Hey fellows!
Long time, or it seems long cause so many things happened. Since Costa Rica it took me while to get to my Turkish uni. After 25 hours being between planes and airports, I finally arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital completely exhausted and jet-lag. The cab driver sadly noticed it, and took advantage of it, touring around the city making me pay 4 times the expected amount.. Next time I will order a cab from the airport instead of those illegal one. Stayed in a art hostel, which have a really good bar down stair. Few beers, straight to bed. After 5 hours of sleep, I took a bus from Sofia to Istanbul around 8 hours trip. The buses are great, cheap (30 Euros), lot of space, you even have a stewardess on board serving you coffees and snacks! When we arrived at the border, that took a while. The boarder patrol searched the luggage and the bus, after you have to get your visa. If you are from a European country, no problem for it. But I met an American girl, Janira in the bus and it was a hell for her. She had to go to Ankara (capital city) from Istanbul (6 hours by bus) to hand her visa, wait for 5 days and back there to pick it up!
In the bus I also met a Bulgarian girl who had been an exchange student in Istanbul, so she found us (Janira and I) a hostel and took us around. We met her Turkish friends and had a blast during that night! At first we were suppose to go to an art exhibition and met her friends there, but a riot happen at the art gallery, with cocktail Molotov, fights, the cops came but the attackers escaped before they could get caught. The main reason was the art exhibition topic, some radical attackers didn’t agreed with it (Turkey is a Muslim country facing some freedom of expression problems but DO NOT GET ME WRONG, its just a LITTLE radical community NOT the entire country) , so they attack the gallery and the artist went straight to hospital. Luckily no fire disaster.
Well, after this incident, we went for Janira’s and my first real Turkish dinner, delicious and so many different type of food, on top of it a good Efes (Turkish beer). Istanbul is a beautiful city, with plenty of walking street full of nice cafés, bar, pub and yes mosques too!
The next day Janira and I went around, the main bazaar, the blue mosque, got lost around too, was good fun. Later on I met 2 New Zealanders, living in Kuwait, an Indian guy in exchange. We went for some beers, passed by mistake through the prostitute street, and end up in a cool little bar. After few beers, the owners tried to communicate with us, that was a great laugh! We were using the bar’s computer Turkish English translator and hand signs.. Worked out well!
Next day I took my bus to Eskisehir, one of the hostel employee wanted to help me out and carried my board for a good 30 minutes till the bus stop, nice! But again communication was limited.. He gave me his address asking me to send him a postcard from Finland, sure!
Now here in Eskisehir, the city is just packed by students, little cafés and bars. The uni is damn big, like a village with restaurants, cafés, even a supermarket! (selling beers..). I met some Turkish skaters on the campus. So, I asked them if there is any skating community around, and yes, a limited one but still. The only problem is, there is just no skateshop in this city, they have to order online or going to Istanbul.
They start complaining about the lack of a skate park, I said them, let’s build one! We found an parking area on the campus and next by, a dump full of waste planks and metal parts.
Long story short, we are now a group of 10 composed by 6 Turkish students, from the art department to the economic one, one Norwegian guy as a television and media student, 2 Check Republic guys as architect students and me.
The project is focus on a eco-friendly environment made out of waste material. This environment is subdivided by different areas such as a skate area, a free art expression and exhibition area and a social area all connected to each others. We are working with no budget, just using student skills and talent to make it happen! Next Monday, all 10 of us will have a meeting with the rector of the campus, presenting this project, it already sound promising because some teachers are backing us up by giving them approval. So stay around to follow how it goes.
By the way, here are some pics from Istanbul and Eskisehir, enjoy!
In the bus I also met a Bulgarian girl who had been an exchange student in Istanbul, so she found us (Janira and I) a hostel and took us around. We met her Turkish friends and had a blast during that night! At first we were suppose to go to an art exhibition and met her friends there, but a riot happen at the art gallery, with cocktail Molotov, fights, the cops came but the attackers escaped before they could get caught. The main reason was the art exhibition topic, some radical attackers didn’t agreed with it (Turkey is a Muslim country facing some freedom of expression problems but DO NOT GET ME WRONG, its just a LITTLE radical community NOT the entire country) , so they attack the gallery and the artist went straight to hospital. Luckily no fire disaster. Well, after this incident, we went for Janira’s and my first real Turkish dinner, delicious and so many different type of food, on top of it a good Efes (Turkish beer). Istanbul is a beautiful city, with plenty of walking street full of nice cafés, bar, pub and yes mosques too!
The next day Janira and I went around, the main bazaar, the blue mosque, got lost around too, was good fun. Later on I met 2 New Zealanders, living in Kuwait, an Indian guy in exchange. We went for some beers, passed by mistake through the prostitute street, and end up in a cool little bar. After few beers, the owners tried to communicate with us, that was a great laugh! We were using the bar’s computer Turkish English translator and hand signs.. Worked out well!
Next day I took my bus to Eskisehir, one of the hostel employee wanted to help me out and carried my board for a good 30 minutes till the bus stop, nice! But again communication was limited.. He gave me his address asking me to send him a postcard from Finland, sure!
Now here in Eskisehir, the city is just packed by students, little cafés and bars. The uni is damn big, like a village with restaurants, cafés, even a supermarket! (selling beers..). I met some Turkish skaters on the campus. So, I asked them if there is any skating community around, and yes, a limited one but still. The only problem is, there is just no skateshop in this city, they have to order online or going to Istanbul. They start complaining about the lack of a skate park, I said them, let’s build one! We found an parking area on the campus and next by, a dump full of waste planks and metal parts. Long story short, we are now a group of 10 composed by 6 Turkish students, from the art department to the economic one, one Norwegian guy as a television and media student, 2 Check Republic guys as architect students and me. The project is focus on a eco-friendly environment made out of waste material. This environment is subdivided by different areas such as a skate area, a free art expression and exhibition area and a social area all connected to each others. We are working with no budget, just using student skills and talent to make it happen!
By the way, here are some pics from Istanbul and Eskisehir, enjoy!
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