Or at least I thought it was until I ran into the laundry room in my building to wash my first load of laundry in Turkey. Not only are all of the machines in Turkish (not terribly surprising), but these newfangled pieces of washroom tech have a great many options and settings available to students. I understand the desire for new and beautiful machines that will really wash students’ clothes to that spit shine clean we all want, but let’s not forget that we’re still on a college campus: where walking to the cafeteria is sometimes forgone from sheer lack of enthusiasm. Does anyone here really need 12 wash settings?

My first foray into the laundry room left me a little intimidated at the bevy of options I had in front of me, all of them written in a language I did not understand. After some note taking and dictionary lookup, I have figured out what most of the settings on the washer and dryer mean, but most of them have turned out to be very slight variations on each other with one being a little warmer than another or one having a longer spin cycle than the previous setting.

The Washer dial:

The Washer display panel:

The  Dryer controls:

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the fact that this school wants me to have options when it comes to household chores like laundry, but I think they’ve gravely overestimated the need for customization of the college laundry process. I like my laundry simple and efficient. It’s the way it’s done at Rhodes and that’s the way it ought to be.

Why should you become a fan?  

Are you aware that Barret’s hours of operation change during holidays or exam periods?  What new resources are we offering?   Where can you find those “scholarly” sources your professor keeps talking about?  Did you see the incredible model of Barret designed entirely of graham crackers and candy?  What about that Flash Rave that rocked the lobby last semester?  The Barret Facebook page offers answers provides all of this and more! 

We want this page to belong to the Rhodes community.  Feel free to posts comments, questions, photos of events in the library, photos of you and your friends just hanging out, reminders of upcoming events, source suggestions, etc.  We look forward to hearing from you!

The man in charge on the bus was kind of a stickler for details, meaning we could not simply sit wherever we wanted to even though there were many empty seats. We made the best of it, strapped ourselves into our tiny seats, praying for the ability to sleep, and shipped out of Istanbul at 11pm. It would be 8.5 hours until we would reach Izmir, a coastal city that was fairly close to Ephesus, our final destination. How we would get from one to the other, where we would stay in Izmir and what we would do to bide our time was still up in the air, but at least we had time to mull it over on the bus. I for one took to reading under the tiny overhead light and almost finished Hunter Thomson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”—not an easy thing to do on a never-ending bus ride. I was in quite the sleepless fog.

But wait, there, in the distance: the sun slowly began to shine as we neared our destination, its rays illuminating the large mountains we drove in between as we slid our way into the valley in which the city of Izmir sits. Dropped off in a bus station that was a few miles away from downtown (who knew?) we bargained with a taxi driver—who spoke German, which is why having a native German with our troupe was quite handy—and were dumped downtown with the assurance we were a block from a travel agency…that turned out to be closed.

Like anyone might do in that situation our mangy crew stumbled our way through the streets in the early hours, all eyes peeled for a place to rest. In the middle of the bazaar we came upon such a place, in an alleyway behind the knockoff shoe salesmen. For 12.5TL per person per night, we couldn’t say no. And just around the corner was a café that sold soft-serve ice cream for 1TL a cone. What more does one need but a bed and an ice cream cone?

We explored the city. Granted, there’s not much to see in a touristy beach city off season, but we made the best of it, touring the city’s park and checking out the ruins of a Roman Agora—the old-world market where Roman civilization came together (hence why people who are afraid to leave their homes have Agoraphobia). It was not much to see, save for some ruins of pillar stacked in piles like UPS had just dropped them off. It was sunny now, however, and like zombies in a Romero film we wandered about the streets in a hungry, staggering gate towards our stiff mattresses and the hope of adventure on the horizon.

And that adventure came (right after some greasy omelets) in trying to navigate towards Ephesus. We knew where it was but knew not how to ask for it in Turkish. See, Ephesus is “Efes” in Turkish, but that moniker has also been given to many things, such as ever-present Efes beer and the Efes hotel where the nice bus driver dropped us off when we asked to be taken simply to “Efes”. Lesson learned, we found two men who were willing to cut us a deal to take us to the city and back in their taxis.

And so we were there! Almost! Ninety minutes of cramped taxi travel behind us we first visited the home wherein the Virgin Mary stayed for a time after Jesus’ death. But we only found out about this after driving past the entrance to Ephesus, and upon our taxi driver taking us up a steep mountain road while laughing on the phone, we all assumed he was driving us into the wilderness to kill us and bury us where no one would ever look. It was surely the end, until we saw the signs for Mary’s house and quieted our throbbing hearts and wiped the sweat from our brows. It was a small abode on that mountain where Mary lived and without the signage and shrines it would be a very pleasant stone house and beautiful landscaping. Our time was brief, but peaceful and contemplative.

And so we were there! Indeed! Our bumbling group had finally reached the old city and what a sight she was. Pieces of marble rested haphazardly in what were once grand structures, their sheen long since wiped away by time but their grandeur still subtle and distinct. Unlike most historical sites in the US, Europeans are free to wander and climb and jump around upon their history, and thus we did, climbing atop the smaller theatre and looking down the valley towards the rest of the city. To the library we wandered, down streets of marble that in their youth must have been pearly white roads of pure beauty, something someone nowadays might admire rather than dare walk upon. A grand and ornate facade, the library looms over a courtyard and hosts carvings and sculptures from times long ago when libraries were special places, temples of knowledge and reason, where the learned went to be…learned.

But it was the Great Theatre that stole the show (pun intended). Holding around 24,000 people it is an ominous structure that wraps around the small stage at its center, the picturesque mountains wrapping themselves around the theatre. My voice effortlessly carried itself to the tops of the stands as I stood onstage, imaging the thousands of Ephesians who once laughed, cried and socialized here to the words of the ancient comedies I’ve read in school. On the highest part of the stands you can see for miles out into the valley and up to the mountains, the clouds falling from the sky to slowly swoop past the scenery. Two thousand years ago there was truly something special when structures of this magnitude were around.

When the rain began to fall we left the grand old city as quickly as we had arrived, my mind wondering what it would have been like to have lived in such a magnificent place. Back in Izmir we ate dinner, went to a bar, got cold sitting outside and ate dinner again at a second bar. Back on our bus heading home I reread Jack Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums”, my favorite books of his, and tried to take in the scenery. Heading south through Turkey the plains start to look much more Mediterranean than Istanbul, which was a well received change of pace. Another eight hours on a bus, another shuttle back to school, and another unforgettable weekend of travel and exploration under my belt.

Anyway, I really couldn’t believe how much snow was coming so I texted my Spanish friend, Dave, to get a video of the snow. Here ya go

What have I been doing? OMG. These past two weeks have been substantially harder than what I’ve been used to in Spain. Extreme amounts of reading (I’m taking a Central American literature class, and it’s INTENSE), friends with hella issues, Mock Trial practice, Singers rehearsals, oh lordy, it’s been rough.

This weekend has been unreal awesome, though. Like I said, the weather has been divine, so I’ve been to Overton Park more times than once. Kite flying has been a constant go-to activity, and lazing on the quad has been my vice of choice. I can usually justify my sprawling on the grass for hours on end by claiming to do “reading for Management,” but that just means that most of my homework will be left for…now.

In spite of all this, I feel the need to enjoy a little time with fellow blogger TYLER. We’re going to the Paradiso for Alice in 3D. Can’t wait. Speaking of hanging out with bloggers, I’ve also actually gotten to meet Sameer, who’s really cool, no lie.

K. Off to Alice.

The Digital Media Lab (DML), located in Barret Library 210, provides students, faculty and staff with professional multimedia creation software and hardware. The staff of student technicians provide one-on-one assistance with the resources in the Lab to help visitors with video editing, Photoshop techniques, slide scanning, or to even design professional DVD projects.

The DML hosts weekly multimedia training workshops taught by our Rhodes Student Associates and guest faculty and staff members.  The schedule may be found posted on the door.

The computers in the DML have the latest versions of a host of multimedia programs, such as the Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection, Audacity, DVDFlick, and Autodesk?s Maya 3D modeling program.

The DML can accommodate all types of multimedia projects, including:

• Document scanning and processing
• Digital video production
• Advanced audio editing
• DVD authoring and creation
• Audio recording
• Digital photography
• Slide, film, and photo scanning
• Advanced website production
• Flash project authoring
• Video file rendering for streaming

The multimedia facilities in the DML are designed to help you take any kind of media and convert it into a more modern, digital format and then build a finished product with it. In addition, various tools in the DML exist to help you create new digital media files that can be used in various ways in the construction of a new media project.  Projects in the DML may range from shooting digital video to producing that video to the rendering of a finished DVD project. Or, you can use the audio editing software to create multi-tracked, high-quality recordings.  Also, any equipment available for checkout from the Media Center in LL31 of the library is compatible with the equipment in the DML.

Student technicians are available to help you with a project or answer any questions. Their specialties and hours are posted in the lab.

Recent projects include Liz Dagget’s documentary filmmaking course and the digitization of the Rhodes Magazine and McCoy archive.

This past weekend I and a troupe of exchange students went trekking in two spots: the island of Büyükada (just south of downtown Istanbul), and on the shores of the Black Sea. Unbeknownst to me before a few days ago, there is a small chain of islands that sits off the coast of Istanbul on the Asian side. All are lived on in some form or another, but the largest island, Büyükada (meaning “big island” in Turkish) is the most inhabited and most frequently visited by tourists and Turks alike. Normally a summer destination, we hit the island in late February and were able to avoid crowds. The island is only about 2 miles from end to end and has an old-world, European feel to it with a lot of architecture that feels Mediterranean and Greek.

Sitting atop the mountain of sorts (maybe it’s just a really, really big hill) on one end of the island is an old monastery called the Aya Yorgi. It’s quite a trip up a very steep road to get to it, but inside you’ll find a well preserved ornate interior filled with artifacts and artwork from a number of centuries. We were all exhausted when we got up there, but it was worth it for the views. Büyükada is not that far away from me as the crow flies and is fairly cheap to reach on a bus and two ferries.

An even closer adventure, and one that I had zero expectations about, was a trip through the woods to the coast of the Black Sea, just 3 miles north of Koç University. None of us are quite sure what the large dirt roads that crisscross through the dense woods are for, but presumably they allowed for construction supplies to move or infrastructure building to happen. Whatever their origin, they provide a straightforward way from school to water in a little over an hour of walking.

Once at the coast we found some beautiful rocky bluffs and windswept brush. There is a small town that sits on the northern coast to the east, but to the west there is basically nothing for quite a ways, giving ample opportunity for further exploration up and down the deserted coast. Who wants to camp out on the coast of the Black Sea?

Another weekend, another adventure; it’s the life one leads abroad: an expensive, tiring and fulfilling life. Oh yeah, and we go to school too, but you already knew that.

Please, we beg you.  DO NOT edit straight from an email attachment.  Save the document to the desktop, to a flash drive, to something.  We cannot help you recover your document, and it makes us all sad.  It will make you even more sad to realize that the last few hours have all been for naught…

Yet, as wild as it is to be on the road in Istanbul, being anywhere else takes a much slower and calmer demeanor. If you want something done very fast, you’re in the wrong country. And it’s not that it will never end up happening or that it will not be done well, it’s just that a lot of deadlines end up being more flexible than they are in the States. Life is lived slowly and thoughtfully, taking time to have a cup of coffee with friends and discuss the latest happenings. When people go out and walk somewhere they give themselves a lot of time to get there so that they can spend some time relaxing and talking while they leisurely stroll. You can easily spot the Americans in a crowd because they’re walking too fast. Even Turkish college students spend a great deal of time hanging around campus in large groups; rarely do you ever see someone sitting by themselves.

The United States are very different from the rest of the world in many respects, and one of the most distinct ways might be the difference between life on and off the road. While the rest of the world drives small cars through harrowing maneuvers, Americans drive large trucks very docilely. When the rest of the world is taking time out to have a long lunch with friends, Americans are hustling towards another meeting with a Starbucks coffee and a handheld sandwich. Why is it that the hectic American life stops when we get behind the wheel?

The last week was not all about skiing. On Thursday, the ENVISION leadership group and I had the opportunity to meet with President Troutt to talk about what it takes to be a successful leader. He told us that leadership requires reflection, representation and relationship. He reminded us that we need to look into our work deeply in a personal way and leadership is all about influencing and not just merely completing the tasks. He told us stories about his life as a President at Rhodes and how trust building is such a vital tool for being successful. I learned a lot from this conversation and thought I should share it with you all.

For reference, the map of my journey is at the bottom of the post.

The simple plan at the beginning of the day (i.e. 1:30pm) was to go visit the Asian side of Istanbul and roam around some castle ruins. Istanbul is a unique city in that it straddles the line between Europe and Asia which runs down the middle of the Bosphorus, and most of the city has ended up on the European side. A short bus ride into Sariyer (number 2 on the map) and we caught a ferry that runs across the straight and docks at a very, very small town that sits at the bottom of the hill upon which the castle ruins sit. I’m not sure what the name of the castle is or what it used to protect, but it sure was fun to climb. Afterwards our group ate some delicious ice cream and waffle s and decided to head over to Taksim.

Here are the castle ruins (photo credit goes to my friend Kasha):

Now, on the map I have provided, Taksim is number 6 and the castle is number 3, meaning we had quite a ways to go. The solution: 2 busses and a metro ride. Markers 4 and 5 are the towns to which we took the buses to get to the metro that would take us to Taksim, and unfortunately I don’t remember their names. We probably spent a ground total of about 2 hours in the cramped buses and train, no one really sure how we were going to complete our epic quest or how long it might actually take. I’m pretty sure it’s always rush hour in Istanbul.

A few hours and quite a few Turkish liras later we arrived in the center of Taksim, everyone tired and ready to eat. One of the things that is most striking about downtown Istanbul (and I’m pretty sure in most European cities) is how everyone eats outside in little chairs surrounding little tables while drinking large glasses of liquor. We ate outside at a little restaurant in a small side street off the main drag, our table parked next to the window of a barbershop. As we chose what we wanted to eat a man was getting a very laborious straight-razor shave.

I had what could only be described as a log of kebab. No wimpy nuggets on a stick here, this thing had some heft to it and it was so good. It was also only 15TL (roughly $11). After dinner we met up with some other exchange students and went to the rooftop floor of a bar. While the rain here seems to come fairly sporadically, you can’t complain about clear, beautiful weather in the middle of February.

To cap off my evening, I and the other two students who wanted to head back to campus missed the school-provided shuttle from Taksim at midnight. Because we didn’t want to wait an hour and a half for the next shuttle, our only option then was to take a bus back to Seriyer and then a taxi up the hill to school. Another hour on a crowded bus and ten minutes in a taxi finally brought me back to my room. It was a pretty hectic twelve hours but I can definitely get around Istanbul more confidently now and have a much finer appreciation for reliable public transportation.

The trip:

What it means to live in Istanbul can change drastically depending on where you live. If you live downtown in some of the newer areas, you live in a world of bars and nightclubs where there really is no line between night and day. Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps, but the Taksim area of Istanbul comes pretty close. If you live up in the hills to the North of the city, then you live in a world of markets, fish, ramshackle apartments, and stray dogs. This is the area that Koç University is settled in, nestled in the mountains a few miles from the water. It’s an odd dichotomy between the wealth of the school and the degradation of the surrounding town.

But it allows one to get to know a part of Istanbul that no tourist would ever see. There are working class people that live around here who are very kind and very welcoming of foreigners, especially those running restaurants (thus far my main mode of contact with locals). Last night two friends and I visited a small pizza shop just up the road from campus. It’s a very small location with the pizza oven out front by the window. When you walk in it feels like your walking in the wrong door because the kitchen all around you, but there area a few small tables beyond the kitchen area where you can sit. The owner of the shop was very pleasant and spoke just enough English to explain some of the pictures on the menu. Not knowing enough food vocabulary, we ended up ordering from a tasty looking picture.

Two (delicious) personal Turkish pizzas, a cola, and an Ayran (Turkish yogurt drink) was 8 Turkish Lira. Now, he very well may have given us a good price, but the prices on the menu didn’t seem that much higher. Enthusiastic that some Koç students had come by his shop, he excitedly handed us menus and refrigerator magnets to take back to campus with us and told us to tell all our friends about his shop. I kept a menu and a refrigerator magnet in my room and will definitely be stopping by again soon along with other students I have spread the word to.

It’s those kinds of people that make visiting a city great, and it’s places like that tiny pizza shop that really tell about what it’s like to live somewhere. Hopefully I will have many more nights out like last night and meet many more of the locals where they live and work and eat. Sure, the bars and nightclubs are fun, but I can’t forget to look just down the street from campus to see all the wonderful things that this area has to offer.

And on an unrelated note: here is a video of local performers in a park area near the Blue Mosque, and here’s a video of what it’s like to walk inside the Blue Mosque.

My flatmate Chelsea is hella sick, complete with hacking cough and all, but while I feel for her, I can’t help but breathe more freely when she’s not around (i.e. quarantined in her room [I LOVE YOU, CHELSEA!]). I know I’ll probably be the next to go since it seems I’ve been hitting male adolescence with my voice changes. One day I’ll be speaking normally and the next I’ll be rivaling even the most robust of baritones. I kid.

Well, not really. At the recording session for the Rhodes Singers, I opted to sing so quietly that I was actually silent because my voice was just not cooperating. No worries, though, I’ve been sipping on herbal teas nonstop and abstaining from any bodily damaging activities. After all, there is a Mock Trial tournament this coming weekend and I gotta be in tiptop shape for that!

What have I been doing lately? Wellllll, same old same old, really. Been goin’ to class. Hangin’ out with friends. Visitin’ study abroad buddies. I saw my friend Brian from Nebrija on the drive up to St. Louis. It was spectacular. We bonded over Madrid moments and I got to meet his friends. In St. Louis, our resident expert, Cate, introduced us to the most wonderful invention ever. The City Museum in St. Louis is an all ages playground. It is amazing. Here are some pictures:

It was great being a child again. Plan: Get someone to start a similarly awesome place in Memphis. I would hit it up EVERYDAY.  Pyramid renovation, anyone?

Apart from the tutoring project, which was the highlight of this week, it snowed in Memphis, again!  It just gets better and better and as I am writing this blog, it is still snowing outside. Snow fall is a blessing from God and I think there’s nothing more beautiful than snow ( from what I’ve seen so far, haha). I guess climate change isn’t that bad after all since I am enjoying snow, which isn’t very common in Memphis, and so are my friends in Alabama!! and oh yeah,** HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY**

There is a shuttle system that will run between main and west campus, but it does not run regularly yet because our semester has yet to start (it begins on Monday), so we have to travel by the local buses that run between the two campuses and into downtown Seriyer. It’s only 1.4 TL to ride the bus (about 92 cents) one way, but it does add up after a few days.

I think the coolest thing about the bus system is that they’ll stop wherever you want, and many people hop on and hop off the bus a half a mile later at what is basically their front door. The problem for those of us on the bus who are not Turkish is that we have a hard time telling the bus driver to stop. We could yell “lütfen dur!” which means “please stop!”, but we’re not sure if it’s an appropriate command. So, for the time being we stick to making noise and waving our hands in the air, signaling our need to be dropped off.

And yes, we can see the Black Sea from school. You have to be up in a tower by the student center, but it’s a sweet view with a coffee shop to boot. Does it get any better than that?

Obviously, we have the student/s that come for a peaceful place to study.  They find a cubby, hunker down, and go to work.  We have groups of students who come in to work on projects or study for tests together.  Sometimes they simply pull some chairs together, but sometimes they use the study rooms designed for this specific purpose.  Students come in simply to find resources.  They have a paper or project due and they need sources.  Sometimes they are in here because a professor sent them. Perhaps the professor has placed an item on reserve.  Students come here to check out equipment like cameras, laptops, or video recorders.  Many come here to type their papers on one of the library’s computers.  Groups, such as classes or organizations, use the library to hold meetings, classes, or other special functions.  The Board of Trustees recently used this space to hold a special dinner.  This library is also a social area for many of the Rhodes community.  Students simply come in to hang out, catch up with friends or have a friendly place to inhabit between classes, events or other obligations. 

It’s a dynamic place to be, and it’s very different from the old image of the hallowed building of total silence.  Which brings me to this next point.  Recently, a group on Facebook has been brought to my attention.  They call themselves “Reclaim the Library” and below I’ve pasted the gist of their existence:

“Can’t find a quiet place to sit and study? You’re not the only one.
With the progression of the 21st century, as well as the invention of mobile phones, library etiquette has gone down the toilet bowl. It is NOT okay to talk in libraries, *especially* in the quiet study area.

This group is about raising awareness about the dire state of our libraries, and about empowering people to say “SSSHHHHHH”.
Please don’t be afraid to tell people to shut … up if they are disturbing your peace in the library!
And if you are talking, please be prepared to be told!

**The library must be a house of silence**

1. Have all mobile phones and computers on silent
2. If you must answer a call, please move out of earshot of anyone studying. This generally means a number of meters away and around a corner, not next to the desks.
3. Group discussions should happen in delegated (sound-proofed) discussion rooms, cafes, courtyards, public toilets etc. – NOT at the common desks. These desks are still for quiet study, even though you may be facing your friends.

Please invite all your friends to this group. Let’s create awareness together and spread the word! (but quietly, of course) :” 

Wow!  Pretty bold statement – especially the “library Must be a place of silence” part of it.  So what do you think?  Has our library gone too wild?  Should the library staff be more vigilant with the shhhh’s?  Are you able to work well in this space?  We’re interested in hearing what you have to say.  Most of all, we want you to continue using your library.  It’s a great place to be for a multitude of reasons. 

Even so, today I was able to have some fun exploring a bit of downtown Sariyer, a small town that is a subset of Istanbul. Right on the shores of the Bosphorus river, it’s a small working class town that has sprawled up into the hillsides. I traveled with two students from New Jersey and a girl from Holland.

The coolest part of the excursion was inquiring a street vendor about where we should eat lunch. After ironing out some communication issues, he understood what we wanted, got up from his vegetable cart, and proceeded to walk down the street. We followed him and about a hundred yards later we ended up at a small kebab restaurant. There we were greeted by the owner who spoke pretty good English and ate beef kebab sandwiches. The Turks know coffee and tea, but they also know how to bake some mean bread, and we got a huge loaf when we sat down. How much for a tasty sandwich and tea? 4 Turkish Lira, which is roughly $2.64.

Also, here’s a video of my view from the waterfront in downtown Seriyer. For one reason or another YouTube is being blocked, either by my school or by the Turkish government, so videos will be hosted on Vimeo.

Check out these pics I took from Barceloneta n Tuesday.