Merhaba From Turkey!

by Natalie Cartwright

Images of touring infamous European landmarks like the Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Alhambra in Granada are usually what people conjure up in their minds when they think of study abroad, but so far, my current experience abroad has been far from such picturesque destinations. Maybe the reason that my experience is playing out differently than the typical experience is because I am actually in Asia and not Europe, but I think a few other things make my experience abroad a stand out one.

Ankara is the city I currently call home and when I explain where I live the words, “with my Turkish family” are always one of the first things I say. Yes, I can gratefully say that a loving and extremely hospitable Turkish family has taken me in for the summer. But, I shouldn’t have had worries because in general Turks are extremely friendly. This means a host mother who doubles as a superb chef, who always makes sure that I have had plenty to eat, and makes me feel special because she greets me and sends me off with the kind word of "canım" ("my life"). But, another quirky dimension exists because they also took in an exchange student from Japan. We may be a house of three different native tongues and cultures, but we are able to live peacefully together with many inside jokes forming on a daily basis.

My mornings are spent taking Turkish language courses at Tömer, an 8-story language school with students from across the globe. Scratch that, the eastern half of the globe. As of yet, I remain the only westerner (American/West European) in my courses and possibly the whole school. The situation really gives meaning to the saying of one common language.

This past month I have adjusted quite nicely to city living and Turkish life. Taking the metro daily was a new experience for me, but one that I feel I have finally mastered. A feeling of great success overcomes you when you no longer are lost in the crowds of commuters. Similar to the feeling of success I had when I found out I passed my June Turkish level exams, or when I blend in enough to be approached for directions – sometimes I am of help, most of the time not so much, since I myself only know certain parts of the city.

My consumption of çay has increased exponentially since my arrival, along with my ability to predict when the next Call to Prayer will sound. I have mastered a keyboard in two languages as well as can now teach someone else the game of Tavla (backgammon). A few hours in the afternoon spent at a café with friends playing the boardgame is not only common but also relaxing. I am no longer fazed when I see three egg shops or pharmacies in a row, but I am still shocked by the cheap cost of bread and the amount of bread that is consumed in this country. Don’t let this lead you to believe that I am not guilty of eating copious amounts though. I’m pretty sure I have a hidden Turkish gene for the ability to consume extraordinary amounts of bread.  Something that is not so cheap – gasoline! At $12 a gallon, you better believe I am happy to be an on-foot and metro commuter.

While most of my time has been spent in Ankara, I did travel to Southeastern Turkey for a weekend, with more travels to see this vast country planned in my coming weeks. Just how American cities have their differences, Turkish cities do too, with each city and region offering their own specialties and customs. While in the Southeast my fellow travelers and I made sure to partake in local cuisine, including a traditional and extravagant Turkish breakfast, and Kurdish culture, by visiting historical buildings including a still active Kurdish coffee house. We also saw the rest of the sites that were suggested by our travel guide: Lonely Planet.

I go into every day not knowing what to expect, but know that at the end of the day I will be grateful that I have been given the opportunity to study Turkish abroad because stuff just has a tendency to click more when you are truly living it. So for the time being, I will continue to blend my American identity into my newfound Turkish life and make the best of it. Stay tuned for more updates from Turkey – this is just the first of 7 months abroad for me!

Natalie Cartwright is a second-year MA student in European Union Studies. She received her Bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2011. Her interests include migration flows, environmental sustainability, Italian and Turkish. Natalie has spent the summer studying Turkish language at Ankara University TÖMER and will spend the fall 2012 semester studying at Bogazici University in Istanbul, in both cases with support from EU Center Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships. 

Merhaba From Turkey!

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Magnificent Sights and Friendly Faces in Greece

by Liyu Lei

The study abroad group in front of the Parthenon

I am Liyu Lei, and I am studying renewable energy concepts in Greece. This has been an awesome program that has given me the opportunity to learn about renewable energy including solar, wind turbine, hydro-power, biomass, and geothermal energy, as well as travel to Greece!

The Greek financial crisis was dominating the news in the couple of months prior to my trip. My family and I worried about safety during my study abroad trip. When we first arrived at Athens, we had to find our way to the University and to some historical sites. Surprisingly, I was never rejected by anyone when I asked for directions. I still remember clearly the experience we had on our way to the Acropolis. Professor Zahos’ friend, George, volunteered his time as our tour guide. We were supposed to meet at the entrance of the Acropolis at eight-thirty. However, we were still struggling with the directions at eight o’clock. While we were looking at the map and trying to identify the streets, we heard a voice belonging to an old man: “Do you need help?”. He not only helped us find the correct route on the map, but he also walked about 15 minutes with us to our destination. Although we were still a bit late, we were so lucky to meet him. After this experience, I felt safe! Even today, I can’t remember how many times I have received assistance: people helped me pick up my wallet when it dropped to the ground, people reminded me to zip up my purse, and people gave me a hand when I got lost. Although I may not remember their faces, I will remember their smiles, so pure and sincere.

Despite the financial crisis that has afflicted Greece’s economy since 2010, Greeks love living their life. Compared to the United States, their living style is quite relaxed. They regularly go to work from nine in the morning to nine at night. During the summer, some stores are required by law to close from two-thirty to five-thirty due to hot weather. They call this period “quiet hour”, during which no noise is allowed inside resident buildings.  Many stores are closed on Sundays for church and family activities.

Greeks are famous for their liveliness. Although Greek women follow the tradition of cooking for their household nearly every day, they also like to spend time eating, drinking, and dancing at night with their friends. Whenever you walk down the street at night, you see many Greek adults chatting at the bar or restaurant, sharing their daytime experiences with one another.

Hydra Island

Today, Greece still maintains their tradition of folk dancing, which attracts audiences from all over the world. Dance often plays an important role in the life of a Greek. Through it, they express their feelings about everyday life. They dance during religious festivals and ceremonies, and one can find folk dance performances in Athens easily. I saw a wedding party in Delphi, where the bride and groom danced traditional Greek dances that were combined with modern dance as entertainment for the audience. It seems to me that Greeks have adapted modern dances in order to add diversity to their traditional dances.   

Odeum of Herodes Atticus

Greece is famous for its historical sites and very blue seas. The Acropolis is the one historical site that we cannot wait to visit. Thanks to George, we learned about the mythology and history of the temples, such as the Parthenon, Athena Polias, Propylaea, and Erechtheum. In order to better understand Greek culture and history, we took a four-day classic tour. We went to Epidaurus, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, and Meteora. Although they are ruins today, I could see their past glory from the magnificent architecture. There are numerous beautiful islands in Greece. The sea water is bluer and calmer than you can imagine. You should not miss it!

This article is one in a series of blog entries written by University of Illinois students who were selected to travel to Greece to participate in a four-week Renewable Energy Concepts Study and Cultural Tour, provided by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES). Tour participants embarked on technical field trips, cultural excursions, and collaborated with students from the Agricultural University of Athens and the University of Thessaly in Volos to solve real-world engineering problems. This program is partially supported by the European Union Center through a US Department of Education Title VI grant.

Liyu Lei is a junior studying Food Science and Human Nutrition. She chose her concentration in Human Nutrition because she is interested in understanding the relationship between food consumption and human development and health. She currently lives in Chicago.

Magnificent Sights and Friendly Faces in Greece

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Mine 2B, Airships, and Twenty Years of Tourism

By Alexandra Wright and Jane Rivas

Today we started bright and early.  It was our intention to scale the cliff face directly behind our guesthouses with the goal of exploring the remains of Mine 2B.  Of all the mines present in the mountains of Longyearbyen, Mine 2B is the most complete.  It was created in 1937 after its adjoining mine, 2A, became too long, so an alternative, and more practical, entrance was created: 2B.  The mine used the long wall technique, where long tunnels were used in the mine with side aisles.  The coal was extracted via coal cutters and floor scrapers that helped to move the rocks to the entrance of the mine where they could be processed.  In 1943, with the continuation of the World War II, German warships visited Longyearbyen and set fire to its mines.  It was not until 1947 that work was restarted in the 2B system.  It continued to be in use until 1960 when the coal seam ended and Store Norske started work on Mine 5.

Like many of our other hikes, the one up to 2B proved to be a rewarding challenge! Being able to maneuver around within the old mine, its adjoining buildings, and the surrounding landscape provided us with a valuable new perspective on the mining industry present in Spitsbergen.  The steep terrain, cold climate, and relative isolation faced on the side of the mountain represented only a fraction of the difficulties faced by those that chose to make their home here.  Having seen this mine, it also gives a greater historical significance and understanding to the role that coal mining companies, like Store Norske, have and continue to play within these Arctic environments.

After safely making it back down the mountain, we continued to examine the built environment within Longyearbyen city while grabbing lunch at the local café, Fruene.  Our next stop was the newly opened Spitsbergen Airship Museum.  A private owner, with the sole purpose of bringing these artifacts back to their rightful home, compiled the entire collection and covered the ceiling and walls with aluminum to give the exhibition a modern Arctic feel. The museum deals with three of the dramatic aerial expeditions to reach the North Pole that originated in Svalbard. Our day concluded with a relaxed interview of Andreas Umbreit, a local tourist company owner.  It was nice to discuss over hot chocolate the changing character of Arctic Tourism as a means of better understanding the evolution that has occurred in this location. 

Alexandra Wright is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently studying Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Human Dimensions. She is from Chicago, IL

Jane Rivas is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She is currently studying in the pre-medical field and pursuing a duel degree in Chemistry and the History of Art.  Jane is studying in Stockholm, Sweden with the Arctic Summer Program.

Mine 2B, Airships, and Twenty Years of Tourism

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Svalbard Museum

by Georgy Petukhov and Noel Piatek

Today the group was pretty exhausted from the extensive reindeer hike the day before. We started a little later so that everyone could catch up on some sleep. During the day we split off into our project groups and were able to walk around town to observe the built environment and to get some interviews from local townspeople and tourists coming in on a cruise ship. We were able to find a plethora of helpful information to write about in our final paper about the changing Arctic. During that free time in the afternoon many people sent postcards back home to friends or relatives. Later we recombined as a large group and headed over to the Svalbard Museum, which is connected to the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). 

UNIS is a research university focusing on arctic biology, arctic geology, arctic geophysics, and arctic technology. UNIS does not give out degrees but is seen as a supplement to Masters and PhD work. The museum was not big but it tried to cover most of the topics related to Svalbard and Longyearbyen in particular. In the center there was a stuffed polar bear along with other animals displayed. The museum walls were replete with descriptions of various topics such as animal life, Pomors, whaling, mining and geology. Pomors were the Russian whalers that were said to arrive in the 15^th century by the Russians. In the Svalbard museum, however, they were said to arrive in the 17^th century. This is interesting to note because both Russia and Norway are trying to establish their historical presence which is why these dates may not coincide. They were very interesting but we didn’t have time to read everything so some had to take pictures of these posters in order to read them later. The museum also contained a variety of books in reference to the Arctic, and lo and behold on the shelves was a text written by our very own Dag Avango, Sveagruvan (Svea Mine), which is pictured. There, at the museum souvenir shop, Georgy Petukhov carelessly forgot his precious yellow notebook with all his notes. He had to run back from the local supermarket to the museum that was to be closed in a minute. Fortunately for him our professor Dag Avango noticed the abandoned notebook on a book shelf and picked it up. 


After a short group discussion on an arctic meadow near the museum doors most of the students headed back to the guesthouses. Georgy on the other hand decided to go to the only city church, named Svalbard Church, which turned out to be a very cozy place. He could not resist the temptation to stay there for several hours to read a newspaper before going back to the guesthouses himself. Such were the events of July 15, 2012. 


Georgy Petukhov is a sophomore studying Computer Science Engineering and minoring in Chinese. He is from Moscow, Russia. 

Noel Piatek is a senior studying Integrative Biology with a concentration on Conservation and Ecology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is from Homer Glen, Illinois.

Svalbard Museum

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