Epilogue

To those who were wondering, after a day of travel +/- jet lag, I have arrived safely back in the United States. With that, this officially concludes our blog.

I want to take this final opportunity to say thank you to all of those who have taken the time to follow the blog and all the positive feedback I've received. If at any point anyone has any questions or I can explain something further please don't hesitate to contact me at michael.larosa@jefferson.edu Needless to say it has been quite a journey and was my pleasure to share with everyone. I think it's fair to say I learned many things about not only the world of pharmacy and the culture of Istanbul, but also myself in the process.

Finally, I owe a great debt of personal gratitude to the students, my pharmacist Erdem, and all my friends back in Turkey for being exactly who you are, for making this one of the most memorable travel experiences I have ever had. You will all be missed... until the one day we meet again.

- Mike

Above is a photo with my good friend Ҫaǧrı from the dorm as we exchange a final goodbye at the airport.

Final Thoughts

I don't know why but I'm crazy about soap - the handmade bar soap. Whenever I see it vacationing I always buy one. I've have been to France, Italy, Germany, and small towns from Maine, to New York and Massachusetts. I've taken soap from every one of them. Last weekend I'm pleased to find a Turkish soap.

Truthfully, not much going on this weekend. No new lands to conquer. Some students have left, going to their summer places around Turkey. I had mentioned a couple ideas to go to the beach - it never happened. The guys talk about going out for last night but during Ramadan they will not drink. Plans are tossed around but fall through. I spend most of my time at the pharmacy. Life cycles on...

I'm not sure what to say to this. In a way, we have come full circle. The journey ends as it begins.

Friday I come in and Erdem is playing R.E.M. on his laptop as if it had occurred to him to remember how good they were, songs I haven't heard in a while, music we both grew up on. It's nice...

I've had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here. I've met some amazing, truly incredible, warm people. I have friends from Antalya, Tunisia, and Egypt who would be happy to have me at their home next week if I wanted. It's been absolutely incredible. With the blog I've done my best to put just how special this time has meant to me into words and pictures.

Be that as it is, part of the success of being here, after all, is what I will make of the experience when I return and that's an even longer story that will continue to unfold long after I leave Turkey; to keep in contact with these people, sharing information, thoughts, ideas...

I once had a sociology professor who had traveled many places all around the world and he said, for every one, when the journey was over he was always happy to return to the US.

I think I'm at a point now where I'm starting to understand just what that means.

These are videos of a street demonstration this past weekend. They are going down Istiklal, the main street of Taksim. I work only 1 block over. You can see in the second video the Polis follow behind prepared for any trouble. As I touched on before, the political climate here is somewhat tenuous.

some last photos

Top, a final Turkish breakfast also known as a spread of happiness.

Middle, as promised, that is nothing less than a calf's brain in the middle of this salad. It has a smooth texture like a very soft butter. Delightful. The salad was followed by a soup of tendon from the limb joints.

Bottom, me and Semih: As plans fall through on all ends we decide to meet and visit the Asian side for some light food and tea.

No photos or cameras were allowed in the Bayer factory even though I did manage to capture this brief video. It gives you an idea of a typical operations line. They are producing a cough/cold syrup.

more photos of week 8/09

Top, us students outside of Bayer pharmaceuticals.

Bottom, we meet a few of the interns - they are the 3 to the left, all engineers. The 3 girls to the right are Eva, and Sisha who are from Poland, also on exchange and Nuria from Spain. Not too many photos were allowed inside the building due to strict policies.

Photos of the week 8/09

Top, upon entering the factory tour we are required to suit up with foot and headgear. It's very hot in that room.

Second from top, this is me and Mustafa - Erdem's second in command. He's quick and very good around the pharmacy.

Third from top, this is cikorfte. From the picture it looks like something fried. It is not. It is actually a raw meat ground to like a paste mixed with spices. You wrap a couple of the pieces in a sheath of lettuce with a few sprigs of parsley and a drizzle of lemon and dip in a chili sauce.


Fourth from top, the Turkish are not without a sense of humor. Recently these serious images of what cigarettes can do to your health were put on marketed cigarette boxes. On the right in response, also on the market, there are some who have taken this to parody. That is a picture of the Prime Minister of Turkey, a famously intense man with a caption that roughly translates "just look into my eyes for 30 seconds and you will stop smoking."

Bottom, this was a nice spread of lunch we had in the pharmacy one day when it was so hot outside. Watermelon, cheese, olives and deli meat - very refreshing.