Istanbul 603

Hilarious!

2008-09-21T23:03:00.000+03:00

January 28th - February 1st, 2008

2008-01-15T00:58:00.000+02:00

I believe this is the amount of time we have to travel in between the two weddings, no?

Now that it is the exact middle of January, too late to purchase reasonably priced domestic flights in India :) I am starting to look at travel plans.

I'm very happy to go with the flow but am hoping the flow will go to Goa. I need some major Vitamin D. I look like a ghost and am the color of yogurt according to one of my close Turkish friends :-) I would love to spend a few days catching some rays and relaxing on the beautiful beaches of Goa. Particularly Palolem Beach, with Aakash's and my good old friend, Gordon, who seems to know everyone's friend Fred quite well. Who's in for a bit of sun and sand?

If people are more interested in maximizing their time and seeing the most of India in the short time that we have, what are your plans and would you like a sidekick or two? I would love to get SOMETHING booked..

What about some sort of Indian Safari?

india trip

2007-12-21T11:51:00.000+02:00

hey everyone, so lets see if anyone responds to this. we should start planning the india trip or at least get ideas together. i'll e-mail and facebook this as well. my plans are kind of all over the place, fly into calcutta from dhaka on jan. 25th then probably 25th night or 26th morning i'll be in ahmedabad (yet to buy tickets) then jan. 29th i think i'll go to delhi for the whole day to spend with a friend who lives there, 30th will be in mumbai and my mom's visiting there and i'll go to cochin from there with her on feb. 2nd (not concrete can be the 1st as well). there till 4th or 5th when i go back to mumbai.

thats what i'm thinking. i don't have the most flexible schedule or a whole lot of time but this is the plan as of now and will probably tweak things as they come up. but tickets can be really cheap in india but gotta act fast and i highly recommend no one wait until mid-january to buy tickets for domestic indian flights, it'll be very annoying and waste of time and money.

hope others can write down what their plans are, and if they are just to go with the flow then we should figure out what that flow is soon (maybe this weekend or right after christmas).

What books have impacted your life?

2007-08-24T07:34:00.000+03:00

I had emailed Ash for a list of his favorite book as a way to expand knowledge and now I'd like to throw the question back at each of you. What books have had such a powerful impact that you would list them as a favorite? Here's my list.

Papillon - Henri Charriere
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Travels - Michael Chrichton
The Flyswatter: How my Grandfather Made his Way Around the World - Nicholas Dawidoff
The Clan of the Clave Bear - Jean M. Auel
Cheaper by the Dozen - Gilbreth (nothing to do with the movie)
The Sword and Scimitar - David Ball
The Power of Myth - Joseph Cambpell
Zen and the Beat Way - Alan Watts
The Zahir - Paulo Coelho (and the Alchemist if you haven't already read it)

Monica

where is everyone?

2007-08-13T10:23:00.000+03:00

are we going to use facebook as the defunct place to e-catch-up? would be great to hear from everyone.

Afterthoughts - pictures

2007-07-16T12:30:00.001+03:00

afterthoughts

2007-07-15T20:59:00.000+03:00

hey everyone,

i'm guessing people are settled/still settling back to regular life in your respective locations (except that nomad basilio). just wanted to get something in while the thoughts are still fresh. i don't know whose idea the reunion was, but it was a good one and thanks again iva and nikki for taking care of so much before, while and probably after the reunion. as for me, i just got back to SF on friday night, buying furniture today and starting work tomorrow (monday) and life will be as north as north can go for at least 10~12 hours a day. working that many hours by itself is quite north, some would say working altogether is north but thats a whole other topic.

i hope everyone had as good a time as i did (or better). that first night i got in was just euphoric and that was really crazy and perfect. i couldn't have asked for a better group of friends and it was fun to see how things never change (freddie and his "influence" on us, the exact shade of pink maarten's face gets after the 5th drink, the Cristiano experience, the debate on whether to plan or not... hahaha) and how everyone has been getting along two years down the line. didn't really get to see everyone off like i wanted to (bas, carmen, iva, the hindi, golden kokoreç on balik pasaji...) but i mean there are no good byes so hoping to see everyone really soon (in other words, come visit me!). forza 603!

P.S. i am still waiting for my credit card!!! i hate my bank.

World Hostel Reservations in Istanbul

2007-06-11T16:23:00.000+03:00

Hey everyone! I am getting so excited for the reunion! It is less than a week away, yay!

I must let you know though that there has been some major confusion regarding reservations in Istanbul. I will also post this on facebook to ensure that no one misses this information.

I was under the impression that I was to book the hostel for everyone from June 17th until each person's date of departure (which should have been emailed to Iva). Those of you who were planning to come any earlier would be responsible for making your own reservation or personal plans for accommodation before the 17th of June. I will be confirming the following reservations by Wednesday at the latest. If there is a discrepancy in this list and your plans, please email the hostel and let them know the dates you are planning to stay. I know a few people have already made reservations with them over email and it has worked quite well.

Reservation List (name/number of people/ dates of reservation):

-Basillio /1/ June 17 - 23
-Carmen /2/ June 17 -22
-Tsveti /1/ June 17 - 20
-Aakash /4/ June 17 - 23
- Monica /1/ June 17 - 23
-Ashfaque /1/June 18 - 23
-Maarten /1/ June 17 -23
-Naterce/1/ June 17 - 23
-Megan /1/ June 17 - 23
-Aneta /1/ June 17-19
-Jan /1/ June 17-18
-Iva /1/ June 17 - 21

Please note: This list does not reflect reservations made by you personally. I know that Tsveti, Aneta and Cristiano, for instance, have made personal reservations for June 16th. These are just the reservations I have made for the group. If you need to make a reservatioın for the 16th or anytime before the 17th, please contact the hostel directly. They work well over email.

World House Istanbul

http://www.worldhouseistanbul.com/

Phone : ++ 90 -212 - 293 5520
Address: Galipdede Cad. No 85
Beyoglu - ISTANBUL
e-mail : info@worldhouseistanbul.com
e-mail : hostel@worldhouseistanbul.com

Istanbul - Pure Magic

2007-06-09T07:50:00.000+03:00

Pure magic phenomenon – this is Istanbul. Time travel doesn’t exist, they say and yet each time I view a photograph, review a memory or say the city’s name – I do time travel, at least that’s how it feels. For a city, entwined with its past Ottoman history and 21st developments, traditional routines with modern lifestyles, holding its strong eastern past as it heads into its western future – in the midst of all of this, it is easy to feel lost.

Lost for all the memories passed before this moment and lost for all the exciting, hopeful and questionable future. And yet all one has to do is gaze at (or think about) this body of water - the Bosphorus. In its overwhelming beauty the complete awe and wonder of the world befalls you departing a calm joy, in reminder that it is not lost. It is here with you, slightly different than before, just as you have evolved.

Istanbul 2007 – the reunion with 20 something of my friends from all parts of this world shared in such a strong memorable experience that we have realized our vision to reunite once more in this magical city to share our stories and rediscover the city that we left two years ago. Istanbul – I am ready to meet once again.

For my friends – 603 united we live, travel and dream.

more on accomodation

2007-05-22T23:17:00.000+03:00

hey guys, i posted the list of everyone that is coming on facebook, nikki is booking this week, please check it out and let me know if anything is incorrect, thnx

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

2007-05-13T19:17:00.000+03:00

I AM BACK!!!
I haven't been saying anything because I have been busy at work and at university! So here is a quick update of my life since last time I wrote here...

October 2006 : Graduated from university after an awful trainingship in Spain! It made me remeber you guys at Istanbul! Una mierda... pero ahora hablo castellano!
Mid-October 2006: Job at the communication department of a Regional Energy Agency created by the European Union. "How cool it is!"
November 2006: Work is fine
December 2006: Beginning of a workaholic life
January - March 2007: Workaholic life
February 2007: Began a post graduation "Human Rights and Democracy" - Interesting but hard! It will be finished in the beginning of June! ThankSSSSS GODDDD!!!!!

***April 2007***
!BACK TO SOUTH SPIRIT!

May 2007: Graduation party at Coimbra... Here is the pic of me and my best friend Ana. We didn't meet Fredy on our way but we were kind of drunk!
How cool we are on this pic, don't you think??!
Check more pics in mi HI5 profile

Now, (eventhough I am back to the south spirit) here are my plans for the ISTANBUL REUNION....
YES!!!!!!!!! I have booked all the plane tickets and for really good prices!!!!

So... I haven't everything already planed but here are the first dates. I will write the BIG plan on my blog and send you the link so that you can read it...

Between 7th (Holidays in Portugal) and 10th of June (Nacional Holiday) -- Leaving Portugal to Morocco. I still don't know the exact date because of many things... it will depend on my post graduation exam (whether it is on the 2nd or the 9th of June); It will also depend on whether Basilio can come or not (he will arrive at Madrid on 8th June) and finally I am trying to convince a friend from my hometown -Carlos- to come because he has holidays from work that week.
14th June: Leaving Morocco to London Luton (17 euros)
15th June: Leaving London Luton to ISTANBUL (Sabiha) (110 euros)
Between 22nd and 24th of June: Leaving Istanbul to Sofia by bus or by train
Between 27th and 29th of June: Leaving Sofia to Bucharest by bus
On 2nd July: Leaving Bucharest to Madrid by plane (157 euros)
3rd July: Back Home!!!!! Time to work!

So here is my plan for the «Adventure Summer 2007 - I am the size of what I see» ! It's ambitious but I am getting ready!
A last point before I forget... About accomodation at Istanbul... please let's choose the cheapest! I would choose the hostel! Oh, and Iva, congratulations and THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the efforts you have been doing for all of us!

Now, a last question... anybody wants to join my adventure?

****HUGS****

Pix of the apartments

2007-05-03T20:39:00.000+03:00

On accomodation again..

2007-05-03T10:59:00.000+03:00

Just wanted to add some info about the hostel, in case we end up staying there:
it's the only one in Taksim (near Montreal, so very close to everything), I reserved 20 spaces there for the week. It would be 15 lira per person (18 with breakfast)

waiting for everyone's reply

Found an apartment, need feedback!!!

2007-05-03T02:49:00.000+03:00

Evryone, the reunion is approaching and I seriously need to know who is coming and your feedback to the bellow. This is the best I could find. I will be travelling in Iran for the next 10 days but will need to give an answer to Nesli as soon as I come back.
So everyone who would like to stay in the apartment, please send me an email or post a comment, if I have 20 ppl in the next 10 days, I will take it, otherwise we are staying in a hostel.

Let me know!

PS - I couldn't open the pictures, I will post them as soon as I get them.

Dear Iva,
Hope you are doing good.
Uploaded the photos, you can find them as attached.There you will see 2 different flats in the same building in Cihangir area. Just behind the German Hospital and 5 min walk to Istiklal Street. Live and safe neighbourhood. The flats are about 110 m2. Air conditioning, satellite and cable TV, telephone(active for incoming calls only), 24/7 hot water, refrigerator, gas stove, washing machine, iron and ironing board are in use. The cleaning will be done before your check in and will not be done again during your stay. These two flats are available between 17-24 June 2007. The total rent is US$ 3,500.00 for two flats, 7 nights. You said you would be 20 together; therefore it’s US$ 25.00 each night each person.

The roof, ideal for 5 pax
- Furnished 2 bedroom sea view flat
- 2 double beds and extra one on the floor
- Equipped kitchen with balcony (it’s cool!)
- Bathroom with bathtub

Second floor, ideal for 6 pax
- Furnished 3 bedroom flat
- 2 double beds, one single and extra one on the floor
- Equipped kitchen no balcony
- Bathroom with bathtub

I seek a lot, there is no big place for 20 and no individual price like this. This is a real bargain. You can also rent one flat only but I do not recommend. Because I told the landlord that you guys would be around 10-12, plus many guests. If your comings and goings call his attention and if he attempts to count you and if he counts you 20... No matter! You have 2 flats and modarate number guests for each flat. But if you have one flat at that time... Oops! Be sure that it would not please him. We should not forget that he has the rights to dismiss you.Awaiting for your comments.
Any question, I am here ;)
Loves,Nesli

Accomodation Update

2007-04-18T21:16:00.000+03:00

i went to istanbul over my spring break to find us sth. but for me alone to find an apartment is pretty impossible for such a short time and hotels around taksim are just too expensive. so i booked us 20 spaces in a hostel (btw i really need to know exact dates from everyone asap) and spoke with a friend who works in tourism (=knows the right ppl), since then i've been talking to ppl from several agencies, who are trying to arrange sth like an apartment for us. i said that our price range would be max 25 or 30 dollars per day per person if its walking distance from taksim. they found some places, of course out of this price range and at the moment we r at the process of persuading them that they should let us stay more people in a room that we wont break anything wont get drunk etc (donno how that's gonna work...), so it wld be less expensive. will keep u all posted when there are any news.

Tsveti is on Board, how cool is that?!??!?

2007-04-17T20:41:00.001+03:00

Hi guyssss!!!!!!!!!!!
At long last, after bothering Basilio thousand of times to be able to post s.th. on the new blog, i have it and I can scream into the Istanbul603 world: I WILL BE THERE, I WILL BE PART OF THE COOLEST RE-UNION EVER AND I'M ABSOLUTELY THRILLED AND EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!
I will be there 15th -20 June (not long but im on internship in Stuttgart and dont have so many vacation days).
I remember reading the first mails, about an year ago, about reuniting, and I thought : "oh my god, I dont know where Ill be next month, how can it be possible to plan so long-term". But in the end the enthusiasm and maybe nostalgia, but most of all the wish to feel a bit of this Istanbul 603 feeling, emotion and thrill will unite us again in the most beautiful city. I cant believe it! You know, even though I was really so short in Istanbul, it was like the best time ever and the mot unique combination of people, events, weather, everything...So unique that I was afraid to go back cause I thought I will cry all the time for this time; a time which will never come back, cause I am not the same and my life has changed. But now, with ALL of you, i know I will have someone to share my tears with :) Maybe it sounds dramatic u know, always when Im completely drunk I start crying for Istanbul and missing it so much. its because just then I cant control my feelings, normally I try not to think about it. Anyway, every time of a person's life has its special taste and charm. Im happy with the new phase Im in right now...
But most of all Im happy to see in soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking forward :)

Tsveti is on Board, how cool is that?!??!?

2007-04-17T20:41:00.000+03:00

Hi guyssss!!!!!!!!!!!
At long last, after bothering Basilio thousand of times to be able to post s.th. on the new blog, i have it and I can scream into the Istanbul603 world: I WILL BE THERE, I WILL BE PART OF THE COOLEST RE-UNION EVER AND I'M ABSOLUTILEY THRILLED AND EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!
I will be there 15th -20 June (not long but im on internship in Stuttgart and dont have so many vacation days).
I remember reading the first mails, about an year ago, about reuniting, and I thought : "oh my god, I dont know where Ill be next month, how can it be possible to plan so long-term". But in the end the enthusiasm and maybe nostalgia, but most of all the wish to feel a bit of this Istanbul 603 feeling, emotion and thrill will unite us again in the most beautiful city. I cant believe it! You know, even though I was really so short in Istanbul, it was like the best time ever and the mot unique combination of people, events, weather, everything...So unique that I was afraid to go back cause I thought I will cry all the time for this time; a time which will never come back, cause I am not the same and my life has changed. But now, with ALL of you, i know I will have someone to share my tears with :) Maybe it sounds dramatic u know, always when Im completely drunk I start crying for Istanbul and missing it so much. its because just then I cant control my feelings, normally I try not to think about it. Anyway, every time of a person's life has its special taste and charm. Im happy with the new phase Im in right now...
But most of all Im happy to see in soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking forward :)

Travel plans

2007-04-14T06:12:00.000+03:00

So the Istanbul reunion is set for the week of June 17th. I'll be probably buying my ticket tomorrow June 15th-July 6!! So psyched! Okay, now let's try to get an idea of travel plans after Istanbul. Ideas so far presented:

-mediterrean travel and Eastern Turkey
-Iran/Syria

Okay that's it, lol. I would like to stay in the country and visit the areas that remain unknown in my memory. I def want to go to Fethiye, Bodrum, and how much fun would it be if we could hop on an AIESEC tour. Iva, have you heard of any tours planned for that time?

Guys, I'm officially psyched!! I think we call appreciate how hard everyone is working to realize this, money saved, time, effort, everything! It rocks and it will be sooo worth it, I can't even think about it or my apartment will fall apart with my shaking and jumping!

New Facebook group for the reunion

2007-04-12T07:11:00.000+03:00

For the people that haven't accepted the Facebook invitation yet: do it now or else you will die alone! I know it's not easy to distinguish useless crap from useful crap in your inbox this days, specially with so many mass invitations going around, but that's why I'm making this post: to tell you that this invitation is useful crap.

For the people that haven't received the invitation, please send me an email so I can have your email address to send it to you.

That group can make planning easier as it's much more immediate than a blog, so I propose we move the discussion and planing for the reunion over there.

I started using Facebook a few days ago, but in my opinion it's one of the few serious efforts in creating a decent online community, so I think you won't regret joining.

Some important announcements

2007-04-01T08:19:00.000+03:00

My first and most important announcement: Today I bought my plane ticket to Europe! This thing is becoming a reality. I'll arrive in Madrid the 8th of June and from there maybe I'll go to Morocco with Natercia for a few days, and then Istanbul! Soon I'll let you know when I'll be arriving in Istanbul, most probably the 16th of June

I also started my very own blog! This is were you'll find my stories and pictures from my travel around Europe, Turkey, and around. I'll also try to keep an updated itinerary of my trip for anybody who wants to know where I am and where I'm heading at.

I would also like to point out that this blog turned 2 years old a couple of days ago. It never ceases to amaze me how well this has worked out. As Nikki said, we're blessed with modern technology, but this would be nothing without the interest and the use each of us has given to this thing.

As I've said before, it's incredible that after 2 years we're making this reunion happen, and in such a way. I know everybody is doing great sacrifices to be able to be there in June. It's easy to daydream about a reunion sometime in the future, but to make it happen is really something else. Undoubtedly this is very important for all of us.

The time has come!

Nikki's onboard...perhaps overboard...

2007-03-21T23:47:00.000+02:00

Merhaba benim arkadaslar!! Seni cok cok ozledim!!

I recently glanced through a little photo album that Ash posted on his Facebook Profile entitled "Guzel Istanbul," and all the sweet memories of all of you and the fun times we had in the dorms and on the streets of Beyoglu flooded my mind, body and soul. Oh how I miss each and every one of you! I can't believe that so much time has gone by since our days in the dorms. In some ways it seems like just yesterday we were sneaking bottles of Effes past the guards, hit'n the bong in the bathroom, and excusing ourselves in only a towel through our tiny kitchen on the way to the shower.

Since then we have each gone our seperate ways in life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. Fortunately we are blessed with modern technology and staying in touch has been relatively simple (for some more than others of course). I remember sitting in Natercia's dorm room (601) one day chatting a bit about our past, our future, and The Alchemist among other things and we continued come back to and express our feelings about how truly special our group of friends in Istanbul had become over time. We shared how deeply appreciative we felt to be there in that place and time and be a part of such a momentous experience.

I also remember verbalizing a daydream about how great it would be if there could be some way in which we could get our group to reunite every few years or so throughout our lives. I even went as far as conceptualizing a plan where a different person would host the group in their home country for each reunion. As we all move on in life we would bring our husbands and wives and even eventually our children. Our children would then have the chance to meet and become friends with other children from all over the world! Just as I started to go on, Natercia slapped me out of it and said "wake up, Nikki, wake up," and explained the likelihood of my dream becoming a reality.

Perhaps there is really no way my entire dream could become a reality but I am indeed beatified that an idea tossed out to the blog almost a year and a half ago to organize a reunion with 10-15 people from all corners of the world is truly materializing.

You can bet your bottom dollar that you will see me on/around June 17th at our favorite Galatasaray High meeting spot, enthralled to see each and every one of you again.

*Sniffle, sniffle, wipe a tear*

Okay, lets start confirming plans.

The ONION: will be expanding from print to streaming video...(newly updated to fit blog discussion theme)

2007-03-21T17:39:00.002+02:00

Condoleezza Rice To Voyage East

Accomodation in Istanbul - please read, this is important!

2007-03-08T18:01:00.000+02:00

Since I am still in Turkey I was delegated the responsibility of taking care of accomodation. In order to do that, I need a few answers from all of you.

1) Aakash and I thought that it would be best if we all stayed in some dorm-like (read cheap to keep the spirit) place somwhere around Taksim. We could walk everywhere and we would be able to hang out all together. Any objections/other ideas? - Please let me know

2) I also need to know who is coming and when (how many nights are you planning to stay in Istanbul, which days). In order to be clear, could everyone please send me an e-mail with this information to ivuskawalterova@gmail.com? It would be great if you could send me this information within the next two or three weeks. Thanks!

P.S. I am also making sure that Fred joins the party, so we should be all set :)

Monica's on board!

2007-03-02T06:08:00.000+02:00

I'm psyched! Okay, so I just got an official, permanent, non-contract job with wonderful benefits doing great work which I really enjoy with awesome people! Wooo oh, it's working for a Foundation on the corporate philanthropy side of things! It also means that I can now officially book my vacation time which is 12 days but I might be able to work it into 3 weeks with sick days and a few other things.

So.....I know some people are going to Europe, others are talking about Iran/Syria... with three weeks it's not so much time to be country hopping all over the place so I'm thinking 1 week in Istanbul of some hard core reminisching, tributes to old time aka party central, fred is invited. Then I'd like to head off to the beaches along the Mediterrean coast, Antalya, Fethiye, Bodrum...and take it East, near Van Lake. I would be up for some Syria/Iran border crossing depending on time.

Istiklal, mediye, Galatasarey here we come!! Mid to end of June/early July is awesome! Oh by the way, where will we stay in Istanbul?

Off-Topic: Moved to the new Blogger

2007-02-19T08:06:00.000+02:00

I didn't want to do this before because of all the trouble some people may have having to change their blogger accounts to the new one, and the possibility of some people left behind (I hope this doesn't happen), but maintaining the old blogger account looks like is not an option either since some people are starting to have trouble posting.

So we moved to the new blogger. If anybody has problems changing their accounts or logging-in please let me know and I'll do what I can to help you. If you don't have my email address you can find one in my profile

And now, carry on with the discussion!

Proposed Dates for our Reunion

2007-02-15T11:45:00.000+02:00

Hello Bobs of the world,

Well to say that I have been irregular would be an understatement. I wrote a long entry, it took me so long to write it (about 1 day) that by the time I hit publish post it has dissapreared just like i did from this blog. Well Hindi is back and back in full swing. Let me give you a sneak peak into life in the last 9 months.

Moved to bangalore in April 2006, working with an NGO called the International Youth Foundation
Met up with Ash, Adi and Dennis recently in San Francisco (All Istanbul trainees)
Called up Cris to get the magic potion for making Sangria before a party yesterday
Brought a big smile on my face when I heard Bas 'planning' his travel in Europe
I suddenly feel this urge to go back to Istanbul and work.
My home is a mini 603 den with stolen items, barbeque, photographs and more importantly the spirit, come to Bangalore to find that out.
Oh and fred still visits often.

Coming to more interesting things in life, thanks Natercia for taking the initiative to suggest dates. I think we should lock some dates so that all of us can rally around those in order to make sure we are all getting there at the same time and spending time together. After all Istanbul is different when everyone is together, who knows when we will get this chance again and we need to make the most of it when we are there. I know some of us are planning visits to Syria, Morocco, Iran etc. we can do this before or after the agreed dates for Istanbul.

Taking the que from Natercia, I am proposing that we meet in front of Galatasaray school at midnight of 17th June, Sunday. This means we get our asses there by the evening of the 16th June, Saturday. We can spend the week doing things together and have our last party on the 22nd June, Saturday before we head out to our onward destinations. I dont know how long you guys were planning on spending in Istanbul, but I think if I had to do justice to the place with everyone together, I would need atleast 6 days if not more.

Needless to say this is only a suggestion and we can have a discussion around it to freeze on a date. I propose that lets agree on a date that suits most people by the 21st of February so that it gives us enough time to make other plans and maybe look for accomodation and stuff.

So arkadas lar...lets shoot it, this is the meeting of the legends...the meeting of a movement, the meeting of 603! :)

Sherefe!
Aakash

FIRST DATES FOR TURKEY 2007

2007-02-12T14:30:00.000+02:00

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, people... At work, I took my holidays form 11th to 29th of June! This means that I will be or, I want to be traveling from 9th to 29th of June!

So, let's see... Basilio, I will join you between those dates... let's see where you wanna go.
I guess we should begin with Istanbul. Of course in our way to Turkey we could stop in other countries like Bulgaria or France or Italy or... what do u think? I have some good friends both in France and Italy (and they all speak spanish and give us a place to stay! hihihi!)
Actually, where do you think you will be? I can also go to the country where you think you will be at that time...

Any one else?

Let's speak about this seriously... cause now that my holidays are taken...

HUGS!

Istanbul Summer Plans (Revisited)

2007-01-25T13:47:00.000+02:00

hey guys so its been a while since we last sort of talked about the summer... i have some updates since the end of the year (oh and happy new year all... ;) btw... i'm a little late but that's southerness i guess...). so i got a job offer in a consulting firm in san francisco and will be taking it up, and so now i'm in the process of getting a work permit and that stuff. so i'll be trying to get 4 weeks off between graduation (june 17th) and starting work, so it would be ideal for me to go to istanbul in mid-june or first week of july because i also want to go home to bangladesh for about 2 weeks because i probably won't be going back in a while. so for others with issues regarding taking holidays from work or have other scheduling problems please post, because once we set a date i'll buy tickets right away.

..::Just a special day::..

2007-01-18T03:42:00.000+02:00

It was just a special day...

For tha first time I entered in the ?Estadio do Dragão? ( the stadium of FC Porto ) as journalist what a fukin experienced I had there? you cannot imagine how nice it was being a part, actually what pleasure it was working that magnificent place!

I was there assisting the broadcasting of the game with the national radio of Portugal antena1

Peace my Brothers!

News from Venezuela are not only about Chavez

2007-01-17T03:21:00.000+02:00

As usual, it's been quite a while since last time I wrote here, but I'll try to change that. Lot of things have happened since:

- I met some very interesting people, mostly foreigners, like me
- I fasted during 3 days in Ramadan
- Chavez was reelected for the 3th time, but not with my vote
- I quited my job and I'm working freelance now
- I paid for a haircut for the first time since a long time
- An article I wrote about my days in Istanbul was published

As you should know, I'm also saving money to travel to Europe and Middle East this year. I'm happy to say that I'm almost there at the goal I setted myself. I still have to figure out the visa issue, but I'm closer. I'm up to traveling around the middle east before or after the Istanbul reunion, so we have to talk about it. Anyway, I have to write another post just for the trip planning

Here is the link to the article I wrote about my experience in Istanbul. It was published by a magazine in my university. If you don't understand anything is probably because you don't know how to read spanish. If you don't you can also look at the huge pictures they inserted in the middle of the article. I don't know what they were thinking

In other news... Maarten, you should be happy to know that there is new "malandro" fashion here in Caracas ("malandro" meaning something like a thug, street-wise, delinquent) which is to wear pink shirts. I think we all now why they can wear it.

So... What about you? What have you been up to? What about the reunion? I think june should be a good month

Christmas -- New Year's Plans

2006-12-03T07:18:00.000+02:00

hey so the holiday season is right around the corner, just wanted to know what the gang was upto? any plans and don't try to act all south and not answer that question! i will be at my brother's place in maryland (he and his wife had a daughter a few months back, so will go see my niece) for part of the break and then detroit for christmas at an uncle's and new york city with some friends from high school for new year's eve.

ash, aka the bangli

Attempt to display North behaviour

2006-12-02T11:59:00.000+02:00

Ok.... so here we go! Cut the crap, let's get down to business. You can talk about social stuff when you're retired, you can sleep when you're dead.

Who? 603
Where? Istanbul
When? One week during May07 - Sep07. Would prefer to go outside the high season (July&August), since
a) prices will be very high
b) stupid tourists will be everywhere (unlike us, of course)
c) demands from others (girlfriend) to spend quality time.

So I would opt for May/June/Sept... What about you guys?

Hey!! Look at that... didn't that sound very North?
By the way, if anyone is interested in visiting Iran (Cris?), let me know...

La Reunión Magnífica

2006-11-15T11:48:00.000+02:00

Hey all, sorry I've kind of been away from the blog... lazy, unmotivated, south - some words that come to mind that describe my state at the moment. There is a German proverb I once read which said something like:

"Commitments are like the full moon, if they aren't made immediately they diminish day by day"

and with that I pledge my commitment to La Reunión Magnífica. As far as time is concerned I think we should get there Thursday, July 5th and meet at Galatasaray Lisesi around 10:30pm, go to Montreal for some drinks, then Joker while its early and the rest should be history. ;-) All jokes aside, yeah early July seems good for me. And depending on $$$ I may continue my travels into Beirut, Cairo & Dubai (if anyone's interested let me know). Also I definitely want to stay in Istanbul for 10 days at least, the longer the better cause its more time with you guys!

On another front, my graduation is June 17th and you are all invited to attend. But yeah if realistically anyone happens to be in northern California in mid-June make plans to attend this party! What I plan to do following graduation is unclear, I got a couple of interviews last week, haven't heard back yet, may apply to some more jobs, but I think I'll try to do something somewhere in the world and apply to graduate school... how cool i am!

See you all in exactly 232 days on Istiklal!!!

Sefere to our Reunion

2006-11-03T22:44:00.000+02:00

Fellow Istanbulies, it's been a while. Totally forgot about the end of Bayram......thanks Natercia for the reminder. I've been eating tonnes of sweets though so no worries. I'm glad to see the old blog still up and running.

I've been thiking about you all lately, wondering what everyone was upto and wondering if this reunion thing is still a go. We're making it happen!
I've been a bit inactive with all of you for a while. After spending the entire work day on the comp, the last thing I do is turn it on at home.

I've been in my fundraising job for five months now. My boss is a fundraising consultant and so I'm the third addition to our 3 person small business. It's awesome in that you get your hands on everything, so many learning opportunities without the bullshit of the hierarchy. The story of how I got the job is pretty karmic, a lot of seemingly insignificant events leading upto, my dream job, basically. I hope everyone is looking for the signs to find their way in life.

My way is leading to Mexico pretty soon. Oh, did I mention that my boss believes in two months vacation per year (unpaid)!!!! So Christmas time I'm taking my first month and returning to Mex where I studied during Uni for 6 months. That leaves about another 6 months to save for Turkey, ya man.

I'm also in love.... with three new people: Borat-yes I like very much; Ryan Gosling-amazing Canadian actor and soo sooo hot (see Half Nelson); and Michael Ignatieff- the super smart, super hot, intellectual, historian and politician (and hopefully the next leader of Canada)- he must be an Aquarius:) Just thought I'd share that. Rolf Potts still remains my secret lover. I love him too.

Love you all
Sefere Akadarslaryim
Monica

Bairam Nostalgy

2006-10-24T17:43:00.000+03:00

I was chating with Maarten on msn and he reminded me that today is Bairam!!!!!!!! God!!! I miss the "şeker bairam"! All this chocolate! I miss it so much that I decided to go to the store next to my office and buy some chocolates!!! And for those who don't really know or don't remeber what it is... here is a definition:

«BAIRAM, a Perso-Turkish word meaning "festival," applied in Turkish to the two principal festivals of Islam. The first. of these, according to the calendar, is the " Lesser Festival," called by the Turks Kiitshiik Bairdm (" Lesser Bairam "), or Sheker Bairam (" Sugar Bairam "), and by Arabic-speaking Moslems id al-Fitr (" Festival of Fast-breaking "), or Al-'id as saghir (" Lesser Festival "). It follows immediately the ninth or the fasting-month, Ramadan, occupying the first three days of the tenth month, Shawwal. It is, therefore, also called by Turks Ramadan Bairam, and exhibits more outward signs of rejoicing than the technically " Greater Festival." Official receptions are held on it, and private visits paid; friends congratulate one another, and presents are given; new clothes are put on, and the graves of relatives are visited. The second, or " Greater Festival," is called by the Turks Qurban Bairain, Sacrifice Bairam," and by Arabic speakers Al-'id al-kabir, " Greater Festival," or I d al-a4ci, "Festival of Sacrifice." It falls on tile tenth, and two or three following days, of the last month, Dhu-l-hijja, when the pilgrims each slay a ram, a he-goat, a cow or a camel in the valley of Mind in commemoration of the ransom of Ishmael with a ram. Similarly throughout the Moslem world, all who can afford it sacrifice at this time a legal animal, and either consume the flesh themselves or give it to the poor. Otherwise it is celebrated like the " Lesser Festival," but with less ardour. Both festivals, of course, belong to a lunar calendar, and move through the solar year every thirty-two years.»

in, http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Bairam

Arkadaşlar, iyi şeker bairam!!!

Miss u all
Natercia

What about the Reunion Istambul July 2007?

2006-10-16T19:40:00.000+03:00

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys, what about THE Reunion?! Let's begin to speak about possible dates so that everybody can manage to be there and get cheap plane tickets. And are we speaking about one or two weeks? I haven't taken my vacations for next year yet so I am quite flexible right now. But as far as I know, Basilio is going to be travelling through Europe so how is your «plan»? (GOD! What a word!!!!) Maarten and Aakash, are you flexible about dates (Once I know you have kind of a "serious job")? AND THE OTHERS?

Well, hope to have comments as soon as possible.

Hugs

..::Droops of Istanbul::..

2006-09-28T13:51:00.000+03:00

Arriving...

Arriving in to the border i didn?t know that were waiting for me 6 checkpoints and several stamps!

Some tour in the Bosporus in tiny boat. Can you see anything interesting behind me?

Check it carefully!

? Cappy Karisik?

Late, but not dead

Some pictures of the Istanbul adventure, the stories will come later?

Cris!

!Back Again!

2006-08-11T17:50:00.000+03:00

My friends, after 8 borders and 5 days driving I arrived in the most beautiful city in the world Istanbul?
Mission accomplished ( not totally.. I have to go back home?)

Hugs from Istanbul!

Peace!

..::Istanbul Conexion::..

2006-08-04T13:54:00.000+03:00

Guys I'm leaving to motherland, Istanbul. 4000 Km of asphalt and 4/5 days of driving are waiting for me. No plans, No Hotels reserved just pure adventure!

Hopefully I will pass all the borders and I will arrive in Majestic and Grand Istanbul.

Sadly you will be not there, but for sure I?ll find our collective memories walking in Istiklal Cadesi...

I miss u all guys!

Hugs

Cris!

I, Sentinel

2006-07-24T19:33:00.000+03:00

It's been a while since I participated in that sci-fi movie project I told you about, but I finally got the pictures this weekend... so, for your amusement, here is me, the retro-futuristic-mega corp-sentinel. Have a laugh

PORTUGAL! PORTUGAL! PORTUGAL!

2006-07-02T12:41:00.001+03:00

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

I can't avoid it! I have to speak about it! WE ARE IN! We passed the quarter final! YEAHHH!!!

England played very very well, even better than us when we think that they were only 10 players. But we were lucky andHere are some photos of the man of the game, in my opinion: RICARDO!!!

Tuesday we play against France. So here is our hymne just in case you wanna sing with us!!!

«Heróis do mar, nobre povo,
Nação valente e imortal
Levantai hoje de novo
O esplendor de Portugal!

Entre as brumas da memória,
Ó Pátria, sente-se a voz
Dos teus egrégios avós
Que há-de guiar-te à vitória!

Às armas, às armas!
Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,
Às armas, às armas!
Pela Pátria lutar
Contra os canhões marchar, marchar! »

Hugs. Natercia

2nd part...

2006-06-30T23:11:00.000+03:00

Meeee again for the second part of my letter..
Ohh yeah, the time in the jungle and not precisely with sexy Mougly (or Tarzan for me)...it lasted for 2 months, then I came back home and decided to stay in Lima. The project was only for a short time as I was an external consultant but even though the well paid salary...I dont know if I´d had acepted to stay longer. Anyway, I did good savings and set up a business with 3 other university mates. So, here I am since then selling or doing contacts for it, controlling, doing the online marketing (I´ll need of ur help my techie friends: Aakash, Basilio, Monica...u`ve got a nice site) and we produce and sell fine products made of silver and plaque.
Now, I will comment some of ur posts here:

*2007 meeting, sounds good! Which month, where??, WHO of us?
*Basilio, did u know ?El Callao? is the name of a port area and its harbour in Lima? there are also small good places to eat ?ceviche? our famous, delicious, spicy fresh fish dish.
*Turks are everywhere, like peruvians...=) I guess. There´s a turkish colony at the south of Peru (Tacna, Moquegua) and a friend of mine says they´re pretty closed to relations with others. Though, in Lima I haven´t found any statue of Ataturk yet...
*Because of spanish cultural influence we also have these tapas restaurants and of course, sangria!! Salud, Naterce!
*Alhambra...It´s the name of a cinema in Peru, and nowdays you can find gambling places named like this here...funny, isnt it?
*Maarten, south america in ur work schedule?? Any trainee coming here ??
*Bollywood in Lima, man!! a hit !! though u can see them only in cultural associations not in commercial cinemas.
*Chagall painted a pic called ?the dream? which I like very much !!
*The world football champion league...it´s so crazy here, the favourite´s Brazil, Argentina. I didn´t like how dutchers played with portuguese days ago...
*Gossip: you might know this, Nat. Carmen´s getting married!!, we chatted weeks ago and she looks so happy in her pics
That´s all folks ...Cariños, Love,
Mila

Puta! qué largo salio esto...

2006-06-27T03:04:00.000+03:00

Por fin, caramba!!!.....
(for the spanish speakers/lerners)

it has come the time for Mila from Lima but in Lima to show up.
It´s been a long time that I read ur posts here and wanted to do it myself though, schedule time, activities, lacking of pc facilities and so on had made it difficult to appear here.

How are you my dear all???
I can finally say that after 1.3 years, I find it relatively easily to read ur feelings, experiencies and views of how Istanbul has affected us all in a positive way. Why do I say this? Because when I got logged to Ist603 the first times, I just couldnt avoid feeling nostalgic, not really crying...but yeahhhhh u know ...sensitive, bringing back to conciousness all my life & you there. Every time I talk about Istanbul, it´s impossible not to refer the sort of family we were: Naterce, Carmen, Megan, Marta, Nastia and Gaby(2004), Nikki, Eva and then Stvety, Caro, Monica, Sindy,Maaartina that crazy laud woman...and least but NOOOOt last, the male element, of course!! Basilio, the other latino and first one to introduce himself in my first day and almost the last one on my last dayyy-the last was Naterce....then El Padrino (Greg, sour at first impression but surprinsily nicer after a long time ;-), Alex! could speak spanish when drunk, Nate, the strangest ukranian guy...(what was his name??who drank chicken instant soup and bread for breakfast and similarities...) and of course Aakash, Ash, Amazing Geza, Shawn,Crazy Manu, Cris, Marten.
Sorry if this takes a bit longer but I feel like doing it and as some of u know, I write very long letters to my dear people and so you are.....Sometimes, when I talk like this to my family members or friends they just can´t really get what I mean. It`s like a bit increible or how could it be possible?
Just a few days ago, I saw a Deutsche Welle report about Istanbul (to stay tunned with my german skills). I cried a little bit to see again those streets, galata tower and bridge, the little train along Istiklal, fishmarket, Dolmabache Palace, the princess island and...well...also with industry information and how german-turks had made of their business a hit in Turkey. Then I realised that only who had lived in Istanbul can feel when another one speaks about it. Or as you boys, say...it is a state of mind..
wowow...after such introduction, I will give my update to you.
Coming back home, like u, was unconfortable. I felt like a visitor at my home, at my house, my bedroom wasnt the same, hopefully my family gave me the time to get used to Peru again. My friends were supportive and lovely, though their busy schedules !! but somehow we manage to meet each other...=) It took me months to find my first job, since employment in peru is really hard or applicants with my CV are considered overqualified people, so u dont get what you fairly deserve in ur salary.
Anyway, I worked in a short time project for WWF the panda NGO. So, I did my luggage again and went to the peruvian jungle (Loreto) to live among Kandozis, a native community. It was amazing!!! =), really hard time, or like Sindy says, not chilling out in some cool place. Not at all, I lived in the only medical centre there, with no water or electricity supply. I was doing consulting about fishing. Well, the Kandozis live in an area which is the biggest and the only source of sweet water in the world. Lake Rimachi is Kandozi´s property and they sell the fish coming from it, but they dont really know the costs of their activities and they and other fishers (who are not kandozis) overextract the fish....well, complicated to explain in few words. Very interesting, to see the cost side, social and economical factors and also cultural site of it. wowow....A challenge...but on the other, it made me wonder of ups and downs in life. How I came to be in Europe and then to the very simple, hard life in the jungle!!! Eg: an obstetrician,my close friend, and I colleted water from rain to cook and take showers...it was fun to wash clothes during rainning time...With no light at night, I became a storyteller with my adventures and experiences before going to sleep...
....well till here for the first part... 2nd part will come pretty soon

muchos besos y abrazos
hugs and kisses for all,
Mila

The real working life, not just chilling in some tropical place!

2006-06-06T03:01:00.000+03:00

It took me a while to get started on this blog, but when I read about Martin supposedly working in between scuba diving, sunbathing and playing Golf, I had to give this blog a bit more sense of reality, as for most people, working life unfortunately does not sound like a vacation....
Although my debut to as a poster to this blog has been quite late, but I have been following it up, and its so great to hear what impact Turkey had on all of you! This blog such a great thing to stay connected so lets keep it up!

Since many of you don?t know what I have been up to since last summer when I left Turkey, a little update on my life since then. Getting back was hard at first, but you have experienced that yourself probably. Missing the life I had in Turkey I was contemplating of doing another traineeship in some exotic place, but out of money I decided to finally get real and get a proper job! Even though at times I was dreaming of doing something more meaningful, with my education and work experience I eventually ended up in banking after all. So since 3 months I am now in London, working my ass off for an investment bank (I crazily chose the worst team in terms of working hours ? M&A, 80h+, but its definitely the most exciting). But before I threw myself into this hell I was travelling for almost a month in India, rambling all over Rajastan, travelling the Golden Triangle and chilling out in Goa.
This summer I?ll be for 6 weeks in NY for training, last chance to living a fun life once more! Anybody around at that time? For the rest my life continues to be a lasting analogy to Istanbul. Crossing the Thames river on my way to work reminds me each time of the beautiful Bosphorus and Istanbul?s magic?
I am looking already much forward to the planned reunion, will be so great to be back! Actually I was in Istanbul in December and almost missed my flight back as a result of too much Tequila at Joker...

Hugs to all of you!

Sindy

My plan

2006-06-04T10:08:00.000+03:00

Nothing much has change in my life since the last time I wrote. I have no more movie business related stories, or interesting trips to tell you about, but I have something else: I have a plan.
I realized a few weeks ago that planning is not so bad after all, at least when it's necessary. This enlightment came at the right time for me to start planning my next project, a project I called: 'Backpacking Europe 2007!'.

That's right, I finnally decided what I'm going to do next. Everything seems to indicate that this is the right choice for me right now for many reasons. I know very well that, as time goes by, I have fewer chances of making the backpacking trip I've been dreaming of since highschool. And why Europe and not some other exotic remote place?, you may ask. Well, because I realized I have quite a few good friends I would love to visit over there, and it would also get me close enough to Isanbul to be able to make it to next year reunion in Istanbul. So count me on that one too.

I'm going to start my journey between march and may 2007, when plain tickets are cheaper and weather is getting better. The idea is to visit anybody who would like to see me around for a couple of days... or weeks. I need to coordinate with each one of you in order to make my plan in the next few months. For how long and where I will travel will depend a great deal on what I talk with you, so it's more like a collective plan in which all your ideas are welcome.

I will be writing more about this here soon.

Looking forward to start planning with all of you.

small update

2006-05-26T18:06:00.000+03:00

Ok here's a small update from my previous post. So I went diving, and guess what? I got bitten by a fish. Luckily it was in the flipper, not in my body, as it was an overly aggressive triggerfish (for more information keep checking National Geographic Channel).. I can tell you these guys have big teeth! For the rest, my scuba diving adventure was very cool!! By the way, I am leaving the Philippines tomorrow for Malaysia, flying on to Thailand on Tuesday and NYC on Friday... Pretty excited about that, even though I already fear 25hrs on a plane from Bangkok via Amsterdam to NYC....and two days later back to Amsterdam again...

quotes

2006-05-24T23:35:00.000+03:00

i guess either basilio or aakash did this, but its really cool how the top of blogger has our different quotes whenever you refresh. just a comment!

exams of course...

2006-05-24T11:26:00.000+03:00

hey all,

i just got back from the boston area, i went to see one of my best friends graduate from university. another 3 friends from high school came as well, so the 5 of us had a really great time, and yes freddie was with us the whole time! it was my first encounter with freddie since i saw him and maarten in amsterdam last september. its weird seeing people graduate though, i'm getting very nervous (although i have one year left), especially because i don't know what'll happen after... well you guys are all living proof of good and exciting things happening after university. it was also really good and sad to meet up with my high school friends, i hardly saw them in the last 3 years, and this time it felt like i really missed them for those 3 years all at once. i'll definitely be going to the washington dc & new york area over the summer, but will be in university doing research for most of the summer, and will be in bangladesh for most of august and september.

here's to a good summer!
bangli

Around the World

2006-05-19T17:40:00.000+03:00

The working life

So it's been a while since I posted on this blog... since anyone posted actually! Time to change this, I thought while riding the service from my work to my hotel, and listening to Turkish music on my mp3-player. Time to start the laptop, and here I am... So what's up with me? You might know that I started working in April with Philips. I am responsible for the implementation of some new ways of doing negotiations in the purchasing department, in case you're interested. For this task, I was in Hong Kong for a week, and now in the Philippines for 6. Everything is well. I am being pampered in a very, very good hotel, if you compare it to the hotels we slept in during our travels in Turkey! Started to take up some scuba diving classes to pass my time, and it's good fun. This weekend I will have the final classes in a tropical sea nearby. Let's see how it turns out, because I afraid of fish (the only good fish, is a grilled fish!). Scuba diving a sort of a therapy for me to get rid of this fear... I will stay in the Philippines until the end of next week, after which I will start a whirlwind journey around the world to visit some factories in New York, France, Germany, UK, and finally the Netherlands. I will do this throughout June. Most of July, I will spend again in the Philippines. Maybe I'll then take some golf lessons... another one of those things that I always wanted to do, but never had the time and money for!

As you can probably see, I am well. How are you guys?!
Natercia, how's Sevilla?
Aakash, back home? Any reflections?
Cris? There's a roumour that you are actually studying? Please don't tell me that's truez?
Basilio? How's the movie business? How are your travelling plans?
Ash? Exams, I presume?
Nikki?
All the others... long time no hear...... Whatsup??

Getting back to Life !

2006-04-24T10:45:00.000+03:00

So here I am in India for the last 2 weeks and getting a taste of the craziness of this country again. Thank heavens that I am in the south where the temperature stays in control and doesnt go beyond 33-35 degrees during summer as compared to my home town where it hits 45-47 regularly. I am sure all of you have been through this phase of getting back to reality and it hits you hard.

After living in such a diverse environment surrounded by the crazy strikers its a bit difficult not to have different faces from all around the world and bitch about the world. Its difficult not to have the boshphorus around and it difficult not to have a good place that serves nargile. There are many little memories of Istanbul that make it special and not having anyone around to share those memories make it a challenge. I am going to meet all the AIESEC trainees here to see if I can provide them with any valuable services. Till then you can enjoy this snap from my farewell which deserves a different post.

G dub comes to campus

2006-04-24T10:24:00.000+03:00

President Bush came to our campus last Friday, well he sort of came. He was supposed to go to this building on campus called the Hoover tower, but there were about 1,000 protesters and they refused to let cars on that street. He instead met with the people he had to at a professor's house on campus who happens to be one of his advisors. The guy with his arms folded in blue is my good friend Quinn, he was also my room mate my freshman year. It was pretty funny seeing Secret Service people on campus for the whole week; random helicopters, black government cars, agents in black suits and sun glasses with ear pieces acting sketchy... good stuff!

heineken goes light...

2006-04-18T10:13:00.000+03:00

for the american market!

i'm sure maarten will have much to say about this...

A day in the life of...

2006-04-17T11:41:00.000+03:00

hey everyone,

i have completely disappeared off the 603 map for a while, but now i'm back. i have updated myself with what everyone's been upto. and i just wanted to share with everyone what i've been doing. i'm still in school $*U#%@!!! i turned 21 earlier about a month ago, so am legal in every sense of the word in the US... i was attacked with water balloons by my friends as a gift.

so i was working for the last few months on getting a job over the summer at a bank, didn't work out so well, so am trying to do research in a clinical lab as a statistician over the summer, so i'll be on campus, but am planning to go home at the end of summer. we had spring break for a few days (like 2-3 weeks ago), and 5 of my friends and i went on a road trip around the south-west, we went to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and San Diego, and around the Los Angeles areas. basically trying to figure out a way to get into graduate school (so i don't have to get a job!!!!). so yeah i'll be taking more exams over the summer and applying to universities again in a few months time (uggh!!!).

i think we really need to do this 603 reunion next year, it has to be crazy.

oh i forgot, there's this turkish restaurant that opened in palo alto (the town next to school), and we go almost everyday, the owners have become pretty good friends coz of my broken turkish, and they have pretty good iskender kebab!

peace!

Some hotel casino in Las Vegas

SEVILLA!!!!!

2006-04-04T17:07:00.000+03:00

HEYYYYYYY!!!!

I have 5 minuts to tell you everything I want and I really don't know how to do it!!!

I AM IN SEVILLA!!!! FIESTA!!!!

Well... It is fucking hot here but the city is wonderful! This is the real south lifestyle! La Fiesta is the queen and the Cerveza the king of the city!!!! No doubt... SOUTH RULES!!!

Well I am living with a dutch girl and 2 italian boys... GOD!!!! I think not only I am going to learn spanish but I will also need to learn Italian if I want to communicate with them cause they are as good spanigh speakers as they are wonderful (!!!) english speakers!!! Can you imagine!!!

I promess I will write soon many many details!!!

Hasta luego!
natercia

Tsveti's anniversary: One year after...

2006-04-02T21:16:00.000+03:00

A mail through the Istanbul Trainees List... I post it here cause I guess not everyone is still on the list! I love u!

Hi to all of you!

A bit more than an year ago I was watching the sunrise over the Bosporus at
Dolmabahce with Iva, after a totally crazy night in Sawady...
A whole year, and these times are still so fresh...
In this moment thousands of memories are going thru my head, of amazing
internationality, craziness, spirit and living for the moment. Istanbul and
my CEED there was the most intensive and unbelievable experience in my
entire life, as it was for a lot of people and still: it is my personal
number One! Thanks to everyone of u who I got to know and had fun with
during those 2 months. As time goes by, its really difficult to hold the
contact but i want to tell to everyone, i didntforget anyone, im still
thinking about those days and I still dont manage to unsubscribe from that
list, hoping for posts from someone i know in a slightly masohistic way
cause i sometimes really miss that times....

Tonight I was dreaming about the AIESEC song
AIESEC Istanbul, sani rakip yok.....

i loved that song isnt it incredible, I heard it in my dream, wow :)!
To all of u, who still know who I am: im so happy i got to know u, i wish u
all the best in or outside of AIESEC :)

I hope I will manage to come to the reunion 2007, i so much dont know where
I will be and what I will be doing...

With the departure of Aakash Istanbul will miss something but I am sure that
all over again, people will arrive and have fun and enjoy Istanbul to d
full, be amazed, smile, cry, live... But to all of us, the 603 experience
and spirit will be unique!
Aakash, u r too cool for this world, dont forget that and take care home :)

All the best :))))
Smiles from Tsveti
CEEDer Spring 2005

Dear Basilio,

2006-03-29T12:12:00.000+03:00

A majority of the Dutch parliament is deeply concerned about the security of the Dutch Antilles (Kingdom of The Netherlands in the caribbean). They fear that the circumstances in the caribbean, especially in Venezuela, can lead to a military invasion of the Dutch islands.

Chaves, president of Venezuela has previously mentioned: "If The Netherlands takes one foot off the islands, I will put both my feet there!" Now Chavez has ordered to increase the army from 150.000 to 2 Million reservists, and has ordered 100.000 AK47's.

What the hell is he doing? Are we at war? Anything from your side, or is this just the Dutch tabloids talking?

Looking forward to your reply.

Maarten.

Those islands off the coast are the Dutch Antilles

One year of 603

2006-03-29T08:59:00.000+03:00

This day, one year ago, Istanbul603 was born.

The first 2 posts, which we wrote in the computer room of the bilgi dorms, represent where whe wanted to go with this blog at that time. It has become much more than we expected at the beginning, but the spirit remains the same.

What amazes me is how good this idea has worked in practice, not only by keeping us in touch, but also keeping the collective spirit we had in Istanbul. Think about it.

Thanks to everybody that has contributed to this blog and helps keeping it alive and healthy.

This is just the first year of Istanbul603, but I hope many more will come.

And to quote our very first post:
603 is not a number
603 is state of mind

Plazes.com

2006-03-25T13:15:00.000+02:00

Kids,

In my quest to keep myself busy in boring times, I have stumbled upon the newest hype on the internet; www.plazes.com. I'm just discovering it, and you might be interested as well.... Check it out. My nickname on the system is MaartenStevens, so be sure to add me on your buddy list.

Enjoy,
Maarten.

www.Plazes.com

And to cheer you up... another one...

2006-03-23T12:36:00.000+02:00

Coast Guard

Nice German Car Commercial

2006-03-22T15:13:00.000+02:00

Very funny...

My reunion with Ataturk

2006-03-20T02:04:00.000+02:00

Not long after I came back to Venezuela I heard the rumor that there was an Ataturk statue, not only in Caracas, but just a few minutes from my neighborhood, in a park I have passed by many many many times in my life before. Ever since then I've been wanting to pass by one more time, see if it was true, and take some pictures... but it took me a little longer than I expected.

I don't know if it's just coincidence or what, but the neighborhood where the statue is it's called 'Santa Sofia', and I realized the connection with Istanbul just today when I saw the sign where it says 'Santa Sofia' just next to 'Plaza Kemal Ataturk'.

Maybe Ataturk is also near your house and you don't even know. Ataturk is really everywhere.

!Portuguese Reunion!

2006-03-19T22:56:00.000+02:00

Natercia and I @ Porto

The Report will be done by Natercia ... soon hopefully

Maastricht Carnaval

2006-03-09T14:41:00.000+02:00

Kids,

As we've already seen the Venezuelan Carnaval, here are some impression of the annual celebration in my hometown of Maastricht. My friends and I each year choose an 'act' that we can perform on the streets. This year, we decided to go as 'curlers', a sport officially recognized on Olympic Winter Games, along with 'fake' stone and brooms. Here are some pictures....

Maarten.

The curling team

Curling team + others

Me and other curler looking weird

Mi vida

2006-03-06T02:52:00.000+02:00

The last time I wrote here about what's happening in my life was not so many posts ago, but it has been more than 3 months.

Since then, I had a not so exciting december holidays and started working at the beginning of January. I'm currently working in a software development company, on a project for a travel agency (which is a beautiful premonition). My master plan is still to work this year and save some money to go to my next unknown destination.

I've been really busy just with my job, but I like what I'm doing, so it's no real sacrifice. Outside of my job I've been relatively busy also.

I worked in another short-movie 3 weeks ago. This time it was a special-effects-filled sci-fi comedy with more than 40 people working on set. A little different from my other film experience.

I played a futuristic sentinel for an evil telecomunications megacorporation (with a futuristic uniform and all). It might sound as a great role, but I was actually an extra. I found out the hard way that extras are not very appreciated in the professional film industry, so it was not as fun as my other experience, but interesting nonetheless.

I was waiting for the pictures to write about that, but the pictures are late as usual. As soon as I get them I will post some of them here.

For carnival I went to a small town named El Callao, famous for their carnivals and for their gold mining. It is very far from most of the venezuelan big cities, so you don't see many city people around there, even if their carnival is one of the most well-known in Venezuela. The celebration is basically drinking a lot of rum and dancing a lot of live-played calypso, with a lot of people, for 4 consecutive days. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot more to it, like some local traditions with afro-caribbean influences, the colourful parades, the giant moving soundsystems... but the drinking, the dancing, the music and the collective energy are what stands out. Pure and simple celebration

I took some pictures. None of them capture the magnitude of the celebration and chaotic spirit but you can get an idea of the place, the color and the people.

A morning parade

One of the sound-systems

Singing with the air-mic behind the giant sound system pushed by man-power

As Cristiano so truly said, I also have Istanbul on my veins, in my blood. It amazes me to still find out the impact that the experience had on me.

I can honestly say that I'm on a point of my life in which I feel happy and confident with who I am, where I come from and where I'm going, even if I haven't completely figured out that part yet. There is nothing extraordinary in my life right now for me to say that, but I've learned to appreciate what I have, and Istanbul and all of you are a big part of that.

So, that's my life now.

Love you all,

Basilio

ILLEGAL

2006-03-04T19:25:00.000+02:00

Me and my friends going back home...

..::My second hand Life::..

2006-03-04T19:19:00.000+02:00

My second hand life

Finally, after long month with no activity, suddenly with no apparent explanation 603 is back in action! This nostalgic place is quite comfortable for me?
Last 10th of February was the ephemerid of my arrival in Istanbul, I?m still amazed already passed one year ?
Is strange but a feel that Istanbul on veins? I?m all the time speaking about Istanbul, last week I bought a book with Turkish food receipts ? but I still not face that sacred place called kitchen.. But I will!
Anyway my life is more less the same that was before I left Porto but now knowing that there is a crazy world out there ?
I have classes everyday, almost every morning, after lunch normally I do some ?siesta? and I have more classes in the night until 23h00 (yeah Maarten until 23h00) ? weekend is for party? drinks some beers and be with Freddy, by the way I was with white Freddy, crazy guy he is?
I just came back from the carnival vacations I went to Granada, Andaluzia Spain, I was there for five days. Mad city very cosmopolitan people from everywhere, and that Spanish way life, u know ?tapas? sangria. Was 5 days of excesses crazy Freddy was there again. The hotel was really bad (and really cheap) and in a night somehow I made a blackout in the hotel ? but in the next day when I woke up everything was all right. There is not so much to tell about it ?drunk nights hang over days only in the last morning we did tourism, we went to Alhambra (A Muslim / Christian Palace and a mini city) it is enormous but was there only 2 hours, for a proper visit you need one day .. however we were too tired to walk? and it was waiting for us 1000 km by car?

Peace! I miss u all my brothers?

Cris!

My life

2006-03-03T14:42:00.000+02:00

Kids,

Since I am currently writing my Master Thesis (almost done, thank god), I have a lot of moments of distraction. In one of those, I was doing a couple of cycles flicking through tv channels. My eye struck a show on BBC about buying property in Istanbul. I watched the remainder of the show which made me think of some of the good times.

You guys watching movies until 2, me trying to sleep, getting up at 6.30. Beautiful sunrises. Sleeping on the bathroom at work. Back in the dorm, cooking until 11pm, or eating some tavuk sis. Drinking, smoking, crazy stuff. Cristiano walking around with sunglasses on a boat, cheering up the sleeping/drunk crowd. Madness! Going out to Joker, eating those filled mussels at 5 in the morning, walking down the hill, greeting the guards like we didnt do anything wrong. Good times.

As mentioned, I am currently writing my thesis, temporarily living in Cologne with my girlfriend. I just celebrated carnaval, which was great once again. Will post some pics soon. And, ladies and gentlemen; I got a job (for the ones that didnt know). From the middle of March I will work for Philips Semiconductors. Sit back and read my job title:

"Global eSourcing Project Manager"

Don't know what it means, but it sounded cool anyway. I will be based in Eindhoven, Holland, but I will be travelling a fair bit, so beware, I might come and visit you! Anybody currently in the Philippines? I will be there from april to june...

What's going on in your lives?

Maarten

what is your life?

2006-02-25T01:16:00.000+02:00

My god, this time last year what were we doing? Complaining about the snow and slush of the fucking hill. Feeling freakin depressed about the Kasimpasha dorm situation...or were we moved in by then? Partying it up till 6 in the morning at Sawady, downing vodka and Efes while chain smoking into oblivion........good times my friends.

Just going through a period of reflection and wanted to shout out and say what the hell is going on you guys' lives right now?

I'm out on the West Coast, livin the Vancouver laid back life and I'm lovin it, it's just so perfectly me. I mean, it's Feb, there's no snow, you can go jogging along the beach, while taking in the beautiful mountains and downtown skyline......this is it....the life.

And so what is your life?

keepin it real
Mon

In the meantime...

2006-02-23T04:12:00.000+02:00

I have a couple of posts on my mind to put here soon, but in the meantime, here is my second piece of the Trigger Happy series. More magical realism stills from moving cars.

I tooked this one last december in Maracaibo, the most representative city and people for the magical-realism side of Venezuela.

It's called: 'Stairways to Heaven'

More 603 in Bollywood

2006-02-18T23:59:00.000+02:00

Hey, I just found another sample of that great Bollywood movie

Take a look

603 in Bollywood

2006-02-17T17:21:00.000+02:00

Dear Kids,

As you all know, Bollywood is the largest producer of movies in the world. Yearly, numerous Bollywood movies are made, and although there are about a billion Indians, they are short on good actors for their movies. Therefore, three guest actors have recently appeared, imported from Venzuela and Istanbul. Have a look at this clip of them... you'll know what I mean.

603 in Bollywood

Greetz,
Maarten

603 becoming famous

2006-01-05T17:48:00.000+02:00

Hey everybody!

First of all I would like to wish you a Happy New Year! Everything great for 2006!

Yes! It is true! 603 is becoming fanous in Portugal! Yesterday I was interviwed for a TV programm that is made by my school tv team! I was asked about my ERASMUS experience in Turkey and of course I had to speak about 603! Unfortunatly that part was excluded from what actually passed on TV BUT... the chose some photos of you and I think that almost everybody appeared! And yes...Basilio...in one of the photos you appeared on the first plan! From those we could see in the interview my favorite is one of those we are innocently drinking all together something in white Bilgi tea glasses...Unfortunatly the only one who for sure didn't appear is Freddy but I guess he will understand!
I am sorry that I didn't tell anybody before but... I didn't really want everybody to know! :) But I promess I will get the DVD of the programm and somehow I will share it with you! Sorry Cris but I think that you won't see it again on TV!

I don´t know about you guys but when a New Year is about to begin I usually take some time to think about the past year and the one that is coming...you know thinking about what I did wrong, the great things that happened, the things I should avoid for the coming year...
Well this year while I was getting ready to go out and celebrate the New Year with some friends I realized that I hadn't done it yet... I stoped for a second and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked behind me. There was that bottle of coca cola light that I had been carrying with me for the past 2 hours waiting for the next room to which I would take it. Next to it...that hair straightener that I offered myself for Chrismas was ready to use! And the only thing that came up to my mind was this: "I LOVE IT"!!!!!!!!! Right now you might be thinking: "What the fuck is she smoking?"... Nothing, don't worry!!! Freddy is sleeping!
It made me remenber how I used to make fun of Nikki, that american girl who couldn't survive without her hair straightener and who always loves everything. And how many times did I think "what is going on with those girls?" everytime I would see Iva and Sara hanging around with their bottles of coca cola light! OH GOD!!!! I couldn't believe it!
Well that made me remember the first and unique post of my blog (!!!):

Now some decisions/resolutions for 2006:

_ After all I decided that I am going to do my internship in Spain (probably Sevilla) instead of Belguim

_ I am going to keep my blog updated!

_ And It is enought for now!!!!!

Big Big hugs! Natercia

Tech tip that will make your blogging life 603 oz. better

2006-01-05T10:43:00.000+02:00

I was recently chatting with Cris! and I realized about a problem that some of you may have. With so many blogs to check nowadays (like 1/3 of the members of this blog have blogs of their own) it's too much time consuming to check every one of them, every now and then, to see if there is an update. I solve that problem some time ago and the purpose of this post is try to share some of that wisdom.

There are several ways to get notified about new posts. I added a few buttons at the left menu under "603 subscriptions". With this buttons you can subscribe to this blog via google, yahoo, or a few other "subscribers" (at the "readers" button).

Taking the google subscriber as an example, since it is the one I use, this is the howto step by step:
(Note that you need a gmail or google account to do this. You can do the same with yahoo if you have a yahoomail account)
1. Click on the "Add to google button"
2. You then have two options. You can choose any of them to subscribe, but for the purpose of this explanation choose "Add to Google Homepage".
3. After login you can customize your google homepage and add more blogs, news, your gmail inbox, and many other things

The beauty of this is that you can subscribe to any blog that provides a feed (basically every blog available in the web right now). All the "603 blogs" have feeds, since Blogger provides this.

As an example of how it looks like, this is my Google Homepage (Note that I have all your blogs right there. Yes, I love you all)

To add more feeds to your homepage go to the "Add Content" link and then, in "Create section" insert the feed url. To make things easier for you, here are all the feed urls of the 603 blogs:

* Aakash: http://aakash.nomadlife.org/atom.xml
* Ash: http://finiteabyss.blogspot.com/atom.xml
* Iva: http://ivuskawalterova.blogspot.com/atom.xml
* Monica: http://monicastravels.com/atom.xml
* Natercia: http://naterciasantos.blogspot.com/atom.xml
* Nate: http://itsbacon.blogspot.com/atom.xml
* Nikki: http://sweetpickledelight.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Just copy/paste each one you want under the "Create Section" textbox and click the button

To return to your newly customized goggle homepage go to: http://www.google.com/ig

If you any problems or questions let me know

New Year's Resolution and Coming Atractions

2006-01-05T10:42:00.000+02:00

* Bring this blog back to life

Everything seems too calm around here. I guess everybody was enjoying the holydays enough to not be around a computer. I wish it was my case but that's another matter.

I found out about something that I know all of you would love to hear, but I will let Natercia write about it. I just know that tonight I had a brief appereance with Natercia in a tv program in Portugal... and very likely some of you also did.

Cristiano also has an interesting proposal coming that involves all of you. But he has to write about it also.

I'm sure Aakash has something to write about his holydays in India

As for me, I just have a boring blog tutorial coming, but at least something.

That's the coming attractions for now

Going public...

2005-12-24T18:10:00.000+02:00

I have been blogging for some time, not too actively but from time to time I would write sth new. However, since my computer sux with its Windows 98 and no memory what-so-ever I was waiting to get another computer to put up pix and other goodies before making my blog public. But while procrastinating I managed to make it a bit better lookin and figured I cld share now.. but since its quite difficult to share if noone knows about it, I figured I should also let some ppl know, so I am.. its on ivuskawalterova.blogspot.com

For the ppl, who sent me emails and to whom I havent managed to reply, I am sorry I have just been so busy with school but will try to be a better friend soon...

I don't know how to explain...

2005-12-18T16:06:00.000+02:00

I just know, this guy is from south!!!

The Saga continues

2005-12-10T22:18:00.000+02:00

Okay, I have been quiet for a while, but have been grappling with some decisions. Some of you might know that I was offered an extended contract with a proper salary in my company. The work has got interesting and I have grown in my role. A bit of travel thrown here and there always helps. All in all, I have enjoyed my stint and have decided to extend till June 2006. I am sorry El-Padrino, I will break your record. Planning to rent an apartment downtown and move in to live a more settled life. Now all of you know that you have a house in Istanbul anytime you want to visit!

Will look forward.

Egypt Calling...!

2005-11-29T16:42:00.000+02:00

First time in Egypt, there from the 30th Nov-8th December. Alexandria for two days and then Cairo for 6, the pyramids, the mummies, the nile, the sheesha...and more, cant wait!

Going to speak at a conference on Youth Education and the role of business representing Microsoft at a major conference for the first time, excited & a few butterflies, hopefully all should be smooth!

Finished a year in Turkey yesterday which ofcourse requires a separate post, but as a side note, I was cooked a surprise dinner by a bunch of sweet portuguese girls - Orgasmus ! Natercia reminded me of you here!

Graduation Ceremony

2005-11-26T01:20:00.000+02:00

Yesterday took place my graduation ceremony and today I'm officially a computer engineer.

I wanted to pay a little tribute in this day to all of you, istanbul trainees and orgasmus, recreating the famous Cristiano´s photo pose, with my brother, just after the ceremony and in full costume. So here it is.

You know you're an Istanbul trainee when...

2005-11-23T19:19:00.000+02:00

I recently posted on my blog "You know you're in Costa Rica when..) and thought it would be cool to do the same for this blog so here it is my 5 cents to start the list....

You know you're an Istanbul trainee when....

You are so broke that you do the following to save a lira:

1. cook for 2 hours every night
2. walk considerable distances and fucking hills instead of hopping in a taxi or bus
3. consider playing guitar on Istiklal to collect donations
4. consume as much Efes and Freddy as possible before heading out on the town and only agreeing to go to clubs that don't charge cover
5. pretend to be an Istanbul trainee so that you can sleep in the dorms

End of the world

2005-11-22T15:52:00.000+02:00

Quite hilarious, check it out

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end.php

Cheers!

Girls' Nights... Last post

2005-11-16T23:14:00.000+02:00

Bobbies, Fellow 603ers, old, new, male, female...

This is the last post about Girls' Nights on this blog. I have opened up http://girlsnights.blogspot.com for you to have this discussion formerly qualified as 'gay'.

Now think about that!

Pussies!

Girls nites comment

2005-11-15T20:41:00.000+02:00

I cant make comments specifically to a certain blog, but I had to share my comment, so doing it this way:
Bobby if u r so annoyed with all the girl's nites talk,emails etc. why r u polluting the blog with it too?? Look what it turned into! (Although it was really nice to see a pic from one of the good ones, netercia!)

Hoş Geldinız and re: girls nights

2005-11-14T14:25:00.000+02:00

Say hoş gendinız to a new blog member who most of you either don't know or barely remember meeting. I was never a member of room 603, nor a trainee when 603 was at it's heyday, but I did live in room 602 for one week in March so that must count for something.
Anyway this is Alex, the other American from Madison, also known as Nikki's best friend/life partner, and officially - believe it or not - the 3rd oldest trainee after Nikki and Aakash.
After quitting my original traineeship due to, lets say, 'inappropriate' behavior from my boss, I am now an AIESEC CEEDer. Which means I get to sleep in until 9, take innumerable smoke breaks during work and listen to Mehmet sing. Also I was the one who organized the infamous ladies night.
My two cents about the ladies night thing, in response to Natercia and AAkash's previous posts: of COURSE we have ladies nights to talk about guys! No one is denying that. It's just easier to talk about them when they aren't there, hence the exclusivity. Also we like making the guys jealous and/or conjuring images of all the girls having pillow fights in our underwear.
Anyway, whatever the 'real' reason we had it, last Friday's ladies night was fucking great. We went into the evening being all cautious and polite with each other since most of us weren't very well acquainted yet, but by the end of the night we were like drunken sailors at the end of a 3 month voyage. The high point was when I threw up out of a taxi window in the middle of Taksim Square.
Alex

About Girls' Night...

2005-11-11T14:39:00.000+02:00

I think those nights are very funny...

Girls decide to go out all together and don't accept that any male friend goes out with them...or at least that is what they say! Well, then you have several types of "girls' nights"...

1st type(and the most acceptable): it happens when there are many girls in a place or when they are not often together... they don't have time to really know each other so they decide to go out and have a nice conversation around a beer or some beers in order to know each others better.... They just want to have time together... Now the reader might be thinking: <> NO! Absolutly not! Cause when boys are around we can't really speak the same way we would speak with 20 guys around and there would be many groups...so it would be impossible to really meet each other...

2nd type: there are not that many nor as devided as in the first type... They actually know each others well... They don't NEED time for each other but they just want to do something "different" and if it can call the attention of male friends...well it is even better. Actually some girls even do this on purpose to call the attention of some guys... and deep in their heart they hope the guys will try to find in which bar they are... and so on and so on.... The funniest thing is that guys don't usually do that! They don't care at all... thay have a beer all together or just stay at home watching a nice movie!

In his type you can often find one or two "breakers"..those girls are usually a little bit less stupid and don't go to those parties cause they know they wouln't have fun and would have to speaking about nothing but GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

3rd type: this one is really...HOT, let's say! And it is really better for the guys not to go...they would dicover their female friends as they would never imagine! No! it doesn't include any homosexual things!!!! Girls go out together and they dress really sexy... they go to a nice bar first and then they go to a disco...full of people and with crazy music so that they can show their hability do dance! The objectives of those paries are not at all to know the other girls... NOT AT ALL...cause they already know each others pretty well...they just go out to meet new guys... and you might imagine the end of the night!

Obviously...there is ONE similarity in all those type: girls ALWAYS apeak about guys...in some types more in others less...but guys are always in the summary of the meeting!!!

That is not new: everybody knows it!!!! And those who don't admit it are just too young or little liers!!!!! hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!

Finally, as Aakash said we had one it was nice...Here is a photo...

Take care!

Natercia

Girls Nights!

2005-11-10T22:52:00.000+02:00

There is this very 'gay' discussion going around about these girls nights, the same ones they used to have when you guys were around...I just replied to it...posted below find my reply to the email discussion about 'Girls nights'

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi all chicks!
Sorry but I couldnt resist commenting the following after reading your reactions and discussions

How can you have good cocktails...without the cocks around !!

Think about that for a moment...enjoy none the less, these moments are rare!

And I will have a good friday night dont worry...tell you why...cause I have fred with me, and when I have fred, I dont need anyone else !! (Ask your girls at the party what it means)

Cheers N Britney Spears...your cocky Indian Turk!
Aakash

------------------------------------------------------------
You can look at istanbul trainees for more details

MAKE WAY FOR THE ONLINE 603 REUNION !

2005-11-04T20:52:00.000+02:00

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Friends, with whom we have shared so many good times, so many laughs, smiles and happiness!

Prepare....

Coming soon on a computer or telephone near you!

...THE ONLINE 603 REUNION...

Date to be announced soon...

Chagall

2005-11-01T03:58:00.000+02:00

Chagall is the name of a 20th century russian painter and also the title of the short film that is keeping me very busy lately. Wednesday we will finish shooting and then start post-production.

The film is basically about Martin, a fashion photographer that is going blind and falls in love with Lucia, a girl who is also interested in photography and is a very good cook. There is an intense relationship between them with a lot of photography, food, sex, and some betrayal and reconciliation involved.

Yesterday we worked for more than 12 hours and I took some pictures at the beginning of the day in one of the sets. Here are some pictures of the opening scene where Martin, the protagonist, is working in a photo session.

The director of photography doing some tests with the actors.

It almost looks like I'm posing to show my turkish t-shirt but it's all a coincidence. I talked about my time in Turkey a lot that day too, but that's not a coincidence since I do that almost everyday.

The set in the middle of the shooting.

HEYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-28T20:24:00.000+03:00

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well... the "annoying" portuguese (according to Aakash!) is back! YES! I finally found my password and plus I discovered how to upload images! Ahhhh! How "COOL" I am!

As you might have understood, the lack of password has been one of he reasons why I have been away from this blog... (Bobbies! Don't laught at me!)

In fact, I have been working hard the last months... and something tells me that it is just the beginning! I did an internship this summer and my boss asked me to stay and work with them for a while...
I accepted this opportubity cause I love the job I am doing and people are nice! So the question you might be asking is: "Which job are you doing?". Well "my" company is working with renewable energy and I am doing mostly the institutional communication but I take care of almost everything related to external communication. Here is a photo of my office!

Obviously I am still studying! I am waiting for my equivalencies from my Erasmus Programm at Biligi University... And if everything is ok I will finish my Bachelor in December/January and my License in July!!! Hope it will be my last year cause I am a little bit fed up with school!
But this year seems to be more interesting than all the others eventhought it is harder!

After my graduation... I don't want to think about any plan because I prefer listenning to my South Spirit... Anyway I know that planning is not the best once that after all it never comes out the way I want!

I think that's it for the update of my life! Now... What about the other Bobbies? Iva? Tsveti? Saad? El Padriño? Monica? Sara? I hope each one will make an update of their life sometime!

Hugs everyone!
Take care
Natercia

Do you remember?

2005-10-27T13:58:00.000+03:00

Heyyyy Guys!!!!

Do you remember the nights we spent all together watching movies?
And what about this move? I guess everybody remembers it: a French Erasmus student at Barcelona... We spoke a lot about it...because at the end...we felt the same!
Well... I know that it must be because Portugal is very "South" but FINALLY the second part of the movie can be seen in Portuguese cinemas!!!! The name: "The Russian dolls" (literal English title) or if you prefer: "Les Poupées Russes".

Has anybody watched it already?
Well I will for sure... By the way... does anybody want to come?
;-)
Well I will tell you how it was!

***HUGS***
***LOVE***

Natercia

The End of an Era

2005-10-22T23:15:00.000+03:00

Finally, after exactly one year and one month since I arrived Turkey to start my traineeship, and 8 years of career in University, I completed all my academic responsibilities yesterday when I did a presentation on my traineeship/thesis/report/paper/thing.

The reasons why I took so long to finish my degree and traineeship/thesis are not relevant for this post, but I can tell you that a mayor part of it is because of the travels I have made in this period, which, as you can imagine, I don't regret at all.

I have taken a huge burden out of my shoulders, that I have carried mostly for the last 4 months since I came back, and now I can resume my 'normal' life again. Now you will see me going online at msn messenger more often, or at all, I will write and reply emails, I will write more often in this blog (and change the layout as I proposed), etc.

I have many plans for my future now that I have ended my thesis and career. I actually spent most of the time in the last 4 months thinking about my future plans. For the moment, I want to do everything that I enjoyed or wanted to do before starting my college life and stopped or decreased doing because of the lack of time. I made a list. I want to read and write more often again, to learn french or even portuguese, to learn photography, to take piano lessons, to do swimming and yoga regularly, to travel more and to work in film production, among other things.

Don't get me wrong, I also have many plans for my career, since I also like very much what I studied, but it's not the only thing I want to do with my life, at least not for the moment.

To begin with my new plans, I already started working in a short film production. Two months ago I met a film student at a party, and he told me that he was going to make a short film soon. I told him that I was very interested in helping in anything he needed. Two weeks ago I got a call from him to tell me that he was going to start shooting this week. After a few meetings, now I will be doing the sound recording and helping with the editing and soundtrack of the film. We started filming on wednesday but, because of my presentation, I had to stop for a couple of days. I'm very exciting about this project for many reasons, mainly because it was something I was always curious about, and it came just when I needed it.

We will be shooting for the next week and half and then start the editing. I will post some pictures of the film production soon.

Well, that's it for now. My graduation act will be in one month by the way.

Şerefe!

New 603 and More

2005-10-16T19:10:00.000+03:00

Okay guys, I must admit I have been lazy in following up on my commitments, more on my updates later, here you go with the pictures , I am lazy to write and upload everything, but I have done my best here.

One more piece of information I wanted to share with all of you is that 603 is now being colonised by Asians :

Japanese
Korean
Thailand
Indian
Indonesian to come

Hail the South, more south spirit and the fire is spreading...Muhahaha!!

Had an Indian presentation the other day at the AIESEC office, spoke about everything from yoga to Gods to women to movies to music blah blah! Was Fun!

Finally, a post from the nominee for the next "El Padrino"

2005-10-11T19:29:00.000+03:00

To all the Bobbies, Bobs, and Bobsters of the world,

It has been a quite a while since I have last checked the infamous blog. I can not believe how much it has grown and how hot the fire remains. It is so great that the bond that was created within this group is still so strong that it has yet to bend or break even now that most have gone to their respective home countries and are scattered across the entire world. It was so heartwarming to read so many people's posts reminiscing about their personal 603 experience and life there after. I thought it was finally time for me to break the loop and share my story.

As some of you may know I loved Istanbul and 603 and of course the BF oh so much I decided to extend my stay six months longer than originally intended. Or maybe it is because I miss college life so much that I am attempting to extend it by living the ''in-between,'' life of a college student in the dorms with a job-like thing that requires no commitment. Who knows, the point is that I am back doing what we all so much enjoyed doing, living in the moment, creating bonds with people from around the world, and hanging out withAakash :-) I never thought for a moment that I would ever end up staying so long that I would be running against the only trainee left that has any recollection of Denis Lokantasi and the Fucking Hill in the gypsy neighborhood of Kasimpasha for the position of El Padrino, but here I am. I'm just too cool for this world :-)

A sum of my life since the shift from the original 603:

Bodrum at its best.

CEEDing it up with the AIESECers

The Captain acting as Moses leading us through the sand and dividing the ocean in search of Bangli's lost belt at our partial reunion in Portugal.

Home to the land of 10,000 lakes to hang with the fam and knock some sense into myself.

Back to Istanbul to follow my heart, with a sweet traineeship at Saatchi to boot.

Keeping the 603 Spirit alive.

Missing all of you so much! I honestly can not say how great it was to get to know each of you. 603 is just not the same without you. Let's make sure to meet again in the near future.

"Till the End,"
Nikki

Delayed Reunion Photos

2005-10-04T08:39:00.000+03:00

First off for those who read Tsveti's wonderful posting, I'd like to correct her on her comment about being the "only CEEDer", I too was a "CEEDer" at AIESEC Istanbul between the months of January and March 2005. ; ) haha...

Just wanted to post a few nice photos of the reunion following the beach party at Aveiro. So here they are, I think I'll put more up on some sort of album or my webspace or something. On that note Aakash please let me know the username and password stuff for posting on the 603 album on Flickr.

By the river in Porto.

Two Southerners from Portugal. The Dutch Guy and I in Amsterdam

Holding Freddie (not included in the photo: giggling like the mad sitting next to a concerned Dutch Guy at the park)

At the train station at Porto before I left for Lisbon (we left the mark of 603 just before boarding!)

Hoping for many more reunions in the near future (the Captain has some interesting ideas on a large-scale reunion), as for the revolution:

I already took the plane.

Istanbul 603 till Now...!

2005-10-03T23:49:00.000+03:00

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The Fire is Spreading !!

2005-10-03T23:47:00.000+03:00

The Sun, The War's God

Winds of Change

!The War Already Began!

Most of you didn?t see this natural event, Solar Eclipse. I think was only viewable in the north of the peninsula, in the south of the Arabic peninsula and in the east of Africa.

This is my personal photo of it.

Cris!

As the revolution has come, some proposals for this blog

2005-10-02T00:27:00.000+03:00

1. Change the description (the one at the top that says: "65 million people live in turkey...") for something that makes more sense now. It can be something like: "keep the spirit alive", "keep the spirit alive wherever you are", "603 is a state of mind". It could also be like a random quoter that shows any of the frequently used quotes we have compiled, a different one each time you visit the blog (although I have to see if that is technically possible).

2. Change a little the layout and include the 603 plate picture we thought about when we created this blog. I hope you still have those pictures Cris!.

3. I thought I had more proposals but I think that's it for now.

What do you think?

Captain and Me saving 603

2005-09-30T20:05:00.000+03:00

Route 603

2005-09-30T06:56:00.000+03:00

Not giving up on the account that Caracas has very few bus routes identified by numbers, and after looking around for sometime, I, much to my surprise, finally found the 603 bus stop to follow the captain's call.

After waiting for a little too long, and thinking that I usually don't have that kind of luck, I realized that I was not in a bus stop, but just standing next to a road route sign. 'Well, at least I'm on the right track', I thought, dismissing the fact that I just made a fool of myself.

I started hitchhiking then. Oddly lucky I, got soon a lift from what appeared to be a car with a good sign, or at least a good license plate, the BKM 603 license plate, from Norh Dakota. I dind't ask about what a North Dakota car was doing in Caracas, as it seemed perfectly normal in this series of events.

Talking with the driver that picked me up, and telling my story, he, at some point, very wisely pointed out to me that I can't go to Turkey by car, or even by bus. 'There is huge ocean that takes us apart', he said. Well, that was a little discouraging, but I wouldn't let that detail get in my way of joining my fellow 603ers' war. I told the driver to leave me in the nearest international seaport, and so he did.

Looking for the 603 ship to cross the ocean proved to be a little more difficult. People didn't want to help me as they thought I was insane. After looking for a big 603 in any of the ships for a couple of hours, I gived up. It seems that there are even less numbered ships than buses in this country.

While I was going back, defeated as that time I was kicked out of Bulgaria, I notice a little boat that didn't have anything exceptional to notice about, except of the fact that it was named 'BAS'. 'This is it, this is actually my lucky day!', I thought. Any boat that is named after me has to take me wherever I want, right? Even if that boat would hardly go from Tophane to Eminonu, much less cross an ocean. Well, as this is my story, yes, I was right.

And so, this is the tale of how I joined the IF2F603 in it's quest to help the 603 and now I'm on my way.

I already took the boat.

Fight the power and keep the spirit!

International Front To Free 603

2005-09-29T17:30:00.000+03:00

The IF2F603 deliberated in general assembly:

1- All International Members in exile have to come back to the base in Istanbul (yeah even you Greg)
2- All the activities in order to free our nation is allowed the use of force and sometimes violence.
3- The first mission of the IF2F603 will be: arrest the ?manager?.
4- Bring the cleaning team to our movement bribing them with çkerdek
5- Then demand an elevator until the 6th floor.
6- Then be sure that the ?manager? doesn?t eat.
7- Then only accept 603 back, not other room(s) or other dorm(s).
8- Is better the street then other(s) room(s) or dormitory(s).
9- If any of this ways of war doesn?t work the solution will be sadly: fire the dormitory then detonate it. (Aakash be sure that you steal the 603 plate before)

Your ?Captain? in the exile:

Cris!

I already took the bus