11/25/2022 0 Comments Traditional turkish hamam
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11/25/2022 0 Comments Archaeology MuseumAfter the hamam, I took the tram by myself over to Gulhane where there was a large beautiful park and different museums. I started by walking through the park with hot chocolate and just continuing to enjoy my state of peace. I went all the way to the other side with the historic Gothic columns that have lasted centuries! Heading back up I made my way over to the Archaeology Museum. Every country I visit, I try to visit a history museum to learn more about the background and culture of the state. The museum grounds were beautiful, and the museum within held a great amount of history dating back centuries on the evolution of Turkey. There were numerous artifacts from the Ottoman period with many statues from Greek mythology! One thing I found disturbing and a sad reminder about statues we have, are that almost all of the male statues have a name and are known who they were of, and nearly half or more of the female statues say "statue of a woman". A sad reminder of how women are continually forgotten from history. Overall I had a really nice time walking around the museum and recommend a visit to it if you find yourself in Istanbul! 11/24/2022 0 Comments no turkey in turkey for turkey day
11/23/2022 0 Comments Wake Forest in TUrkey
11/22/2022 0 Comments Earthquake I have officially experienced my first earthquake, and it was a big one! Here are the events as they followed:
4am: I wake up having to go to the bathroom and wash my face. 4:05am: I get back into bed. 4:08am: The beds and everything in the room start shaking. First reaction is did Brittany also get up and have to go to the bathroom, and that somehow start shaking the beds (Brittany woke up with the same idea that I was somehow shaking her bed). Next second as the beds continue to shake and I look over at Brittany, I realize we're having an earthquake. We sit up completely shocked and unsure what to do, and I look around seeing there's no where we could drop and cover our heads should we need to. 4:09-10am: The shaking stops and we are like well what the hell was that. Texts start flowing in our group chat to see who woke up from it and that everyone was alright. We look outside and see that everything is still standing. I googled "Did I just feel an earthquake" and sure enough, there it was that there had been a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in a region near us in Turkey. Thankfully there were no deaths, with only 50 injuries, and many buildings remained stable. Being on fault lines, we found out that Turkey experiences thousands of earthquakes per year, though not at this magnitude. (In my head, I couldn't get the scene from Freaking Friday out of my head "Grandpa there's an earthquake!!" haha). We were pretty freaked out at what had happened, and feared an aftershock. Brittany got us worried looking up tsunami's, us being so close to the Bosphorous. However, we were fine and went back to sleep after awhile. Another crazy event to add to our time in Turkey! For more info: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63724714 11/20/2022 0 Comments Solo TravellerToday I needed some me time. There is a park that is right around our hotel, so I decided that I was going to take some time to myself and go on a little solo adventure. It felt really nice walking around by myself, and I just kept thinking about how the me a few years ago would never imagine myself doing the things I'm doing today! Yay #proudmoment. Anyway, I continue on and finally find the Yildiz Park, and man oh man is it big and beautiful! There are so many paths to take you could spend so much time there and still not have seen everything! I start on the main path, then go up on the left-side to get a better view of the park. There's a public bathroom there, which I thought was really cool they had that considering how big the park is. I see in the distance on the right that there's a lake, so I head down another path on over. The lake was so beautiful, complete with swans swimming around, and a mini house for the ducks and swans in the middle of the water. There were tons of couples fawning over each other there, so I went down this little path besides the water to just take in some peace. I meander around, and end up on this swinging bridge which was a lot of fun to walk across! Though when the little kids figured out jumping on it made it swing like crazy, that was less fun. But the bridge took you up for better views of the lake and a waterfall that fills it. I know I'm repeating myself, but it was all just so beautiful and peaceful. I keep just picking random paths, and eventually end up walking up to the top where there's the Beltur Cafe. I got a large Iced Mocha and salad for maybe $5 USD! I set up a nice spot inside overlooking the park, and worked on some homework and this blog for awhile. It was really peaceful and felt normalish, which was good after all the traveling of the past few days. After about an hour and a half, I leave and continue around the park, ending up sitting by a tree for awhile to just sit and do nothing. And lemme tell you, it was wonderful. I kept thinking, oh my gosh what if I got to do this everyday! There were obviously tons of students out and about working, and even some adults just there reading. I get up again, play with some cats down the road, then set up at a picnic bench to get some more work done on my blog. This is immediately sidetracked as a cat chose me and decided we were going to hang out for awhile. He comes up and walks all around my laptop and decides the keyboard is a really nice spot to sit. Reminded me a lot of my cats at home. It was very friendly and encouraged my pets. I called my dad to show off my new friend, and chatted with him for awhile. On the call the cat then decides that my lap will be a nicer spot and hops down, makes some biscuits and settles in. I felt on top of the world and just pet him for about thirty minutes. Animals really do make the difference and can decrease so much stress and worry in life. Around 4pm I decide that I need to head back to grab some food and meet up with the others, so my new kitty friend and I say a teary goodbye and I leave. I decided that the path on Google Maps was going to take too long, and surely there was more than one exit to the park... I was wrong. I walked around for an HOUR up and down and around paths that I thought would lead me out and closer to where I needed to be to head back to the hotel. Instead of getting frustrated, I just laughed at the mistake, and decided to enjoy the extra beauty of the park I had now seen. I make my way back to the main entrance, and make it back to the hotel nicely. Today was a great test to see how well I do on my own in a completely new country, having only spent 3 days in it so far, and I was so happy how easily I navigated the city and felt comfortable in the area. I definitely hope to live here someday and make this park part of my regular routine!!
11/19/2022 1 Comment Kadikoy adventuresToday we woke up and decided that we would take another ferry to another side of Istanbul, Kadikoy. We heard there's tons of restaurants, shopping, and young people here. We had a miscommunication with the boys, so it was just Brittany and I for the day. We walk to Kabatash and hop on a ferry off to Kadikoy. The ferry was beautiful and the ride lasted about 20 minutes. Getting off the boat, we walk up to what I can describe as being as overwhelming as Times Square. There's this huge open area and then tons of sky scrapers with offices on the top, and shops/restaurants on the bottom. Going with the flow for the day, we pick a random direction and go! We stumbled upon a CHRISTMAS SHOP...but there was a super long line to get inside so we decided it wasn't worth it. There were tons of nice clothing stores to go to, then turn up a street and there's tons of outdoor/indoor restaurants. These have been part of my favorite part of Turkey, that there's all this seating outside and you can enjoy your meal on the sidewalk. We walk around aimlessly for awhile, and decide we're finally hungry and need some food. Brittany wasn't so sure about having more Turkish food, so we tried to find somewhere with pasta/salad, and by the time we did, they had stopped serving food for the afternoon!! This happened at another place, and we started getting really hangry. We ended up at this very busy restaurant, which we had taken as a good sign, and ended up with some very squishy/strange chicken that we did not eat. Discouraged, we gave up on food and decided to keep wandering around the area. Dr. Bayan told us we should get to this part of the city called Moda, so we pulled it up on google maps and headed off. We wound up on this barge next to the sea that was a huuuuge park! It was absolutely breathtaking and cured all of our hanger. We walked over and hopped up on the barge to get a good seat to enjoy the water, and yes, I know, WE DIDN'T RUN ON THE BARGE!! We sat there in peace for about thirty minutes, enjoying the breeze and the smell of the water. Finally, but not really, having enough, we got down and walked along the barge for seemingly forever. In this, and many, parts of Istanbul there are tons of cats! On the barge, every 10-20 steps there would be a cat hanging out, and even more running around the grass of the park. They are all well fed, and ear-tagged to show they had been vaccinated and neutered. As we walked, we noticed this old man with a smelly bag and gloves, and cats running to him. It turns out he walks up and down the park handing out fish parts/heads to all of the cats. Many of the cats seemed to recognize him and ran over when they saw him. He allowed us to take some photos, and we accidentally ended up following him down the path and watching as all the kitties got some nice fish meals. When we finally reached the end of the park, we decided to go in search of coffee. Along the way we found this little spot where a bunch of women were selling their goodies and handmade crafts. They looked like they were having a lot of fun, and it was nice supporting them with some purchases. After refilling our energy with some coffee, my feet were killing me and I decided it was time to finally try one of the city bikes. I was able to get the app working for me, not Brittany, so we decided that two people could fit on the bike and we would try to take away at least some of the distance to the ferry station. I gave it a go by myself a few times and felt like a little kid again. However, having someone holding onto you is a whole different story and we did not make it very far haha. Stopping back at the barge/park, we walked along the path again, and being a Saturday afternoon/evening, saw tons of young people our age coming out, setting up picnics, and having takeout meals from McDonalds and other places. It looked like a lot of fun to just come to the park and hang out with friends, and something I could easily see myself doing in the future! Getting back onto the ferry, we enjoyed the sunset ride back to Kabatash, remarking on yet another wonderful day in Turkey! 11/18/2022 1 Comment Grand Bazaar"The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m²" (Wiki). The Grand Bazaar is a must see experience in Istanbul! It was the first stop Brittany and I headed to during our first full day in Turkey. To get there, we had to walk about 30 minutes to the tram station in Kabatash, then take the tram over the bridge to the stop outside the Grand Bazaar. This all sounded much easier in our heads, except that this was all in Turkish and there's very little English. With this said, we made it there no problem, needless to say I was pretty proud of us. Walking up to the Bazaar was a wonder, there was a quick security check to get in, and then wowza is the place overwhelming. However, we had no plan for the day which meant we could wander aimlessly, and that's just what we did. We continued to pick random locations and just enjoy our time there. Brittany found some nice bags, and I got myself a cross-body bag and matching purse that were Made in Turkey!! We walked around and grabbed some snacks and tea from different vendors, and just had a fun time exploring. It was amazing how much time you could spend there just aimlessly walking around. A call to prayer happened while we were there, and it was interesting seeing all the vendors close and the men pull out rugs to pray together. It was beautiful to watch. We walked around for about 2 hours, stumbling upon a book area outside that led to the Istanbul University which was adorable and full of cats!! It was an amazing piece of beauty and history in Istanbul to start our trip!
11/18/2022 1 Comment Ferry to UskudarAfter a good rest from our eventful morning to the bazaar, Dr. Bayan took Brittany and I on a girls trip to the Asian side of Turkey, Uskudar. It is crazy that a 10 minute ferry switched us between continents!! The ferry ride was very peaceful on the way there, always enjoying a bit of water time. Upon our arrival, we found the city to be bright with colorful buildings and tons of parks! We decided that we wouldn't make a plan and just walk around until we found somewhere to eat. I am getting better at spontaneity! It was a really fun time getting to spend time with Dr. Bayan and speak with her on non school-related topics. We walk around for awhile, and admire how you can do and see so many things on a low budget in Turkey, and cheap public transportation making everything so easy. We pass a few restaurants and cafes that we decide to stop at on our way back. We end up walking along this beautiful street with tons of people sitting at tables on the sidewalks have cay (tea), Turkish coffee, smoking (ew), and lots of desserts! We decide that dessert before dinner is a must, and stop at this cute cafe and each grab a chocolatey dessert! Dr. Bayan was so excited, it was really fun. We continued on and found this small shop with beautiful jewelry, and I bought myself a gorgeous sterling silver ring! Because sometimes it's good to treat yourself, and I often am (rightfully) accused of not buying myself enough on trips and only getting gifts for other people. We walk back where we came from, and stop at an Ottoman restaurant/Palace, the Nilhan Sultan Kosku restaurant where the granddaughter of an old Ottoman Sultan has transformed their palace into an authentic Ottoman eatery. At first we sit outside for a view of the Bosphorous, but then it starts to rain so we headed inside to an area that apparently used to be where they kept the water? Our waiter was very nice and spoke English very well, exciting Dr. Bayan to make a connection with someone there that speaks English for future reservations. We had a wonderful meal with tons of tapas of rice, salad, and meat dishes, with a lovely background traditional Ottoman music by Dede Efendi. We talked for a long while, getting to know Dr. Bayan more, and just enjoying a calm evening out. After dinner our server took us on a tour of the palace and all of the any levels with views of the Bosphorous. Then we headed downstairs to their shop, where Dr. Bayan bought some beautiful tea sets, and we connected with the two wonderful women there who are students at local universities! After our shopping, we head back to the ferry station, where the water has become much more choppy and rocking some pretty large boats. With caution we get on, but after a few minutes Dr. Bayan decides that we're going to get too sick so we hop off the boat and try to hail a taxi and experience going over the suspension bridge. However, when we get to the taxi area, they all reject taking us because there is too much traffic and just point us back to the ferry. After much debate, we head back to the ferry, deciding to go on the bottom floor this time that's enclosed and will hopefully let us feel the rocking less. The boat takes off soon after and we make it back safe to the other side, though feeling a little queasy. All in all, we had a really nice night just the girls hanging out, and getting the opportunity to get to know Dr. Bayan more outside of school. 11/11/2022 0 Comments Friday MarketEvery Thursday night and Friday, tons of local vendors set up in this one strip in Amman and sell tons of clothing, shoes, goods, and plants at very lost costs! Brittany and I woke up early today to head out and get some deals! First impressions, it's very overwhelming!! There are so many stalls and its very crowded, you could spend hours here just digging through all of the clothing. The first place we stopped at had some of the best finds! I got three sweaters for 3 JD each (about $5) all high quality brands! I also got a nice warm jacket for 10 JD, I didn't realize how cold it would get here!! We walked around for about 2 hours, stopping in a bunch of the shops checking out sweaters and jackets as the seasons turn in Jordan and we find ourselves veeerrry cold. We had a lot of fun just getting out early in the morning, and ended up having a very productive day. If you're ever in Jordan I highly recommend you check the market out!!
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