thinking about a conversation i had in computer class not long ago

Me, not looking up from my pc: so hector knew he would die.

My professor, also not looking up from his pc: He said that he would rather die than watch his wife be taken away as a slave, didn't he? So maybe it's a kindness, his death, not watching his family murdered and enslaved.

Me, immediately looking up from my pc: oh my god.

Goodbye!

This is our last post guys!! Here are our concluding thoughts on this experience (: 

Fiona: 

When we started this project, I knew we would learn more about the history and culture of Turkey, of course, but I never expected that it would affect how I view the world to the extent that it did. Being here caused me to better conceptualize the way that Turkey addresses problems compared to how the US does. We learned that Turkey used to be a very liberal country, and some of those principles were very apparent when in Izmir. 

For example, Izmir has a much larger problem with strays than the US, but a much more compassionate and humane way of dealing with them. The US puts up many shelters, and if the shelters fill up, most places end up killing the strays that don’t get adopted within a certain time frame. There are no-kill shelters, but then, there are more strays outside, which aren’t treated very well. I didn’t think much about this before, as there aren’t very many strays around where I live, but thinking about it now, it’s strange how we do not prioritize life as much as Turkey does. Turkey also has shelters, but they don’t kill the animals that don’t get adopted. They put as many strays as they can into these shelters, and when they fill up, they still make sure that the other strays are taken care of, fed, and vaccinated. I have mentioned this specific aspect of Turkey’s culture quite a few times throughout this blog, but it is something we were made very aware of early on, and it affected my experience greatly. We saw many stray cats and knew that it was safe to pet them usually, and we were never extremely worried about how they were being taken care of, which is very important. In the US, the few strays that I have encountered in shelters had been abused relatively frequently. The cats become afraid of people, because they are kicked and even killed for no real reason. The cats in Turkey were very friendly and ran up to us when they saw us, unafraid. 

The history of Turkey/Greece was also very interesting - we had learned about some of these events (such as the Trojan War) in the US, but going to these places deepened our understanding of how advanced some of these areas really were. I loved going to Ephesus in particular, which was an entire city- it was so much bigger than I thought it would be! It was cool to walk on the same ground that so many fascinating people of the past did. We saw how people thousands of years ago lived, and how different it was to the way we live now. It’s still so strange how we could tell the wealthy houses from the poorer houses based on whether they had a bathroom inside. Today, bathrooms are pretty much an essential for any house, and even communal bathrooms here in our dorms occupy much fewer people than they did back then. 

Ada:

I never thought we had such cultural differences when we decided to do this project. I realized how little things and details matter, which seems like they do not matter during daily life. For example, toilet differences, not drinking tap water, some phrases that are found in Turkish but not in English, and so on. With this trip, I realized that every culture is rich in its own way, although I knew that, I never understood the reality of it and in what ways and now I do. With this on my mind, going to our historical sites made me look at the monuments and statues from a different, more understanding, and internalizing perspective. I can say that learning history and being informed about historic sites in class is not the same as actually visiting the sites. Again, this was clear to me; however, actually taking a stranger to one of those historic sites, teaching the history of the place and its importance makes you feel attached and belonging to the place. So, go to historic sites of your culture, take people from different cultures to those places with you and write about it. It doesn’t have to be a blog but if you write about it, you will realize the differences in your writing and feelings. I sure did. Believe me, your worldview is going to change. The emotion is hard to explain because it should be experienced first hand. I am so thankful for this journey, I am so glad Beanie & Fiona came! Also, thank you for my parents a bizillion of times for driving us to the farther places. 

Also, I never realized how writing a blog can be so much fun! With the feedback of our great followers, I know how to create better blog posts.

Lastly, I want to point out my favorites from this trip. My favorite trip was the one to Claros, it was really beautiful and well preserved (we talked about this before but I still cannot believe my parents and I had no idea about it) and Hieropolis because the amphitheater was restored beautifully and it made you feel like you were living at those times. My favorite dog was the one in Claros, it was too excited but who isn’t sometimes, right? My favorite cat was Athena, the one in Assos, Çanakkale, she was a great cat and she followed us everywhere. I hope she is doing great. (Fiona: I love Athena I miss her, she was a very pretty cat and the only one we actually named at the time)

Beanie: 

I didn’t have many expectations going into our visit to Izmir as I don’t have any experience with that part of the world or it’s culture outside of having met Ada. I was pleasantly surprised to find that though it is far different from the US in almost every way, it still held moments of familiarity both bad and good. Terrible traffic, high rent and fast food landing strongly on the bad side, but religious diversity, hospitality, and a need to protect of history weighing in heavily on the good side. It was fascinating to see all of the historical Ancient Greek sites that we’d all read about many times before, and it was a pleasant if not baffling surprise that in most sites you could walk right through ancient stone and structures and touch things as much as you like(within reason).

It’s hard to choose favorites amongst the numerous sites, foods, drinks, and cultural staples that we got to learn about and experience but if I really had to, I’d say my favorite thing we got to see was Ephesus. It may have been more touristy than some of the other sites, but it was also the most well preserved and well restored site that we saw. It really gave us the most complete idea of what life in Ancient Greece was like for the people of that time. When it came to cultural staples I was surprised to find my favorite thing to be the Turkish bath(we should make some in America). My favorite drink was winter tea closely followed by Salep and my favorite food was the desert with pine nuts and ice cream inside, but also maybe Ada’s mothers lentil soup. Luigi and Jonesy were my favorite cats overall, but my favorite stray was the sneazy boy in the bushes who followed me. (I named him Sneezer) 

All in all, this trip to Turkey has taught me endless new information that I never would have known otherwise and has proven to truly be a once in a lifetime experience. I am so grateful for the endless kindness and hospitality shown to us by Ada and her wonderful family, it was such a joy to stay with them and they were so very generous. Thank you Ates family!! (We love you!!) Izmir really was fantastic and I am so happy we went!

We would rate this experience 5/5 heck evet (: 

<3 Froup

02/02/2020