Best of Our Blogs: “Isaac in Turkey” explains difference between Istanbul and Constantinople

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Best of Our Blogs: “Isaac in Turkey” explains difference between Istanbul and Constantinople

By AUBREE CUTKOMP

acutkomp@saratogian.com

Twitter.com/aubreecutkomp

Isaac Handley-Miner, a junior at Hamilton College, is spending a semester abroad in Turkey. His blog, “Isaac in Turkey,” is another new addition to The Saratogian’s community travel blogs and will detail his time in Instanbul, an expedition he believes will be “rife with family history, good food, (occasionally) riveting academics, a little adventure and a lot of culture shock.”

“I’ve received a variety of responses when I tell people I’m studying abroad (in Turkey) this semester. I got a lot of ‘That’s unique,’ quite a few ‘I hear that’s a really fun city,’ some ‘Isn’t that dangerous?’ and even a couple ‘Where’s that?’ ” his inaugural post says. “But I think by far the most common reply has been neither a statement nor a question, but instead the opening line to a song: ‘Istanbul (not Constantinople)’ written by Jimmy Kennedy.”

Handley-Miner admits he had never heard of the song until his friends began singing it immediately after hearing where he was headed. After finally listening to it, he at first “thought it was a stupid premise for a song — yes, Jimmy Kennedy, you are correct, the city formerly known as Constantinople is now referred to as Istanbul,” he wrote.

But then Handley-Miner realized it was an interesting distinction.

“The name Constantinople connotes, at least for me, a medieval city steeped in ancient history and conflict. Istanbul, on the other hand, brings to mind a bustling, modern city teetering both physically and culturally between Europe and the Middle East,” he wrote. “I have a lot of family history in this city, especially at the school where I will be studying — Bogazici University.”

Handley-Miner is the “the fourth generation to be at Bogazici University and the third generation at Hamilton College. Talk about legacy,” he wrote.

“After acknowledging the visceral difference I experience between the two names Constantinople and Istanbul, this distinction is reminiscent of my own relationship to Istanbul,” he wrote. “It’s not a perfect parallel, but I do have an almost misplaced nostalgia for my family history in Istanbul and that era; I’m also going to be having my own experience in this city decades after my father and my ancestors lived there. New meets old (no offense, dad). Modernity intersects antiquity just the way the two names, Istanbul and Constantinople, overlap to combine histories and cultures. What does this mean for me on a day-to-day basis? I have no idea. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It gives me something to reflect on between mouthfuls of baklava.”

Follow the blogger’s adventures in Istanbul this semester at isaacinturkey.blogspot.com.

via Best of Our Blogs: “Isaac in Turkey” explains difference between Istanbul and Constantinople – saratogian.com.