I fell in love in Turkey..

      I never could have imagined falling in love with Istanbul, but I did.  I sat through preport where both of the deans sat and told us about terrorist attacks and petty crime.  After we were all scared half to death, we pulled in to the port of Istanbul at about 5am, where Krissy and I work up to see the sun rise.  It was a bit disappointing because it was very hazy, so we went back to sleep until about 8am, when we got up to go to breakfast.  That was actually the first time that we got to see the city, first hand, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  We all had to get in line to get our landing cards, because apparently its illegal to carry a passport with out a visa in Istanbul.  After waiting in line, and messing up my name on my card, we were able to get off the boat.  Of course, they told us to dress pretty conservatively because of the culture in Turkey, so we all wore pants and t-shirts, even though it was blistering hot, we wore these clothes.  Jessica, Kati, Kate, Danielle and I, along with our very important male companion, Harry all went to the grand bazaar to check it out.  We soon found out that there was really no need for the pants or the male companion because although the culture is very conservative in Turkey and we were trying to fit in with their culture, it was really unnecessary.  We walked across the bridge, because everything was within walking distance from our ship, and it was packed with people and vendors and really cute little tables next to a floating restaurant.  We had to walk underground to get to the main part of the city, where there were crazy vendors and people selling interesting things.  When we finally got through the underground walkway, we found the street to get to the bazaar.  We walked through the spice bazaar, which we did not really know at the time, through uphill winding streets, full of people.  It was really an intense walk, with everyone harassing us to buy things from them, call us names and using some of the worst pick up lines that I had ever heard. 
        Once we entered the bazaar, we had to get something to eat because we were thirsty and hungry.  After eating, we ventured to the shopping.  There were souvenirs everywhere, evil eyes, tapestries, clothing, hookahs, and spices.  It was an amazing site to see.  We bought so many things, including a gorgeous hot pink tapestry which I can't wait to hang over my bed at school.  I got a lot of presents for friends and family, and it was especially great, because we were able to haggle with the men for lower prices.  On top of that, it was even cheaper because the Turkish Lira has a really great exchange rate.  After a great and successful day of shopping in the bazaar, we headed back to the ship to get ready to go out for the night.  We headed out to the restaurant strip that was very close to the ship, and got dinner of kebabs and French fries.  It was delicious and the best part of the restaurant was that they had free wifi.  We were able to get on line and check out the whirling dervish show that we really wanted to see.  After dinner, we walked back to a restaurant across from the ship that sold desserts.  I had this really delicious fruit tart and some Turkish coffee.  The Internet in that place stopped working, and we were pretty sure that they turned it off so we would leave, Kate and Jess walked back to the ship and Kati and I walked up and down the strip of restaurants looking for more of our friends.  We were offered free coffee and tea three times, which we couldn't turn down, so we just spent the rest of the night relaxing and drinking Turkish coffee and then headed back to the ship to go to sleep.
        In the morning, we really wanted to do the Bosporus boat tour, which basically toured the whole river and went to the Asian side of Istanbul.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We got to see many of the palaces on the shore, along with many of the mosques, which were amazing.  There was a bridge about two miles down from where our ship was docked, and it was the bridge that went from Europe to Asia, but when we passed it on the boat tour, we could see the difference because there was a red flag with a white moon and star on the European side and a white flag with a red moon and star on the Asian side.  It was a really cool tour, because we could see more of the city than from just walking around.  After, when we got back to shore, we went to a restaurant to eat lunch and confirm our plans for the evening.  We purchased tickets to go see a whirling dervish show, a very holy ritual of dancing in Turkey.  We left and got some ice cream called dondurma which was really, really good, and kind of stretchy, and then headed back to the boat to shower and get ready for the night. 
        We finally were ready to go see the show, and we started walking, but we soon realized that the map that the guy gave us was completely wrong.  We had the address of the place, but no one seemed to know where it was, and/or they did not speak English.  After walking in circles for what seemed like an hour, but more like a half hour and being followed by a 13 year old boy who had a fishing pole and a crush on Jessica, we finally found the place where the dervish was taking place.  It was down a really small alley, but we were really happy to actually finally get there. We got some free sodas and then went in to sit, where we had seats all the way in the back.  We met a couple sitting next to us who were from Atlanta, and talked to them for a while about our program.  They were really interested in the program, and they were telling us all about their children and stuff, it was kind of nice to talk to other Americans for a chance.  The show started, and I really didn't know what we were getting our selves into, but these men played ritual music for a while and then five other men came out eventually, dressed in all white outfits and skirts.  The dancing that they did was basically really slow, and they spun in circles for a while, it kind of made me dizzy, but after when I read the pamphlet about the show, it told us all the meaning of the spinning and how they were completely lost in the circles trying to connect with God.  It was interesting to actually see some of the cultural things that they did in Turkey.  After that we wanted to get a few drinks, but little did we know that it was one of the highest, holiest days in Turkey, and because the people are all basically Muslim, no one was serving any alcohol.  So instead, Kati and I sat on the Bosporus river, smoking hookah and drinking milkshakes.  It was really fun and we got to call home to our friends, which was really good.
        On the third day in Istanbul, we went back to the grand bazaar to pick up a few last things, and Kati needed to get her dad a gift, so we spent a few hours there and later we were going to the Turkish baths.  We had heard people talking about them, and how intense of an experience it was, so we decided that we had to do it.  After we finally found the road that lead to the bath, which also had a Starbucks, we got to the bath and found out that it was a bit more expensive than any of us thought.  We didn't really mind, and we paid the 80 Lira, which is about $52, which wasn't too bad.  It really was an experience though.  We got lead into a room that had little rooms in it, which all locked, so that we each got our own, to get dressed in and leave our stuff.  We were instructed to leave our things in the room, and just wear the towel.  Kati, Jess, Kate and I decided that we were going to wear our bathing suits, because we weren't really sure how we felt being entirely naked.  After we were done changing, we were lead into the baths, which are kind of hard to explain, it was a big room with a marble circular platform in the middle, where people laid to get their massages and services, and surrounding the room on the perimeter, there was marble benches and sinks every few feet.  The sinks didn't have pipes, so they just filled up and then spilled over.  The woman told us to sit on the benches, and gave us a metal bowl that we weren't sure what to do with.  Eventually we realized how hot it was in the room, and the point was to make us sweat so that we could exfoliate better, but we kept filling the bowl with water and pouring it on ourselves.  Finally when it was our turn, I went first, and the woman came up to me and told me to lay on the marble platform in the middle.  She then told me to take off my top.  I was a bit uncomfortable, but it soon wore off.  She started to scrub and exfoliate my whole body, then a rinse and back to the middle to get a full body massage.  It wasn't like a massage that we would get in the US, but it was really nice, especially after walking around for so long.  Finally she took me back to the sinks and started washing my hair, soaping it up and throwing it in my face along with tons of water, so I basically couldn't breathe for like five minutes.  It was such a crazy situation because there were so naked women around, and after each customer, the woman who did the washing would strip fully naked and rinse herself off.  Some of these women were enormous and it was just hilarious.  The whole thing was certainly an experience and I am really glad that I got to do it.  After that we went back to the ship to get ready, because we were going out.  We got in a cab and went to Taksim Square, a place that is known for its street having 200 bars.  We ended up getting lost and not being able to find the street, but we found some locals that took us there.  We ended up leaving them because we found Harry and we went to the Turkish pub.  It was a lot of fun, and a lot of SASers were there, which was kinda cool.  When we were leaving, we stopped at the McDonald's and had some fries, and then got a taxi back to the boat.
        In the morning, Danielle was finally back from her trip, so we got to go to the Hagia Sofia, one of the wonders of the world, the Blue Mosque and the Cistern, an underground palace.  We went to the palace first, and I had no idea what to expect.  Jessica told us that we had to go because she had read about it, so we waited in line and paid to get in.  We walked down stairs and it was really dark.  I hadn't realized that it was an underground palace, but all of the columns were lit by little orange lights, which made it look really pretty.  We walked around for a while and saw the two heads of Medusa, which no one really knows how they got there, but they were really cool to see.  After the palace, we walked over to the Hagia Sofia.  We didn't actually pay to go into the Hagia Sofia because it was really pricey but we saw it from the outside and it was really pretty.  Then we got ready to go into the Blue Mosque, which is really beautiful.  We were told that we had to wear floor length dresses and cover our shoulders and heads, but when we got there, people were very inadequately dressed and they were given little sheets to turn into skirts and shawls.  It was really amusing to watch.  We were all prepared, even to the point where we brought head scarves, which we eventually realized was not really necessary, more for our fun.  I didn't really know what to think about the mosque, but it was very big and open and carpeted.  We were not allowed to wear our shoes in, so we had to take them off and put them in a plastic bag.  There were lights that were all on suspension cords that hung really low to the ground.  I thought it was really weird, but kinda cool, and there was tons of stained glass.  After we were done at the mosque, we went over and found this guy making these cool lollipop things that was basically melted sugar and he twisted it on a stick.  It was good for like a few bites (because it was still gooey) and then we stopped at a restaurant to eat.  I got a really good kebab sandwich. 
        At night we went finally went out with Julia and Gabe for Alyssa's 21st birthday.  We weren't sure exactly what we were going to do so we went to Taksim Square again.  We started out the night at the Turkish pub and took a shot of tequila there, and then moved on to two other bars where we also had a shot of tequila.  Finally we ended up at an Irish pub where we actually sat down and ordered some drinks.  Kati and I hadn't eaten dinner so we walked around the corner and went to Pizza Hut.  We walked back with our pizza and consumed it in a matter of 5 minutes and it was so good.  After that, we all decided to keep walking, until we stumbled upon a bowling alley.  We all decided to play and get some beers.  It was hilarious, because we were all drinking and dancing in the bowling alley, and we got the people who owned it to turn on all of this American music.  We had a really good time and took so many pictures.  After the bowling we walked more towards where the boat was, and found this rando bar, and then some food, and a cab back to the boat at about 4am.  When Kati and I got back up to the boat we were looking out the side and we saw Alyssa randomly walking around in the port, so we had to try to find Meg because she couldn't get on the boat with out her id.  We couldn't find Meg, so we got Alyssa on the boat without her id and got a lock out to her room to find Meg passed out on her bed.  We couldn't wake her up but we found Alyssa's id and she swiped in.  It was a hilarious random night, but we finally got to go to bed.
        On the final day, I had to do an FDP for one of my classes, which was kind of silly and really had nothing to do with the class.  We went to Bosporus University, which was like a 20 minute ride from the ship and we met with like 6 students who told us about their school.  I was supposed to write a paper for my psychology class, but there was seriously nothing to write about.  The students all spoke English, because all of their classes were taught in English and they said that it was extremely hard to actually take their exams because the exams were in Turkish.  They seemed to tell us all of the good things, and they had a brief question and answer section and then we went for lunch where we were able to sit one on one with the students and ask them questions.  After the FDP we took the bus back and I went across the street to get some baklava, because everyone said it was so amazing.  It was soo good and the perfect way to end my time in Istanbul.     
        I don't really know why I loved it so much, maybe it was just the culture and the way of life, but the people were so interesting and foreign to me.  I learned a lot of little silly things along the way that I think that I will have for life.  I think that Turkey was by far my most favorite port so far, but we still have Bulgaria, Egypt and Morocco.