September 01, 2017

Unexpected Rendezvous in Istanbul

You never know where you’ll find a fellow Beloiter!

On the weekend of July 7, I traveled from where I was working in Belgrade, Serbia, to Istanbul to meet a friend. A U.S. government employee working in southern Turkey, she had managed to secure the U.S. Consulate to Turkey’s boat for the weekend and would be taking it to sail and swim among the Princes’ Islands. The boat, Hiawatha, is nearly a century old and has hosted the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt during its commission in the Bosphorus Strait.

I flew in on Friday night; my friend flew in on Saturday morning. Saturday evening I met her and her coworker on the rooftop of her coworker’s hotel, the Marmara Pera, to watch the sunset over Istanbul.

As I got to know her coworker, we quickly uncovered that she had grown up in northwestern Indiana, while I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. In telling my story, I went on to share that I had gone to Beloit College and, in return, my friend’s coworker, Naomi Wachs’99, replied that she had graduated from Beloit as well!

My friend, a graduate of Kalamazoo College, another College That Changes Lives, knew and understood the bond we shared in both being Beloiters, but had completely overlooked sharing it with us. Naomi and I went on to cover the standard revelry of two Beloiters, uniting over rooftop drinks and a traditional Turkish meal in a local restaurant before the three of us called it a night.

The next day at 8 a.m., we boarded the Hiawatha together with a handful of other friends and coworkers. We spent the morning cruising the border between Europe and Asia, dropping anchor among the Princes’ Islands, and swimming with [non-harmful] jellyfish and dolphins in the Sea of Marmara. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any turtles, but we still managed to find each other in our hectic, unpredictable lives abroad.


Also In This Issue

  • Naomi Wachs’99, shown above, is a Food for Peace Officer for USAID in Turkey, working on a team that provides humanitarian assistance inside Syria. Kenny Andejeski’12 is a program leader for Remote Year, a company that brings professionals, freelancers, adventurers, and entrepreneurs together to work and live in 12 cities across three continents during one year. He spent the summer months working in Europe.

    Unexpected Rendezvous in Istanbul

    more
  • From left are: Maggie Nygren’87, John Pasquin’67, Anne Mahle’92, President Scott Bierman, and Jamey Brumfield’92.

    Alumni Honored for Work in the Arts, Human Rights, Public Service

    more
  • One of the oldest and largest trees on campus that came down in a storm the night of May 17.

    Towering Oak Topples

    more

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