Turrrrkeyyyyy

Monday, 4.13.2009

Carolyn, my friend from VCU who's studying in Milan right now (and whom I spent my birthday with), spent the last academic year studying in Turkey. She was going back and we just happened to have the same spring break, so I jumped at the chance to go with. The original plan was that she would go to Turkey the week before (she had two weeks for break) and we would run around Italy last week, but that changed. So we went to Turkeyyyyy.

Best way to start your spring break? Spend the night in an airport. Yeah, it was special. Monday was Easter Monday, which is a holiday in France. And that meant that the buses and trains to the airport in Lyon were running on the weekend schedule and there was no way for me to get there in time for my 10:25 am flight. I did book a hotel for Sunday night, but that would have involved taking a train to a different station in Lyon, then taking a bus to the airport, then a taxi to the hotel, and then a taxi back in the morning. Too much hassle. That, and Lufthansa had an earlier flight that I hoped I could get on standby for. So I cancelled the hotel reservation and just spent the night at the airport in Lyon. Not a whole lot of fun. And when I asked about standby for the flight the girl straight up told me "Non." The end. Sad face. So I just went on my original flight. Had a short layover in Frankfurt. Got to Istanbul around 5. wooot.

So you just buy a visa at the airport. It's a sticker that they just put in your passport and then that the passport control dude stamps. I was stuck behind the stereotypical idiot American the entire way. The visa was $20, and somehow she heard "Two hundred." I don't see how she confused the two. But she stood there and just kept saying "What? Two hundred? What? What?" until I told her. To which she just said, "Oh." Sorry, but if someone wanted to charge me $200 for a visa, I'd get back on the plane and go home. On to the passport check. There are red lines on the floor; both the lines and the signs on the booth say to stay behind the line until the person in front of you is gone. Aaaand this woman is completely oblivious and is right behind the person at the window. Like on top of her. And talking super loudly on her iPhone the entire time. And then walks forward, puts down her phone and passport on the window while the other woman is there, and start rummaging through her bag. When it's her turn she's still on the phone while staring at the sign that says "No phones." And she just nods when the guy tells her to get off the phone. But doesn't get off the phone. I was embarrassed. It was fantastic.

Moving on. Grabbed my bag and found Carolyn. Went to Starbucks because it was a million degrees in the airport. The guy there didn't know what to do with "Cat" so my name became "Ms. Esra Ayşe Fatma," three very common Turkish names. It was funny. Carolyn got a new name too but I forget what it was. From there, three trains to the Taksim part of Istanbul. Met up with two of Carolyn's friends. Tried not to get run over by card or random people. There weren't too many cars on this street, but there were people everywhere. Went to this fancy restaurant for dinner. They didn't really have anything super Turkish on the menu, so I was lame and got chicken alfredo. It was good though. =P

We drove around with them for a while and went to get çay (pronounced chai), which is just tea. The Turks are really big on their çay. Went back to one of her friend's houses, where we spent the night. All in all not a super duper exciting action packed day, but still. I went to Turkey!!