Success!

I successfully got my visa, and it was more of an adventure and more fun than I was expecting too!

This time, Sinan and I decided rather than going all the way to Sofia, that I should instead just go as close to the border as possible, and get back as quickly as possible. We got a ticket for Haskova, and using the same bus company and route that I used on Friday, so it would be familiar and easy for me. Also I wouldn't have to sleep on the bus - just leave here at 7:30am, get to Haskova at 2ish, take a 4 o'clock bus back and probably get back here at 11pmish.

Again, 2 service buses to get to the real bus, and on the way there a girl in front of me heard me talking to a guy next to me, who spoke English and helped me find the service. She needed to renew her visa as well, but instead of going all the way to a city in Bulgaria, she was going to hop off the bus once getting past the gates/check point in Turkey and Bulgaria (exit gate for Turkey, entrance for Bulgaria), cross to the other side of the road, flag a bus down and go back through the gates and then Istanbul. I heard of people doing this but definately didn't have to the nerve to do it on my own, and hadn't actually talked to anyone who had done it. She said she had a female friend who had done it many times. So, I decided to team up with her and jump that border! Alina, as I later learned her name, was a German who had been in Turkey for 3.5 years getting her Masters at Bogazici, the university that I live near and went to last year. Thus she spoke Turkish which was also a plus.

Once on the main bus she talked to the hostess, who said it was possible to do this. I was a little nervous about finding a bus, whether we would actually be able to buy tickets on the bus, and where the bus would take us in Istanbul. And standing on the road in Bulgaria seemed a little uncomfortable too. My blue eyes and curly hair and Alinas blond blond blond hair and blue eyes screamed : FOREIGNER! But while stopped at the Turkish checkpoint, we found a Spanish guy on the bus who was going to do the same thing! He was living in Bursa, about 4 hours away from Istanbul, and was doing translating (didn't fully catch the story) so his Turkish was quite good as well. Suddenly the hostess gathered the 3 of us up and rushed us through the Bulgarian checkpoint because there was a bus of the same company about to go through the Bulgarian border going back to Istanbul! So we ran over, stood in line, and then no man's land again. Before entering Turkey a guy comes on the bus to check our visa situation, and I and Mario, the Spanish guy, asked about the visa. Hooray. We had to get off, go somewhere else to buy it, then meet the others and wait for almost 45 minutes until our bus can go through customs. Finally we made it through and we were on the way home by 3:15!

The whole border crossing thing is confusing and tedious, especially doing it back to back like I did today. Your passport is constantly being collected and stamped and looked at and you are getting on and off the bus to stand in line or get your bags looked at. My passport is so funny looking because of all the stamps from Friday and Sunday, and even weirder but I entered and exited the countries the same day. Luckily no questions were asked, but I am sure the authorities have seen this before. So now I can stay in Turkey 3 more months, but hopefully I will be able to get my residence permit this month.

The bus ride home was different because it was full of so many nationalities. The previous bus rides were alllll Bulgarians and Turks, but I was sitting next to people from Canada, Spain, Singapore, Germany, Austria, the US, and the Netherlands. It was fun to talk to so many people but I became jealous of how amazing their language abilities are. Everyone's English was so flawless and almost accentless. Alina was trilingual and Mario spoke 4 languages (I am sure there is a word for that) and I am sure the others spoke other languages. Oh well! I've been too busy since Thursday to do anything Turkish, but hopefully tonight I can get back into the swing of things.

Ok, that's my adventure! I'm home safe and sound.