YES!

I have been waiting for a care package from my Mom for the past three weeks, and today it finally arrived! It's a Christmas miracle. The contents: An Advent calendar from Harbor Sweets, a candy shop in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Each day comes with a new chocolate surprise. I love this season.

The downside of the Turkish post system: I was supposed to get this package a while ago, and we're halfway through Advent already. Who's in charge of delivering packages in Istanbul? Scrooge?

The upside: I have 13 days worth of candy to eat to make up for lost time! So maybe I can't complain after all.

Thanks, Mommy!

Winter, is that you?!

Hold up a second. Last weekend, I wore a t-shirt around in the 70 degree weather. This weekend, I spent most of my time hiding from the snow. This doesn't make sense to anyone else either, does it? Just checking.

One lesson I've learned while living in a country where I don't speak the language is that if I want to get something done, I have to plan it ahead of time. Spontaneity will only get you so far, and is generally accompanied by some degree of stress. I have spent the past three months in Istanbul assuming that I would stumble into Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque at a time that was convenient for me. Anyone that goes to Istanbul can tell you that these are two absolute must see attractions. They lie across from each other in the Sultanahmet district, and can therefore both be checked off the list in one afternoon. I have been living here since mid September, and it wasn't until yesterday that I finally went inside of them. To some, this may seem normal. What's the rush? They've been there for hundreds of years, and will hopefully remain for hundreds more. It's not like I hadn't seen them from the outside. I've been to Sultanahmet plenty of times. I've explored Topkapi, checked out the Basilica Cistern, and survived the Grand Bazaar. However, as an Art History major with a special interest in Byzantine art and architecture, I am absolutely disgraced by my negligence with regard to these two landmarks. Especially the Hagia Sophia. This building was what inspired me to come to Istanbul.

I finally realized that I wasn't going to wind up seeing them without some prior planning. Luckily, my friend Katherine Conaway decided to take a weekend trip from her job teaching in Sofia to come visit Istanbul. Unlike Sara, Kat had never been to Turkey. What better way for me to spend my Saturday afternoon than catching up with a friend and seeing some incredible architecture?

As I mentioned above, these kinds of things take planning. Unfortunately, in the wise words of Outkast, "You can plan a pretty picnic but you can't predict the weather." Thank you, Andre 3000 and Big Boi. I never thought I would quote you in a blog about Istanbul. So as you may have guessed, the weather was terrible. A wintery mix, as they say-- rain, snow, and wind. I am proud to say that we were NOT deterred. We saw both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, and spent the rest of our time hiding from the weather. This "hiding" involved lots of food and tea, because I couldn't let Kat leave without having lots of the local cuisine. While escaping the elements, she and I did a lot of catching up and talking about our experiences living abroad. I'd say we managed to make the most out of the horrendous weather! So it looks like winter, or some variation on it, is finally here. Luckily, in true New England fashion, I'm equipped with some sturdy Bean Boots and a (mostly) weather-proof attitude. Bring it on, Istanbul winter.

As a wintery-themed side note, Stella and I decided to make stir-fry for dinner while listening to Christmas music on my computer. Stella got weepy cutting the onions, and I tried to catch it on video. The Christmas bow on her head is what really makes the video complete.

My first visitor!

Dear Everybody,

I'm sorry that I have neglected you for the past two weeks. I'm sure you've been dying to hear what I have been doing since my last post, which was just after Thanksgiving. So I concede that it has been a while, but as I believe I mentioned previously, but I am in fact IN SCHOOL. I have had roughly a month of "midterms", averaging roughly one paper and one "midterm exam" per week for the past several weeks. Why do I put quotation marks around "midterms"? Because they can't possibly be midterms if they are in the last quarter of the semester, right? Yet somehow they are still justified, apparently. I just love taking five classes! What I'm most excited about finals, which start in less than a month. And my neuroscience class is really rocking the boat. Hard. Good thing these grades don't translate to my GPA back at Williams!

So enough of that silly class stuff. The highlight of my past two weeks was hosting my first

visitor, Sara Wallace. I was honored to show off my territory to one of my best friends, who will now hopefully be able to vouch for the fact that Istanbul is the coolest city in the world. Luckily for her, she had already been to Istanbul once before. We therefore did not go to the touristy region of Sultanahmet, which is where you find the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and lots of pushy Turkish men. She wanted to see what I like to do with my time on weekends, and I tried to give her the right idea. Highlights from our weekend together include, but are not limited to:

1) Enjoying a sea bass dinner together in the classy Galata region of Istanbul, and enjoying the Galata tower all lit up at night.

2) Going to Ortaköy and enjoying kumpir, which is essentially a super-stuffed baked potato, by the waterfront. Ortaköy has tons and tons of kumpir vendors. It's really the thing to get there. As we ate our kumpir, we watched as the waves from the Bosphorus splashed up onto the sidewalk, scattering jellyfish all over the pavement. Some little boys decided to collect them all in a plastic bag, which is a difficult task. It's not that they sting-- it's that they fall apart. There were little pieces of jellyfish adorning the sidewalk up and down the waterfront.

3) Rowing together in a pair (2 person boat, 1 oar each for you non-rowers out there) on

Saturday morning. It was especially interesting because we are both starboards. And my oar broke when we were in the middle of the lake. Try getting anywhere in a pair with one functional oar. You really can't. I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how we got out of that one. Here we are, back on dry land after practice!

3) Hopping on a ferry over to the Asian side of the city and satisfying our shopping craving. We spent most of Saturday night in Kadıköy, which probably the most cosmopolitan area on the Asian side. After checking out some clothing stores, wandered around the food markets, had a delicious kebap dinner, and stuffed our faces at Mado, a restaurant chain that specializes in phenomenal desserts. I introduced Sara to salep, which is a hot, creamy, sweet drink that is some combination of milk, sugar, and spices. The picture at right shows Sara just moments after I told her to watch her step. She is straddling a gutter that is carrying a stream of fish blood and guts from the fish market uphill.

Like I said, this is a pretty limited list. We really did do a lot of stuff. Sara got to meet my friends, go to rowing practice, and see the Bogazici University campus, so now she basically knows as much about Istanbul as I do! Any questions? Ask her.

Please refrain from turkey jokes.

Yes, I spent Turkey Day in Turkey. And no, I didn't eat any turkey.

So yesterday was Thanksgiving (see above). And despite the fact that it is strictly an American holiday, most normal Americans would never pass up the opportunity to eat an unreasonably large amount of calorie-dense food in one sitting, even if they are currently in another country. If you can mask your binge eating under the premise of "giving thanks" for things you are "grateful" for, even better. So, as a typical American, I congregated with a whole bunch of other typical Americans last night to pig out in true American fashion. It was a great night.

There was a lot of anticipation leading up this holiday, at least in my mind. How could I celebrate Thanksgiving in a foreign country with limited access to traditional, American food, and no oven? Luckily, my friend Zoe masterminded and arranged for a potluck style get together in our very own Superdorm! Stella and I (per usual, because we are essentially a couple) opted to throw together some kind of dessert. After very little planning, we set to work on a stove-top apple crisp creation. Stella did the work, and I did the documenting. Using our fantastic hot plate skills, we actually managed to combine apples, oatmeal, cinnamon, brown sugar, and lots of butter in a fairly successful way! The result was two frying pans full of some type of apple not-so crisp.

The rest of the American students that came to the potluck provided stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, peas, rice, and plenty of rotisserie chicken, which served as a perfectly acceptable substitute for a turkey. We ended up having more than enough food, which was fantastic! Despite the fact that we all had classes on Thanksgiving and everyone had to get creative with the cooking, things turned out great. We even had a few Europeans join us, and we managed to convince them that a holiday devoted to consuming irrationally large amounts of food is actually a great idea. What's not to love?

Below, left: Dining in the cozy and atmospheric dungeon of the Superdorm. Below, right: Dining again, candid shot. I encourage you to look closely.

The Hairy Hound from Budapest himself

If you don't know what I'm talking about, please refer to my previous post about Budapest for clarification. And shame on you for not memorizing it, printing it out and sleeping with it under your pillow every night. These blog posts are real works of art.

Credit goes to my sister Charlotte, who found out who the actor was in My Fair Lady that played this infamous character. Knowing his name led to a fabulous google image search which resulted in some real photographic gems. So ladies and gentlemen, I now present you with one of the best characters from one of my favorite movies of all time.

The Hairy Hound from Budapest:

And for your further education, please PLEASE please watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvvk5n9lQF0

And this one too. It's worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cmaCOf4LMM

Budapest is excellent.

Before I came to Hungary, I could probably tell you three things about it: The main character in the movie Kontroll, which is a Hungarian film, eats an onion raw. Apple-style. I haven't seen this movie yet but Stella told me about it. Another thing I could tell you is that one of the characters in My Fair Lady is referred to as a "hairy hound from Budapest". The third is that there is a Buda side and a Pest side in Budapest, divided by the Danube which runs through the middle. And I didn't even know that until about three weeks ago. In summary, I was totally ignorant. Luckily, during the past few days I have learned a lot more about the city! The most important tidbit is that it is actually pronounced BudapeSHt, not BudapeSt. Take note, Americans.
This is a photo of me in front of the Chain Bridge, which was the first bridge (I think) to connect the cities of Buda and Pest. It's a big deal.

I really, really like this city. It is a lot easier on the wallet than Vienna was, and although it is a little bit more gritty and edgy, it is just as interesting and historically rich. While the city is certainly still recovering from its communist days, I think that it makes the atmosphere of the city more interesting. You will frequently see buildings of the Baroque or Secessionist style right next to an ugly, boxy, utilitarian style office building.
Here are the best things I've done in Budapest:
1) Our hostel, called The Groove, was recommended to us by a fellow American that we know from Bogazici University. It is right off a main street so there's a bit of noise from the traffic below, but it is a great building. It is pretty empty right now, so Stella and I have this enormous room with high ceilings and a nice view almost to ourselves. Sleeping late has become a (not so good) habit.
2) The Budapest Free Walking tour is exactly what it sounds like. We just showed up in St. Istvan square, met our tour guide, and went on a very informative and chill tour of some of the coolest parts of the city. No charge, but tips were welcome at the end. Our tour guide was a young lady who was quite knowledgeable, funny, and not overly peppy. I managed to take a few pictures.

Two views of St. Steven's Basilica (aka St. Istvan)- not actually a basilica. St. Steven is a BIG DEAL here, because he made the region Christian. His right hand is a relic and is on display inside. We didn't really see it because you have to insert coins to turn on a light that shines on it. A tourist trap. We are so beyond that stuff.
.
A view of Pest from the Buda side, featuring the dome and spire on top of St. Steven's and the Chain Bridge.

This was a palace located on the Buda side that was built for the Habsburgs, namely Maria Theresa, who never actually stayed here because she was always having babies in Vienna. After our tour ended, Stella and I stayed for a little bit on the Buda side to get some night-time action shots of the view with all the beautiful lights.

Pictures taken from the Fisherman's Bastion.

See if you can spot me! The foreground is the Fisherman's Bastion, and behind it is St. Matthias Cathedral.

3) Today, Stella and I went to the baths. If you recall from my earlier post about the Turkish Hamam, I have been to a bath with Stella before. This was totally different. Lots and lots of steam rooms, saunas, indoor and outdoor pools, all with varying temperatures and therapeutic values. Sadly, all the signs were written in Hungarian, so we weren't really sure which pools were supposed to be treating us for psoriasis or curing a hangover. We tested a lot of them, regardless of what they were for. My favorite was the hottest outdoor pool, which was 38 degrees celsius and had a big fountain in the middle. The building itself was beautiful, and the pools outside were located in some kind of central courtyard with all of these pagan statues and fancy fountains. Most impressive, Budapest. Well done. One thing I learned about myself in the process: I don't really like sharing bath water with hundreds of strangers. It was a cool experience, but I don't think I'm any cleaner right now. I fact, I think I smell a bit like sulfur or maybe feet. And when I see unidentifiable specks floating towards me through the bath water, my imagination runs wild. It's better not to think about what you're swimming in, I guess!

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, but I am really hoping to get some more pictures before we leave tomorrow night. Our plan for getting back to Istanbul is a little complicated, and it involves a 12 hour bus ride to Sofia, Bulgaria. Should be interesting!

auf Wiedersehen, Wien. Szia, Hungary!

The past few days in Vienna (or Wien, in German) have been fantastic. That city has serious class. I'm actually listening to Mozart right now as a kind of farewell ode. Highlights from the past couple of days having included:
Renting bicycles and exploring the city haphazardly.

We stumbled upon some pretty awesome little places, like a cute park that reminded us of home (especially because of all the ducks and dead leaves on the ground), an outdoor skating rink featuring cute Austrian families galore, and this body of water called the Danube. Anyone heard of it?

There was also this sweet church called St. Stephansdom, where we stopped to bust out the map. Not too shabby.

Oh, and then we went to the Schönbrunn Palace, the Habsburgs' summer residence. Not bad either. They had Roman ruins in their back yard too. Cool, I guess. Vienna is sophisticated. I think that makes us sophisticated, too.



This afternoon we took a relatively short bus ride across the border, and now we're in Budapest! More updates soon!

Eating our way around Vienna

If you haven't picked up on it yet, my traveling philosophy is that the best way to appreciate a culture is by eating lots of local food. I hope this doesn't come as a surprise to you, because as most of you know, I love to eat. I recently shared my traveling philosophy with Stella, and we have been practicing it actively! So far I am very satisfied with Vienna. I will relay the details of our trip thus far in terms of food/meal benchmarks.

One of my concerns at the beginning of the trip was my diet. I had been feeling sick for two days leading up to our departure yesterday, and I had restricted myself (mostly) to a diet of fruit, bread, and rice. I have NOT been sticking to this strict regiment since I have arrived, and so far I have been alright. Thank you Penicillin! After we checked into our hostel yesterday afternoon, Stella and I have been sampling the Viennese specialty foods quite liberally. Last night we decided to explore the city a little bit, not deterred by the cold or the dark. Our mission was to find and devour apfelstrudel-- Apple strudel, in English. Delicious, warm, and best when eaten with ice cream. Our night was complete when we ordered chamomile tea and it came in two separate tea pots. Nevermind how bad the euro to US dollar exchange rate is right now. Good food is always worth it. Right?

Today we woke up at our leisure and had the breakfast served at our hostel, which consisted of cereal and bread. Simple and yet very satisfying. Despite the light drizzle, we walked to the MuseumsQuartier in order to get our fill of Austrian art right off the bat. I can't speak for Stella, but I certainly got my fill! We went to the Leopold Musem to see works by the famous Austrian expressionists such as Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, and the collection was incredible. Not only do they have an amazing array of Austrian expressionism, but they also have an impressive variety of other 19th and 20th century art from Western Europe and the US, including pieces by Cezanne, Monet, Picasso, Warhol, and Lichenstein to name just a few. Excuse me while the Art History nerd in me freaks out a little. It was spectacular. To top it all off, the museum itself was recently built and has picturesque windows scattered around the galleries that show the Vienna skyline and all the other impressive buildings in the MuseumsQuartier. The real kicker was the rainbow in the sky over the already beautiful skyline. Really, Vienna? I get it. You're cool. Rub it in a little more.

All in all, I was exhausted after a couple of hours of visual overload. And what do you need when you are low on energy? Food! Stella and I went to a nearby cafe for salad, which did not merit any picture taking. Too healthy to be interesting. Never fear-- we chased this healthy lunch with some heavy desserts. I tried this cheesy strudel thing that was sitting in a puddle of vanilla sauce. Kind of odd, but still quite tasty. Stella stuck with a trusty crepe with chocolate sauce. We then decided to check out area surrounding the Museumsquartier, which included the Weiner Rathaus, which it turns out is not a church. It certainly had us fooled! It was beautifully lit up, and looked particularly striking through the bare branches of the trees in the foreground. Surrounding the entrance to the Rathaus was a Christkindlmarket, which is basically a Christmas market of little shops selling gift items, Christmas decorations (note the hundreds of hand painted glass ornaments at right), and lots of amazing Austrian street food. But wait- it's not even mid November! Can we really justify getting excited about Christmas already? Regardless, it was a really cool market, and we tried some of the spiced rum punch that seems to be a popular beverage here. Kind of like spiked hot apple cider- yummy!



After exploring the Christkindlmarket, we decided to put a hold on our spending for the night, cook ourselves a light dinner in the hostel and relax a little bit harder. Tomorrow we are planning to go to a flea market in the morning and follow it up by a trip to one of the old palaces in the afternoon.

The Plan

Next week I don't have classes in celebration of Bayram, which is the Turkish word for holiday. While I don't know much about its background, I know that it is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims all over the world in which families generally sacrifice a ram or another animal. For you philistines out there like me, here is a link to the Wikipedia page on the holiday. Thank goodness for the internet.

In proper celebration of the holiday, I am planning to do a little bit of sacrificing of my own-- my budget, that is. Tomorrow(!) I am flying to Vienna with my friend Stella, where we will be getting cultured until Monday. Monday afternoon we plan to take a train to Budapest, where we will be for another 4 days before hopping on a train that will eventually bring us back to Istanbul. Passport stamps, here I come! I am planning on bringing my laptop and my camera, so expect to get updates from both places. Does anyone have any suggestions about what Stella and I should see while we're there? Please let me know, because I don't know much about either city!

Proof...

... that I raced in a single on the Golden Horn.

Photos are courtesy of my friend Florence!

It is undetermined whether or not I am actually in this last picture, but it gives you an idea of what the racing was like. In the top photo you can see a bit of the Bogazici University racing uni- pretty tame compared with the Williams College purple and yellow!

Now back to studying for that Byzantine Art and Architecture exam this afternoon...

So it's been a while...

My last post was the day after my birthday, so it has been about a week and a half. I'M SORRY! I know you all are just dying to hear from me. I hope you know it's nothing personal. It's not that I don't like updating you and I don't miss everyone back home, it's just that I'm so busy having fun and taking exams and whatnot. I did not mean to neglect my blogging duties!
So since I posted last, I have done the following incredible things:

1. I went to Amsterdam. You all have heard about Amsterdam and know about it's reputation. Needless to say it was quite a change from Istanbul. Lots of bicycles, very few cars, and everyone spoke English. There's other stuff too... plenty for college students to do. Enough said. Now before you jump to any conclusions, I was there with three other highly reliable and responsible friends- Kate, Logan, and Kathryn. We all decided to meet there for the weekend to experience the culture, and despite the (mostly) terrible weather we did succeed in going to the Van Gogh museum, passing by the Ann Frank house, and seeing how Heineken beer is brewed. So, since pictures are worth a thousand words, here are a few of my favorites from that weekend. Enjoy!


2. This past Friday was a national holiday, and I celebrated by racing in a single scull on the Golden Horn of the Bosphorus. And it was terrifying and wonderful at the same time. No need to mention how I placed. Just understand that I did not really know the starting commands, nor did I know where the finish line was. I think that the race was about 1 kilometer long, but I can't be sure. And because of that, I wasn't sure when it was over. I just assumed when I saw the other competitors headed to shore that I was probably finished. Oops! It was my fourth time in a single scull, and so I consider myself lucky for not flipping. For those of you that have never rowed in a single, they are very tippy. Especially if your sculling technique is terrible. Anyway, shoutout to Williams Crew: I thought of you guys the whole time, and even though I didn't finish first, or even second, or third, I think I brought pride on our behalf. I don't have any pictures of myself rowing yet, but my friend was there with her camera, and as soon as I get her photos I will share them with you. Be forewarned: The Golden Horn is a large body of water, and a single is a small boat. I will look tiny in the pictures. But I think that is appropriate, because that's pretty much how I felt. And this way hopefully you will not be able to scrutinize my technique!

3. On Saturday I went with Stella and Alison to Topkapi palace, which is in the Sultanahmet region of Istanbul, to the south of the Golden Horn. This is the most touristy area of Istanbul for good reason. The Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and the Basilica cistern to mention a few are all within a very short walk of each other. If you want to be a tourist in Istanbul, you must go to Sultanahmet. Saturday was the first sunny day in nearly a week, so my friends and I celebrated the occasion by spending the afternoon exploring this marvelous palace and acting like little kids with my camera. We did not go on a tour or anything like that. We mostly just wandered and read the signs posted in all the different rooms, halls, and chambers. But it was still fantastic and definitely worth visiting! We payed a little bit extra to get into the Harem, which is blocked off from most visitors. The Harem, as you probably know, has traditionally been highly orientalized by the Western perspective, and it was interesting to see where so many of our outdated notions on the mysterious and erotic Middle East came from. I fulfilled my tourist duties by taking plenty of pictures.




This last picture is the view from the palace. Note the seawalls, which I believe were built in the 7th century to protect Constaninople from an Arabic invasion. The far shore is Asia!

Turning 21!

Yesterday was a BIG day. Yes, I turned 21. I have officially entered the adult world, at least in my opinion. In celebration of my big day, I decided to skip two classes and go pick up myresidence permit with my friend Alison. I became an official resident of Istanbul and turned 21 on the same day. Like I said, it was a BIG day. BIG.

So, as you might imagine, picking up a residence permit is not the most fun way of celebrating a birthday. But it was sandwiched in between a quick shopping excursion to Taksim, where I picked up a killer jean jacket, and a slightly longer exploration of the Grand Bazaar. We weren't there very long, because if you really want to see it you have to devote at least a few hours to looking around. It is absolutely enormous, and is probably the biggest tourist trap in the whole city. So all in all, it was not such a bad day. I came back from the day out to take a quickshower, throw on my dress, and pop a bottle of champagne (which, by the way, is LEGAL for me) with some friends that came over.

We then made a quick trip down to Bebek, the beautiful coastal area with the Starbucksfeatured a couple of posts ago. There we each had an Efes, the popular Turkish beer, on a rooftop bar overlooking the Bosphorus. Because we areresponsible students, we did not stay out very late. We were all heading home by midnight! This is not typical for 21st birthdays, but I was perfectly fine with a relaxed evening. I am going to AMSTERDAM this weekend to meet three of my friends for a real celebration!You can expect to hear more about that earlynext week. Until then, I leave you with some pictures of the minor shenanigans that occurred last night.

P.S. There is a Dominoes Pizza in Bebek.

Büyük çay, lütfen!

Translation: Large tea, please!

I have come to terms with the fact that I am still a student, albeit in another country. There is no escaping that "Crap, I have four hours of class today and I got 4 hours of sleep last night!" feeling. Try as I might, I can't seem to stay awake in class here any better than I do at school back in the States. The solution for that is obviously caffeine.
Since I have been here, I have been drinking more tea (or çay, as I will refer to it from here on) than water. It is complimentary with most food at restaurants and actually less expensive than water. When I need to hydrate for a workout, I will drink a large çay instead of a bottle of water, because you can't drink the tap water (unless you are in the Superdorm- guess it does have some perks after all!). It can't be that great for my hydration. In fact, I know it is not. But when in Rome... so to speak.

Here they drink çay out of glasses, not mugs or tea cups usually. In fact, whenever they serve me çay in anything but a glass I know it is because I'm foreign. But I really just want to fit in! So I've started trying be a Turk when it comes to my çay. 2-4 sugar cubes per glass. We like it sweet. And keep that milk away, we aren't English!

One of the great things about the university I am attending is that there are little canteens on the bottom floor of most classroom buildings, so you can grab a quick çay if you are feeling sleepy before class. In fact, you can grab a çay anytime. Getting çay is a totally acceptable thing to do if you want to go hang out with your friends, or even just sit and relax in a cafe by yourself. I guess we do that back home too. But here places don't close at 6 pm, which is fantastic! You can get çay early in the morning, late at night, and anytime in between. But it's a healthy addiction, right?

I did not take this picture, but it pretty much sums up my experience in Turkey so far. Çok çay.

The most beautiful starbucks in the world?

This beauty is in Bebek, which is a short but steep walk from campus. My friend Chelsy and I "did homework" here yesterday. Finding a seat on the deck overlooking the Bosphorus got competitive!

Weekend on the water

It's not hard to find a beautiful place to eat by the water in Istanbul. Because of it's layout, you've got your choice. In the southern part of the city, you can eat on the coast of the Sea of Marmara. In the central part, you can eat on the Bosphorus Strait or the Golden Horn, an inlet off the Bosphorus that is the great geographical landmark of the European side of the city. If you go far enough north, you hit the Black Sea. There is no shortage of waterfront dining, and when it comes to food, cheap and delicious are certainly not mutually exclusive. One thing that I read about in my guide book was the balik ekmek. They described it as a fish sandwich made right on the waterfront. Fried fish, simple yet delicious, with some onions and maybe some lettuce or cabbage, and some bulky bread. I knew I had to try it. This weekend, I had the pleasure of eating TWO balik ekmek(s?). I will describe the surrounding experiences, because I guess some of you may be interested in what I'm doing that doesn't involve food!

On Saturday, I adventured to Ortaköy with my pal Zoe. Ortaköy is part of the Besiktas region of Istanbul, which in north of the Golden Horn. Its most notable landmark is its beautiful, waterfront mosque that has reached some strange aesthetic harmony with the towering cable bridge that reaches across the Bosphorus behind it. We got there late in the day, and I had my first balik ekmek while admiring the beauty of the two structures from a public bench. As you can see from the photo, the cable bridge is enormous. Although I wasn't able to capture the full effect of the contrast between the 19th century mosque and the 20th century bridge, I think you can use your imagination. The Bosphorus Strait has heavy commercial traffic, and you can see massive cargo ships bound for Russia heading through regularly. After I had my balik ekmek, which was truly delicious, Zoe and I treated ourselves to dessert at Mado, which is a chain dessert restaurant in Istanbul. I had a waffle covered in melted white chocolate, fresh fruit and a scoop of ice cream. What a truly amazing culinary experience.

Sunday originally had the promise of being a less food-oriented day for me. I ambitiously set out in the early afternoon with my friends Alison, Dean, and Joseph. We were bound for the Grand Bazaar, which is apparently a true shopping experience. We never made it, concluding that it was undoubtedly closed on Sundays when we arrived and it was abandoned. Were we in the right place? I'm not sure. However, there was still a plethora of shopping opportunities in the area. While I didn't buy anything, I did see several notable things for sale- puppies, exotic birds, ducklings, chickens, baby turtles, and on almost every corner there were big plastic jars full of leeches. I'm not sure what they are used for, but I had to take a picture. Eww! Eventually we meandered to the waterfront of the Golden Horn, where the bridge reaching across the water is notoriously populated by fishermen and lots of balik (fish) shops. I used this opportunity to purchase yet another ekmek balik. This one was bigger and cheaper than the one I had the day before! And I even thought to take a picture. Note the fishermen lined up across the top of the bridge and the restaurants beneath. We ate our sandwiches as we crossed the bridge, and then we hopped on a bus back to campus. Another successful and culinarily satisfying day in Istanbul!



Alison and I enjoying our balik ekmek.


Except this it what we actually look like. Let's be honest.