Excerpts from my travel blog to Turkey Summer 2007:
It’s a lazy kind of day where little white puffy clouds sit on strings and float by your window as you sit contemplating the meaning of life. All in all it is a day where not much is accomplished, the breeze tickles the trees but you sit and drip with sweat. Each word is pried from my fingers letter by letter and every movement forced from inactivity and an absolute need to produce something.
Beyond the scattering of blue couches and peach armchairs that embrace relaxing counselors and outside a domed window lays the river, beyond is Asia. Red tufted brick houses-- little white cubes with little black eyes and pale rose hats rest on the shores of the Bosporus. Now walking by the river, boys’ run, swim and shout and men fish, casting long lines from the cement shore. Car horns blare and the tires screech as the cars careen around and through the city streets. The city is alive. I stop for a waffle stuffed with your choice of creamy chocolate—hazelnut and peanut butter, white, dark, milk, take your pick, various fruits and candies. The dough melts in my mouth, the peanut butter sticks to my teeth and the flavor explodes banana and strawberry, simply fantastic. I sip a coffee in a Starbucks no less and watch as the river floats bye. It’s Sunday and I’m in Istanbul...
There are many memories I will never forget. “Robert College Summer” provided one of the most interesting, educational and exciting experiences of my life. It provided faces and images that will resonate with me for the rest of my life. Blond curls, blue eyes, blue jeans, black t-shirt and tennis shoes—I am the white kid from Maine in the Middle East. My thoughts, and my pocket sized cannon camera are my only companions. This past summer provided a snapshot of Istanbul, the cross roads of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. It opened a window into the world that some will never know even exists.
