It looks like a fist.

But it's not.

For the past week or so, I haven't been counting days--I've been counting classes.  The advantage is that on Mondays and Wednesdays, I'm able to count down two instead of just one.
The disadvantage, of course, is that I spent five days staring at three fingers.
But no longer!  That fist is one of victory, and also indicates I don't have any more classes.  I fly home early Friday morning (6:00 early), and I'm not planning on going to bed at all Thursday night.  Consider it a preemptive strike against jet lag.

Things I will miss about Istanbul
-The baklava.  Both walnut and pistachio.
-Having a few hours free and going to see the Archeology Museum, or something equally cool.
-The Ayasofya.
-People watching.
-The fruit.
-Çai.
-Nargele.
-The cats in the garden.
-Pilaf.
-Public transportation.
-Sultanahmet Camii.
-Reading a placard that says "1750" and thinking "that's not old."
-The call to prayer.
-Simit.
-FETA.
-Stained glass windows.
-Seeing Istiklal lit up at night.
-The domes and minarets.
-Painted tiles.
-Three-story Starbucks.
-Mosaics.
-Seeing the Theodosian walls on my way to school.
-The architecture in general.

Things I will not miss about Istanbul
-Spending an hour one way to get to school.
-Not being able to differentiate between 5 and 10 kuruş coins.
-The lack of English bookstores.
-Having a window that looks out on the street...when the street is at the level of my shoulders.
-The notorious lack of answered email.
-Public transportation.
-10-hour time difference.
-Unreliable water pressure, water heat, and water.
-Not having to struggle to understand basic signs.
-Creepy come-ons in the Grand Bazaar.
-Red tape.
-The ants in the kitchen.  No matter what I do, they keep coming back.


I've also been doing a lot of last-minute sightseeing, since that gets put on the back shelf when you think you're going to be in the same place for a year.  I'll put the photos up soon.  There are lots (surprise).

m.

The Single Biggest Thing I Wish I'd Known Before Taking Classes In Turkey:

Thanks to a string of connections that began with my mother and ended up with...okay, lots of people, I can now say that this entire trip would have been far easier had I (and Coe) known one thing about how university works here.

First, a quick background on how I obtained such valuable knowledge:

My mom used to work with someone who used to work in Istanbul and has friends who still work here, in charge of a team of twenty-year-olds who work on different university campuses here (oblique enough? Good. That's what I was going for).

One of the girls has a younger sister (I think she's a year older than me) who studied here for a year, and it is she who gave me the Great Advice.

The Great Advice:

Turkish universities (obviously) operate differently from American ones.

Here, it's normal to squash as many possible classes into your week as possible, and then take a couple more. Most students here take at least 21 credit hours--nine, ten, eleven classes are all normal.

When there's a "clash" (when two classes overlap), it doesn't really matter. Most professors are okay with it (I, apparently, got the only exceptions).

Because they take so many classes, it's also completely normal to fail one or two courses a semester and then just take them over again.

Had someone known this going in, holy crap my life would have been easier.

m.

Qu'rans

m.

Still alive. (Well, barely. 'Tis finals season.)

I'm still reeling from a 20-page paper and presentation I had to put together for my Istanbul Architecture class.

My topic was [please note: this is a direct quote, exactly what I had to work with, grammatical errors included]: "urban & functional development of Hippodrome Area & its environments."

To everyone who prayed me through the paper, thank you. I needed it. I didn't actually hit the 20 page mark, but after seeing that in Turkey, photos count towards your page limit (I didn't have any), I don't feel so bad. I think I covered everything I needed to.

And it's done. That's what I'm happiest about.

In fact, I'm so happy that my body rebelled and decided to get sick on Friday.

And I have more pictures! [Thank goodness for visiting family members who give you proper incentive to be a tourist.]

Except for the two painfully obvious exceptions, everything is from the Turkish & Islamic Arts Museum.

[Carpet detail]

[Lots of carpets. They have one of the world's largest collections.]

[Carpet detail]

[Selçuk tile detail]

[Detail of door from Grand Mosque of Cizre]

There are also a lot (well, that's putting it somewhat lightly) of illustrated Qu'rans. I'll put them up in their own post, probably tomorrow sometime.

m.

[Not. Counting. Days.

Not. Counting. Days.

Not. Counting. Days.]

Lots and lots of pictures

[New Town from Galata Tower]

[New Town from Galata Tower]

[New & Old Town from Galata Tower]

[New & Old Town from Galata Tower]

[Sultanahmet Camii from Galata Tower]

[Sultanahmet Camii & Ayasofya from Galata Tower]

[Ayasofya from Galata Tower]

[New & Old Town from Galata Tower]

[New Town buildings from Galata Tower]

[New Town shop from Galata Tower]

[Istanbul University gate]

[Istanbul University gate detail]

[Istanbul University gate]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

[Süleymaniye Camii]

m.

It's official (well, sort of):

I'm coming home....

Details to be worked out, photos to be taken, finals to be completed before the deadlines, but I've made the decision to go back to Coe next semester (with hopefully a layover in Washington).

And yes, it feels so very wonderful.

m.

And now, to bed. It is a school night, after all.

Things I've learned [longer version, installment one(ish)]

If you're female and traveling to Turkey, you've probably heard one (or both) of these things:
"Turkish guys are so attentive (cute, too).  They'll help you get anywhere, and they're really friendly."
OR
"Turkish guys are creepy.  Avoid them like the plague."

Here's the deal: yes, some Turkish guys can be creepy as hell.  But so can American guys.  (Personally, I'm thinking frat boys, but I have some friends in fraternities, and they're not creepy.  See?  Stereotypes in action.)
But in the end, you do need to know what you're going to deal with (especially if you're traveling alone, and are young.  Or blonde).
It doesn't matter how conservatively you dress.  My worst experience occurred when I was showing less skin than I typically do at church.  Undoubtably, somewhere in the city, there's a local girl who's dressed less conservatively than you are.
But you're still American (or potentially European, or Canadian), and therefore loose (American and European girls just about as desperate for sex as the other, and, well, if you're Canadian...I'm sorry, but you know the routine; you may as well be from the states).

Guys will be attentive.  They will call you all sorts of endearments, some of which you wish you'd only be called by your significant other and not some strange guy ("angel" is great from your father or boyfriend/husband, but, uh, not some random guy selling tiles at the Grand Bazaar).

If you want to flirt, go ahead.  It should be fun.
But if you don't want to flirt (like me), grow a backbone, and fast.  I don't mean that you don't already have one, but if something you say can potentially be taken in a romantic/sexual/anything that's not "get the hell away from me" way, it will be.  They will read more into it, often, than you mean, and if you're not used to the attention (like me), it goes to your head faster than 90 proof alcohol goes to the head of a 15-year-old, and things start to spin out of control.  And I can pretty much guarantee that it will suck.

On the other hand, not all Turkish guys are like that.  Most are nice (often nicer than Americans), but just want to say "hi," or make you smile, or get to know you (this is especially true if you're studying here and they want to be friendly, not creepy).
Unfortunately, the guys who come on strong typically hang out around (or work at) the stretch between the Grand Bazaar and the Ayasofya--in other words, the touristy areas.  On the upside, it's damn easy to get directions from them, if you can figure out how to peel them off your arm later.

m.

And now, for something completely different.

There have been some steps in the right direction, but I don't really want to talk about them. I want to talk about something (else) that's been on my mind a lot.

Thanks to the wonder that is the internet, I can keep up with my favorite tv shows (The Big Bang Theory and Glee, and newly discovered Sherlock) while halfway around the world.

I've been pleasantly surprised at the turn that Glee has taken. This season, they've taken a closer look at the character's personalities and how that plays out.

For the last four weeks, what's consistently floored me is Kurt Hummel, played by Chris Colfer. Although many critics complain that all of the characters are stereotypes (and to them, I ask: when was the last time you were in high school?), these episodes are elevating Kurt past his "gay guy" label.

Since day one, Kurt's been bullied, but Karofsky, a football player, is one of the worst, and he's been the most consistent. In "Never Been Kissed," Kurt meets Blaine, who attends Dalton Academy and is comfortable with the fact that he's gay.

Karofsky's bulling gets worse, and Blaine encourages (ug. I really hate that word) Kurt to stand up for himself. In response to his somewhat nasty but very clear outburst, Karofsky forcibly kisses Kurt. In the next episode, he threatens to kill Kurt if he tells anyone what happened.

Kurt, rather obviously, is miserable. He's being bullied at every turn, but he can't exactly tell someone all of the details without, he feels, putting his life in danger.

Kurt's father finds out that his son is being bullied and insists on an audience with Karofsky, his father, and the principal (in a chilling turn of events, it's Principal Sue). Sue tells them she can't legally do anything unless Kurt's been threatened or hurt, and Kurt blurts out that Karofsky threatened to kill him (surprisingly, and pleasantly, if that's the right word, Karofsky's father believes Kurt). Sue asks why, and Kurt's stuck. He can't say that Karofsky kissed him, but there is obviously a reason he's been targeted.

Here's where my commentary comes in. What Kurt does is, I think, a huge indication of his character. Even though he could have bypassed Sue entirely and gone to the cops after the kiss (sexual harassment, I hear, lets you do that), he doesn't. He keeps his mouth shut.

Critics of the show, I've noticed, focus on the situation that the charters find themselves in and not how they respond, and, therefore, who they are shown to be.

Kurt keeping quiet is, I think, the loudest thing I've ever heard when it comes to being gay in a primarily heterosexual country. It's so difficult that Kurt's sympathy is to leave him to figure it out, even though he's still suffering for it.

Now, I do think that Kurt should have told someone about the threat on his life. I also think he did it in the right way. He forced the truth, but didn't say the one thing that Karofsky was most afraid he would.

Skipping plot (suffice it to say Karofsy's expelled and then comes back), Kurt decides to leave McKinley for Dalton. He joins the glee club there, but their entire mindset seems to be centered around their uniforms: look alike, sound alike, match personalities.

And, once again, Kurt's miserable (okay, this is me interpreting the situation, but I think it's fair). His personality was what made him an outcast at McKinley, but also what made him part of their glee club. He's the type of person who can't fit the mold, no matter how hard he tries--a quality usually admired, but not in this case.

In order to feel physically safe, he needs to become something akin to a drone. Yes, this sucks, but what makes it even worse is that Blaine keeps assuring Kurt he'll soon fit in. Encouraging words, but hollow when you consider "fitting in" means Kurt has to give up the person he is.

I'm not sure where the writers are planning on taking this, but I hope they don't trash the wonderful buildup they have. There's a lot of talent at that table, and I hope at least one of them realizes what they're setting up, and that no matter what they give him, Chris Colfer will carry it off with aplomb.

m.