My favorite places in Istanbul

24. Januar: Osmanlı Kokoreç for breakfast, lunch, dinner and after going out; Köpüklükahve at night at the campus; Peyote for friday night; IC for studying; Çemberlitas hamam to cure the hangover at sunday afternoon; Tessa-Hendrik's place to warm up for going out; Cafe Nero for pretending to study during the weekends; Gourmet Burger Kitchen for eating the best Bacon Avocado Burger in entire Istanbul; the ferry to Kadıköy at sunset time; Istanbul modern museum to get to know contemporary turkish art

Tribute

23. Januar: A tribute to people who were highly, important or at least quite important for the stay in Turkey: Celal, Fjendbo, Jakob, Can, Hendrik, Tessa, Laurens, Nadine, Idil, Joakim, Christiane, Tom, Alex, David, Anine, Senem, Charlotte, Burçu, Torsten, Lucy, Emrah

I won't miss...

22. Januar: shoe polishers who think that you still don't know there shoe brush trick, bus-cashiers who think you are too much Yabanci greenhorn not to know that a bus ride costs 1,40 YTL, the fact that you stay with a second person in your bedroom, the fucked up political system in Turkey, the gender roles in Turkish society, the micro- and macroeconomics-courses, the holy boringness at the campus, the fact that there is no beer to buy at the campus' supermarket, the tasteless food at the dinning hall, the Turkish recycling system, the one-sided public opinion about the war in Gaza, the kitchen in the dorm building

I'll miss...

21. Januar: The cay at midnight with Fjendbo and Jakob at the Köpülükahve, the Osmanlı Kokoreç place, the sea, the ferry trips to Kadıköy, the availability of cay, the moment when you get on the Sabancı bus in direction to the city, the squash matches with Celal, 4 o'clock a.m. when you are walking drunk home from Peyote to the hostel, 1:30 a.m. when you get kicked out of Çiço and walk with a bunch of Eramus people to Peyote, sunday afternoon when you cure your hangover in a hamam, the salty and fatty hangover breakfasts at McDonalds...

I'm looking forward to...

20. Januar: the next rehearsal of my brass band, pork food, Würstel in Saft, mozzarella, my own fridge, my own bed room, the sociology-course at my home university, the weekend skiing with my friends, Vienna with its museums, public transportation, cafes and all the dustbins hanging around.

Tavuk Bonfile party

19. Januar: It's getting harder and harder to find people at the campus, ok there are a few - let's say the truth and call them boring - Erasmus colleagues who even consider a Tavuk Bonfile dinner at a party.

Soak and being soaked

18. Januar: It's the last day before spending time again at the information center and try to soak in microeconomics, but before the hamam-visit with my elder brother is soaking me.

Queens day reunion

17. Januar: But the reunion is near, we all will get together again at the Dutch Queen's day, where Amsterdam is turned into a huge party area.

The diaspora starts

16. Januar: Everyday another person is leaving the country: It started that Celal was saying goodbye to everyone and it ends with Fjendbo and Joakim who are leaving Turkey at the last day of January.

And now the end is near...

15. Januar: ...and after so many days without writting anything I just will make some final reflection about my stay in Istanbul, for example, that it's really quite sad to leave the country especially at a moment, where you just found really good friends here.

Lucky winner of 24 hours

14. Januar: I expected two things to occur that day, that my brother is coming with his girlfriend to visit Istanbul and that the econometrics-exam will end my learning-nightmare - but nothing happened, I just won 24 hours.

Lost memory

13. Januar: Didn't I do anything exceptionally important on that day, my memory about Tuesday is totally lost - now I know it's true, studying is just a waste of time, you do not even remember later about it.

Break the silence

12. Januar: What to tell about a Monday which was mostly spent in the library, so far I was the first one who at least tried to get into the ECON301-miracle, all the others guys where just busy with studying for lots of other final exams.

Silence until 2 a.m.

11. Januar: Life on campus is more about what's not happening than what's happening - now they extended the library opening hours until 2 a.m. - that causes even more silence at the campus.

the nominal money supply was increased in the morning

10. Januar: In the very early morning a macro exam was waiting for me to be done, it was şöyle böyle, but I just trust in my colleagues that they have even less clue which curve has to shift if there is an increase in nominal money supply and how that affects the unemployment rate and the price level.

cocktail party

9. Januar: It's already time to prepare to say goodbye, at least the international had that idea, so we had the pleasure to get some beer and booze at campus.

Skype bastards

8. Januar: Now I know how Ebay earns money with Skype: they are just refilling your skype-account, if your credits fall below a certain level - now I feel more like a 11-year-old who was fooled by a jamba-ringtone-subscription than an economics-students who should know that before a purchase you should always read the general terms.

Lucky 7

7. Januar: I think so far I didn't mention how good it feels to be above average - especially if it comes to econometrics, but Celal is already satisfied if his lucky number 7 is involved in the result of the exam.

I exist, cause I resist

6. Januar: Some people are irresistible and I have to ask myself if I want to resist them.

Macro-madness

5. Januar: A new attempt to conquer the library, to absorb enough knowledge about macroeconomics that on saturday the holy macro-madness is not getting too bad.

Only breakfast

4. Januar: Not even another Palestinian demonstration can prevent us going to Bebek to enjoy a nice breakfast next to the Bosporus - I'm sorry there is not much more to tell about that day.

it's getting dark so fast

3. Januar: And another day in Istanbul goes by - some people just use it to clean someone else flat the whole day long (not me), some others are just happy to find nice trousers for not more than 10 euros.

No bazaar, but lots of rain

2. Januar: Kadiköy (an Asian neighbourhood of Istanbul) is really beautiful and its Friday bazaar should really be the perfect occasion to buy some cheap clothes - too bad that it was moved to a different place two weeks ago.

Loitzl's victory

1. Januar: After a pretty cold night in the pretty cold flat of Torsten we really were looking forward watching Loitzl's victory over the swiss midget called Ammann, but the not working TV set forced us to spend an amazingly relaxing afternoon in our favorite hamam.

I love the crowd

31. Dezember: What happens when a few smart guys find out that Erasmus students are easier to lure as mice and even pay for a new year's eve party 55 lira to experience the worst organized party ever (floated toilets, 300 jackets on the streets, a basement called cistern, claustrophobia... included).

What the fuck is bluegrass?

30. Dezember: Totally unexpected I got a T-shirt as late Christmas present - Burcu decided that I like Barbecue, Beer and Bluegrass - ok, two out of three is not so bad.