I leave for the airport in 30 minutes, and will be back in the states TONIGHT. This summer has gone by really fast. I learned a lot of Turkish, met a lot of people, but I honestly cannot wait to get home. My life is going to get a lot more complicated when I arrive, so I wanted to get this post done before then.
Wednesday night was awesome. We went to "İmroz," a meyhane (bar/restaurant that serves mostly rakı and mezze) that is run by a Greek family. We each paid 50 TL for all you can eat and drink. I had so much feta cheese, bread, calamari, salad, and rakı. I sat across from one of the other professors from our program named Özlem Hanım, and chatted with her. She was hilarious and matching us drink for drink. I also met a nice Turkish woman who will be applying to grad school at my school in the spring. I chatted with the TWO KADIRS (2006 people know them well) for about 2 hours that night, about everything. They are so friendly. I sent 2. Kadir Generation Kill to watch, and 1. Kadir will be at Purdue for the next 5 years for a PhD in Linguistics (Turkish Sign Language). So I will hopefully see him again soon. My last cab ride here was with the fattest cabby I have seen so far in this country. He had to recline his seat to accommodate his mass. I got us the standard 15 TL daytime rate back, and we all slept really well.
Yesterday I woke up, went to the Boğaziçi store to get some stuff, and ran into 1. Kadir on the way back. We had breakfast and chatted about life in America, and what he can expect. Then I went down to the old city for the last time to check out the Archeology Museum with Michael, Laura, and Lauren. They had a really cool exhibit that showed stuff they have found in the last couple of years while working on the subway system. They found a whole ship from 1100, intact, buried in the ground. Evidence of the old Byzantine port here. Michael left us there because he had a train to catch at 10pm to Bulgaria, where he will begin his long journey to Vienna. I parted ways with the girls at Kabataş because I needed to go get some stuff at Akmerkez. We all spent a few hours packing up, and then went to the Petek, that fancy view near campus, one last time to hang out and have snacks and beers. There were some street dogs there that made me nervous, so I gave them my börek far away from where we were sitting. A Turkish couple (students) sat across from us and offered us some of their food. They were playing music on their laptop: REM, RHCP, and other American stuff. We all headed back around 12:30am and said our goodbyes to Hannah, who had to catch a 6am flight. I am going to miss her, she is hilarious. Anyway, right now I am finalizing the suitcase situation. I just had tea and chatted with the gatekeeper, Hakan, for about an hour. The bus gets here in 30 minutes. I have about 12 hours of flying to do today. Time travel, really. It makes my head spin. Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all again soon! I'll miss Istanbul, but not as much as I miss my family. I can't wait to get back! Love you guys!
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