Saying Goodbye to Istanbul

Today was our last full day of meetings in Istanbul. We met with an arts an culture NGO called Anadolu Kultur, had lunch and some free time around Taksim Square (one of the most famous places in Istanbul), then met with a foundation called the Turkey European Foundation which works to better the cause of Turkey's accession to the EU. Then we came to our hotel area, did our final souvenir/gift shopping. I now have 15 minutes to finish typing this, pack my bags and get ready for dinner. We're having dinner right near our hotel with a politician from the opposition party (we had dinner last night with a politician from the ruling party, AKP). Then we're all going out for our last night in Istanbul then leaving for the hotel at 5:30am. (please note that I did not include time for sleeping).

Hope all is well with everyone and I promise to write up a really summary and some thoughts about this trip once I'm back in the US and have had some sleep.

Istanbul!

So I've gone through Cyprus and Greece and I'm now in Turkey. Istanbul is an amazingly gorgeous city and my brand new hotel room (we are literally the first guests in this hotel) has a view out the window of the famous Blue Mosque (I'd include a link here to more info but I'm beyond exhausted and trust that you know how to work Google).

We had one day of meetings here on Friday, when we met with the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church (the equivalent of the Pope) and then an NGO and documentary filmmakers. Then yesterday we spent time shopping at the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia (for real, google these places, they're beautiful). Today we took a boat ride on the Bosphorous to the Asian side of Turkey (yes, I've been in Europe and Asia today) where we had a delicious seafood lunch. Then we came back and visited a palace whose name I won't attempt with this much exhaustion. Afterward we had some free time (gasp!) and some of us took advantage of that to go to a Turkish Bath where we sat in a hot marble room for about an hour and then got a massage. One of the most relaxing things I've ever done but also contributed to this exhaustion(sorry is this sounds like I'm complaining! I'm not!).

Funny story that I've been complaining about today though...
Last night, a large portion of the group went out to celebrate one of our classmates' birthdays. When we came back, I hopped in the shower where I barely had time to get my hair wet before the power went out in our hotel. After trying to figure out what was going on, I decided to take a dark shower anyway. Then, just after I washed the shampoo out of my hair, the water turned off. The sink in our room still doesn't work but power and most other water is back on today. Just thought I'd share a bit of what this trip has been like!

We have 2 more days full of meetings and then back to DC we go :(

Phots before I fall asleep!

Spent the day today on a Greek island exploring and enjoying the beach. Got lots of sun and loved it.

Here's some pictures of the trip so far, they're either stolen from friends who have already uploaded theirs or are from my phone...enjoy!

Me and a statue of Makarios, Trodos Mountains, Cyprus

eating fish in Paphos, Cyprus

Trodos Mountains, Cyprus

Group in the Trodos Mountains, Cyprus

Out of order, sitting on the plane in DC for our 2 hour delay

The beach in Larnaca, Cyprus

my feet in the Mediterranean

more fish with eyes!

At a restaurant in the UN Buffer Zone

Narnia! Nicosia, Cyprus

Kyrenia, Cyprus waiting for the former President of TRNC

Again, beautiful peacemakers waiting

Bus ride to Famagusta, Cyprus

Ferry in Athens, Greece

Feet again, on Agina island in Greece

Temple of a nymph named Aphia

Classmates on the beach in Agina, Greece

My friend Maya in Agina

Sam and Kristin on the ferry leaving Agina, Greece

Me on the ferry!

Cyprus kept me too busy to blog :(

I know I know I promised you all that I would blog frequently while in Cyprus and I've obviously not kept up that promise. I'm currently sitting in the airport in Larnaca, Cyprus getting ready to board my flight to Athens.


I'm copy and pasting this next section that I typed up yesterday...

So I've been in Cyprus for 10 days and haven't posted a single blog entry. It has been an incredibly intense experience and I've had little time to sit at my computer (and the short amount of free time that I have had, I've wanted to do many other things besides being stuck to my computer). I'm very sorry for not keeping everyone updated like you asked but I'll try to now!

I'm typing this on my iPhone in a note as we drive in a bus from the capital of Nicosia to Famagusta in the north. (pictures)
This trip to Famagusta is our last trip as a group before we leave for Athens tomorrow morning. I'm definitely not ready to leave Cyprus and already thinking about ways to get back here soon.

Each day we've been here, we've met with multiple people from all different parts of society. We've spent time on both 'sides' of the island and even some time in the UN buffer zone (there's a picture of me in a UN blue beret on someones camera!). Most of the people we've met with are either pro-peace activists, NGO workers and other community organizers or political elite. The past few days especially have been mostly political leaders of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The TRNC is a government and country recognized by only 1 other country(Turkey). Currently, the president of TRNC, Eroglu, and the president of The Republic of Cyprus (the officially internationally recognized government of Cyprus), Christofias, are participating in closed door negotiations with a UN appointed mediator to figure out a settlement of the 'Cyprus Problem'.




Now back to the current moment, sitting in the airport typing this up and Skyping with a friend from home.


I'm not ready to leave Cyprus. I've absolutely loved the country and learned much more about lots of things than I ever expected to. I'll write a more reflective post when I get a chance in Athens, or on the plane ride possibly.


Love to all!

Cyprus!

So after over 24 hours, all 27 of us (my numbers were a bit wrong earlier) made it to Cyprus. We got delayed sitting in the airplane at Dulles airport just outside DC for a solid 2 hours. We had exactly 2 hours from our original estimated arrival time in London until our connecting flight to Cyprus. Which we obviously missed. Thankfully, we were able to get all of our group onto the next flight out of the London Heathrow airport on a Cyprus Airways flight to Larnaca, the major international airport in Cyprus. Of course, one of the flight attendants on the Cyprus Airways flight was our professor's brother-in-law.

Over 24 hours of airplane air, airplane food, airplane seats, airport seats and airport food made all of us a bit delirious but we all remained in pretty good spirits for the elongated trip.  We all made it sore and tired to Cyprus where we took about a 45 minute bus ride into the capital, Nicosia. Over the hills of Nicosia, which is a divided city, you can see a light up flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (our first sighting in the darkness of night of anything about the conflict). We checked into our hotel which is really nice and in the Old City that is surrounded by Venetian walls then most of the group headed out to dinner around 11:30pm. Its now 2:35am, I've just showered and I cannot wait to go to bed.

Tomorrow we'll be attended the parade and festivities celebrating a Greece Independence holiday and talking to students about our research and other things.

Paripatetic Life

Today is the day that I leave with my 27 classmates and 1 awesome professor for 3 weeks in the Mediterranean.

I am traveling tonight on a red-eye flight to London's Heathrow airport then onto Larnaca, Cyprus! I'll be in Cyprus for about 10 days, then head to Athens, Greece for about 6 days and then finish up the trip with about 6 more days in Istanbul.

In total, this 21 day trip will have us meeting with at least 56 speakers who will tell us about themselves and where they fit into "The Cyprus Issue". (which I realize I still haven't talked about in here, oops).

As I've gotten a few phone calls expressing concern over where I'm headed to and the fact that I'm going to learn about a conflict in the conflict zone, let me assuage your fears. Cyprus has been a divided island since 1974. The UN Buffer Zone, or Green Zone, divides the island in half; the north is administered by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a country recognized by just one other country (Turkey), the south is administered by the Republic of Cyprus and is internationally recognized as the sovereign government of the island. The north identified as the Turkish Cypriot community and the south as the Greek Cypriot community. There are some on the island who identify solely as Cypriot, Greek or Turkish, and many foreign nationals as well. While the UN Buffer zone has been monitored by a UN peacekeeping force since it was created in 1974, there has been little, if any, violence at the border.

About the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa: Cyprus is home to British military bases which may be utilized during the current strikes on Libya even though the Cypriot government has expressed that they do not wish for the British to use these bases for this purpose.


I'll try to update this as much as possible during the trip!

T minus 14 days!

My trip to Cyprus is so soon! I'm so incredibly excited and starting to get anxious. I'm focusing my research paper on education in Cyprus so I have to do tons of research before I get there so I am able to ask the right questions and can get as much out of my interviews in the field as possible. I've already contacted a few people in Cyprus (!) who I'm going to have some one on one interviews with.

I honestly don't remember all of the things I've done since the last time I posted a real update here so I'll just mention a couple of things that have been happening.

I haven't been doing any tourist-y sightseeing things at all. I have been to 2 DC eateries that I had been planning on going to while here, Ben's Chili Bowl and Busboys and Poets. Both restaurants have connections to history and delicious food. Ben's Chili Bowl has been around for many, many years and usually has lines out the door. The walls of the restaurant are filled with famous people who have enjoyed the chili (beef or veggie!) and there are signs proclaiming that the Obama family and Bill Crosby both get to eat for free. Busboys and Poets is named in honor of Langston Hughes and is a bookstore, restaurant and fair trade market. I'm pretty sure I had the best veggie burger of my life there.

This past week for class, we visited the Embassies of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.

 

At the Embassy of Cyprus, we met with the actual Ambassador which was pretty exciting. He told us all about the history of Cyprus according to the Republic of Cyprus (I just realized that I don't think I've said much about the conflict in Cyprus on here yet so I'll explain it in a later post). He also told us about lots of places in Cyprus that we need to go to and got us all very excited for our trip.

 

The next day, we went to the Embassy of Greece where we spoke with a woman who is a political adviser to the Ambassador. There, we learned more about some of the other things that continue to strain relations between Greece and Turkey.

Then, on Friday, we went to the Embassy of Turkey which was a brand new, very swanky building with some of the prettiest light fixtures I've ever seen. There, we spoke with 1 political adviser and 1 spokesperson. The embassies of Cyprus and Greece were both very diplomatic and didn't really tell us much that we didn't already know. The two guys at the Turkish embassy seemed to actually treat us like intelligent human beings and spoke somewhat openly with us (as much as any diplomat could). The political adviser is currently studying International Conflict and Resolution at George Mason University, a program that my professor here used to teach at. Because of this, we had a common language and lens to look at the Cyprus issue through. The spokesperson was actually a Turkish Cypriot, who grew up in Cyprus and is actually the grandson of the man who was the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community on the island from 1974-2003.

My classmates and a political adviser to the Turkish Ambassador

On our way back from the Turkish Embassy, we found this! And I look like a crazy person in my excitement.

This week is Spring Break at American University so the dorms are pretty empty. This past weekend I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and learned how to say happy birthday in Norwegian (gratulerer med dagen!). Yesterday and today I went to my internship at ILRF. This has been a pretty exciting week in the office- the new Executive Director is really starting her work, the invitiations for the organization's big fundraising event just went out and today, Killian from the Not For Sale Campaign was in the office to meet with a staff member at ILRF whose office I work in. It was a good surprise to see a familiar face from San Francisco. Not For Sale and ILRF have a joint project, Free2Work. This week also saw the launch of The CNN Freedom Project, an initiative by the media organization to bring attention to modern day slavery.


I know that the work I'm drawn to doing leads to me asking you lovely family and friends for help every once in a while. This time, I want you all to enter a contest! ILRF and its partners at the "Raise the Bar, Hershey!" campaign are hosting a Brand Jamming Contest until March 24th. So create a mock tagline, print ad or commercial to encourage Hershey to raise the bar for responsible cocoa sourcing! While come chocolate companies have taken steps to rid their supply chains of forced and child labor, Hershey's is lagging behind its competitors.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Williamsburg, VA to visit with my Dad and broski for the rest of Spring Break (and to work on my research paper). I'm excited to see them and get out of this dorm!

Hope everyone is doing well, I'll have free time for the rest of the week and will welcome distractions from my research so give me a call this week, I'd love to hear from everyone :)