So much fun!

The past two weeks have gone by in a whirl and I haven't kept up with blogging (although new pictures go up on Instagram each day, so follow @faithful_nomad to keep up with me on a daily basis). Life is a daily adventure here. Today is the last day of class before our 'fall' break, which is called Bayram ('holiday) in Turkey. We have a week off, and many Turks travel to go visit their families this week and take part in religious traditions, such as slaughtering animals and giving the meat to the poor. My week will consist of relaxing and going to the beach, but I will blog about that after the fact :)

Two weeks ago, my flatmate, Joost, obtained this amazing book called Istanbul Eats: A Guide to the Culinary Backstreets. It's a really great guidebook to a lot of amazing restaurants in Istanbul. The book divides Istanbul into several sections, and we decided to hit 3 of the restaurants closest to Rumelihisarustu (where we live) and try out what the book recommended. Along with another exchange student from the USA, Aileen, we walked about 5km to an area along the Bosphorus Strait and decided to eat our hearts out (on a college budget, of course). The first restaurant we went to was Bodrum Manti & Cafe (which was my favorite of the 3 places). We ordered a 1/2 serving of manti (stuffed pasta, boiled) and a 1/2 serving of kofte (fried meatball). After our meal, each of us were promptly brought our own dessert for free, which was one of the best desserts I have had in Istanbul! It was two thin crispy waffles, a scoop of vanilla icecream in the middle, and some sort of berry sauce (*yum!*). We ooohed and aaahed as we ate our desssert and couldn't believe how hospitable the staff was (especially when the desserts alone cost more than what we ordered and paid for). I'm sure the server noticed us using the Istanbul Eats book, and also noticed that we were on a tight budget. Turkish hospitality is the best! We trooped on to two more places and tried several more appetizers, including huge kalamari, fish balls (which are like grown-up fish sticks in a ball form), and lahmacun (pronounced 'lahmajun'). At each place, we asked the chef to sign the page of the book that was about their restaurant. They were more than happy to give us their autographs, and the book has continued to fill up. Hopefully by January we will have tried each place in it. 

Last weekend, I traveled once again to Ankara, this time not to crash a wedding, but actually go to one that I was invited to! My friend, Pelin, has a friend who was getting married, and they invited me to take part and see what a Turkish wedding is like. The happy couple is so kind, and I had an amazing time. This wedding was fairly modern, and very similar to the many weddings I have worked at in the US. There were, however, many small differences that I noticed that were very interesting:

Me and my bestie at the wedding. Such a beautiful celebration, beautiful people, and so much love!

1) The bride and groom are able to see each other before the ceremony. There is no ban on the groom seeing the bride in full bridal dress, and they were hanging out together in a dressing room before they came out for the ceremony (we even got to hang out with them and joke as they got over their pre-wedding nerves). 

2) There was no 'vow' or 'exchanging rings' part in the ceremony. The couple simply came in, sat down at a table, the officiator read something like a contract, and the bride and groom said 'evet' (yes) in turn. They signed the contract, and then took pictures. That was it! For the rings, they wear their engagement rings (both of them) on their right hands until the wedding, and then switch to their left hands after the ceremony. 

3) No wedding registry or cards! Everyone brings gold items (either small coins you can purchase, or gold bracelets and necklaces) and money as gifts. As the bride and groom go around the room after the ceremony, they wear large sashes and the bride carries a small bag. They greet each person, get congratulations, and then that person gives them the gift. Family members usually give larger gold items, like gold bangles that they place on the bride. The money is pinned to the groom's sash, and gold coins can be pinned on the bride's sash or placed in her bag. By the time the couple has made it around the room, they are covered in wealth that can be used for whatever they need as a new couple.

In between all these fun events and trips around Istanbul, I've been hard at work taking classes at Bogaziçi University. Because I want to graduate this spring, I am taking 3 senior-level chemistry courses and 1 course in microeconomics. They have all been really great, and I am making friends with the Turkish students, which is a real blessing. I have been able to Skype home a few times, and even got to Skype with my grandparents (hi, Boomama and Boopapa!). It's really great to get to see everyone's smiling faces and stay in touch. 

Make sure you follow my blog by putting your email address in the right-hand side box, and also follow me on Instagram (@faithful_nomad and @k_rover_explores_the_world). Would love to hear from you! Hadi gorusuruz (talk to you soon)!

Turkish Breakfast, Hamamonu, and more... Ankara Part Three!

Ok, here's the last installment from my first trip to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. My Sunday started off at around 11am with the best breakfast ever...

A complete Turkish breakfast. Gozleme, french fries, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, fried eggs, bread, çay...the list goes on and on. I could get used to this. Just so you know, though, this was a special brunch-like spread at a really nice restaurant...Turkish people don't eat breakfast like this every day. They usually have a few of these things, not all of them. We decided to go all the way :)

Me enjoying this delicious meal outside under the trees on a crisp Sunday morning.

And my bestie!

We went to old-town Ankara, called Hamanonu. There was the most cute bazaar where all the ladies had hand-made a ton of jewelry. This lady was a real seller...we both got a bracelet from her, and she made us make a wish and then she put the bracelet on us. She was so sweet :)

Pelin and me at the bazaar.

The buildings and roads in this area are just gorgeous.

Nobody was at home... :)

Going to definitely make some of these for my room when I get home. They were so beautiful. And you know how much I love color!

After Hamamonu, we went to the mall and found an H&M (I know it sounds touristy, but it is really nice to go to a store where you know what you will find). Got dinner at the mall and headed back to Pelin's place. Not pictured is our awesome game of Okey that we played that night - you play with tiles just like Rummicub but it is a little different and the strategy is fun. I didn't win a game against the experts, but I will conquer next time. Stayed that night and then headed back to Istanbul early Monday morning. Really enjoyed Ankara and visiting Pelin's family! Can't wait to go back :)

Stay tuned...last night we went on Day 1 of Joost's "Istanbul Eats" food adventure and I will be blogging it up in the next few days. In the meantime, you should definitely see if there are any Turkish restaurants or cafes in your area (they are sometimes camouflaged as 'Mediterranean' places). Make sure you try kebap, durum, çorba (soup), mezzes (appetizers), and kofte! Comment and let me know what you think :)

Exploring, Shopping, and More Partying! Ankara Part Two

Party crashing wasn't the only thing I did in Ankara this past weekend. Pelin, my bff, and her brother were amazing tour guides! Here's what we did (because I know you like pictures)...

This is the mausoleum above where Ataturk is buried. Ataturk was the founder of the Turkish Republic.

The guards at the mausoleum. They have these cool boxes they can stand in if the weather gets bad! I don't think I could stand still for that long...

Me, Pelin, and Polat inside the mausoleum. We also went through the museum on Ataturk and the War of Independence, but we couldn't take any pictures in there.

Such a beautiful place! This is the walkway up to the mausoleum. (By the way, who likes my awesome Istanbul shirt from Mavi? Repping my lovely city!)

Watching the changing of the guard. Pretty cool!

More watching of the guard. 

Enjoying çay and famous Ankara simit in Kizilay during our first mad shopping trip of the weekend :)

Pelin and I at a really cool bar with live music...everyone was singing along with the Turkish songs and the atmosphere was amazing!

We are waiting patiently for our mezzes to arrive...

Live classical Turkish music at the restaurant...we pretty much just walked around and went wherever we heard some good sounds :) Worked for us!

Tamam (Turkish for "ok"), so that concludes my Saturday in Ankara. Sunday was another adventure too, so part 3 of Ankara will be coming soon!

Party Crashers! Ankara Part 1

This weekend I took a break from Europe and decided to head over to Asia...the Asian side of Turkey, that is. My best friend is from Ankara, and she was heading home for the weekend so I rode a bus (all by myself!) to Ankara to meet her. It was so great to finally meet her family and get to see where she lives. I also officially added a 'first' to my list of Turkey adventures...crashing a party!

It's a running joke now that my friends use me, the American, to do cool things. It usually goes like this (or so they've told me...my Turkish is still pretty poor)..."Hi, our friend here is American and she is really interested in Turkish culture. Could we have a look around?" Of course, with the way Turkish hospitality is, everyone always says yes. And that is how you crash an engagement party, folks!

Here's the photo evidence...

The girl in green is the future bride. She was totally nice about us crashing her party.

It was totally fun and amazing, and I couldn't have thought of a crazier adventure in my wildest dreams. There is much more that we did during our weekend in Ankara, but I will save some for later. Someone tell me I'm not the only person to crash a party, right?! Comment below :)