let me have her hotel breakfast because she usually doesn’t have time to eat before work. Well, while breakfast couldn’t replace seeing the original frescoes in the Aya Sofya or steaming in a hamam, it certainly was a fabulous way to start the day. They had acres of food laid out: Breads, pastries, fresh fruit, dried fruit, omelette station, meats...

My day started off with more weird music at the hotel fitness center, another fabulous breakfast overlooking the whole of Istanbul, and a little bit of misdirection from our hotel’s concierge. There is a very out-of-the-way Byzantine church in the western suburbs of Istanbul that was supposed to have wonderful mosaics that I wanted to see. I asked the concier ge how to get out there via public transport. She said I should just take th e number 87 bus and then she gave me very specific directions for where to wait for this bus. It was easy to find the bus stop she was talking about, but after waiting for a half hour there and seeing every other number bus except the 87, I decided she was wrong. Cara had also told me that they had been wrong or unknowing in other areas before so I decided I should ask someone else and try and find it on my own. Then, I was walking back to the hotel and passing the bus stop that the concierge specifically told me to ignore and there, sitti...

And then it was my last day in Istanbul! I too k a little more time in the morning to leave the hotel because my day wasn’t as jam packed as the others had been. I decided I wanted to walk around the city a little bit more and not use public transport very much. That was always my favorite thing to do in Paris. Whenever I had spare time, I would fill it by walking wherever I was going, no matter how far. It helped me get to know the neighborhoods, and get a better feel for different areas. I notice a lot more around me. One thing I got very loud and clear on this day walking around more was that being a blonde in Istanbul makes you extremely consp icuous. I didn’t feel like a target so much as I just wish that I wasn’t so noticeable as a tourist and immediately identifiable as American. In an y case, walking around the city felt a little stranger due to that. I went from the hotel and walked down the steep hill to Dolmabahçe Palace. I didn’t intend on g...