First Day in Istanbul!

Hello,

After a long journey I'm currently sitting in my bedroom which has a beautiful view of the Bosphorous River. Anyway, my flights went well. Luckily, the flight from Boston to Frankfurt was not full and the two seats closest to me were not taken so I was able to stretch out. Unfortunately, there was a clan of babies on the plane and I did not fall asleep. I arrived at the airport in Germany around 6 in the morning and had about 3 hours to kill before my flight to Istanbul. I have no idea what I did, but somehow I managed to pass the time. The flight to Istanbul was great. I was lucky enough to sit beside a lawyer from DC who was heading to Istanbul with her college roommate from 40 years ago to see another college friend who lives in the city. Even more fortunate was the man sitting two seats over. This man, Meric, overheard me talking about how I was confused about getting from the airport to my dorm. Luckily, he stayed with me from the time we left the airport till I got in a cab. He made sure that I knew where to go and that the driver did not rip me off, something that is apparently very common in Turkey.

I arrived at the superdorm at the university around 2:30pm on Friday. So far, the only person who speaks english is the dorm manager who is not the most helpful of people. I don't even know how to describe the lack of assistance/help I have received. When I asked where I could find food, a blanket, and a pillow, she looked at me oddly and then told me to walk down the street and I would find everything I needed. I did that, and have yet to a blanket or a pillow. I took a brief nap and woke up around 5:30 thinking that I would go to the cafe or market in the basement of my dorm and have something for dinner. Both were closed, and will not reopen until Monday (hopefully). So I went back to my room and had some cereal that I found in the cabinets. Mind you, before the cereal I had not really eaten anything since the plane to Germany.

So with the hearty cereal in my system, I went to bed around 9 and woke up at 10 with a plan to walk around the city until I found food, a blanket, and a pillow. After several hours of no luck, I am thrilled to say that I have found several food options. While walking down the street I saw a familiar sign: Starbucks. I took a picture of it for my sister Bailey knowing that it was one of her favorite places. About five steps past the front door of the starbucks I looked to my right and saw a beautiful sight: a TGI Fridays. It was probably the greatest moment I've had in a long time. Noting the familiar smell of TGI Friday's I decided to keep walking and see what else I could find. About five minutes later I found a McDonalds and a Chili's. It's like heaven. Some of you might be asking why I did not try the traditional turkish cuisine. Well, at first I did not want to do that because I knew there would be a rather large language barrier and I did not know how the food was prepared. However, when I left my dorm the second time to find food I stopped at a small cafe about two minutes from my building and had a couple of what I will describe as pizza rolls (soft buttery roll with melted cheese and a few vegetables on top). They were quite tasty. I'm now back in my dorm room and just talked to my parents on skype (I would love to talk to any of you if you have skype so email me or facebook me and let me know your screen name). My plan for the rest of the afternoon is to take a nap and then go back out for a walk and eat at Chili's or TGI Fridays. I have yet to run into any Americans, but my hope is that they begin arriving on Monday. I'm going to try to post some pictures so you get an idea of where I'm staying and the surrounding area.

Talk soon,

Brett