ISTANBUL!!!!!

So I apologize for not posting any updates in a while - this last week and a half has been a crazy and blurry mess of wonderful traveling to Istanbul, classic fun times back home in Berlin, and me dealing with a very personal loss and subsequent grief.

So with that said, let me proceed in chronological order. Last Tuesday night after coming back from a wine bar in Kreitzburg, I came home to some terrible news. When checking facebook right before bed at about 3 in the morning, I came across a Facebook group titled "Prayers for Amanda Bebout" that about 20 of my friends from home had joined. Amanda Bebout was one of my friends from home and one of my best, best friends in middle school. Having no idea what that meant, thinking maybe she had gotten diagnosed with cancer or something, I Googled her name to find 5 or 6 news reports from Texas stations talking about the unsolved death of a TCU student. I stared at the computer in shock for about 20 minutes and then just started sobbing uncontrollably for who knows how long. Thank God one of my best friends from home was online who had known her too - we skyped and cried and talked together for a long while. Having to go to school the next day, I had a few restless hours of sleep and then tried to pull myself together for class. Epic fail on that one haha. It was pretty obvious from my red-rimmed eyes and refusal to look anyone in the eye that something was wrong - and when someone asked me what is was I just uncontrollably burst into tears. Luckily the Stanford center staff and my teachers have been incredibly, incredibly supportive. After that day, I finally got my gym membership and just kind of took everything as it came, one day at a time. The next day I felt a lot better, the day after that all I wanted to do was sit in my bed, watch "The Hills" and eat Nutella. Which I did haha. I tried to balance out grieving appropriately with moving on but I think I've done a good job so far. That was a tough rest of the week though.

Friday was a great day. I couldn't pull myself together enough to prepare for the test on Friday morning, but I decided to handle my cell phone, bank, and lack of food situation but hitting up this huge mall at Potsdamer Platz with Bianca and then going clubbing with her host sister afterward. Early Sunday morning we left for IstanbuL!!!

Istanbul is kind of an impossible to place to describe well. It was sensory overload in so many ways and was so many firsts for me. It was my first time in the Middle East. First time on a non-Western airline. First time in a Muslim country. First time visiting a country where I had NOOOO grasp on the main language or even secondary languages. All that being said, I had no idea what to expect but knew I was in for a fabulous experience.

Let me also start off by saying that I think Stanford in Berlin royally pissed off some great weather god haha. We leave our lovely, chilly, freezer-like home of Berlin as it was nearing the coldest night the city had seen in 15 years. -10 Fahreinheit maybe? Somewhere in that neighborhood? I as bundled up in 5 layers for the trek to the airport - the weather made me feel like I had on a light, breezy summer dress. It was really, really effing cold. So we're all supeeeerrrrr stoked to be going South. We hear it's going to be mid-thirties in Turkey and are just besides ourselves with excitement. The coldest its ever been at Stanford for me suddenly sounds like a tropical paradise. Haha anyways, we chill at the airport for a while, all pretty hungry but sucking it up because we know the Stanford sponsored trip will have a free meal once we get to Istanbul. What we did not know was that Turkish Airlines serves you full on, multi-course, defreakinglicious meals in the air. And free alcohol. Free. Not 6 or 8 or 10 or however many dollars the American airlines charge you for your cocktail haha. And they give you as much as you want! Such craziness. It was a beautiful thing, particularly when the flight's descent started to feel eerily similar to my off-roading excursion in Kenya. One where we had driven through potholes the size of small children. Turns out we were descending in the middle of a wicked blizzard - one that had taken down an Ethiopian Airlines flight out of Lebanon. No good. : /

Anyways, as as soon as we land we go straight to this lovely boat cruise around the Bosphorus River. Istanbul's so different than any city I've ever been to in terms of the way its set up. It's known as the City on Seven Hills for its really steep terrain and is split up in the European and the Asian side by the river. Cruising down the river, I had technically been to Asia. 4 continents down, 3 to go. : ) . We then went to an amazing, multi-course Turkish dinner and back to the hotel which had a CNN International and BBC International Channel. I was so. effing. excited. The only tv I watch is home is what I can get on my computer (aka mtv.com), so getting to watch the news was amazzzinnnggg. Bianca and I definitely watched it for like 2 hours haha. Once the stories started repeating themselves we figured we might wanna get some sleep.

Monday we were mostly in different lectures and educational type things, while Tuesday we did the touristy, sight-seeing type stuff. Both of which were so interesting in their own way. Monday we got to see and hear so many things that most tourists would never have the chance to experience. Like the inside of the Turkish parliament. Or the main Turkish universities and cafeterias - (again, suchhhh good food haha). I think the main point I took home from all of those lectures was how Turkey really has a foot in both the traditional, Muslim Middle East and the secular West. It literally borders Europe to the west and Syria, Iraq, and some other Middle Eastern countries to the east. It is an officially Muslim country, with mosques everywhere and loud calls to prayer that blare through the streets of Istanbul several times a day. Many women wear the traditional scarf around their heads although they are not required to by law. And I did not particularly care for how I noticed men treating the women there, as a general statement. Istanbul has some bars and nightlife but as a Muslim country, all of the alcohol is imported and thus really, really expensive. But at the same time, it is in the process of becoming a member of the EU and thus trying to transform itself on a lot of levels. And it is involved with so many European countries in terms of business. It makes for such an interesting vibe there. Turkish pop is an awesome mix of both things too. That night, some more delicious food paid for by Stanford and BBC. Looovvveeee BBC International haha.

The next day was so, so, so amazing. Bianca and I got up early to walk around and shop a little bit before the grand tour by the Istanbul students. We got epically lost in the backstreets of Istanbul, but discovered some cool indoor markets and eventually realized we walked in 10 different kinds of circles around the hotel haha. Then with the class, we walked across one of the main bridges to the Egyptian spice bazaar. I will never forget how I felt when I first walked into that bazaar. Sensory overhwhelment in every sense of the word. So many different smells I had never even heard of. So many people I couldn't even see the ground. So many voices; so many languages. As you walk through, the vendors call at you and try to get you to visit their stand. They listen for what language you speak and then yell wonderfully obscene things at you haha. All of my black friends got yelled at as Obama and Lady Obama. I was mostly Beauty and Charlie's Angels when I was with a few friends. My personal favorite was when a vendor yelled "you dropped something!" Against my better judgment I turned around to hear him say, "My heart. I Love you." Ohhhh goodness haha. I made it out of there with some Turkish coffee and my dignity. We hadn't even hit up the main bazaar yet - apparently that was the small one : )

Then we visited the Hagia Sophia - a place I have learned so much about in art history and always wanted to go. It was one of the earliest Catholic churches and built in the Byzantine art tradition. When turkey became a Muslim country it was turned into a mosque, and now it's a museum. It was honestly kind of hard to be in a church that was not treated as a church but as a tourist site. But that could not detract from the priceless history, glittery mosaics, and amazing domes that adorned it. I bought an authentic icon there.

From there we went to the Blue Mosque, a really famous and goregeous mosque right across from the Hagia Sophia. I think most mosques non-Muslims aren't allowed to visit, but this one you could. You had to take off your shoes and be respectful. But yeah, that was really cool tooo - never been inside a mosque. All of these pictures are on Facebook by the way - please feel free to check them out I got some really cool ones during my time over there. Then we headed over the Grand Bazaar. I hung out with my friends Rose and Meghan, who I realized were speaking Spanish to the vendors. I knew what they were saying but hung back a little bit because I didn't really know what was happening. But then I started to notice that even though they still hassled us in Spanish, we got lower prices and a lot less hassled when people thought we were Spanish. It was great. And I felt like such a baller convincing total strangers with my shaky high school spanish that I was actually Isabella, from Mexico but having a German father, on holiday with my two Mexican friends. And the Grand Bazaar was amaaazzziiinnggggg. Soooo good. I got this really pretty leather journal, a goregous scarf, some jewelry, and a few boxes of Turkish delight. Just enough for the taxi ride home. The conversion rate was great though, $90 U.S. dollars for all of that stuff, a taxi ride or two, and feeding myself three meals and coffee almost every day. That night we had a huge dinner with all of the Stanford teachers and program staff. It was really great. Turkey put some serious pounds on me though - all of that free food and BBC haha. Even the power shopping couldn't outweigh that. It felt good to be back in Berlin - felt a lot like coming home.

Life is short and sweet and precious. Amanda's was cut far too short and I am trying to honor her memory by living mine to the fullest. I love everyone who is reading this blog and keeping up with me. I value you and would love to hear from you as well.

Loveeeeeee,

Courtney