DAY ONE (July 7): We Meet

After 15 hours in transit, with a layover in Frankfurt, Germany, we arrive in Istanbul – jetlagged punchy, excited, anticipatory.

A nice surprise awaits us: At the airport is Emre, one of SMC’s brightest students who will be transferring to UC Berkeley next school year. Emre is to be one of our guides over the next 10 days, and he will prove to offer wonderful insight, good humor and unflappability even as some of us lag and he has to chase us down so we don’t miss the bus to our next stop.

There are four of us from Santa Monica College and three others we meet at the airport. Five others we will meet at the hotel. We make up a neat dozen, not including Emre and our other gracious and patient guide, Yavouz, on this Pacifica Institute-sponsored trip.

Our group includes a Baptist pastor. A Middle East expert from UC Santa Barbara. Teachers from the San Fernando Valley. We are all academics or clergy, but come from wildly varying backgrounds and will reveal distinctive personalities. We are linked by a common desire to soak this 10-day experience in as if in a Turkish bath.

After checking into the hotel in the old section of this city of 15 million people, we get our first Turkish treat – dinner, which includes grilled meat, eggplant prepared by what must be culinary gods, refreshing yogurt, bread out of the oven and more.

The next day starts at 9 a.m. and we will have a very full schedule, as we will over the next 10 days. It’s off to bed.

The adventure REALLY begins now.