On Wednesday the plan was to break us up into groups and send us out into the city on a scavenger hunt and hope that we are able to find our way to some small restaurant called Klemuri Cafe.  The adventure wasn’t bad.  It was actually kind of exciting.  Taking multiple buses and trains throughout the city and really getting a first look at everything Istanbul.  I knew enough Turkish to get around, as well as a girl in my group, but I believe there were three groups that had no idea of any Turkish and no translation book.  Some actually opted to skip a stop and get a beer.  To be honest it was a miracle that we actually all showed up around the same time.  Once all together at this little restaurant we shared what we have been doing all day.  It wasn’t until then that my group discovered how terribly lame our trip was.  All the other groups went to mosques, museums, parks, and bazaars.  Our scavenger 

hunt took us into Karak�y.  The first objective was to find a restaurant to have lunch.  We knew the general area from the clues.  The restaurant was across the ship channel from the historic center Sultanahmet next to the ferry port.  We looked around for the restaurant but couldn’t find it.  I went up to a man standing out in the walkway trying to bring customers to his restaurant.  He told us that the restaurant changed its name and walked us over to find it.  “Next time come eat here” he advertised as he walked back.  The meal was good and the wait staff was friendly but we were irritated that the information they gave of in the hunt instructions was incorrect and this wouldn’t be the only time that this happened in the trip.

Our next stop was to find the Kamondo Stairs to take a picture on.  This stairway was down a street that seemed to be asleep.  No one was down there.  We were wondering what part of this screams touristy.  We found the stairs and despite the fact that it had 2 paths that criss crossed up the hill there really wasn’t anything special from what we could tell about these steps.  Right next to the stairway was our next stop.  The Ottoman Bank Museum seemed interesting; however it was closed due to construction, so we couldn’t go there.  From there we found a transportation office to apply for student discount cards that we couldn’t get because we didn’t have our passports or documentation from the college saying that we are enrolled students.  Once into Taksim we walked down the street in this huge outdoor shopping street looking for Klemuri Caf�.  We ran into another group going the wrong way and turned them around.  I asked countless people who worked in this shopping distract about where the restaurant might be and no one knew of it.  Fortunately we had a street name.  We eventually found the side street and walked all the way down this dark alley to find the restaurant at the very far corner of this creepy street. 

The next day we had a Turkish survival class which we could have really benefitted from before the scavenger hunt.  Afterwards, a group of us had to go to the police station to apply for resident permits.  When we arrived, we went through security and told to go wait in the cafeteria for our appointment.  An hour passed and nothing happened.  The cafeteria had cleared out and the staff just finished cleaning.  Without even hesitating the staff walked out and turned the lights off on us and left us in the dark.  We didn’t have any where else to go so we waited another hour in the dark.  We finally moved to another building to wait again only this time in a crowded room.  After 30 minutes we were handed papers and told to go stand in line.  More waiting. Who would have thought?  When I finally reached the desk a lady took my papers and began going through them.  All of the sudden she disappeared for 20 or so minutes before she came back filled out two lines and said I could go.   I swear I think she went and dyed her hair.  It was red before and was black when she returned.  I was one of the first to get in line but one of the last to be done because of it.   

Location: 34440 Istanbul/Istanbul Province, Turkey