Remeber that time we met Ben Affleck? Yeah, me neither.

     We’re officially back on board and on our way to the last port!  Its crazy to think the trip is almost over, because as far away as the Bahamas, Spain or even Bulgaria now seem, things really have gone so fast.  Its also weird to think that we have 18 days before we land in Boston, and only one country left. I would say I think all the time on the boat these next few weeks will be a pain, but with the amount of work we all have to do I’m sure it will fly by.
     Istanbul definitely ended on a better note than it started, and I’m happy to leave Turkey with some great memories. Sunday evening we went to try and find this whirling dervihsh ceremony recommended for being really authentic, but when we got there we found out the monastery where they perform is closed for construction. What was projected to take “Oh, about two months” has been going on for about a year, with no end in sight. (Sound like a familiar promise of "I'll be there Monday" to anyone?)  Luckily, the same group performs at a theater a few blocks down, so rather than give up entirely we headed to check it out.  We had some time to kill after buying our tickets, so we headed and got desserts at a place we passed on the way.
     The show was a little repetitive, and while it definitely would have helped to know more about what they were saying and doing, it was incredible to watch.  It started with just music and singing, then focused on these 7 or 8 guys in white robes who spun around for nearly an hour.  I have no idea how they did it without getting ridiculously dizzy and/or falling off stage, but somehow it went on without a hitch. Alex helped too, reading us some information from her book about how the religious service represents the idea of dying to oneself and earthly things to become closer to their god, and explaining the meaning behind a lot of the music, costumes and dance. 
     After the show we walked around some more, window shopping and looking for a place to eat. Our usual methods of wandering, following Rick Steves’ directions and asking locals (to varying degrees of success) finally led us to a place we had read about, but as luck would have it the were closed on Sundays. Typical. We decided on our second choice, repeating the previous steps until eventually just being led through an alley by an old Turkish man.  The place we’d heard of wasn’t there any more either, but they said the new place had the same kinds of good food so we went with it.
     Unfortunately the food wasn’t actually that good, but we had a fun time sitting outside and talking until pretty late. We decided to just come back to the ship afterwards, and began the walk back down the busy streets to the port. Along the way, Alex (being herself) was joking around, saying something ridiculous and/or making weird noises/faces. These teenaged Turkish guys were pretty entertained and had fun imitating her as we walked.  Our attempts at conversation were pretty unsuccessful since none of use knows Turkish and only one of them knew a few English words, but it was pretty amusing to try.  Turkish is a lot like German, so I guess the 8 years of high school German Alex and I have between us helped some.  
     As we neared the end of the street where we were going to try to catch a cab, this group of older guys walked past us and asked where we were from. They must’ve placed bets between them, because when we told them the US they all laughed and congratulated one guy. Turns out that they were German college students on holiday in Turkey, and the kid who guessed right had spent a year as an exchange student in small town Iowa. Somehow all three of our groups merged together, and with the help of our new friend had a semi-successful English-to-German, German-to-Turkish, Turkish to-German, and German-back-to-English conversation. While it doesn’t say much, I think Herr Chaney would have been much more proud of my performance than with the family we met in Montesserat!
     Yesterday we met for breakfast and headed out to beat the crowds at Topkopi Palace.  It was pretty interesting, and we especially liked walking through the sultan’s harem. The entire compound was gorgeous, with amazing design, intricate tile work and landscaping Dad would have loved. (to help work on)  There was some sort of parade and performance going on, and while I have no idea why, it was fun to watch.  We spent a few hours seeing everything there was to see- up to and including an 86-carat diamond that was originally found in a garbage dump before being surrounded by 49 other diamonds and made into a ring for the sultan. (Taking notes, boys?) 
     We headed from there in direction of the Grand Bazaar, figuring we’d find a place to eat lunch on the way. After telling a guy we were probably looking for something a little cheaper than the fancy seafood place he suggested, he led me across the street to point down the way at his new choice: Subway. Seriously. We graciously declined, picked a great soup and sandwich type place we saw nearby, and hit the ATM to get ready for the bargaining that would ensue.
     Our initial worries that the bazaar would be closed on the first day of Ramadan were quickly dispelled, as things seemed even more crowded than Friday.  In just a few minutes we miraculously ended up at one of the lamp shops owned by our old friend, and after a probably embarrassing amount of pondering and mind changing I finally ended up getting one I think I like.  Some things never change! We spent some more time shopping around, and then since Katie wasn’t feeling well she, Candice and I came back to the ship while everyone finished up.  
     Dinner on the boat ended up being both economical and informative, as we heard stories and saw pictures of people from the ship in the Grand Bazaar with none other than Ben Affleck. We were with these girls literally two minutes before the pictures had been taken, and couldn’t believe we had missed him! Then again, these are the girls who met Hilary Clinton in Greece- clearly we’re doing something wrong.
     People stayed back at night to find somewhere with free wifi, but Megs, Al, Dice and I headed over to the old town area to see what was going on for Ramadan. There were a ton of people out, and all these booths set up selling different art, crafts and food. There was also some show going on that tons of people were watching. We hung out there for a while, enjoying the atmosphere as well as some dessert. I wasn’t a fan of these fried dough ball things, but the baklava was a good choice. The million-dollar question was answered, and for the record Mrs. Tedrick’s place with the best baklava is still safe, but this was a (very distant) second.
     Today we got an early start and walked (more like mountain climbed!) to see the Suleymaniye Mosque. It was part of a cool, larger compound, but the mosque itself didn’t seem that different from what we’d already seen. Oh well, we didn’t have anything else on our must-see list, and it worked up an appetite for our across-the-river lunch plans.
     Istanbul is actually separated by the Bosphorous straight, with one half of the city on the continent of Europe and the other in Asia.  After spending the rest of our time on the European shores we decided a trip to Asia was a must, so 1.75 lira and a 10-minute ferry ride later we were there. It wasn’t much (any) different really, but I found it pretty cool to be able to say I had breakfast in Europe, lunch in Asia and dinner en route to Africa! The place we found that had both food and free internet access was pretty empty, but we attributed it to Ramadan and took a seat anyways.  The food was just ok, but the waiter (who only spoke Turkish, mind you) was super friendly and brought us free tea over and over again in the 3.5+ hours we spent there. The wifi was especially handy when we tried to leave, since it was only with the help of Google translate that I asked for the bill.  Love technology.
     Back across the water we (much to our chagrin) hung out with the majority of Semester at Sea students, using the internet for a while longer before heading back onto the ship.  On in plenty of time to avoid dock time in our LAST port (SO weird to say that!) we turned in our landing cards and said our goodbyes to a great time in Turkey. Tonight its back to reality and my newest checklist containing the 9 papers/projects/assignments that stand between my 9 credits and me. You can probably gather where my priorities lie by the fact that I’m writing this instead of my Global Studies paper, but I’m sure it will get done like it always does.  The next five days will be the longest we’ve spent on board since we got to Barcelona, but they’ll be full with classes, a talent show, shipboard auction, and our very own TEDx convention. (Google TED talks!!) I’m sure I’ll post again before Morocco- something’s gotta take the place of Facebok as my form of procrastination!