The Magic of Muze Kart

They said it could not be done. 

But, once again, Ceylan and I happened upon this baby by blind chance. When I first got to Istanbul, I saw signs everywhere for the Muze Kart. "Muze" being the Turkish word for museum, I figured this was probably something I would want to look into. The card is actually really sweet. For 10 Turkish lira for university students, you can have free entrance to a ton of museums in Turkey for a whole year. I got really excited, but I found out that the card is only available for Turkish citizens, and that even my residence permit would not be good enough. This was a major bummer, as museum entrance fees have kicked up lately, some to 20 lira for the big ones like Hagia Sophia, and there are no student discounts. I have been paying a ton of money just in museum fees. Last week, we had a Fulbright meeting, where we once again lamented to the office staff that we could not attain the long-sought-after Muze Kart. Sobered by the fact there was nothing we could do, we just let it go.

Then comes Friday, when Ceylan and I go to the ticket booth at the entrance of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. We are buying our tickets per usual, and then I casually mention to the ticket sales guy that we are students hoping we might get a discount. "Oh? you are students," he said. "Which university?" Ceylan flashed her Sabanci University ID, and I showed him my card from Tomer, my Turkish language school, since it is technically a branch of Ankara University. The guy looked unimpressed with my ID, but he clearly felt bad giving Ceylan a discount and not me, so I think he let it slide. Then, out of nowhere, he says "Hey? Do you guys want Muze Karts?" I almost dropped my wallet. Now I can say I know exactly what Charlie Bucket felt like when he noticed a glint of Willy Wonka's last ticket in his chocolate bar. "Wh-wh-at did you say?" I gasped. Then he actually tried to sell it to us. "It's great! You get one and you can go to all of the museums for free for one year. And normally it is 20, but for you guys it is only 10 lira!" I nodded, trying not to look too excited, and the man gestured for us to go to the other window where his colleague would take care of us. I started moving over to the next window with Ceylan, who was a little confused about what was happening. I hissed in a low voice, "We are getting Muze Karts! Just be cool, because this is happening!" Ceylan laughingly told me later she was surprised I didn't pinch her arm. I felt like we were pulling off a bank robbery with none of the other customers the wiser. I glanced over my shoulder, saw a woman and her young child, and smiled at them, thinking "That's right, Emily. Just keeeeep it up. Just keep cool, and you could actually get away with this." In about two minutes, this guy had made us our IDs, and after paying I practically ran from the booth, praying they would let us get away before they realized they had made a mistake. I just made it to the turn-styles when a security guard called to me. "Oh no!" I thought, "I've almost gotten away!" "Excuse me ma'am," the guard interjected, "but if you want to use your Muze Kart to go through the turn-styles, there is a special circle you have to tap it on." Flustered, I slapped my new golden ticket onto the circle, and I rushed through the turn-style, loudly exclaiming to the guard, "Gosh! That is SOO easy!" I was hoping my large gestures and noises would distract him from the fact that I was a foreigner who had no business owning a Muze Kart. He laughed and agreed, and I waved back to him, then turned around and ran towards my new life, a life with Muze Kart.

*As a side note to this story, I heard through the grapevine, AKA my roommate, that there are new rules put into motion lately where foreigners who were students could also get a Muze Kart. But when or if these rules will be enforced was unknown. Therefore, I would prefer to continue to believe that I actually got away with something.