April 18, 2008 - Permalink - 3 comments
Though very busy with school lately, it doesn't stop us from traveling :) Last weekend we went to Izmir and from Izmir to Selcuk, from Selcuk to the famous ruins of Ephes(us) (one of the worlds famous classical sites) and after it to Pamukkale where we took a fresh dive in to the Aegean sea.
Ephesus used to be a Roman city and it's theater dates back from around 700 BC. It took 70 years and 75000 slave labours to build it. It holds in total 24000 people. Till this day the acoustics are still great. Denes, our famous Hungarian singer and his girlfriend Aga proofed it bye singing a song together.
Ephesus was a powerful and city of great influence. Offcourse the great theater was the big atraction for wealthy Romans. Thousands gathered to watch plays and to watch gladiators fighting.
Another big attraction is the old library which used to contain 10.000 books in Roman times. You can also see in Ephesus how the upper class of them used to live in the 'terraced houses'. It costs ten Lihra extra (allthough we went in for free, including the entrance fee for the city itself) but it's deffinitly worth it! You can even still the ancient floorheating system which was also used as the cooling system in the summer.
In Izmir we went to Kadifekale. From here you have a great view over the city and its harbour. On the top of 'mt pagus' here, some ruins remain of old Smyrna on Kadifele (mt Pagus), which was founded by Alexander the Great. Within the walls that remain migrant women from Mardin (a city in the far south east) are hard at work making on horizontal carpet looms..Apperantly this is an increasing rare sight (see photo 5 and 6).
The added photos in the blog are:
Photo 1: Izmir, Kadifekale
Photo 2: Izmir, Kadifekale
Photo 3: Izmir, Kadifekale
Photo 4: Izmir, Kadifekale
Photo 5: Izmir, Kadifekale
Photo 6: Izmir, Kadifekale
Photo 7: Ephesus, Aga with library background
Photo 8: Ephesus, Denes on a Romanian toilet
Photo 9: Ephesus, old library
Photo 10: Ephesus
Photo 11: Ephesus
Photo 12: Ephesus
Photo 13: Selcuk, Denes & Aga, St. John's view point
Photo 14: Pamukkale
Photo 15: Pamukkale
Photo 16: Pamukkale
Photo 17: Selcuk
Tags: 
Ephes, Izmir, Pamukkale, Selcuk, Turkey
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April 18, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
A little while ago we decided to on a trip to Kuthaya, famous for it's colored tiles and pottery..It's about one hour from Eskisehir, but you are in a complete differend invironment.. I loved it! Most Turkish people told that there is nothing there, just one street, nothing of interest..But I guess this is just the same as I look at the landscapes and most cities in Holland..I usually can't see the beauty there because I live there myself..But tourists seem to love it!
Instead of writing about Kuthaya to much, I prefer showing you the photo's, just to give you some idea of this place is like, stationed between some mountains with a castle on top..I'll come back to this city for sure!
Tags: Kuthaya, Turkey
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April 18, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
As I told you in the previous blog I've been quite occupied lately. We've finally made our first movie, and other classes are starting to reach a real purpose as well. Yesterday we had a big presentation again in front of a jury of professors. We had to present 3 proposels for a film/documentary/tv program or any other topic that involves audiovisual methods. First of all we had 4 ideas instead of just three. Second of all..they loves all them! Officially the jury chooses the best one for us..but in our case they simply couldn't choose..I won't talk about all the subjects now, since I have a lot of other writing to do as well..So I'll inform you guys later about the subject we've chosen.
We allready chose the medium though..It will be a documentary. We chose this because Turkey is a fantastic country to make a documentary and we are allready doing a TV program at the moment..A short fiction movie would be really cool too, but it can be done basicly anywhere in the world..A documentary was prefered by the entire group!
Some classes I've chosen are still (in my eyes) a bit useless, others are really interesting. I'm finally getting to know the system better and starting get used the daily life or Turkish people, which is far more relaxed then the way we live in Holland..In the beginning the more relaxing life here didn't made me relaxed at all..the exact to be honest..There are so many things I've learned during class, but even more outside the classes..Conversations you have with Turkish people or other Erasmus students are the most meaningful and the biggest way to spread your horizon, your perspective on things, how the world works et cetera..They can't teach you things like that in school..
I'm having doubts of what my final goal will be..I used to be pretty sure I would love to work in the TV/documentary business, but I'm more and more starting to like making short movies and/or commercials...Working on the set with a really good crew, being a director or cameraman truly gives me energy!
I've also been asked for an interview on Turkish television a little while ago (unfortanatly I didn't see it myself, but I'll try to get my hands on it). It was about beging an erasmus student, talk about my school in Holland, the University here in Turkey and about some cultural differences. It was a nice interview but I have to say that I prefer being behind the camera instead of in front of it! They told me they would contact me later on again to film me and other Erasmus in daily life..Haven't heard something yet though..we'll see :) It was fun being part of it.
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April 18, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
It's been a while since my last blog and a lot of things have happened the last few weeks..In this blog I'll start with Konya!
As I told you before Konya is a conservative city, and you feel it everywhere you go. Scarved women on the streets, no clubs and bars but none theless very interesting..We even saw the 'dancing of the Dervishes'. it's a dance thats comes from Konya and was banned by Ataturk. It is performed by the Mevlevi cult. they do this dance to get to union with god. they whirl around in circles (watch the first 2 photo's I added in this blog).
We also visited several museums. One of them, the Mevlana museum, contains a casket with hair from the beard of Mohammed. ('bij de baard van Mohammed').
Ever since film and pictures usually say more than words, Pina made a short 'photography movie' of our trip to Konya..Enjoy :)
Watch the movie here (you tube).
Rating: 3/5 (39 ratings, 3695 views)
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March 21, 2008 - Permalink - 3 comments
Hello everybody!!
Last night we had a 'hippy party'(it was great) and during that party we celebrated Tjasa's birthday by throwing her in the air and buying her cakes and this night we are taking the night train with a small group of Erasmus (Pina, Tjasa, Sigrun, Baukje, Willeke, Denes, Stefan, Arne and me) to (conservative) Konya. Most travellers don't even bother to go to this city, but one of Turkeys most characteristic sites (according to the lonely planet), the wonderful shrine of Mevlana is to be seen here.
Maybe, if we have time we can travel from Konya to Isparta as wel..but we'll see :)
I put a link at the end of this blog. It contains all photo's so far.
Most important section for school is the 'Shots across Turkey'. In the end I will make a slection of the photo's in this folder for my photography portfolio. The other albums are Erasmus trips, parties et cetera.
Photo's on Picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JRuurd01
p.s. the photo's added in this journyl blog are taken in Seyitgazi, which is around Eskisehir.
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March 13, 2008 - Permalink - 3 comments
As you all know I'm studying in Turkey for about 4,5 months. I was planning to travel around in Turkey and maybe Georgia after my studies are finished around the 25th of june here. But there has been a change of plans..
The new plan is that I will fly to India from Turkey (much, much cheaper then from the Netherlands) and from there travel to 'Little Lhasa', the place where the Dalai Lama lives (it is actually possible to meet him here).
From there I want to travel furhter up north to Nepal and to Tibet to end up in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. On the way I want to visit all the places (or at least some) areas the Dalai Lama passed when he fled Tibet for the Chinese soldiers back in 1957. All those places are now pilgrimige places, holy places for the Tibetan people. I want to visit these places and make photography documentary about it.
The only problem on my way is the bad weather during that time of year (after 25th of june). It will be so poor that sometimes you can not even see the difference between night and day in Nepal..
I will have to do some more research about the monsoon rain before I go, but If I go, it will be a real challenge!
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March 13, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
In this blog I'll explain the defenitive courses I have chosen. I canceled some I had earlier and added some new ones..
My definitive list is:
- Producing and Directing
- For this course we will make two projects. One is a TV program, the other one is free of choice. It could be a documentary or a small movie for example. It's a very tough course and for the Turkish students of Cinema & Television it is a graduation project.
- Basic Photography
- I decided to take class after all because we'll also work with analoque cameras and develope the films ourselves..that last part is something I'm not familliar with, so it should be interesting!
- Visual Composition
- I love this course. Nezih teaches it and we will be making 4 short movies. the first is one is with two persons. I allready have an idea and I'm thinking of starting it on my own because I will be very busy with other projects as well.
- Television project
- Denes Tozser has to find 100 interesting things of Eskisehir and show this in anyway he can for his internship for his university in Hungary. He decided to use film as the medium and asked me to help him. I agreed on it and Nezih Ohrun told me I can put in the Television project course..We will have to make a list of the top 10 or 20 for example and make one movie or several short ones about this top 10 or 20.
- Turkish language
- I'm not sure I will be taking this class any longer..I do like it but it will be to busy for me doing all those projects and learn Turkish grammar as well..I'll let you know if I decide to drop it or not.
- Cultural Diversity
- Cultural Diversity is very nice as well and I will not be dropping this one. It's very interesting and fun at the same time. The course is a mix between theory and games. It is a nice way of learning about cultural differences because the class is filled with Erasmus students and Turkish..It is a multicultural class and in that way we have the whole world right next to us.
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March 13, 2008 - Permalink - 1 comment
On the 11th of march it was my birthday and allthough I had plans to organize a party in the next week, some fellow Erasmus students decided to throw me a surprise party at Denes his house in the evening..and surprised I was :)
So this blog is to all of those who helped organize it and to thank them for doing so. 'Cok tessekur ederim' for the card everyone wrote something on (see the photo section of the blog), the gifts and the cake and your friendship. thanks again and see you soon!
Rating: 2.44/5 (25 ratings, 3496 views)
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March 13, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
Merhaba everybody,
finally a new blog after a few weeks of not being able to write anything at all..at home I had no internet, and at the campus the computers and internet are just too slow to type.
So, this blog is just to let you know I'm back online every once in a while to write new topics on the blog.
See you around!
Tags: Eskisehir
Rating: 3.3673469387755/5 (49 ratings, 3847 views)
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February 08, 2008 - Permalink - 6 comments
On the 7th of February we felt like students again instead of three backpacking ‘Dutchies’. We went to the University for a meeting with Nezih Orhon He showed us all the courses we could possibly apply to. And there’s a lot to choose from! The list below shows my first selection. All of these are courses I’m really interested in.
Photography project course
you can choose your own photography subject here
Documentary Photography
Artisque way of photography
Photojournalism
more technical
Basic Photography
even when you allready know the basics, they advise us to take this course
Basic foundation of Cinema & Television
given by one of the top professors in all of Turkey
Producing and Directing
A very heavy course consisting of 2 parts. The making of a Television Program and the making of a documentary
Cultural diversity and communication
An interesting and fun course, so we’ve heard
Learning Turkish
Practically all Erasmus students will be taking this course. A good way to get to know each other. Quite handy to learn some Turkish as well
Afterwards Nezih took us to lunch and explained some things about Eskisehir and it’s people. There’s this car that sells water on the streets of Eskisehir. It makes a catchy tune to let you know the car has arrived. It is said that once you’ve tasted this water, you don’t want to leave Eskisehir.
Pina, the Slovenian girl walked into the restaurant and notices us. She joined us at lunch and later she showed us a store across the street where you can buy handy things for your house. They literally had everything here for very little money! When we left the store we went home. Pina ran into some friends along the way and we greeted them as well. One of them, Ferdy, used to study Journalism at Anadolu and told us he can help us with some photography courses. He knows the Old Part of Eskisehir very well (apparently there actually IS an Old Part of the city after all!) where you can take fantastic photo’s he said. Once our classes will begin and our assignments have started we’ll give him a call.
On the 16th of February we have another appointment with Nezih Orhon. This time we will be checking our courses with him (what’s possible, and what’s not?) before making our definitive choice.
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February 08, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
Saying goodbye and meeting new people went hand in hand the first week in Istanbul and Eskisehir. Once you go abroad to travel or study you truly come across the most interesting people. In one hand we’ve met new people from all over Europe and beyond. You go out with each other, having fun, but on the other hand we have to say goodbye when you leave a certain place or someone yourself, or when someone else leaves.
In this case scenario we had to say goodbye to Pinar Celik, our special Turkish friend who’s been our friend for about 6 months now. She’s going back to Holland for another 6 months today, on the 8th of February.
With a group of friends of Fiko and Pinar we went to Varuna Gegzin, a great place! It’s a backpackers café. They don’t serve alcohol here, just coffee, thea, hot chocolate et cetera. The place is filled with photos from all around the world, Lonely Planet guides and other books, and lots and lots of travellers (and lots and lots of locals as well) having a good time playing a game of chess or backgammon, studying or just reading a (Lonely Planet) book. The place is actually run by people who do tours all around the world.
It was the perfect place to say goodbye to Pinar, since we all love to travel. But it wasn’t a real goodbye because we made a pact that someday we’ll meet again. Everyone left a message on the video camera for Pinar. She’ll be taking the tape to Holland.
After this we went back to Fiko’s house to celebrate her boyfriends birthday. It was a surprise for him. We had some cake and beer and after a while Pinar and her boyfriend had to leave to visit her boyfriends sister and husband. Pinar asked us to come with them, for one last time. We went to a beautiful house with an interior of a (very modern) Japanese styled house. After a cup of kavhe we talked a little and we learned that the sister of Pinar’s boyfriend and her husband were having a architect bureau (this explains there beautiful house). We got there card and they let us know they needed a website for there company. We told them we’d stay in touch before we left. You can get assignments anywhere in Turkey!
Pinar and her boyfriend walked with us in the direction of our guesthouse (we were still staying there at that time) and halfway there they had to go in to another direction. This time we truly had to say goodbye to them. Afterwards we didn’t really knew what we felt. Pinar was actually going back to Holland for another 6 months. We’d miss her a lot. She didn’t want to go, but she also knew that once she’s there everything would be alright soon after it.
Pinar, we all hope you will have a great next 6 months in Holland, having fun at the NHL and making many new friends over there. Don’t worry, be happy. Seni yakinda tekrar gormeyi umit ediyorum, dostum. Goodbye, until we meet again ;)
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February 08, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
After a few days of spending in the guesthouse, it was time to visit our future housemates. I myself won’t be able to get in my room up until the 15th of February and even with this room it is not sure I can stay. It would be the third time now that I’m switching rooms and it’s really getting annoying. Not that it’s gonna be a problem though, there are many good places to be found in Eskisehir. But still it would be nice by now to know where I’m going instead of being send to one place to the other.
One way or the other, we had to check out from the guesthouse anyway. The Anadolu University has an agreement with the guesthouse that Erasmus students can stay in the guesthouse for free during the first 5 days. We stayed for 4 nights and the next day we packed and went to Jelmers new place.
Volkan, Jelmers new housemate picked us up from the guesthouse and and he offered Arne and me a sleeping place as well untill we find a place for ourselves. Hopefully this will be resolved soon! We’re having fun though :)
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February 07, 2008 - Permalink - 3 comments
It’s funny that Eskisehir literally means ‘Old Town’ but that you’ll find nothing of old around here what so ever. Modern mosques, clubs, cafes, restaurants, bridges, houses and people dominate the area wherever you go. It’s a student city. There are two big universities in Eskisehir that both hold 67.000 students every year!!! Right now it’s still a quiet city but next week everything will change, so we’ve heard.
We have been staying in Eskisehir for a few days now. It’s still pretty quiet but you can already notice it’s a real student city. We hooked up with two Erasmus girls. Aga from Poland and Pina from Slovenia. They actually knew the previous ‘Dutchies’ Mathijs, JB and Erwin. We went out several times now and had a lot of fun. It’s amazingly nice meeting all kinds of people from different countries all combined in one city. Everyone - including a lot of Turks as well - is internationally orientated. This is something I really miss at the NHL. It’s such an eye opener to stay in another country for a while. Only for this reason everyone should do it once during their studies or afterwards.
This week I shot a panoramic view of Eskisehir. I added the Panorama to the photo section in the blog. It will give you some idea of what the landscape in and around Eskisehir looks like. I’ll also ad some typical city images of Eskisehir in this blog later.
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February 07, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
The next day we went back to Haydarpasa trainstation. We got their early so we had some time to walk around some more, take some photos and eat something along the Bosphorus river. Jelmer and I took some photo’s near the trains as well. In Turkey you can walk on the tracks all you want. Everything is different here. Meanwhile Arne got harassed by some shoe polishers while Jelmer and I were taking photo’s. Apparently they were really annoying. I understood this because the same thing happened to me in Bulgaria. Arne was all by himself with our luggage and had to be careful.
Our train departed from Haydarpasa at 13:30 and arrived around 19:30 (45 minutes late). Taking the train from Istanbul to Eskisehir shows you some nice views of Turkey. The landscapes, villages and cities you pass never look alike which makes the train ride very interesting to say the least. To kill some more time I learned some new Turkish words and sentences and an elderly Turkish couple started helping me pronouncing some of the words for a while. Later Erdeniz got in the train on Izmit station. Erdeniz is Arne’s future flat mate and he offered us to show us around in Eskisehir and the Anadolu University the next day.
When we arrived at 19:30 Pinar, Fiko and some of their friends picked us up at Eskisehir train station. The first night we were going to stay at Fiko’s house. That night we went to Glow, a nice bar with live music after having dinner in the city and getting to know Fiko and Pinar’s friends a little better. Once again the hospitality of Turkish people came in to place.
The next day we met again with Erdeniz who showed us the campus of the Anadolu University (it really is a city all by itself) and helped us finding the guesthouse where we were allowed to stay for free for the next 5 nights.
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February 07, 2008 - Permalink - No comments
After exploring Instabul for a few days (as written in ‘04 Introducing Istanbul’) we met with Pinar, our Turkish friend at Haydarpasa station in Istanbul. We took the ferry from Emoninu and went to Kadikoy on the Asian shore of Istanbul along the Bosphorus. From there it’s about a ten minute walk to Haydarpasa station. After buying train tickets for our journey to Eskisehir the next day, we went for a walk along the Bosphorus, ate something and bought a Turkish SIM card for our phones. Later we took the bus with Pinar to her sisters house. But first Arne and me bought flowers for Pinar and for her family.
We had dinner at her house, and it was delicious. Her family is incredibly hospitable (as are practically all Turks) and we had a really great time. To all of us it was a very special day. One of Pinar’s sisters was going to predict our futures by looking in our Turkish kavhe cup after we had finished it. It’s called ‘Kavhe Fali’ and apparently, especially in Istanbul, it’s done for many tourists on the streets nowadays. But this was somewhat different. It had a more mystic feeling about it because in our case it wasn’t a tourist trap. In a nutshell, truthfully or not, all our futures were bright.
In my own case Pinar’s sister told me that before I went to Turkey there were some problems with something or someone but they got resolved right before I left for Turkey. She also told me I had three roads I could take, and all were good. It was even possible that all roads would come together at a certain time. Next she told me that I would travel to a lot of places, and visit many ancient temples et cetera. Finally she told me that by the end of these six months I will be feeling sad for leaving Turkey. The strange thing is that there was no way she could really know about all these things. Real magic or not, it was very fun and interesting to be part of this. It made our day even more special then we could have ever imagined. I would like to thank Pinar and her family (Pinar, tell them I said hi. Especially you little nephew). Tesekur iderim, dostum. For everything.
Rating: 3.0666666666667/5 (60 ratings, 4374 views)
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Aya sofia 