Istanbul Turkey - Volume 1 (day 1)

So today is Tuesday - infamous homework day. I've been attempting to study for my Islam and the West midterm that is this Thursday but I decided to take a break to tell you all about my weekend.

First off, I think it's funny that I need to take out my itinerary list just to find the separations between what we did each day, because in my head it all blurs together into one amazingly long day... probably not helped by the fact that I didn't sleep much any of the nights. This was not the fault of the hotel, it was actually quite nice. Hotel Hali - beautiful interior, in contrast to it's average looking exterior. I could definitely feel the mixing of the East and West in the construction and decoration. Our hotel room was nice enough though a bit cramped, this due to the fact that their were five girls in each room (three beds and two cots). From the curtains, to the bedding and the rugs everything was definitely eastern influenced. But the bathroom was considerably westernized. The "lift" (or elevator) was probably my favorite part of the hotel... except maybe for the spiral staircase. Anyway, the lift is more like a closet. It is literally the size of a small closet, and the door doesn't slide open or closed by itself, it has a normal door that you open and close by pulling or pushing. The best part of this is that the door that you open and shut belongs to whichever floor you are currently on, there is no door on the actual elevator. So when you are in the elevator while it is moving you can literally run your hand over the walls and doors as they slide by. Apparently this is a common style for "lifts" in Turkey because we were in one in another hotel/restaurant and it was about the same size and style... Three of us were stuffed in rather uncomfortably.

We arrived in Istanbul in the evening on this past Thursday. After taking a bus to the hotel to drop off our luggage we all walked as a group to a restaurant called Rumeli a few blocks away. Since the day had been beautiful and it was only beginning to get dark we had our dinner on the roof as planned. This was our first view of the blue mosque, we could see it lit up in all its glory from the roof terrace. Our small group also maneuvered to have the table right on the edge of the building, so not only could we see the full view of the mosque but we could also look down on the long street of small shops and other restaurants. After dinner we had all sorts of grand plans to go out and have fun but some how Julissa and I ended up back in the room fast asleep. It really was a very long and busy day of travel.

Oh and while we were walking to the restaurant we heard, for the first time, the call for prayer. This call is a beautiful man's voice singing out that it is time to pray played from loud speakers from the tower of every mosque five times a day. I think this became my favorite part (or parts) of every day. The call to prayer happens five times a day: 1. around 6am 2. around 10am 3. around 1pm 4. around dinner time 5. before bed, around 8 or 9 in the evening. The sound was just so beautiful and calming, my favorite was probably the first morning call around 6 am. I only heard it once, as I'm sure you all remember I am NOT a morning person, but I heard the 6am call one morning when I woke up to go to the bathroom. I recall laying in bed in a state of peace. That was the first thing I missed on returning to London.

Well that's enough for today, it's time to go make dinner! I'll keep doing this until I catch up on entries... so for now, good bye <3

A Long Day of Travel

So we spent the day in travel and here I am, finally in Istanbul Turkey, and all I can say is: WOW.

Even getting on the plane is a more unusual experience than ever before: for the first time in my life instructions, directions, signs, and even the options on the TV screens on the plane - were in a language other than my own. Even logging onto the internet is over whelming because google, facebook, youtube and even the blog website, all automatically switch to the language of the country you are in at the time of log in. Turkish is a language I know almost NOTHING about. The FIE woman who organized the trip for us is originally Turkish but she lives in London - she told us that people here really appreciate it when you try to speak the language. So the other day Julissa happened to stumble across this website for free downloading of language programs so she downloaded a program to learn Turkish! So as a review for my turkish lesson (and for you to laugh at and try to speak) I will put my mini lesson down here:

Numbers
zer0 - sifir (se-fur)
one - bir (beer)
two - iki (icky)
three - oc ( oo-ch)
four - dort (door-t)
five - bes (besh)
six - alti (alt - ee)
seven - yedi (yed - ee)
eight - sekiz (sek - eez)
nine - docuz (doe- cooze)
ten - on
twenty - yirmi (year- me) *dont forget to roll that R!
thirty - otuz (oh -two - z)
forty - kirk (kurk)
fifty - elli (elle - ee)

Words and Phrases:
hello - selam (say - lam)
yes - evet
no - hayir (hire)
thank you - tesikkurler (tes - she - cool - er)
bill - kupur
please - lotfen
turn left - sola don
turn right - saga don
water - su
how many liras? - kac lira?

(lira = turkish money, $0.67 = 1 turkish lira)

*(please note that I have no idea how to put in the accents of dots and squiggles that denote real turkish writing with my key board)


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Upon arrival here in Turkey we spent literally hours in line in the airport to first attain visas and then get through the check in point. Once we got through we couldn't wait to see what Turkey actually looked like, unfortunatly we couldn't see much because it was already getting dark. On the bus on the way to the hotel we did see some pieces of the original wall that used to surround the city of Constantinople (which is now called Istanbul). Once we got into the city further we saw tiny cobble streets and lots of shops piled ontop of one another with millions of beautiful rugs and art and jewelry in the windows. We ate dinner on the rooftop of this beautiful little restaurant where we could see the roof and turrents of a huge mosque and also look down on the small alleyways of shops.

So far I like it here, I can't wait for tomorrow, this is SO exciting I hope I can sleep.

I'll keep you all posted! love you all! <3

Victoria and Albert

Today I went back to the V & A, aka. The Victoria and Albert Museum, which was founded in the late 1800's by Queen Victoria's husband Albert with some of the profits of the Great Exhibition. I know many of you might not care when it was founded or how or why but personally I think it is fascinating, it also is one of the reasons this museum is so incredible - they've been collecting shit since the 1800's! My trip today was technically a field trip for my British History class but we explored plenty of exhibits that had nothing to do with the topic at hand - who could stay focused in a place with so many interesting things to explore?! This was also the first time that I went on to the second floor... and it was certainly worth all those painful stairs! (oh yea my arthritis is really angry at me today because I wore different shoes when we went out last night - see they said "sports cafe" so I thought it would be like a sports bar, I didn't expect to be dancing! oh well, it was fun anyway)

The class began with a short lecture before we walked the few blocks to the museum... I find it difficult to follow his lectures because he seems to bounce around and go off topic a lot but I love that we go on a field trip once a week! As a group we started in the early American and British gallery, art, furniture, etc. from say 1700 to 1800ish. An interesting collection but definitely not my favorite, though there was some beautiful porcelain work.

I ended up going through the textile exhibit, the theater exhibit and briefly the jewelry exhibit. The textile exhibit was AMAZING and I'm definitely going back with a notebook and a camera because I need to have some of that stuff like on file for classes when we go back to Marist. Within the Textile Exhibit there were smaller categories, all flowing from room to room... There were Turkish rugs on the walls in cases, from really old and falling apart to the ones in pristine condition. In that room there was also some early Turkish clothing. Then came a room full of detailed Kimono that each displayed and briefly explained the different silk techniques used to create them. Many of the textile displays included huge wooden cases where you can either pull out drawers or these panels, that look like sideways drawers, to see more examples. More squares of silk in different techniques were there. Next came the lace.... Needle point, hand made bobbin lace... all different kinds of lace, and I swear there must have been over a million pieces of lace in there. Some bigger and older pieces were framed and on the walls along with some small items like baby bonnets or cuffs. In the middle of both rooms of lace were more of the wooden cases, row after row after row of cases. I've never really been much of a lace person... I guess in my mind it belongs in lingerie and little else, except maybe a wedding dress... but I find myself gaining a new appreciation of how detailed and varied lace can be. It was really awe inspiring for someone who loves hand sewing as much as I do. As always when I see something beautiful I wish that I knew how to make it too.

The theater exhibit was interesting.... I wasn't so much as interested in the theater aspects or the plays but just the costume section which was actually quite interesting. Everything from McJagger and Elton John concert outfits to ballerina costumes and a dress covered in fake breakfast food. Costumes created for historical films, asian films.... they covered a wide variety of cultures and time periods.... quite interesting! There was also a display of the construction of different theaters and sets and their effects, distinctions, and catagories... certainly not something I had ever considered before.

I really just skimmed over the jewelry exhibit to see if it was worth coming back at another time, and it definately is! But for now I am resigned to watching the new House episode while I eat dinner, then go to bed early so I am well rested to leave for ISTANBUL TOMORROW! :) I am really REALLY excited about this trip.

Portabello Market

Yesterday we went to the Victoria and Albert museum for the day, I could spend WEEKS in that place, and no doubt I will since it is only 3 blocks from my dorm. In the whole day we only explored a few exhibits on the first floor. We saw the early asian and early islamic exhibits, containing sculptures, paintings, textiles, artifacts, tiles and architecture. We also explored another sculpture gallery and lastly the Fashion exhibit... oh that fashion exhibit was wonderful and terrible in one glorious stroke. I loved it and it hurt me at the same time. It was set up in rings, the outter most ring was historical clothing, from the late 1700's to present designer collections. The designs were grouped by loose ideas such as corsetry, shoes, ready to wear, active wear, mens suits.. etc. One wall had a timeline laid out in heels - beautiful. There were also a few wedding gowns from different periods scattered in the outter ring. The inner ring of the fashion exhibit were works by fashion students from the Royal College of Art - this is when the exhibit took my breath away in an almost painfully abrupt way. I was so stunned at the innovation, the skills and the architectural shapes... they just blew me away. They looked like professional works from designers who have worked the business for decades: the technical skills and resources were more than I could ever imagine having. We read on one of the museum signs that these student have access to knitting machines, laser cutters, textile weaving machines and textile printers and so much more. I couldn't help but think at first that I must have chosen the wrong school! I do love Marist college but I can't even imagine having the resources that these students did to create these master pieces... To think that I could design a print to perfectly match my designs and just get it printed; or design an outfit that was intricately pieced together in hundreds of pieces, just tap all that into the laser cutter and let it do the work; or I could design my own special knitt and tap the calculations into the machine and go home and sleep while it finishes!!!

This exhibit led us to a discussion about our futures as designers and jobs after graduation... we generally all came to the same conclusion: that when we finish at marist we will not get our dream jobs, we will get jobs as somebodies bitch undersome other designer, but it is all for the correct path. We will work under other ppl until our time comes, that is the way it works. We will get jobs, work until we decide that we are either A. ready for graduate program B. ready for our own line C. ready for our own label or store. Realistically we know we won't getour dream jobs right after graduation but I for one know that I am on the right path, and I like where I am going... Perhaps The Royal College of Art will be on my graduate school list... who knows?

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Today we went to Portabello Market.

The website says that this market is about 2 miles long, I didn't even make it all the way down... I got stuck in the antique section with the books and jewelry. I spent probably half of my time shifting through piles of ancient books, jewelry and pieces of lace and fabric. I even found some antique sari trims! They were beautiful, I wish I could have purchased the whole pile. This market covered probably everything I can think of that I would ever want to spend money on... Besides the normal shops and boutiques of clothes, shoes and accessories there were stalls on the sidewalks. I even saw hookas on sale for 19.95 pounds! haha it was random but it just happened to be something I wasn't used to seeing on sale in public. the markets also included a food section where both raw ingredients and prepared foods were sold

The market was set up in general sections. The first section we came into at the top of Portabello street was the antique section. Everything from silverware, to cameo necklaces to flasks, china, and art was on display here, and in a variety of price ranges. I stayed for quite some time looking at books here... i found a beautiful copy of Arabian Nights/A Thousand and One Nights - unfortunately it would've cost me all of the money I brought with me (about 45 pounds). There was also a really nice copy of pride and prejudice and a few other recognisable titles that were sadly out of my price range.

Through out the entire market jewelry was spread, antique and new mixed together. I had a hard time keeping my head, the whole thing was quite overwhelming but I ended up buying only one necklace. It is a type of pendant carved of jade, the man told me it was an asian dragon symbol for good luck. I tried to leave it but i kept coming back to it so I bought it for 8 pounds.

I also bought: 1) one of those pretty paper star shaped lamp covers. 2) two different pieces of antique lace, one large pattern in a creamy yellow and one small trim in pure white. 3) two sections of fabric, one yellowy mustard like color with small repeating pattern, the other deep purple with a paisley like pattern. I also bought a crepe for lunch! :) I spent about 40 pounds over all... I honestly could have spent millions in this market and not been satisfied, apparently there were even more good things further down that I didn't even get to. Julissa and Christina, unhindered by antique books, made it a good deal further down the street than I did and told me about other places that I will definately visit when my parents come.

That is about it for today...

belated blog

I apologize for blog number 2 being so late, unfortunately our internet was down for a few days and then things began to get busy. Then I was busy last night so here I am today writing this blog instead of finishing my homework.

well let me think... I'm not quite sure where to start! Thursday was my last day of classes for the week, and it was... interesting. My British History professor took us to see the National Maritime Museum, which was absolutely amazing except for the fact that it was the longest class I have ever attended. Our classes are supposed to be three hours, either 9 to 12 or 1 to 4. Despite the fact that we told him most of us had class again at 1, he kept us over by almost half an hour on Wednesday so we had to scramble to find lunch before 1. On Thursday he had us arrive at 8:30 instead of 9 so we could get started earlier, but he just talked for 30 minutes and we departed at 9 anyway. We took 2 tube (subway) transfers and then switched to the DLR (which is an above ground train) to get the this museum, loosing at least 1/4 of our class along the way. Upon our arrival at the museum he told us to meet back outside at 11:45. I raised my hand and asked "doesn't it take an hour to get back to school?" to which he nodded and I said "but some of us have classes at 1 and we need to get back-" and he cut me off with some reply along the lines of "shit happens" or "deal with it". I was most annoyed because not only was there a possibility I would be late for my Islam class, but if we didn't make it back in time I would not get to eat until my second class ended at 4, and I hadn't eaten anything since 8 in the morning. Well we did get back with about 15 minutes to spare so I had no other option than the burger king. Unfortunately eating this hardly even made me feel any better because I felt like that stupid American who comes to a foreign country and eats our own food anyway... I was however pressed for time and it was the only way.

Saturday: Christina and I ventured out into the middle of no where in London to find a Fashion Museum... we call it the epic quest because it took us most of the day to find this museum and it ended up being the tiniest museum I've ever seen in my life. Twice we ran into dead ends on the tube because various lines and stops were closed for construction. Then we got a bit lost trying to find the actual museum. Luckily the exhibit was amazing even if it was tiny. It was a history of women's under garments, from the 1800's corsets to present victoria's secret stuff. It was fascinating and I took a bunch of pictures. We are planning to go back so Julissa can come this time and so that I can sketch for our historical costume drawing assignments.

Sunday: I went to church with Christina. We attended a Nazarene christian church because thats the kind of church she attends at home. She was eager to find a church here that she liked but was worried about going to an unfamiliar area and it was also our first use of the bus system. It all turned out well and we went to church singing, dancing and eating chocolate! haha certainly the most fun sermon I've ever heard... and the first time I ever caught myself singing or humming a church song a day later.

Monday: after my British Life and Culture class we went to the grocery store so that we could make some dinner before going to the welcome reception for FIE students. I'm not sure exactly what we expected it to be like but we were all a bit shocked by the reality of this "dance". It was like time traveling back to an awkward middle school dance where people stand and chat in their own little groups, where no one dances or mingles outside their circles ... the room even looked like a dressed up gymnasium. Then they dimmed the lights and started playing 90's music... ahh the image was complete! There was one dramatic difference between this and middle school - free alcohol. Besides the good food, free t shirts, etc. that functions for college students usually include to bribe us to show up, there were also two free drink vouchers per entry. I only used one of mine and ended up giving the other one away to a friend.

Tuesday: well I have been planning this Tuesday for the last two weeks and it certainly did not go as I had hoped. My main plan was to take all of my homework and walk to the park. I love the park here, its probably like a 15 or 20 minute walk but totally worth it to me. I also hoped to wander a bit and find some of the museums that are within a few blocks of where i live. Unfortunately none of these grand ideas worked out because when I woke up on Tuesday it was pouring. So I guess I'm back to planning out next Tuesday's adventure...

Well I've got to get to class now... I promise I am going to try really hard to make these blogs a more consistant part of my routine here so I can keep you all updated on how wonderful it is here <3

my first blog post

I guess I'm not really sure what a blog is meant to say...

Yesterday was my first day of classes and today is my first day off. Tomorrow I have two classes and thursday two as well. I enjoyed my first class, British Life and Culture because I like the way my professor teaches and I like the ideas he presented. Our first class was for the most part about the confusion of the British Nationality through the combination of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland that is the UK. It is fascinating to me that in this modern day countries can still view themselves as conquered and without a voice.

I was hoping to go to either the museum or the park today to sketch, since I have no classes, but Julissa and I overslept and Christina had class. I for one seem to still be jetlagged... it's funny to look at the clock on my laptop that says it is 8:40 in the morning at home, but here it is 1:40 in the afternoon! The time change is definately something to get used to. At least I am somewhat used to looking left when I cross the street and looking for signs on the sides of buildings that post streetnames instead of actual separate street signs that stand alone. I am becoming accustomed to our tiny kitchen and its foreign (and also tiny) appliances. I suppose I won't ever get used to that extremely strange sounding fire alarm that woke us all from a sound sleep only a few days ago... If they had that kind of fire alarm at Marist I'm sure people would not sleep through it!

I'd say that the only thing i sincerely dislike so far is that our classes are with other American students. My British Life and Culture class is only for Marist students, if it weren't for the professor's accent and the beautiful victorian style room I could have been back at marist... not exactly what I had in mind when I pictured studying in a foreign country. At least in our other classes we will be mixed with the students studying abroad from other colleges.

I had my first experience with the tube on sunday, we went to Camden Market in Camden London. It was amazing! It was huge and crowded (funny because London didn't seem crowded before this) and completely eye opening in the styles, hair-do's, and accessories for sale and worn by the locals. Now there were really two parts to the market, there was what we would consider a semi normal part where trendy fashionable and affordable (once you haggled) clothing and accessories were sold. Though I must admit that there were some very interesting designs in there and it really opened some more doors in my mind... I love to see my mind broadened by fashion into new directions and possibilities. Adorable frocks, dresses, funky t shirts and fascinating hoodies.. and of course plenty of cute things that were meant to be dresses but became shirts on me! I did end up buying a coat, a dress, and some gloves, and yes I spent all the money I had on me, right down to my last 20 pence coin! But realistically I knew I would end up doing that so I only brought what I was willing to spend in the first place. I was also quite proud of myself that I managed to haggle properly without feeling like a rude american.

The other part of the market was very different... For my friends from home I suppose the closest thing you have to compare it to is a Hot Topic store, but when i delved a little deeper into this market I found that Hot Topic really barely scratches the surface. I saw some truely revolutionary, unique and genuinely repulsive and offensive fashion and it was amazing. I'm still not sure how I feel about jackets trimmed with human hair or violent acts displayed on clothing ... even a pin made from bloody barbie doll arms but the experience over all was one of awe I think. Awe and maybe even a little jealousy that these people had the balls to express exactly what they wanted without fear of offending or repulsing anyone. They were what they wanted to be no matter what anyone else thought and for that I certainly envy them!

all of that culminates in the fact that I will DEFINATELY be returning to Camden market, at least once before I leave... probably numerable times.