Istanbul, Turkey

On Friday morning we went to Istanbul, Turkey. The plane ride was 4 hours long plus there was an hour time change. Everything went smoothly. When we got off our plane we exchanged our Euros for Turkish Lira. About 2.3 or 2.4 Lira are equal to 1 Euro.  Then we got on the metro right outside the airport. We rode into the old city section of Istanbul. When we got off the train it was dark and over the loudspeakers we heard they were saying the Muslim evening prayer.

The city was really cool, and there were cats everywhere. In front of restaurants they had big couch like things and hookah pipes. They also had a lot of carpet shops. Turkey is known for being between two different continents, Europe and Asia. This mix of culture was everywhere you looked. After a little trouble we found our hostel. It was really nice; more like a hotel. We had one room for the four of us and we had our own bathroom. After we settled in we went to a restaurant.

The restaurant was located on top of a hotel. It was like we were in a small greenhouse. Because we were many stories high we had a really great view of Turkey and the Blue Mosque. I ordered an Ottoman dish. They cooked lamb, chicken, vegetables, and a red sauce inside a clay pot. They brought the dish over to you with it on fire, and then they broke open the clay pot and dished the food onto your plate. To end our meal we had Apple Tea. Apple tea is really good. It is served everywhere, and most store owners serve it to you for free.

The next morning we got up early and went to the Topkapi Palace. This palace was really cool because it is where the Sultans lived for over 400 years. There they also had ancient relics. We were able to see many of the weapons, jewelry, and porcelain that the Sultans had owned. The Palace was very large. It had a big courtyard, countless rooms, and even a little area with a big pool of water. When we were done exploring here we headed to the Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque was giant. I had never seen a real mosque before so this was a sight to see. When entering, we needed to use the tourist entrance. We had to take off our shoes before entering and if you had a scarf with you, you were supposed to wear it over your hair. The inside of the mosque is carpeted, and the lighting is low-hanging chandeliers. Men are able to go up near the altar to pray, while women have to pray in the back in an area that is fenced off by a wooden wall with holes in it.

Hagia Sophia

After this we crossed the street and went to the Hagia Sophia, which used to be a church and then was converted into a mosque. This depended on who currently controlled the city. In the end when the Ottomans conquered the city it became a mosque. Now it is a museum. It is older than the Blue Mosque. The best thing about the Hagia Sophia was the mosaics on the walls. They were made out of little gold tiles during the Byzantine reign. 

Grand Bazaar

After this we went to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is the biggest and oldest covered market in the world. They had everything from scarves, to jewelry, to pottery. If you wanted to buy something you needed to haggle prices with the booth owner. Haggling was quite difficult; we were able to get the sellers to bring down their prices and we thought we got really good deals. I bought a tea set, apple tea, Turkish delight, and a scarf. After you buy something the store owner pins a little Turkish evil eye on you. It is supposed to keep bad spirits away but I think it might have been a way for the store owners to mark you as a tourist. 

Spices at the Spice Bazaar

Then we went to the Spice Bazaar. Here they had big bins of spices and fresh tea leaves. It was here that we found out that we were ripped off in the Grand Bazaar. They were selling the same kind of Apple Tea here for half the price we paid for ours. The lighter side of the situation is that in the end when we converted what we paid for our stuff from Lira to Euro or US dollars; we still got everything for pretty cheap. At the Spice Bazaar one of the girls was buying tea for her friend. I was waiting with her. The young guy selling the tea would take a big scoop full of each tea and have us smell it. They had pomegranate tea, apple tea, anti-aging tea, and one of my favorites was love tea because it was made out of a bunch of little flowers. The guy selling the stuff told me that he liked my eyes and that I looked like the Greek goddess Athena. Then he took one of the flowers out of the love tea and gave it to me. It was cute and funny at the same time.

For some reason Turkish people like my eyes. I was told my eyes were pretty by three guys during the day. But then again, I was also told by one guy that I was different/ something else, like that American TV show Dexter. HA! Everyone in Turkey spoke many different languages. They all knew English. The people we ran into liked to tell us where we looked like we were from. By one of the restaurant promoters I was told that I could pass off for a Spaniard but I looked more Italian. The restaurant promoter that we had dinner with was very adamant that I was from France. Then the last guy thought I looked Greek. I must’ve just stumped them because the girl in our group with German heritage was told she looked German every time.

We ended the night by visiting the Galata Tower. This tower is the oldest tower in the world. At first it was made out of wood in the year 528 and then in 1348 it was made out of its’ more stable rock structure. The tower was a little scary because you could walk around the edge. The only thing keeping you in was a little wall. The path to walk around the tower was the width of two people. This was scary because it was packed with people. But the cool part of the tower was that you could see all of Istanbul. Although we weren’t able to walk onto the Asia side of the city we could see it from the tower.

Early the next morning we listened to the Muslim morning prayer over the city’s loudspeakers and then got on a shuttle that our hostel had and went to the airport. This was an amazing trip but it went by too quickly. If I return to Turkey I would have liked to visit one of the famous bath houses and I would have also liked to take a boat down the Bosphorus River, and seen the Asian side. This trip really made me appreciate the Muslim culture and religion. It made me realize that even though we may have different beliefs, we are not so different from one another. I was also surprised by how nice everyone in Turkey was. I expected the city to be dangerous because we were a group of young, American girls; but it wasn’t scary at all.

Next weekend we do not have a trip planned but we are considering taking a bus or train to a city in northern Spain.

Exams, Elevators, and Carnavales

This week was midterm exams week. This was exciting because it meant that we are half-way done with our classes. It was also a bit scary because the grades for each of my classes are only based on two exams. Also it is extremely hard to study when there are so many other things going on. In the end I made it through all my exams and did alright. There still is a lot of room for improvement so I hope to do even better when finals come around.

On Thursday night after exams we went to the residence halls to hang out. One of the girls on the trip lives in the residence halls instead of with a host family because she is older than the rest of us and preferred to live there. The halls are really cool because they live in flats. You share a flat with a few other people. Each person gets their own room and there is a living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms.   The girl lives on the third floor, so when we were done hanging out a few of us decided to use the elevator.

Elevators in Spain are really small. They only comfortably fit two or three people. Five of us squished into the elevator. Then one of the girls thought it would be funny to jump. That was a bad idea because the elevator stopped and we were stuck inside. There was some panicking by a few of the people in the elevator. One girl gets claustrophobic really easily so she kind of curled up into a ball in the corner. Another girl was freaking out telling us how in the movie “Final Destination” people died when they were trying to open the doors of the elevator. The girl that jumped felt bad about it and was trying to calm down the situation by making jokes and trying to change the subject of us being stuck in an elevator. The guy that was with us was trying to communicate with the people we heard outside the elevator doors and tried to open the elevator. I calmly watched all the madness that was occurring. I tried to use my phone to call for help but I didn’t get service in the elevator. We tried the alarm button on the elevator and all it did was make a lot of noise. Luckily one of the girls’ phones ended up barely working and we had the rest of the group call for help. After what felt like an hour, but in reality only was 15 to 20 minutes, an elevator repairman opened up the doors for us and we crawled out.

This week Carnavales began. Carnaval is the celebration that happens before lent. It lasts about a week. At night people go out wearing costumes. The biggest day of celebration is supposed to be on Tuesday; which is Mardi Gras. On Saturday we went with the school to Ciudad Rodrigo because they have a big Carnaval celebration. They also have “Running of the Bulls”. Some of the streets were fenced off for the running. People end up running through the streets with the bulls and end up in the Plaza Mayor. Around the Plaza Mayor there is a big grandstand with an arena in the center. This is where we sat. We watched people run into the arena with the bulls following and then they messed around with the bulls for awhile. We did see one guy get flipped by a bull. He bull hit him so hard that his shoe flew off. Luckily he didn’t get stabbed by the horns. Later there was a bull fight but we didn’t get to see it because we didn’t have tickets for it.

The Arena with the Bulls

The other cool part about Ciudad Rodrigo is that everyone is in costumes. My favorite part was when a whole big group of 10-15 people would dress up as the same thing. We saw a big group of Smurfs and a group of bees. I wore a Snow White costume! They also had carnival rides, games, and a market area. We had an awesome day hanging out in Rodrigo.



Giant Group of Smurfs



Next weekend I am going to Istanbul, Turkey.

Portugal Feb 10-12

Last week Sunday when I came home from London I was very surprised when I went into my bathroom. Every counter was full of products. There were hair products, skin products, and makeup everywhere. This was my hint that I had new roommates. They were two girls from France. One was 16 and the other was 17. They were very outgoing; my host mom thought they were “locas”. I only saw them during dinner because they were out with their travel group or I was at school but they seemed pretty nice. One of the girls knew 4 languages (French, English, Spanish, and Italian). As soon as they came, they left; because on Friday they had to go back to France. Now the house is quiet again.

Thursday afternoon a few of us went to a Peluqueria to get our hair cut. The place we found was right by my house and it was super cheap. The language barrier made things a little bit difficult. I had a lot of trouble explaining how I wanted it so the stylist found a book and had me point out the style I wanted. I was really nervous, but the stylist ended up doing a really great job.

On Friday was our Portugal trip. For the trip we would be picked up in Taxi’s at 6:30am and brought to the bus station by 7am. One of the girls in our group thought it would be an awesome idea to pull an all-nighter on Thursday night. I thought she was crazy; but since I hadn’t been out in awhile I decided to go. I did not plan on staying out the whole night. Only a small group of us were crazy enough to go out before the trip. I ended up having a super fun time. I ran into a lot of people I knew from my classes. I also met a bunch of people from all over the world. And I got to dance with a Spaniard. Dancing with a Spanish guy is amazing because they actually know how to dance. They twirl you around and everything. It was a crazy, eventful night to say the least. I didn’t end up returning home until 5:15am. It was just enough time to change my clothes and finish packing. 

Castillo de San Jorge

Trolley by Plaza de Comercio

At 7am on Friday the bus left for Lisbon, Portugal. This trip was with Cursos Internacionales, so we went with people from our school. The bus ride lasted 5 or 6 hours and I slept for most of it. It was really nice. We dropped our stuff off in the hotel and then walked the streets of Portugal. We went to “La Plaza de Comercio”. This is where the big ships enter with their cargo. The weather was really nice. The sun was out and it was a lot warmer than in Salamanca. Also there were trolleys everywhere. After this we went to the “Barrio de Alfama”. We saw a really nice church here. We also saw the ruins of a roman theatre that they had recently uncovered. After this we went to the “Castillo de San Jorge”. This was the grounds of a castle that overlooked the whole city. It was beautiful. You could see the water and the whole city. They also had peacocks roaming the grounds. And there were a lot of cats roaming around Portugal.

Sailboats on the River

The next day we went to the “Barrio de Belem”. Here we saw the “Monasterio de Los Jeronimos”. This monastery was very nice. It had a big open area in the center where you could sit in the sun. After this we went to a bakery and bought some of Portugal’s special desserts. I forget the name, but they are a flakey muffin cup with pudding in it. They were pretty good. After this we went to the River Tejo. I loved it here. On the river there were tons of sailboats. Here we saw the Monumento a los Navegantes.  We also saw the Torre de Belem, which is a tower right where the River Tejo and the Atlantic Ocean connects. It was used to protect the city from enemies. Then we got on the bus and went to the Boca do Inferno. This is a series of caves on the ocean that are really cool. After this we got on the bus and went to Cascais. I loved it here! It is a city on the water with a bunch of shops. Once again there were all sorts of boats on the water. They had a little beach and I got to dip my feet into the ocean. The water was very cold. We also ate lunch here. Portugal is known for having amazing codfish; all my professors told me that I needed to try it. They brought me a big thick chunk of grilled codfish in a dish that had olive oil, onions, potatoes, and I think a little bit of garlic. It tasted so good! 

Grilled Codfish

On Sunday we checked out of our hotel and left to Obidos. This town was really cool. You entered through the city walls where there were tight streets filled with shops. In the middle there is a castle and there are steps to go up onto the castle walls. The walls were scary because you were pretty much just walking on a ledge. One side of you there would be a wall but the other side there wasn’t so you could fall off if you weren’t careful. After we walked the walls for a little bit we tried the famous drink of Obidos. It is a cherry flavored liquor that they put in small chocolate cups so afterwards you can eat the cup. After this we visited Batalha and saw the Monastery. It had a little hedge maze. The monastery also doubled as a place where the military had weapons and things. We got to see some Portuguese guards that were watching over the grave of the Unknown Soldier. Then we got on the bus and drove 5-6 hours back to Salamanca.

Obidos

Feelings about this trip: Since we went with the school we had someone from the school as our guide. I feel like I didn’t learn very much about the sites we saw from this guide and prefer having Paco as our guide. Secondly, I’m not sure if I loved Portugal or if I hated it. The weather and water was awesome but some of the people we ran into were iffy. A drunken man yelled at us on the metro. Also I saw people sleeping on the street and digging through garbage cans. I also heard about some people from the trip that went out and got drinks poured on them. Lastly, I found the Portuguese language to be very interesting. When listening to people talk in Portuguese I couldn’t understand a thing. Their accent is really unique. When reading things like signs and menus I could understand a lot because their words were similar to Spanish words.

Cascais

Next weekend I am staying in Salamanca to experience Carnavales.

-Steph

Buckingham Break-ins

During my Sandeman tour of the city we visited Buckingham Palace. This is where the Queen of England lives. When the Queen is home there is a special flag that is raised about the Palace. When we visited she was not home. Our guide told us some stories about the best Buckingham Palace break-ins. I thought I would share them with you:

1.       Two German men came and visited London. Instead of paying for a hotel they decided that they would sleep in Hyde Park. After a night on the town they found what they thought were the park walls and decided to climb them. They set up camp and even built a fire and then went to bed. When they woke-up they tried to find a way out of the park but they couldn’t. They walked until they found someone (one of the palace guards) and when they asked where the exit was they were told by gunpoint. Obviously, this was Buckingham palace and the men had spent the night in the Buckingham garden.

1.       

There was a mentally unwell Irish man that had been living in the park across from Buckingham palace. One cold night he decided how unfair it was that he had to sleep on a park bench while the Queen got to sleep in a big soft bed. He climbed over one of the palace gates and broke in through a window. He knew he was going to be found by the guards so he ran from one end of the first floor of the palace to the other so he could see as much of the palace as he could before he was caught. The guard saw all the alarms for each room going off at the same time; because of this he figured the system was messed up. It was late at night and he didn’t want to wake up the Queen because of a false alarm so he turned the machine off. When the Irish man realized that no one was coming for him he decided to get something to eat. He found one of the Queen’s kitchens. He couldn’t find a light switch so he grabbed the first thing he could find to eat. It was a can of luxury dog food. He couldn’t find a can opener so he used a knife but when he tried to cut the can he ended up slicing his arm with it. He also found one of the Queen’s bottles of Port. After all the running around the palace, food, and alcohol the man began to get tired. The bedroom he found to sleep in ended up being the Queen’s. The Queen woke up to see a dirty man covered in dog food and smelling of liquor in her bedroom. She is trained for high risk situations so instead of freaking out she had a conversation with the man. They talked for a while and he asked her for a cigarette. The Queen said that, because she didn’t smoke, she would call and have one of her employees bring one up. The guard was called and she told him to bring a cigarette for her friend. The guard instantly knew something was wrong and the police were called. At this time the Palace was considered “public property” even though the Queen lived there so the man couldn’t be charged with breaking and entering. The only thing he could be charged with was stealing a bottle of Port and can of luxury dog food.