Aside from the Sema, Konya was lovely. It had a very different vibe than the other Turkish cities we’ve visited. There was some really neat art around the city – even that was unusual, compared to some of the graffiti and art I’d seen in Istanbul. On Saturday morning, we had the option to go on a trip to look at old Selcuk monuments and mosques and also to visit a Neolithic settlement an hour away from Konya. Unsurprisingly, of the 6 students who showed up, only one was a guy. As our professor said, “When the revolution comes, it’ll be the matriarchy who shows up.” Most of us were sort of confused, though, as to which revolution she was referring. The specifics, we came to understand, weren’t as important as the fact that ladies run the world.
Apart from that, though, my favorite part of the trip was the ride to Konya. It was incredibly beautiful – snowy mountains and A GIANT DOUBLE RAINBOW. We had probably a good 20 minutes to look at this thing, as it transformed from a tiny, yet fat, mountain-hanging rainbow into its giant, spectacular double-rainbow self. In Turkey, instead of finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, apparently you swap sexes if you go underneath a rainbow. Who woulda thought? As we were preparing to go under it, my friend Catherine and I called out, “PREPARE YOUR GENTIALS,” and Nese Hanim, our director, asked one student in particular if he was ready for the transformation. All jokes aside, nothing happened to us because the way the light works, we couldn’t cross underneath the rainbow. Or.. couldn’t we..?
