Winter Voyage: Part 4 of 8: Austria

Austria was the only country where we visited two cities. We started off in Vienna. This was another really lovely city, overwhelmed with beautiful architecture. Also, it started snowing the day we got there, which was fun. This is St. Stephen's Church (it was sooo gorgeous inside and out):

This is the palace (with Emily in the foreground):

We split off for some of the museum-going. Ivy and I went to the Leopold Museum where there was a special exhibit on Klimt. Although I had seen his work before without realizing it, I had never heard of him. I loved it. I really liked how some of his works had really realistic faces on very abstract backgrounds. You can see some of his works here: http://www.iklimt.com/index.html. There was some other art I really liked at this museum, like Schiele. http://www.leopoldmuseum.org/text_en.php?nav=1&id=1.

The next day we went to the music museum which was SO COOL. They covered many different aspects of music. There was a section about the biological bases of hearing and the physical bases of sound, a section on composition, and a section on important Viennese composers (Mozart et. al.). And it was really interactive, so there were sections where you could compose your own "piece" using random sounds, including urban sounds, the sounds of pen on paper, and sneezes. There was even a station where you could conduct the orchestra on a screen with an electronic baton.

Appropriately, that night we went to a Strauss/Mozart concert. It was a cheap concert targeting tourists primarily, but that was honestly perfect for us. It was short, the pieces were short, and there was a bit of opera and dance as well as simple chamber music pieces. I didn't think the dancers were that great, but I thought the musicians were quite good, especially considering the casual setting. The venue was an old very Viennese building, the performance in a big, well-lit room with lots of flowery high-relief molding.

The last museum we went to in Vienna was the Freud Museum. It was in his actual house/place of work. It actually wasn't that great of a museum, unfortunately. It was interesting to see so many artifacts from his life (letters, pictures, and random things like toiletries), but the museum was more biographical than descriptive of his ideas. At the end there was, however, a room with tons of books by and about him. It would have been nice to have been able to spend more time in that library.

While in Vienna we got gelato basically every night. No regrets. We got it at a great gelateria run by flirtatious Italians. I also really enjoyed the DELICIOUS bread rolls and an amazing broccoli gratin I got the first night :DDD

Our last day in Austria we decided to rent a car and drive to Linz (famous for Linzer torts). Linz is right on the Danube:

Our first stop here was to the Ars Electronica Center which was SO INCREDIBLE. O my god there was some unbelievable technology. We started off in a 3D astronomy show that was super realistic. There was a floor on cities with databases for basically anything you would want to know. There were also build-your-own-city interactive stations. There was another floor that more directly covered technology and science. There was this thing (I don't really know how to call it) made up of hanging white plastic ferns and lights. As you moved between the hanging vines they would sense the movement and the ferns would uncoil (to create a slight breeze) and lights would turn on. There was a whole section on eye movement and what it can tell you about the attention of the person. There were activities to show you how your eyes moved when reading or looking at a picture. And while reading the instructions/explanations for the activity the text would scroll automatically according to your eye movement!! Omg, so amazing. http://new.aec.at/news/

After that Ivy and Jon went to explore the churches around the center while Emily and I took a special tram up the hill to Postlingerplatz. There was a church at the top:

and an impressive view:

It was really cold here so we stopped in a cafe and enjoyed some tea. Then we all met back up, had some real Austrian dinner (delicious dumplings for me!!! some with bacon!!!!!) and headed back to Vienna.

Winter Voyage: Part 3 of 8: Hungary

Hungary was lovely. Honestly I think it was my favorite city from this trip in terms of urban aesthetics at least. There was so much beautiful architecture everywhere, all these creative and intricate details on most of the buildings. Often there were very different styles applied to buildings that were right next to each other. We went to a square where one building was Romanesque, one was Baroque, and one had a Gothic part and a Renaissance part. Other than that, even the buildings on regular streets were beautifully decorated. This was one detail I especially liked:

We took a walking tour that was a nice way to get around even though it wasn't nearly as informative or interesting as the tour of Berlin. Budapest actually used to be two cities: Buda and Pest. Go figure. Even though they are technically part of the same city they are separated by the Danube and apparently there is rivalry between the two sections.

Below is a big square we visited on the tour. All the statues were stylistic in a really cool way and represented important figures in the founding and development of the nation:

While there we visited these baths that are apparently a big thing, and not just for tourists but also for locals. I think they used to be just natural hot springs until an official bathhouse developed around them, using geothermal energy to heat the water. It was really lovely. There was this one really big bath outside (below) and inside there were a whole bunch of smaller baths at different temperatures. There were some that I think also used special water. It smelled awful special at any rate. The boys got professional massages as well. It was really nice to relax here for a bit. We also met a group of students from all over who had actually been on the flight to Budapest from Berlin with us. It turned out that they were all studying abroad in Berlin and had come here for the weekend. We wanted to meet up with them that night but somehow it didn't work out. This is the big outdoor bath:

While in Budapest we visited the Museum of Terror. This wasn't as rough as the tour of the concentration camp was but it was along the same lines. It focused on atrocities experienced by the Hungarian community that were committed by Nazis as well as by the Soviets after WWII. It was a very creatively designed museum, totally unique, but so long and in-depth that it was hard to really take advantage of all the given information. Plus it was real depressing.

Our last day there we visited the Parliament. This is it next to the Danube:

Apparently it's the world's biggest government building after the Pentagon. It was really impressive. We could only go in with a tour but the English tours were sold out so we went with the Spanish tour. So I was the only one who understood what was going on, but no one was bugged about it. The interior was incredibly ornate with a lot of gold-leafing. Apparently the leaves of gold were so fine that they would melt if the artisans picked them up, so they had to rub there hands on their faces in order to create a static force to move the leaves.

In other news, we ate Mexican food at least three times. It wasn't great in Mexican-food terms, but it still scratched the itch. We went out clubbing a couple times as well. One place we went to played old jazz and rock and was quite fun for me, apparently not as much for the others. We also visited Morrison II which had two dance floors and karaoke. We sang a little Backstreet Boys, some Little Mermaid. All in all it was a good time.

Winter Voyage: Part 2 of 8: Germany

We got out of the Berlin airport coming from Istanbul and headed straight into a cab driven by a Turk. Our first stop after settling into the hostel? The local kebap imbiss for a döner sandwich. We joked that we spoke as much Turkish as any other language while we were in Berlin. Makes sense considering there are more Turks in Berlin than in any other city other than Istanbul.

I think our time here was particularly educational, at least in academic terms. We took a walking tour led by dry-humored Brit. It included all kinds of interesting facts about the Nazi period and WWII in general as well as the division. We also went to the National Museum that had an exhibit on Hitler and the Third Reich. It was all fascinating, not to mention chilling and depressing. I hadn't thought much about pre-WWII Hitler and his rise to power. There were many more attempts to assassinate him than I was aware of. Underground in this picture is where his bunker was:

After he killed himself his body was cremated and flushed down the toilet, and a parking lot built over his place of death to show disrespect.

The tour also talked a lot about East Germany and the wall. It all brought back high school German class, reading stories and watching movies about the period. Tiny pieces of the wall were sold in every tourist shop. The wall used to stand along this street:

These are just other sites from the city:

This is the memorial to the Jewish Holocaust victims:

While in Germany we took a day trip and tour to Sachsenhaus, a concentration camp near Berlin. Just the tour was a nightmare. I knew that the atrocities committed in such places had to be far beyond what I could imagine. But even the distance past my imagination that it extended was beyond my comprehension. I'm really struggling with the fact that people can do such things to other people. It was in fact so psychologically damaging for the Nazi workers at the camp to follow the gruesome orders of their authorities that measures were taken to minimize the contact that executioners had with the targeted prisoners. The tour guide gave us plenty of details about what went on, but I won't share any more here.

Here is a view from the entrance. The walls on the sides and the pillar-monument in the middle were added by the East German government:

I'm going to drastically shift gears now, which isn't to disrespect the gravity of everything above but just to leave whoever is reading this on a lighter note. We went out a few times while in Berlin. The first night we went to the party district and ended up following a group of rambunctious Brits to a club that could have been in the US. I had a blast at least. Also, our friend and fellow exchange student from Koc lives in Berlin. She invited us to her house with some of her friends and they made us a traditional German meal. The next night we went out to a really chill bar with her. Another night Ivy, Emily and I met up with Caitlin and her boyfriend (who were in Berlin briefly on the way to Prague) at a bar called Sandmann. Sandmann can only be described as Bohemian. There was a live band playing some sort of blues or jazz. There was also a pirate: scarf around his head like a headband; shoulder-length hair; scruffy facial hair; dangly earring; vest.... He even had a tattoo of sparrows on his arm. This was a serious Johnny Depp fan we were dealing with. We chatted with a group including a Mexican, and Brazilian, and a Portuguese guy. They recommended that the next day we go to Das Edelweiss. It took us forever to find it, but it was so legit. There was a really good band playing all different kinds of jazz. It was in this really vintage room, screaming slinky European 1920s from the wallpaper to the furniture. The old-school Euro combined interestingly with a powerful sense of Berkeley, California, evident in the jazz, the social diversity, and the air's unmistakeable aroma.

Overall, Berlin was quite different than I expected. I think that this is largely because of the lack of crowds that I normally associate with important cities. It was really exciting to experience some of the changes from Istanbul, though, especially the public atmosphere and the food. In terms of public atmosphere I mean that it was nice that as a girl I felt more comfortable going out dressed up and all. And by food I mean that WE ATE THAI FOOD. And I am absolutely smitten with German bakeries and yogurt. So by sacrificing the intense bustle I've experienced in Istanbul so far Berlin actually made itself quite cozy and livable (not that I mind the bustle ;) ).

Winter Voyage: Part 1 of 8: Eat,... Eat, Eat

Part 1 of 8. I know it sounds like this was a trip of Odyssean proportions. That's how it felt, at least. We traveled through six countries in three weeks :P I'm breaking the trip up into a post per country just for organization sake, I hope that doesn't make it hard to find the order.

We traveled to 7 cities in six countries:

• Berlin, Germany
• Budapest, Hungary
• Vienna, Austria
• Linz, Austria
• Dublin, Ireland
• Zurich, Switzerland
• Milan, Italy

Here's a visual (H is also A, where we began in Istanbul):

Ivy and I were the only ones who went through this exact and entire itinerary. Others came and went. Jonathan Kaeppeler was with us until Dublin, where he is now studying abroad; Tim was with us through Hungary; Emily was with us through Austria; and Caitlin joined us in Dublin and stayed on til the end. This means that the social dynamics changed a whole lot throughout. Sometimes they were quite stressful :(. But on the whole it was a an incredible trip. I learned so much about EVERYTHING. And I never until now really understood how long a three week period is. It's looooong. It seems like we were on the road forever and I haven't been in Istanbul for a lifetime. I'll get the posts up as soon as possible :D

Love

Big Changes

So, if I had stuck to the original plan I would be leaving Istanbul tomorrow. It's comforting to know that I'm definitely not ready to go back. I've traveled so much throughout out my entire life, but my interactions with foreign countries have always been relatively superficial specifically because of the shortness of the stay. I keep feeling like this is really my opportunity to engage with a country in a much more profound way.

I'm staying on, along with Ivy, Caitlin, Emily, Susannah, Tim, Sydney, Tyler, and Juliayn (I hope I didn't miss anyone on that list :P). But... everyone else is leaving. Or has left. Or will leave in the upcoming few days. The past week has been really rough. Last night Kathryn, one of my closest friends here, left. I have a really hard with this kind of thing. It's especially hard in this context because we all live all over the US and who knows when and how we'll all be able to see each other again. Plus, one thing I really tend to miss isn't just individuals but group dynamics. So even if I get to see a couple of my friends again it, of course, won't be the same and that's something I'm really sad about. I really feel like we had exceptional group dynamics this semester.

I don't think anyone from the program follows this blog, but I still want to wish happy travels to everyone who's going home! I will miss all of you.

Çanakkale, ¡¡¡MAMA!!!, and New Year's

I imagine that 2010's list of greatest Christmas gifts included things like iPod, or a gift certificate to a spa. Those have nothing on the gift I got, though. I got a visit from my momma. And four following days of fun-filled frolicking with her.

Çanakkale and Bozcaada

I'm going to rewind a couple days. Jonathan K., Ivy, Tim, Jamie and I all went on a short trip to Çanakkale and Bozcaada for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. It was a long drive (we rented a car) from Koc, but really worthwhile. Çanakkale is a pretty calm, very not touristy town on the Asian side on the Mediterranean coast. People were so friendly there. When we asked for directions people would stop what they were doing to walk us to where we needed to go. Things seemed much more laid back and homey. We got there pretty late and had to take a ferry. The hostel we stayed had mold all over the place but the staff were really nice :P

The next day we took another ferry to Bozcaada, a tiny island right next to Çanakkale. It was really lovely. Even the ferry ride was glorious. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful. It was partly cloudy, but there was more sunshine than we'd seen in a while. I think most noticeable was how deliciously clean and fresh the air was. On the island we drove around, getting out to explore a bit on the way. We ran around on this rocky beach that basically epitomized my image of the eastern Mediterranean. The rocks were beautiful shades of orange and yellow and purple (surprisingly), scattered with olive-green shrubs. The water was incredibly clean and clear, in iconic shades of turquoise. Plus, the weather was such a scrumptious combination of sunny and breezy. Mmmmmm.... By the time we got back to the town the weather started to get colder and more drizzly. In this town also the people were really nice and helpful. There really seemed to be a strong sense of community as well, which makes sense considering how small the island is. We ate a mediocre dinner and then secretly bought a cake for Tim's birthday (even though it was on Monday [and this was Friday]). We went back to our hotel, which was really lovely, and had wine and cake and then all just hung around and chatted for a long time.

The next day the ferry ride back to Çanakkale was really choppy and I was feeling borderline queasy. But it was kinda epic. We had a typical Turkish breakfast with this AMAZINGDELICIOUS cherry jam. Omg it was so good.

If you can see the green letters, A=Koc University, B= Çanakkale, and C=Bozcaada. The body of water in the middle is the Marmara Sea, the water farthest left is the Mediterranean, and the water farthest up and right is the Black Sea.

Sultanahmet I

On the way back from Çanakkale Jon dropped me off at the airport to pick up my mom. We had a glorious reunion and settled into our hotel in Sultanahmet (the historical center of Istanbul). The next day we saw the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia and went on a Bosphorus tour. My mom saw all of these things 20+ years ago, but was a wonderful companion nevertheless. It was my first time seeing the Hagia Sofia. It was astounding. So big and such crazy mix of artistic styles. The boat tour was nice just to see the city from a different perspective. I didn't really understand much of what the tour guide was saying, though, because he was speaking Spanish with a Turkish accent. After the boat tour we wandered around and found ourselves in the spice bazaar, which my mom really enjoyed :)

Sultanahmet II

Today we started off with visiting the Topkapi Palace. It was so big, and really beautiful. There were also a lot of different styles that seemed to be side by side here. After this we got my FAVORITE TURKISH FOOD (Sultanahmet köfte). After this we went to the Grand Bazaar and the Suleymaniye Mosque. We'd just had a "looking assignment" on this mosque complex for my Islamic Cities class so I had some things I could explain about it. For dinner, we went into Taksim and ate at a nice restaurant. It was nice to show this area to my mom cause this is one of the parts of the city that I spend the most time in; we rarely go into Sultanahmet.

Dinner with Turks

The next day we took the two-hour commute to my campus and my mom sat in my classes with me. I got to introduce her to most of my friends and show her off. At night we went out to a really nice dinner with one of the families that I tutor. We had some amazing fish and I tried shrimp for the first time. It was really nice for me to be able to share this part of my experience (the families) with my mom. The whole tutoring experience has become a really big part of my life here and my relationship to Turkish culture. Even though the other family couldn't join us for dinner, we met with the mother and little girl beforehand.

Last Day

The last day my mom came to classes with me again. Afterwards we grabbed dinner in Sariyer and then headed back to Sultanahmet. We had really wanted to go to a hamam, but by the time we got there the female masseuse had gone and neither of us were quite in the mood to be scrubbed down by a male stranger. So we had some pastry and hit the sack. Momma left early the next morning and I took the long commute back to school. I already miss her tons :(

New Year's

New Year's was on a boat. It was a party organized by the ISS (the exchange club on campus) so there were only people from school on board. It was really, really fun. There was lots of dancing and at midnight we watched fireworks over the Ortakoy mosque and the lit up bridge. Over the Bosphorus. NBD. It was gorgeous.

Appendix

Hagia Sofia:

This was originally built as a Byzantine church. It was made in part as an effort to appease the rebellious public of the time. Later after Islamic conquest if was converted to a mosque. Hence the mix of styles.

Typical Turkish breakfast:

• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• bread
• boiled eggs
• olives
• cheese
• feta
• jams, honey and nutella
• mystery-meat cold cuts

Other Turkish noms you might find for breakyfaced:

• MENEMEN (delicious egg dish)
• helva (SUPER sweet stuff made w/ tahini [and chocolate?] that tastes like peanut butter and chocolate)

Barcelona!

Last weekend I went to Barcelona!! It was WONDERFUL. The objective was to visit my Oxy roommate, Margaret, who is studying abroad in Granada. Since it's way cheaper for me to fly to Barcelona than Granada, and since it's a great city that she hadn't seen yet, we decided to meet up there. We stayed with my aunt and cousin. It was so wonderful to see them, too, and they were so generous and helpful.

Friday

I arrived in the airport and leapt from the arrivals gate into Margaret's arms. There were at least a couple tears. We found my fam and settled into their apartment. Raissa (my cousin) took us to a buffet. It was mostly Asian food (Chinese/Japanese) which was really exciting for me considering the dearth and priciness of such cuisine in Istanbul. They also had mint ice cream, which also seems to be absent in Turkey, and happens to be my favorite flavor ;) That night we just took it easy, caught up a lot while cuddling in a cozy bed :DDD

Saturday

We did a lot of walking around the city, went to the market selling all kinds of turron and snacks as well as every other kind of food you could be looking for. We went to the Picasso Museum as well. It was really nice. We also ate chocolate con churros which is AMAZING. And at night I got a bottle of Spanish horchata and was SO HAPPY. Barcelona is really beautiful and I feel like I got to appreciate it a lot more this time I visited. It helped that Margaret was so appreciative of it. Nevertheless, I have been there many times and really the greatest part about touring it was spending real quality time with my beloved roomie. At night we watched Harry Potter! It was great.

Sunday

Today was Gaudi day. We saw some his most important works, including, of course, La Sagrada Familia (the cathedral). I remember going there when I was really little and being blown away by its beauty, monumentality, and intricacy. I feel especially connected to it consequently, and its been really meaningful to me to return to it throughout the years and see how it changes as they continue construction. By now the interior is finished and it was incredible inside. The stained glass windows were in brilliant, gorgeous colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_familia

After here we went to Parque Guell. It was also amazing, but unfortunately it was already getting dark so we didn't spend much time here. When we got home, considerably tuckered out, we watched Miss Potter (since aunt Marta had it) with some wine. At the Picasso Museum we had coincidentally met up with a girl who was on Margaret's program in Granada and happened to be at the exact same place at the exact same time as us in Barcelona. She told us she was going to be going out with some people she'd met at her hostel that night and invited us. We met them at an Irish pub. It was huge and over-stuffed with foreign students. It was also karaoke night. We didn't spend much time here before heading out to a club. It was really fun there. The group from Margaret's friend's hostel was great. There were a few Australians, a Dutch guy, an Irish girl, and a few others. It was loads of fun dancing with all of them. By the time we got in bed it was about 5:30 am.

Monday

Monday we took a walk with Raissa down to the water. Since I had to leave that afternoon we came back soon and ate lunch all together. Even Marta's mom made it to lunch which was really nice. And lunch was AMAZING. It was so nice to have home-cooked meals. I kinda had to rush off in the end. It was so hard to leave Margaret! :((( But I'm so glad I got the chance to see her for a bit.

Since then it's just been class and going out a bit. We went to Ortakoy for dinner one night and last night we went to a techno concert. Tonight there's a dubstep event in the city but I'm not sure if we'll go because everyone's pretty tired andddd.......IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!!! That's so crazy to me. I've been to the snow before and I've even been caught in snow storms but to have it be snowing in my living space seems like a whole different story and something I've never experienced. It's so beautiful!!