Starbucks is better in Turkey

It's felt like ages since I got here (six months to be exact), but with 26 days or so, I'm finally nearing the end of my time in Turkey. And I have to say, one of my favorite places is turning out to be the local Starbucks, located in the neighborhood of Etiler. My University is located in a bit of an odd place, at the conflux of some lower rent neighborhoods and some extremely high rent ones. A short walk from dorm up Nisbetiye Caddesi towards Akmerkez, the only mall ever to be awarded both the "best mall in Europe" and "best mall in the world," is a nice stretch of upscale shopping that includes a TGI Friday's, a Ralph Lauren Home store, a McDonald's with table service, and best of all Starbucks. Every time I walk up it, I think I'm in Walnut Creek.

I can't say that I frequent Starbucks in the US. Sometimes when I'm in the mood for something sweet, I'll grab a frappucino, but that's about the extent of my interaction. Yet the lack of coffee outside of the instant variety (which is available everywhere for some befuddling reason), has left me quite appreciative of a decent cup, even though Starbucks is a tad expensive (5 lira for a cup). Yet what is more appealing about the local Starbucks than the possibility of decent coffee is the environment it provides. I've never been in a Starbucks that I'd call unwelcoming, but those in the US don't quite provide the community atmosphere you'd find at other coffeeshops and while I can attest that the Starbucks in the Columbia University area fill up during exam time, it's usually with the solitary individual typing away at his lap-top (more the mold for the American cafe experience anyway). The Etiler Starbucks is different: its two stories (including a patio out front) are always filled with bourgeois Turks, young and old, chatting away or reading the newspaper. And really that's not something I've seen in America. While Etiler certainly resembles an upscale strip-mall, the locals don't treat the Starbucks as such. It's still seen as the center of a community, where people go to spend their free time and not just a store you stop in to get your sugary-drink before driving away in your SUV (though a good amount of the customers probably arrive in SUVs here, befitting the social class of the clientele). It certainly looks like America, down to the red Christmas-y but not explicitly Christmas themed cups (a nice treat for this time of the year), but in the end is something distinctly different. I might be drinking a Caffe Americano, but I'm most definitely in Turkey.