The Potluck: my final project for Beginner Turkish

Final Post

I was supposed to write a final blog post about my summer experience right after I returned. But as soon as I got back to the US, my computer, which holds all my photos and videos, broke, and I wanted to wait until it was fixed so I could add those pictures. The post was supposed to share my final reflections about my summer and what it is like being back in the States. I imagined writing about missing the lights and the people and the sounds and the food. I imagined something cute and sappy. Hm…

(Note: some names have been changed.)

In September, SPEA announced it’s canceling the SPEA in Turkey program indefinitely after only one year. It said the country is too dangerous. There have been three terrorist attacks in the country since June—the previous two in Dayirbakır and Suruç—so maybe SPEA is right. The problem is that—dangerous or not—when students study abroad, they create links between this country and the countries in which they choose to study. They have a stake in what happens in those countries. They care. I can’t say whether or not Turkey is dangerous, but I am so grateful I had the opportunity to go. And, for the record, I am much more concerned for my safety here in Bloomington than I was in Turkey. And I know many IU students who would say the same about the countries in which they studied.

Yesterday morning, when I woke up, I was still reeling from the horror that my professor’s children had gone missing in Kentucky and the euphoria that they had been found. This past week was exhausting—physically and emotionally. So when I heard on NPR that two explosions in Turkey killed 30 people, I was still half asleep. The story didn’t mention where the attack occurred, so I assumed it was in a town close to the Syrian border, like Dayirbakır and Suruç.

Then the reporter mentioned Turkey’s capital. Shit. Now I was wide-awake. It was 7:30. I messaged my friends living in Ankara and anxiously awaited their replies. “We’re ok.” Phew. Leah and her fluffy newborns, my precious babies, are staying in Ankara with Gözde for a few more days before coming home, oh my God—Gözde. I was afraid to text her husband, who lives in Indiana, before 8 a.m. in fear that I might wake him and give him a heart attack. So I settled for 8:10. “Gözde ok.” Thank God. My heart still pounded. I messaged my friends in Istanbul, just to be sure.

My friends are in a state of shock. My cat is three miles from that train station. The cat I rescued and kissed and promised I would bring home. Gözde walked through the train station ten minutes before the explosions. John was running late to work and never made it to the station. Osman’s brother was at the station, but thankfully he’s all right. Bravo’s friend lost a brother-in-law and cousin. As for all the professors and students we met this summer at Bilkent University and the more than 20 SPEA alumni who live and work in Ankara, I don’t know.

The world’s gone to shit. Two more campus shootings, a possible gunman in Louisville, 97 dead and more than 245 injured in Ankara. Jesus.

As I walked to my group meeting at 10, I was on the verge of tears. Other friends hadn’t answered yet, and the words “what if?” were banging on my forehead. I couldn’t think. How can one think of the economic development in Pittsburgh when 86 people—at this point, it was lower—have just been killed at a rally for peace and democracy?? I told my group I was out of it today—there’s been a terrorist attack in Ankara.

“I know, I am from Ankara.” Shit. Oh my. Is everyone okay? “Yes, thank you.” Thank God. It’s so terrible. “Yes, it is.”

Who did this? Like so many senseless acts of disgusting violence, we don’t know. Speculation ranges from the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist group; to the Islamic State, a terrorist group active in Syria and trying to find a safe haven in Turkey; to some Turkish nationalist group trying to scare Kurds away from the political process; to the national government itself. What I—and the several Turkish citizens I spoke with yesterday—can tell you is that this means nothing good for Turkey. With another election coming, the so-called “only Muslim-majority country with a democracy” just took 10 steps backward. The country is dealing with 2 million Syrian refugees, the threat of ISIS next door, US intervention, and an internal conflict between Turks and Kurds that won’t end any time soon.

How many IU students could tell you the difference between HDP and PKK? Or AKP and CHP? Or that there is a national election in Turkey less than a month from now? To many, the name Erdoğan doesn’t mean a single thing. Or Ankara, for that matter. “Twin bombs killed 97” are just words. Some probably don’t even know. But I know. And the eight students with whom I studied this summer know. And we care.

***

I went to Turkey to study economic development, tour museums and walk thorough historic buildings. I didn’t know anything about the country. I never even realized Istanbul is in two continents. Now I can’t imagine my life without the people I met and the places I’ve been. Turkey is no longer just the setting of the story I read in The Museum of Innocence; it is a real place where I’ve walked and shopped and lived. It’s tangible and alive. And my friends live there. I have friends who live there.

As I continue to travel, the world gets smaller. And the chances that I will have a personal connection to a major tragedy increase. But I don’t regret going to Turkey. Rather, I am overwhelmingly grateful for my friendships. It is so terrible to fear the worst about people you love and miss. But in the aftermath of this attack I realized the most important thing my summer taught me—and it wasn’t economic development.

Traveling is not about touring museums and walking through historic buildings. It is about connecting us with them and creating links between countries that transcend government. It is about giving more people a stake in what happens. It is about caring about things other than yourself and your own country. It is about learning to love something you never had any business loving.

Yesterday was rough. When I told Rafa I was still upside-down at 9 p.m., he said, “Being alive is dangerous. It’s much more dangerous than being dead. And being alive means to love. So if you are unable to love, your life is ‘easy’, but you don’t live.”

By that definition, I have lived a lot—and, sure enough, it has been hard. This summer, in Turkey and Greece, I lived so much more than I ever expected. And I was loved so much in return. And even though it hurts a lot right now, falling in love with Turkey was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

In short, I had an amazing summer. If you have not yet traveled, then I strongly urge you to. And if you have, then I strongly urge you to continue. The more love and care we create, the sooner we can put an end to such senseless and disgusting violence. Turkey, my heart is with you. My friends and your families, I pray you stay safe and that this is the worst it gets. Leah, Mommy will see you soon.

XXOO,

Julia

Goodbye, SPEA in Turkey!

As you may have guessed, my program in Turkey is over. It was incredible—but way too quick. One month felt like three days. All the group pictures were taken on Barry's and Joanne's cameras, so in case you didn't believe I actually went to Ankara and Istanbul with six of SPEA's finest students and two of IU's finest students, then here's some proof:

Here we are sitting in a room in Bilkent University for our very first orientation.

During our campus tour of Bilkent, we took the first of many group pictures.

Here's R and I talking to M, our T.A., about our internship with Idema.

Every single day we took at least three group pictures in the classrooms at Bilkent and Boğaziçi. Here we are at Bilkent! The seats in this classroom were so uncomfortable because they and the tables were bolted to the floor, so there was only one possible seating position.

During my blog post about Atatürk's Mausoleum, I posted the picture on the receiving end of this picture. I snapped a picture of Barry snapping a picture of me!

Here's the finest-looking study abroad crew posing in front of the Mausoleum.

Suat was the best tour guide ever, mainly!

A group pic in front of Ankara's Anatolian Civilizations Museum. If you'll notice, my right arm is expertly hidden behind my body because I was holding a Magnum ice cream—during Ramadan.

After visiting Ankara's castle and touring the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, we stopped for grilled lamb kebap and ayran at this awesome little restaurant.

I took Barry and Joanne to the cat park in Nişantaşı in Istanbul. This kitten loved Barry immediately!

 A beautiful day with some beautiful people at Dolmabahçe palace!

Yours truly standing in front of a tree. #artsy

During lunch at Boğaziçi University, at least 20 cats dined with us everyday. Here's one of the friendliest ones!

One of the best afternoons of the entire program was when we all went to Sultanahmet for nargile, or hookah. Barry and Joanne were so adventurous! And we each got to take turns wearing this sweet fez hat.

Only a few of us brought our SPEA t-shirts abroad, so we never got a chance to take a picture with everyone wearing them. :[

A lovely group pic after a lecture in the classroom at Boğaziçi. The chairs were also bolted, but they were much, much more comfortable here. 

On our amazing boat tour, we got to take several group pics. Here we are on the yacht:

Here we are sunbathing on the yacht:

And here we are standing next to the yacht about to grab some dinner:

And, alas, our last dinner as a group—until we reunite in the US, that is. :]

Our very last program activity was giving a 40-minute presentation on an aspect of development in Turkey. K, R (different R) and I researched agricultural development projects and labor in Southeast Anatolia, which is much less developed than the western half, where we were.

If you're an IU student thinking about going to Turkey—or anyone thinking about going to Turkey—and have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. (jmstrzes@indiana.edu) I will chew your ear off about this program and the country/food/people/culture. We had an amazing month, and if I could, I would do it all again—even though I had barely any money. ;]

XXOO

Julia

Our Last Hurrah

One of Barry's biggest selling points for SPEA in Turkey was the boat tour of the Bosphorus at the end of the program. I thought (even though I had the syllabus the entire time) that the tour was at night with dinner. Well it turns out that dinner was too expensive, so instead we had an afternoon tour. On a private yacht. With our tour guide Sibel and the manager of the company coordinating all of our excursions, Emra—whom we affectionately called "Leo" because he looked just like Leo DeCaprio in "Gangs of New York":

Afternoon on a yacht was definitely better. The weather was lovely, we had çay and kahve, and we reminisced on an amazing month getting to know one another in two wonderful cities.

On the off chance you're reading this trying to decide whether or not to go to Turkey with SPEA, you should go. Bilkent in Ankara has incredible faculty, and it's amazing to become an expert on Turkish history and politics in such a short time. And Istanbul is an unbelievable city. The pictures and videos don't do it justice. You will get to know a city that has been the capital of several civilizations for thousands of years, is bigger than New York City—and Germany—and is full of all kinds of people and cultures.

On my very first blog post after arriving in Istanbul, I wrote about how one of my professors once said Istanbul was the greatest city in the world—and she had been everywhere. After hearing such a bold pronouncement, I wanted to go. But at the time of that first post, I wasn't sure how I felt about the city. After living there for six weeks, however, I agree with my professor. It is undoubtedly the most incredible place I've ever lived, and I can't wait to go back.

XXOO

Julia

Best Day Ever!

When we decided to go the Princes' Islands for a day trip on a Friday, we probably should have decided to get plenty of sleep the night before. But, alas, we didn't. As study abroaders exploring a new city for the first time, we learned that during Ramadan the city is awake all night. Since those who are fasting can only eat between sundown and sunrise, the restaurants stay open all night, and people are out and about just as they are during the day. And it turns out the city is incredibly beautiful at night, so temptation to never sleep was everywhere.

Needless to say, I was very tired for this trip to Sedef Adası, one of the smallest islands. (I had been told by a lot of people that there are five islands, but upon Googling it just now, it appears there are actually nine; some are really, really small.) I planned to sleep for a couple hours at the "beach", but there was a big speaker playing dance music, so I danced instead—for five hours.

As you'll see in the pictures, the beach wasn't really a beach. Instead of sand, big concrete slabs jut out into the water, and the chairs and umbrellas sit on those. But we were not deterred in the slightest. We spent a wonderful day sunbathing, dancing, eating ice cream and reading.

Both directions we took two ferries. In the morning, we took a ferry from Beşiktaş to Büyükada, the biggest island, and then another ferry from Büyükada to Sedef Adası. This is a video from one of those ferries!
 

 

On the way back, we took a ferry back to Büyükada and then a really long ferry that stopped at all the other Princes' Islands and several ports before stopping in Beşiktaş. That ferry was a bit cheaper but two hours long. And in our extremely tired state, we were slap happy and probably annoyed everyone else on the boat. This picture is of the sunset on the way back to Beşiktaş.

Please go to Istanbul the next opportunity you get. The city is beautiful, and there are amazing islands just 6 TL away!

XXOO

Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia

Below are videos and pictures of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish), both located in Sultanahmet. I prefer to go through places like this by myself, so I didn't follow the tour guide very closely...

The Hagia Sophia Museum was first built as a Christian Basilica in the 4th century. After a few fires and riots that destroyed the church, it was rebuilt in the 6th century. It was converted to a mosque in 1453 and eventually into a museum. Visitors can see where the Muslims covered Christian symbols and figures, as they have since been uncovered. Particularly famous are the mosaics that were hidden under plaster for centuries.

These panels of Islamic calligraphy are some of the biggest in the world. They are inscribed with the names of Muhammad, Ali, Allah and other important Muslim figures.

These angels' faces were covered up by geometric designs since Islam forbids depicting faces.

Here is another example of a design covering up a Christian symbol.

To get upstairs, you have to climb up a winding ramp with cobblestones.

Here are some of the famous mosaics that remained covered until very recently.

The view from the windows of the Hagia Sophia were beautiful.

Also on the ramp were tombs of people important to the basilica.

XXOO