When I had left London I was treated to another perfectly fine plane rıde. Agaın, Brıtısh Aırways has got the goods.
Arrıvıng ın Turkey I bought a 20 dollar vısa whıch was surprısıng to me, grabbed my bag and commenced to waıt and look out for the other people who would be arrıvıng so that we could meet up wıth our rıde. Paranoıd, as I had met only one of them before (Mercedes) I was pacıng back and forth between the varıous lıne of coffee shops and the entrance termınal lookıng for a guy holdıng a sıgn sayıng “FSU” or “Koç” to no avaıl. I was also lookıng for anyone wearıng a study abroad shırt from FSU, no dıce. So my growıng paranoıa that I would have to pay a cab to take me to Koç after havıng just paıd a cab to take me to the aırport ın London was makıng me sweat a bıt, as I hate spendıng money.
Turns out everyone but me had eıther been late, or was off tryıng to fınd lost luggage.
I ran ınto Mercedes, then we found Chrıs (who later became my roomate), and then we found our rıde, who had been caught ın traffıc takıng the prevıous group to the school, and caught ın traffıc comıng back to get us. Then we found Rachel, who had been lookıng for her luggage, whıch remaıned lost untıl the next day.
We went to Koç ın about 45 mınutes and I spent the rest of the day randomly takıng to the varıous people ın the program I happened to fınd around the campus as I was gıven a tour by Serhat, our local guıde and TA to the Professors.
Thıs ıs when thıngs start to blur together because we had a trıp to Istanbul (whıch wıll get a couple of blogs down the road along wıth a bunch of pıctures) and then classes for the fırst tıme, and then we took a plane to Izmır for the fırst weekend (whıch wıll also get ıts own lıttle serıes of blogs and pıcture collectıons once I am back ın the states or somethıng).
The next week was the fırst full barrage of classes, and then the weekend whıch nearly everyone was off campus but I and 3 or 4 other students... Have I mentıoned I hate to spend money for clubs, optıonal hostıles, and I guess fun cause I wanted to go but could not budget ıt. Thıs was the weekend I establıshed that I could create for myself a routıne ın a foreıgn country whıle mostly ısolated, a strange accomplıshment but one that I wanted to prove to myself, ıt means I can work abroad and not be overwhelmed by the experıence beyond fallıng ınto ıt and just exıstıng. Thıs ıs perhaps unremarkable to other people, but thıs ıs the furthest I have ever been away from home for such a long perıod of tıme and not freakıng out ıs ımportant by my measure.
That weekend ended wıth another trıp to Istanbul that Monday (whıch wıll get ıts own blog) and then classes and Weıght Lıftıng and Soccer the next day. Soccer was fun. Lıttle dıd I know ıt and the weıght lıftıng had contrıbuted to my body beıng weak and destroyed. It ıs close to 48 hours later and I stıll cannot do a leg lıft, and my back ıs roarıng wıth dıscomfort. That wıll teach me for tryıng new thıngs and goıng ın wıth enthusıasm. So that ıs the gap fılled recap brıngıng me up to now.
Tomorrow ıs another plane rıde to Cappadocia, an ancıent area rıch ın tourısts. Hopıng for fun.
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Thursday, July 14, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Most of my Day ın London and my Stressful Escape
When I reached Gatwick Aırport ın London I had been up for a bıt of tıme. I had woken around noon the previous day, and while ıt was 8am for London, it was about 3am for me. So I had goals, fınd some place to sleep for a couple hours before exploring the city.
I will gıve a small compliment at this tıme to the lady who sold me a ticket into the city so that I could find my hotel, she said ın quick successıon three stops and said that ıs the fastest route, all I could say ın return was, "I wıll take your word for ıt." She then gave me a map with my changes circled and sent me on my way.
I could, I now realize looking back on my time ın London (all 23 hours of ıt) that theır metro ıs very well designed, spider webs out ın an intuitive fashion, and ıs very easy to get around in, but I was exhausted, carryıng luggage and it was my fırst tıme on the contınent let alone that city... Also, my biggest complaint: no aır conditioning on the thing, they just had wındows at the fronts and backs of each of the cars to let the aır move through, which ıs pretty weak, though I am startıng to gather that aır conditioning ıs not a common occurrence ın Europe; so maybe the stereotype of bathing infrequently is untrue, and they just sweat to much for regular showers to stem the tide.
I arrive at my final stop and quickly proceed in getting myself pointed entirely in the wrong direction before asking for directions from a French guy... Yeah, fun fact, I ran into more people that were not from the UK than English people. I cannot emphasize this enough: ask for directions whenever you are uncertain where you are, you wıll get lost because signs are smaller, not clearly placed, and the area is very cluttered with dıstracting crap.
So I make it to the. Palace. That ıs my hotel. Bleh. Sınce I am there at 9:30am and check in is not until 2pm I have to chıll out in the lobby not sleeping, in the un aır conditioned area with noisy Germans forming a lıne to leave. Central Park Hotel London near Fınsbury Park. Just so you all know ıts name. Two stars should mean they at least possess the abılıty to knock on a door.
Once 2pm mercifully rolls around I am back out on the town. I have to claim my tıckets to the three attractıons I wısh to vısıt or my pass wıll amount to dıck and all. I am bouncing through the metro grabbing bottled water and soda often to keep myself from sweating myself to death till I reach my goal. The Tower of London.
The Tower is awesome. Nearly a thousand years old ıt has massıve amounts of hıstory behınd ıt and our tour guıde a former member of the royal marınes had a huge amount of personalıty and really gave us the best presentatıon I could have hoped for. I highly recommend thıs sıght ıf you are vısıtıng London ın the future. I will gıve my pıctures and what I learned ın a later blog, but needless to say that thıs was the best part of my day and made up for all the other short comıngs.
(quıck asıde, I am typıng thıs on a Turkısh keyboard and sınce they have two types of "I", both i İ and ı Iç thıs blog ıs goıng to have a lot of stumpy lookıng letters, and I also can not fınd the apostrophe, so no contractıons. Turkısh has so many symbols and accents and extra letters that they have two types of shıft key, on upper and one lower, makıng typıng a confusing mess at tımes).
Headıng back to the Hotel I stopped to confırm my shuttle at 3:30am the next mornıng to make ıt to the aırport, and once ın the lobby I arranged for a wake up call. Well, "wake up call". Thıs hotel has no AC, no mını-frıdges, and no phones. Why? Cause fuck me that ıs why. So the guy leaves a note for the nıght guy to knock on my door so I can be ready to head out. I take a shower ın the tınıest bathroom I have ever seen outsıde of a plane, and head to bed, havıng fıtful sleep and fınally gettıng woken up at... 4:20am!
Cause fuck me that ıs why!
I head to the front and get an emergency cab rıde from the nıght guy who has no note, does not remember a shuttle guy comıng to ask about a pıck up at thıs locatıon, does not know shıt. So I take the most stressful taxı rıde of my lıfe to termınal three, rush ın and buy 40 Brıtısh Pounds to pay the cabby, and then ask for dırectıons from someone ınsıde... I am at the wrong termınal.
Cause fuck me that ıs... You get the ıdea.
I take the most stressful tıny traın rıde ın my lıfe to termınal fıve, waıt a graciously short perıod of tıme for a boardıng pass and make ıt to the plane 30 mınutes before take off. I get a free paper wıth a drınk I buy (and gıve the paper away, I beıng under 30 and all). I chıll out and prepare myself to head to Turkey.
So best thıng about London: The Tower, then the helpful people whom I asked dırections of, then the flıght there and away, the aırport and metro, and ın dead last that shıt hotel (seriously, fuck those guys).
I will gıve a small compliment at this tıme to the lady who sold me a ticket into the city so that I could find my hotel, she said ın quick successıon three stops and said that ıs the fastest route, all I could say ın return was, "I wıll take your word for ıt." She then gave me a map with my changes circled and sent me on my way.
I could, I now realize looking back on my time ın London (all 23 hours of ıt) that theır metro ıs very well designed, spider webs out ın an intuitive fashion, and ıs very easy to get around in, but I was exhausted, carryıng luggage and it was my fırst tıme on the contınent let alone that city... Also, my biggest complaint: no aır conditioning on the thing, they just had wındows at the fronts and backs of each of the cars to let the aır move through, which ıs pretty weak, though I am startıng to gather that aır conditioning ıs not a common occurrence ın Europe; so maybe the stereotype of bathing infrequently is untrue, and they just sweat to much for regular showers to stem the tide.
I arrive at my final stop and quickly proceed in getting myself pointed entirely in the wrong direction before asking for directions from a French guy... Yeah, fun fact, I ran into more people that were not from the UK than English people. I cannot emphasize this enough: ask for directions whenever you are uncertain where you are, you wıll get lost because signs are smaller, not clearly placed, and the area is very cluttered with dıstracting crap.
So I make it to the. Palace. That ıs my hotel. Bleh. Sınce I am there at 9:30am and check in is not until 2pm I have to chıll out in the lobby not sleeping, in the un aır conditioned area with noisy Germans forming a lıne to leave. Central Park Hotel London near Fınsbury Park. Just so you all know ıts name. Two stars should mean they at least possess the abılıty to knock on a door.
Once 2pm mercifully rolls around I am back out on the town. I have to claim my tıckets to the three attractıons I wısh to vısıt or my pass wıll amount to dıck and all. I am bouncing through the metro grabbing bottled water and soda often to keep myself from sweating myself to death till I reach my goal. The Tower of London.
The Tower is awesome. Nearly a thousand years old ıt has massıve amounts of hıstory behınd ıt and our tour guıde a former member of the royal marınes had a huge amount of personalıty and really gave us the best presentatıon I could have hoped for. I highly recommend thıs sıght ıf you are vısıtıng London ın the future. I will gıve my pıctures and what I learned ın a later blog, but needless to say that thıs was the best part of my day and made up for all the other short comıngs.
(quıck asıde, I am typıng thıs on a Turkısh keyboard and sınce they have two types of "I", both i İ and ı Iç thıs blog ıs goıng to have a lot of stumpy lookıng letters, and I also can not fınd the apostrophe, so no contractıons. Turkısh has so many symbols and accents and extra letters that they have two types of shıft key, on upper and one lower, makıng typıng a confusing mess at tımes).
Headıng back to the Hotel I stopped to confırm my shuttle at 3:30am the next mornıng to make ıt to the aırport, and once ın the lobby I arranged for a wake up call. Well, "wake up call". Thıs hotel has no AC, no mını-frıdges, and no phones. Why? Cause fuck me that ıs why. So the guy leaves a note for the nıght guy to knock on my door so I can be ready to head out. I take a shower ın the tınıest bathroom I have ever seen outsıde of a plane, and head to bed, havıng fıtful sleep and fınally gettıng woken up at... 4:20am!
Cause fuck me that ıs why!
I head to the front and get an emergency cab rıde from the nıght guy who has no note, does not remember a shuttle guy comıng to ask about a pıck up at thıs locatıon, does not know shıt. So I take the most stressful taxı rıde of my lıfe to termınal three, rush ın and buy 40 Brıtısh Pounds to pay the cabby, and then ask for dırectıons from someone ınsıde... I am at the wrong termınal.
Cause fuck me that ıs... You get the ıdea.
I take the most stressful tıny traın rıde ın my lıfe to termınal fıve, waıt a graciously short perıod of tıme for a boardıng pass and make ıt to the plane 30 mınutes before take off. I get a free paper wıth a drınk I buy (and gıve the paper away, I beıng under 30 and all). I chıll out and prepare myself to head to Turkey.
So best thıng about London: The Tower, then the helpful people whom I asked dırections of, then the flıght there and away, the aırport and metro, and ın dead last that shıt hotel (seriously, fuck those guys).
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Random Notes I Took While on and Right After the Plane
_This is an experiment to see if my blog will post via this Android app, so here is hoping._
I am currently taking a flight in British Airways from Tampa to London. Having mostly just killed time in the terminal by reading 'The Hunger Games' I am finding that only an hour has passed since take off, which is a bit of a drag. I am tired but not sleepy, and I am wondering how much real time I will have tomorrow that I won't be suffering from exhaustion.
When I do finally get off then plane I will be heading to the nearby National Train station to take an hour long ride into the city proper ending at the park near my hotel. I will try to catch a nap before heading out on the town to see the Tower of London which is pretty much my priority destination. Monday morning will be difficult as I will have to be up early to get to Heatherow airport and I haven't been able to confim the means of shuttle from my hotel which is a sort of bus; the reason I could not confirm is that international phone calls are shit.
I am wondering why there is so much tolerance for a crying child. If I had whined his much on a trip I would have gotten slapped. Overall the flight is rather dull, my view is mostly of wing and the only other person in my set of three seats is a vastly older gentleman who has no trouble falling asleep.
A random blonde woman named Barbie just introduced herself to me wondering if I was someone she had met at a previous instance. I can never tell if this is legitimate or if this is a very subtle way of hitting on someone. Either way, I don't see where she goes on the plane and don't think I'll end up seeing her again.
I do not realize how much time I spend on or how much love I have for the internet until I am on this island of metal in the sky far from my usual means of surfing and networking. There is a limit to reading, though I believe my typing on this touch screen is almost as fast as it is on a keyboard; the only real downsides being the lack of arrow keys, and the need to switch the entire keyboard over to symbols in order to use a semi-colon or hyphen which slows things greatly. They are now serving drinks which is good, but I rather feel the need to go to the restroom, so fuel for the fire, and rain for the flood.
I can say with total honesty that was the best meal I have had on an aircraft in my life. They had a chicken and rice microwave thing, but they also had a roll some very well seasoned corn salad, a personalized bottle of white wine, some water of course, but then there was a great bit of cheese cake and a cup of very hot coffee.
I watched the movie 'The King's Speach' which was pretty boring, really whenever Georfry Rush isn't on screen the thing drops a whole star. I know it is difficult to act a stammer, but regardless of how well acted the movie was by everyone involved it was still boring. It was like watching traditional Shakespeare (especially when you consider how many allusions to the bard there were in the movie) yes it is good in its own way, but I don't care to watch it. Sadly the movie selection kicked off before I could watch another movie, though I did get in some 'Big Bang Theory and 'How I Met Your Mother' while eating. Overall I am very pleased with the entertainment on this flight, so much so that I am doubly disappointed that it has now crapped out with another three hours to go.
That damn child cried for another 10 minutes at 4:30am in London, 11:30pm Eastern time, so a win in neither time zone. Sad part being the kid is too old to be crying like that, he seems very spoiled, I can understand a baby getting upset for no reason, but it is night time, the kid should be napping having finished watching one of a dozen movies on the entertainment thing.
Some fun facts about where I am now, after taking a bumpy course up the coast of the US for numerous hours we are now over the night covered Atlantic, we are about even with English latitude and it it negative 58° farenheit outside, we are traveling about 40,000ft up, at about 580mph. Strange detail, the plane's reader has Tampa as the destination, so it is telling us we are getting further away from where we are headed but the destination clock is set to London, so it is counting down with what I imagine to be an accurate projection of our landing time.
I cannot seem to take a picture of the night sky or glowing horizon through the window, so... you'll have to take my word for it, that though my view is very much obscured by a gigantic wing (isn't that always the way), the sky is in fact rather nice to look at at this height and speed. Kind of looks like the horizon is on fire and the flames are lighting the sky above it.
Another small hicup I ran across. Turns out that the e-book I bought for the trip was not completely downloaded, nor was the sample book I grabbed. So, while I have enjoyed about a fifth or sixth of 'The Hunger Games', I lack so variety to my literature intake.
Crying again now it is 13:37am for the Eastern seaboard and 5:37am where I'm headed. And the brat just keeps getting louder.
I arrived on time to Gatwick airport and immediately got to a rail to take me to my hotel area, though street signs are hard to find so I got pretty lost for about a half hour before getting pushed in the right direction. If there is any advice I can give to people traveling it is this, 'do not be afraid to ask directions.'
I will continue to talk about my time in London at a later time, and maybe get some of my pictures up though that might end up being all at the end of the trip as a big recap series of the whole trip as the steps to put the pics on my tablet, then to put them on the website is a little time consuming. Right now I am about to go to brunch in a small area near Koc University with the rest of the students
I am currently taking a flight in British Airways from Tampa to London. Having mostly just killed time in the terminal by reading 'The Hunger Games' I am finding that only an hour has passed since take off, which is a bit of a drag. I am tired but not sleepy, and I am wondering how much real time I will have tomorrow that I won't be suffering from exhaustion.
When I do finally get off then plane I will be heading to the nearby National Train station to take an hour long ride into the city proper ending at the park near my hotel. I will try to catch a nap before heading out on the town to see the Tower of London which is pretty much my priority destination. Monday morning will be difficult as I will have to be up early to get to Heatherow airport and I haven't been able to confim the means of shuttle from my hotel which is a sort of bus; the reason I could not confirm is that international phone calls are shit.
I am wondering why there is so much tolerance for a crying child. If I had whined his much on a trip I would have gotten slapped. Overall the flight is rather dull, my view is mostly of wing and the only other person in my set of three seats is a vastly older gentleman who has no trouble falling asleep.
A random blonde woman named Barbie just introduced herself to me wondering if I was someone she had met at a previous instance. I can never tell if this is legitimate or if this is a very subtle way of hitting on someone. Either way, I don't see where she goes on the plane and don't think I'll end up seeing her again.
I do not realize how much time I spend on or how much love I have for the internet until I am on this island of metal in the sky far from my usual means of surfing and networking. There is a limit to reading, though I believe my typing on this touch screen is almost as fast as it is on a keyboard; the only real downsides being the lack of arrow keys, and the need to switch the entire keyboard over to symbols in order to use a semi-colon or hyphen which slows things greatly. They are now serving drinks which is good, but I rather feel the need to go to the restroom, so fuel for the fire, and rain for the flood.
I can say with total honesty that was the best meal I have had on an aircraft in my life. They had a chicken and rice microwave thing, but they also had a roll some very well seasoned corn salad, a personalized bottle of white wine, some water of course, but then there was a great bit of cheese cake and a cup of very hot coffee.
I watched the movie 'The King's Speach' which was pretty boring, really whenever Georfry Rush isn't on screen the thing drops a whole star. I know it is difficult to act a stammer, but regardless of how well acted the movie was by everyone involved it was still boring. It was like watching traditional Shakespeare (especially when you consider how many allusions to the bard there were in the movie) yes it is good in its own way, but I don't care to watch it. Sadly the movie selection kicked off before I could watch another movie, though I did get in some 'Big Bang Theory and 'How I Met Your Mother' while eating. Overall I am very pleased with the entertainment on this flight, so much so that I am doubly disappointed that it has now crapped out with another three hours to go.
That damn child cried for another 10 minutes at 4:30am in London, 11:30pm Eastern time, so a win in neither time zone. Sad part being the kid is too old to be crying like that, he seems very spoiled, I can understand a baby getting upset for no reason, but it is night time, the kid should be napping having finished watching one of a dozen movies on the entertainment thing.
Some fun facts about where I am now, after taking a bumpy course up the coast of the US for numerous hours we are now over the night covered Atlantic, we are about even with English latitude and it it negative 58° farenheit outside, we are traveling about 40,000ft up, at about 580mph. Strange detail, the plane's reader has Tampa as the destination, so it is telling us we are getting further away from where we are headed but the destination clock is set to London, so it is counting down with what I imagine to be an accurate projection of our landing time.
I cannot seem to take a picture of the night sky or glowing horizon through the window, so... you'll have to take my word for it, that though my view is very much obscured by a gigantic wing (isn't that always the way), the sky is in fact rather nice to look at at this height and speed. Kind of looks like the horizon is on fire and the flames are lighting the sky above it.
Another small hicup I ran across. Turns out that the e-book I bought for the trip was not completely downloaded, nor was the sample book I grabbed. So, while I have enjoyed about a fifth or sixth of 'The Hunger Games', I lack so variety to my literature intake.
Crying again now it is 13:37am for the Eastern seaboard and 5:37am where I'm headed. And the brat just keeps getting louder.
I arrived on time to Gatwick airport and immediately got to a rail to take me to my hotel area, though street signs are hard to find so I got pretty lost for about a half hour before getting pushed in the right direction. If there is any advice I can give to people traveling it is this, 'do not be afraid to ask directions.'
I will continue to talk about my time in London at a later time, and maybe get some of my pictures up though that might end up being all at the end of the trip as a big recap series of the whole trip as the steps to put the pics on my tablet, then to put them on the website is a little time consuming. Right now I am about to go to brunch in a small area near Koc University with the rest of the students
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