First night in Istanbul
My trip overseas was quite a bit easier than I thought it would be! Everything went relatively smoothly. My
flight to Zurich was fantastic- they fed us dinner, chocolate and chocolate croissants in the morning. And I must say that the Swiss flight attendants were all much younger and better looking than their American counterparts. On the flight from Zurich to Istanbul I met two American students that will also be at Bogazici University for a semester, and they both were very friendly. We landed in Istanbul without incident (aside from some minor turbulence and a shampoo explosion in my checked luggage), and I managed to string together a few Turkish words on my cab ride to the hostel (read: "Hello! Do you speak English?" and "Very Beautiful!"). The hostel is located in the old part of the city, and has a great view from the roof deck to the minarets of the Blue Mosque and (what I think is) the Sea of Marmara in the background. After I settled in a little bit, I ventured about 10 meters down the street and ate dinner by myself at a nice outdoor restaurant, where the Turkish waiters, who were all men, were extremely attentive.
Really extremely attentive. One of them kept putting toothpicks on the table in front of me and making little puzzles out of them that I had to solve. After dinner I had the chance to meet some of the other hostel guests and I heard my first call to prayer-- really beautiful. I guess I actually am in Istanbul! Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight, because tomorrow I move into my dorm room and register for classes! Now, on to clean up the shampoo explosion...
flight to Zurich was fantastic- they fed us dinner, chocolate and chocolate croissants in the morning. And I must say that the Swiss flight attendants were all much younger and better looking than their American counterparts. On the flight from Zurich to Istanbul I met two American students that will also be at Bogazici University for a semester, and they both were very friendly. We landed in Istanbul without incident (aside from some minor turbulence and a shampoo explosion in my checked luggage), and I managed to string together a few Turkish words on my cab ride to the hostel (read: "Hello! Do you speak English?" and "Very Beautiful!"). The hostel is located in the old part of the city, and has a great view from the roof deck to the minarets of the Blue Mosque and (what I think is) the Sea of Marmara in the background. After I settled in a little bit, I ventured about 10 meters down the street and ate dinner by myself at a nice outdoor restaurant, where the Turkish waiters, who were all men, were extremely attentive.
Really extremely attentive. One of them kept putting toothpicks on the table in front of me and making little puzzles out of them that I had to solve. After dinner I had the chance to meet some of the other hostel guests and I heard my first call to prayer-- really beautiful. I guess I actually am in Istanbul! Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight, because tomorrow I move into my dorm room and register for classes! Now, on to clean up the shampoo explosion...
Cool, Woons.
ReplyDeleteAunt Vee and I had the toothpick games shown to us in Mexico. Know what that "attention" is like. So proud of your adventurous spirit. Can't wait to hear about the dorm, etc. at the university. Love the blog!
XXX M
haha Doro - first post- Turkish men! yay, have a great time.
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