My 6th Continent

Again, I apologize for not updating this more regularly.

I am officially in Fez, Morocco. We move in with our homestay families tomorrow afternoon! I am super excited but nervous. The family I am staying with lives in the Medina, which is the old part of the city surrounded by a gate. It is a complete labyrinth. We just got back to our hotel from getting a guided tour of the Medina, and it was amazing. I am horrified to try to figure out how to make my way through the streets. Apparently, not even the people who live in the Medina know all of the 900 something streets that are within the walls.

Excursion during our last week in Turkey was a lot of fun but very stressful. We were on the bus everyday making stops along the way. Some of my favorite highlights from excursion were visiting the city of Troy, seeing an underground city, and getting to see the gorgeous countryside of Turkey.

The flight from Turkey to Morocco was a little rough, We woke up at 3 in the morning and had to leave for the airport at 4. I only got to sleep about 3 hours that night because of different organizing things I had to do. We caught our first flight no problem, and even got breakfast on the plane - which was a plus. Next, we had a few hour layover in Madrid, Spain. It was pretty cool to be able to actually use some of the Spanish that I learned for 6 years but could barely remember =). We had no problem getting on our next plane and arrived safely on time in Morocco. The stress and wear started to get to me when we were waiting to get through passport control in the Casablanca Airport. At that point I hadn't eaten or slept in a very long time (I can't sleep on planes). We waited in line at passport control for about 2 or 3 hours. It was hot and uncomfortable but not terrible. We then waited for a bit for a bus and went to our hotel. We finally went to get dinner at 7 that night, which was about 15 hours after we had been served breakfast on our first flight. I got really worn out and exhausted, but I was able to sleep 12 hours that night and now I'm good as new!

It has been great to hear from a few of you guys that are reading this! I really am trying to update whenever I can. I keep getting distracted by everything there is to do around me, but I will try to strike a better balance =).

Just to leave you with a funny thought. My favorite part of the Medina so far is that whenever you hear "Belek, Belek!" being shouted behind you it means (roughly) "Watch out, there is a heavy laden donkey bearing down upon you!" The best part is, though our group thought it was a joke when we first read about it, we quickly found out that it is in fact not a joke at all! If someone yells "Belek, Belek" they are not kidding, there is in fact a donkey coming toward you. Which I think is pretty darn awesome. I can't wait to post pictures (which I will try to get up soon) so you all can see where I will be living for the next 3 weeks!

I love you all and miss you!

My Besiktas

Tonight we went to a soccer game right by our hotel to watch a Turkish team named Besiktas play Manchester United (one of the best soccer teams in England). The game was completely amazing! We got to the game about 1 hour and 45 minutes early. We thought it would be just like getting to a game in the states that early; however, for the fans, the game started an hour and a half before the players started playing. There was music and chants and cheering and dancing! We got to know a man behind us who spoke English fairly well. He told us all about Besiktas and why they were the best team in Turkey. According to him there are three teams in Turkey. One has the rich fans who have no heart. One team has the well educated fans that are devoted yet not driven. But Besiktas stands alone, having fans with absolutely no money - but TONS of heart. And I would have to agree with him (at least about the heart!). I had read that Besiktas fans were insanely devoted to their team, but I was not prepared for what I experienced. 40,000 fans Screaming, Yelling, and Dancing for about 2-3 hours straight! We never sat down once during the game. I have never been to a game in the US where the entire stadium goes from screaming at the top of their lungs to completely silent holding their breath (during a shot on goal by Manchester United that barely missed). I felt completely united with every person in the stadium even though we didn't speak the same language.

I really wish there was a sporting event in the US that I could compare this to, but there is none. I also wish I could do a better job explaining the phenomenal experience I had tonight, but I did my best.

Besiktas held off Manchester United (which was pretty impressive!) until the 76th minute, when Man U scored a beautiful rebound goal. Besiktas had a few chances, but just couldn't manage to put one in the back of the net. Though, I feel that I did my part by cheering as loud as I could, in English. All the Turkish fans around us kept staring, but I didn't care. I figured the louder I cheer, the better the chances were that Besiktas would score - right? Too bad it didn't quite work, darn!

Well I have to get up for class in 5 hours so I am off to bed! This will definitely be an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life!

My Wanderings

I have been so busy this past week I have had no time to blog. Since my last post, we have gone to both a Greek Orthodox service and a Jewish Synagogue. The Greek Orthodox service was really cool. We were able to come and go as we pleased and simply observe the men chanting for about 3 hours. The only problem I had was that it was fairly warm and they were burning a LOT of incense. The entire church is covered in religious sculptures, relics and paintings. One of the coolest relics is supposedly the post that Christ was whipped on. It is very neat to see. The Jewish service we went to was very different. First of all, it was one of the most intimidating moments I have had on this trip so far. We were all taken to a side entrance with large iron doors where there was a blank hallway as an entryway. Next, we were taken one at a time through a room with three security guards. There, they x-rayed our bags and confiscated our cameras and had us walk through a metal detector. We also had to give them all of our passports - and this was just to enter the Synagogue. The reason for all of the security is because of the violence in Israel Palestine and I believe the Synagogue was bombed about 10 years ago. The service was really neat to be a part of, but the best part was the meal we shared with the people afterward. They invited us to take part in a traditional breakfast meal. We tried communicating with some of the people there and found out that not only did they speak Turkish, but many also spoke Spanish or French. So, we were at a Jewish Synagogue in Istanbul, Turkey speaking Spanish! It was an amazing experience, and we got to learn a lot about different cultures and religions in this part of the world.
The hospitality we have come across here is absolutely astounding. People are completely welcoming in every way. If someone speaks English and hears us talking, they will just come up to us and ask us where we are from and we then have a conversation until we get to our bus stop or have to leave wherever we are for whatever reason. A lot of people have been given free meals and invited to join families to break the Ramadan fast, called Iftar. As of yet, I haven't been invited to spend Iftar with anyone, but hopefully I will be!
We are going to a soccer game on Tuesday and I am super excited! It is Manchester United against a local Turkish team - Beshiktash. Today we went to a local artisans bazaar where I got a necklace and a ring. It was really cool to see a bunch of local crafts and things.
I don't know if all of you have heard about the floods here in Istanbul, but so far they have had the worst rain in 80 years. The streets about 15-20 miles from my hotel flooded and caused 21 people to lose their lives. It is so weird. Us Minnesotans are used to this type of rain (moderate showers every day for the past week), but I guess that is pretty much unheard of here.
I have about 200 pages of homework to read for tomorrow's class so I am off to do that! I hope to hear from all of you soon. I love getting e-mails!

My Life in Istanbul

My first test went pretty well. Our professor gave us an extra day to learn the material, because it was SO overwhelming. I completely blanked on how to say one hundred and one thousand, but besides that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The other day, a bunch of us went down to Bebek (the part of Istanbul that is near the water). It was amazing and gorgeous! There was a small fitness area in the middle of the park. We played around in the park for awhile and worked out. Other students have finally arrived on campus, it is really weird to see other people walking around. Nothing much else has happened, but I'll blog more after our fun trips this weekend!