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A few weeks ago, or was it a month, we (the exchange students) received a special invitation from the rector of our university (or chancellor/president, if you will). A special boatcruise was planned and we would be having dinner with the rector on the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Amazing!

Afterwards we would dance and the rector might teach us some Turkish folkdancing. “Wow”, I thought, “it’s really incredible what this university is willing to do for their exchange students”. Everyone was excited about it, partly because of the promise of free food and drinks ;-), and most of the 100 exchange students at Yeditepe University planned on attending.

On the day of the cruise we arrived and it turned out the boat had already left. Miscommunication. The boat left 2 hours earlier than was announced to us. The university bus took us to another dock where the boat would come to pick us all up. When we got there, the boat was a lot bigger than I anticipated and what surprised me was there were a lot of people on board already…

We were then told that kids from high schools and their parents were already on board and that the rector had ordered the boat to come pick us up. Great! I let the new information sink for a minute and then realized that it had all been a great PR stunt. There were hundreds of people on the boat and this way Yeditepe could show off their international character. The cruise was quite different from what I expected and definitely not as intimate as it was made out to be, but it helped me achieve one of my goals for Istanbul:

To party on the Bosphorus! The Bosphorus is the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea (and thus ultimately to the Mediterranean) and runs between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

As we got on we sailed out to the Marmara Sea and saw the Prince’s Islands (I think) and witnessed the beautiful sunset pictured above. Later, as the skies turned dark we sailed through Istanbul. The lights are beautiful and as I’ve said before, the best way to see the glory of Istanbul is from the water. We partied on the deck of the ship with a bit too many high schoolers and very loud Turkish house music. Oh, and free beer (which finished within half an hour) and free wine!

View the pictures of the trip on Picasa! Pictures of the sunset and the sea and of course the party! Sorry, I don’t have the right equipment to catch Istanbul by night. You’ll have to come and see it for yourself.

If you took a ferry or boattrip in Istanbul before, how did you like it? What was your experience? In the past I’ve partied in an empty office building, under a bridge, in an abandoned church (controversiaaaaal), a parking lot and in the forrests on a mountain in the Balkan range. What’s the most spectacular location you’ve partied at?

BasBasBas.com is about a Dutch student living in Istanbul. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul and travels in the region. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.

Tracklist
Scuba - Hard Boiled [SCB Edit] (00:00 - 08:49)
Fatboy Slim - What They’re Looking For (07:56 - 13:45)
Josh Gabriel - Recife (12:44 - 16:51)
Vibesquad - Lone Salamander (16:38 - 20:28)
Talpa - Still Dreaming (19:10 - 25:54)
Shpongle - Flute Fruit (25:35 - 27:41)
Plastic Shell - Gutbucket (27:34 - 34:20)
Michael Knop - Fiddel Fiddel (34:03 - 41:31)
Butch - Mushroom Man (40:03 - 45:54)
Kaya Project - Saranghi Breaks (45:29 - 50:00)
Orocol - Crooked (49:37 - 55:05)
Aphex Twin - Digeridoo (54:42 - 61:47)
Paper Squad - Endless Mindput (61:28 - 69:05)
Shitmat - More Fire ['93 Ting Mix] (64:03 - 68:30)
Oren Barkan - Misra Malok [RMX] (68:12 - 77:05)

Much thanks go out to the producers of the tracks used. Support the scene! Buy their records or go to their live shows!

Presented by The MiX-Files (subscribe to email updates or follow the RSS feed to get the newest mixes first!). Opinions very welcome!

This is a blog about countries, travel, life abroad, culture shock. Yet this post is about technology. About Twitter, to be exact. Why?

I’ve been “using” Twitter off and on for over a year now, but it was only up until very recently that I really got it. I love it. They only thing I don’t love about it is that many of my friends, readers, family, acquaintances are not using it and I’d LOVE to interact with you via Twitter.

Briefly, Twitter is a service where you can share your thoughts in micro-blogs of max. 140 characters. These messages are shared with your followers who get your updates. They can then choose to interact with you. You can also follow other people for their updates.

Here are 5 reasons WHY you should sign up for a Twitter account and start using it.

• Friendsourcing. Got a question? A problem? Let’s say you want to know what the cheapest airline to travel to a particular location in Europe is. Before doing a lot of research, post it on Twitter. Let your friends help you out.
• Network inside your niche. Are you a travel blogger? A PR expert in France? A Norwegian expat? An amateur photographer wanting to go pro? You can follow other people in the same position, but also experts in your niche and stay up to date with them. Through Twitter I’ve communicated with Guy Kawasaki, DoshDosh, had some email exchanges with Michael Arrington, got linked by John Chow, (yes, I’m namedropping) and became acquainted with Andy from CommentLuv - he even commissioned me to produce a DJ mix for him. I also met many fellow expats from around the world through Twitter!
• Learn about the every day lives of others. You might be a medical student, about to graduate soon, maybe you’d be glad to follow doctors and see what their everyday lives are like as a preparation of your professional life.
• It’s the easiest way to stay up to date with friends’ daily lives. Yes, you probably don’t feel like reading all about people’s daily lives. Don’t worry, some people leave maybe 1 tweet per day… and even if you get a lot, you’re not expected to read each and every tweet.
• Stay up to date on current events. Twitter was my main source of updates during the recent Mumbai terrorist acts.

Maybe I convinced you… Maybe you just need to try it out and see for yourself. Here’s what you need to do to get a good start on Twitter:

• Install Twhirl. After signing up with Twitter, please do yourself a favour and use Twhirl. Nearly nobody uses just the web interface of Twitter… and those that do are the sporadic users (like me, in the past). If you’re doing it right, you’re going to be receiving a lot of Tweets from a lot of different people (Tweeple). Using Twhirl keeps it manageable and pleasurable!
• Start following! First of all, find people you know. Have you seen that the authors of blogs you like reading use Twitter? Visit their blog and find out where to follow them on Twitter! Also, use Twitter Search and look for specific things you find interesting. Start following people that write about them. Don’t worry about them possibly not being interesting. It’s fine to unfollow them if they annoy you or you get bored of them. Just grab a lot of people now. Then start selecting later. Here’s a bunch of interesting people to get you started. Oh, and don’t forget to follow me!
• Interact. This is where Twitter really gets fun and offers an awesome value. You can communicate with experts in almost any field through Twitter. You see someone posting an interesting Tweet? Reply to them (here’s how).
• Tweet! Write about what could fascinate others. Found an interesting link? Share it. Pondering an interesting thought? Put it out there. Need some help? Tweet it! The world is listening.
• Promote the fact that you’re Tweeting. Share it on your blog, put it in your email signature, your Facebook status, et cetera. Maybe more people you know are already using Twitter… if not, maybe you’re usage might motivate them to join up. The more, the merrier. After all, that’s why I wrote this post.

First things first. Go to www.twitter.com. Sign up. Follow me.

Are you already using Twitter? What’s your nickname? Why are you using Twitter? Do you have any other useful tips?

Besides following me on Twitter… you can also follow this blog via RSS or email updates.

As I was going through my blog archives, trying to figure out what I was doing exactly one year ago hoping it would inspire me for a new post, I discovered that today’s a special day.

Exactly one year ago (to the hour), I was watching a film called Earthlings, somewhat horrified I should mention. I’ve always said I thought being a vegetarian was noble, but I simply loved meat too much to become one. I ate meat 2-3 times per day. I loved meat. All of that changed over the course of one documentary. One of the greatest documentaries I’ve ever seen, I should add, with a great soundtrack provided by Moby. I decided I could no longer be a hypocrite.

Earthlings

After watching the film, I simply could not eat meat anymore, so I quit. For a while, I thought, not expecting myself to even last 2 months. I’ve exceeded my expectations by far… It has now been a year since I last ate meat (minus the grasshoppers).

It was never my intention, but it turns out that becoming a vegetarian is actually easier than stopping to be a vegetarian. Who would have thought.

Please take a moment to watch this documentary. I’ve heard many people say that they don’t really want to know where their meat comes from, or what happens to the animals before they eat them. This is a bs excuse. You are consuming them, so you are responsible. At least look at what you are doing. I’m not asking you to stop eating meat, but at least make yourself aware of what you’re doing.

Saying that you don’t want to know what you are partly responsible for is like the 1930’s/40’s Germans ignoring what was being done onto the Jewish population during the second World War. Yes. Suffering is done upon animals in a massive scale, an inconceivable scale. Just imagine the number of turkeys killed for thanksgiving.

I’m fine with people’s choice to eat meat. As long as it is a choice. Think about what you consume. You are responsible.

If you wish the world was different, if you wish things were not this way… then change what you can. Start with yourself. The rest will follow. You cannot expect the world to change first. You take the first step.

It all starts with informing yourself. Watch Earthlings.

photo by Steve Voght

It’s Thanksgiving (more or less) and what’s most commonly associated with Thanksgiving are two things. Naming the things you’re thankful for and turkeys, because what better way to say thanks than to feast with friends and family on bird corpse! Exactly.

I’ve been asked how to say “turkey” in Turkey. The bird, not the country. I mean, the former being the bird, the latter the country. Why did we ever give these two the same name? Anyway, in Turkey this bird is called “hindi”. They didn’t leave this bird without a country however; India is named Hindistan here.

As for the consumption of dead bird flesh, here are ten reasons not to eat turkey this Thanksgiving (the bird, not the country. On second thought, don’t eat the country either. Not with me in it.). Let’s let the turkeys have a happy Thanksgiving also! Here are some recipe’s to try out instead:

• Cashew Nut Roast
• Homemade Tofurky Loaf
• Cider-Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Coconut Smashed Yams
• Creamy Chive Mashed Potatoes
• Green Bean Casserole
• Pumpkin Pie

In my country the turkey’s not even called something remotely close to the way we call Turkey. How about in yours? Jeez, what interesting questions can one ask their readers about turkeys and Thanksgiving? I really don’t care that much about the tradition.

click for more detailed version

It’s amazing what you can do with a little Photoshoping. Upon returning from Borovets to Sofia, in Bulgaria last weekend, our busdriver dropped us off under a bridge (click here to see the original photo). I immediately envisioned the above picture and snapped a photo. I was anxious to see if my idea would actually work and it’s always exciting when they do. To quote The A-Team’s Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together.

So what do you think people? Post-apocalyptic enough?

More travel photos soon; including some snowy shots of Bulgaria! If you’d like to get them straight to your feedreader, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe by email using the form in the right sidebar.

That’s the title of a 10-15 minute presentation I’m giving soon for my Intercultural Communication classes at Yeditepe University, here in Istanbul. I designed it in such a way that it can also be enjoyed without my vocal explanations and here it is!

The Intercultural Communication course is likely to be the most innovative course I’ve taken during my higher education (sadly — universities should make more use of modern technologies). Every Tuesday, we get into a classroom at 4 o’ clock in the afternoon and have a video conference with a class in Lincoln, Nebraska, US. We present ourselves, our culture, customs, daily lives and our countries to each other. It’s fascinating, because both the Turkish class as well as the American class have students from many different backgrounds.

This part of the Intercultural Communication course, called Global Classroom, has been quite fun so far. We’ve managed to make 2 students from the Nebraskan class dance in front of the camera and they’ve managed to make 2 of our students wrestle in front of the camera (or was it Jiu-Jitsu?).

There’s only a few sessions left, so I hope I actually get to do my presentation, as our lecturer wanted everyone to prepare one, but there will be no time to actually execute all of them.

I hope the presentation has given you an insight into Holland’s liberal policies and if you have any questions please feel free to reply. I love answering questions about these issues.

How about in your countries, how is your government dealing with these issues? What is your personal opinion on these matters? Has the war on drugs failed? Is same-sex marriage morally wrong or is keeping it illegal a form of discrimination? What about prostitution?

This weekend I was in Bulgaria due to my 1 year anniversary with my girlfriend, who’s from Bulgaria. We went to a mountain resort, which is cheaper than Sofia (in the low season). On the day we arrived everything was green, but this Saturday the world turned white. I love it. I notice I feel quite at home in Bulgaria, and especially Sofia.

Will write more about my stay there in the days to come. Have to find my way back to Istanbul in this snowy mess. You can stay up to date by following my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

I’m hoping for some nice snow in Istanbul this winter. Has it snowed where you are yet? Will it at all?

A dirty breakbeat mix to get your groove on, wherever you are! Mixed by yours truly.

Tracklist
The Aut0b0ts & Timmy Schumacher - Attitude (feat. MC Kyla & Bex Riley)
Bobina - Kylie Minogue’s Slow (Cosmonaut Remix)
General Midi - The Westerner
Unbalanced Jack - Flaming Tongues (feat. Crown Jewelz & Killa Benz)
Farace - Guys Girls Dance (Farace Breaks Mix)
Bassnectar - Everybody (Freq Nasty vs Bassnectar Remix)
Chase and Status - Running
Tayo - March of the Soundbwoyz
Tambour Battant - Atomik Cirkus RMX
Entity - Coming On Deep (feat. MC S.A.S.)
ILS - Burn Again
Noisia - Groundhog
Overdub - Killing The Psyche Rock (RATM vs Pierre Henry vs FatBoy Slim)
Prime Suspect - Megalomanic
Specimen A - Nightmare
Freestylers - Push Up (Plump DJ’s Remix)
Freestylers - Push Up Word Up (Stanton Warriors Remix)
Duel Calibre - Devil in Flight
Grievous Angel - Lickle Friction

Download here: http://uploaded.to/?id=idhaf3

Presented by The MiX-Files. Photo by Miss Loisy.

A view of the most touristic part of Istanbul. The mosque on the right is the Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet mosque, left of that is the Hagia Sofia which was a cathedral, but was turned into a mosque during the Ottoman empire and left of that is the Sultans’ palace. Quite a nice view, huh? On the left side of the picture, you see some land at the other side of the water… That’s where I live. Literally less than 2 minutes away from a nice sit at the sea with the view of the Hagia Sofia and the beautiful buildings around it.

The picture was taken from Galata tower. If you come to Istanbul and want to come home with some cool pictures, go to Galata tower. If you have many friends who go to Istanbul, all of you will have the same pictures though, as everybody seems to go up the Galata tower. It’s also a nice spot for panorama shots.