Bursa/Iznik Trip

Since I dropped my Friday class I was able to spend this Friday sightseeing -- Sarah and I finally toured the Blue Mosque and the Ayasofya. Max, a kid who has been here since October, was showing his girlfriend around and gave us a mini tour as well. It was nice to have him there because he was able to point out a lot of stuff I wouldn't have noticed (ex: Christian crosses visible under the Muslim art). Then our Turkish roommate, Gunce, joined us for our first trip to the haman (Turkish Bath). Since she was Turkish I was thinking she had been before, but it was a first time for all of us. And going without guidance your first time is really quite awkward. Pretty much you are supposed to get naked, lie on this giant stone slab with a bunch of other naked women and wait until and overweight woman calls out "massage!" And at this point you are washed and massaged in a much less gentle way than you'd experience in an American spa. You just get scrubbed down, a slap on the ass means "turn over", and when they were shampooing my hair and face I almost suffocated in the bubbles. It was definitely very pleasant to be in the warmth getting all clean, etc, but weird too for my first time. If you ever find yourself in a hamam just know that it will be really weird...

And Saturday morning we left for Bursa. It was cold, gray, and overall bad weather. So it was painful to hike all over the city, especially since most of the group was pretty grumpy about the cold combined with the necessary removal of shoes before entering every mosque. The professor who did the tour was awesome though, he knew so much about the history and architecture of all these buildings, I felt like I learned a ton in Bursa. That night we stayed in this 2-star hotel, which I thought was hilarious that they displayed those stars proudly. But it really wasn't all that bad -- we got dinner and Turkish breakfast served in the restaurant and there was lots of tea.

In this morning we visited a small village in the mountains (we were near Mt Olympus -- Uludag in Turkish i think). It was so cozy and adorable -- we wandered around, had lunch at a small restaurant. Here I bought a loaf of freshly made bread and proceeded to to devour nearly half of it on the bus ride because it was so good. After this stop we went to Iznik and saw a few more mosques, walked on a Roman aqueduct, and visited an old amphitheater that had in later years been used as a mass grave after a plague. Crazy...

We made it back to Istanbul around 7 and met some friends to go hang out. We got back pretty late and went to bed. I wake up around 4 am with this violent stomach flu. Awesome... It sounded like a few kids on the trip had caught something similar and I did talk to a kid on Saturday who had mentioned he was sick. Jerk! Ha... So I am now recovering. I made it to all my Tuesday classes and ate my first full meal today at lunch. I'm feeling better, but still really tired, so its just about nap time for me....

I don't speak Turkish. And I am in Turkey.

So my first week of classes is unofficially over. I technically am registered for a class tomorrow morning but its an upper-level (read: grad) class in a department that is known for its difficulty. I am here to have some fun ya know!

Anyways, classes are definitely different from in the US. Like this is an english speaking school and all that, but none of the students speak english among themselves. Today was particularly frustrating because I am in this structures class that I think is going to be pretty tough, and the teacher was like: do this worksheet. And everyone starts talking in Turkish. Sometimes they even ask questions in Turkish. (The answer comes in english!) And yesterday my GSI person just started talking to the class in Turkish for a couple minutes. It's not like they aren't accommodating (the GSI translated for me after he was done), but it's definitely intimidating. And it's not like I don't agree -- even if I fluently spoke Spanish or something and went to a Spanish-speaking school with a bunch of Americans, I would speak in English. Intimidating is definitely the word of the week.

My schedule is almost all set -- a bunch of my friends are taking a photo class that I am in, so that should be fun. And Turkish for foreigners isn't all that exciting yet -- we're just starting on greetings, etc. Soon I will know more. And then I have my two civil classes that are back-to-back with mostly the same people, so I'm hoping to break into the group so I can get some help. This kid Ceki always helps me whenever I run into problems, which is a common and frequent occurrence.

We've met even more people this week, lots of exchange students from last semester are getting back from amazing travel experiences (southeast asia, all over europe). It's really nice because at any given point on my walk through campus or up the giant hill from campus to the superdorm I will run into someone that I know. After class almost every day this week I've bumped into a friend, grabbed dinner (its so cheap here, most places are like 6 lira or less) or gone to smoke nargile (mom, i promise I'm not addicted... it's not like that). We're getting a pretty cool group of people to hang out with -- plenty of americans (we flock like that) plus some really cool turks. My favorite is Ozgur, anytime I am lost or need help with my Turkish he helps. Today in class when I was like "oh my god I'm alooooone with my lowly english" I texted him asking how to say "I don't understand." He texted back in about 2 seconds "anlamiorum". So useful to know him. And the exchange students from last semester all know so much about istanbul -- the cheapest cafes where the owners greet them with giant hugs and kisses, the best clubs. And they have so many stories from their first months here I am excited to what lies ahead.

Tonight we are going back to that club we were at last Thursday -- apparently we are VIP if things work out. Um, yes please. I love Istanbul :)

Oh and the exchange commision set up a trip to Bursa for the weekend. So I'll be there Sat and Sun. Should be a good time -- although it may be snowy, something I thought I was done with for the year!

So my first week of classes is unofficially over. I technically am registered for a class tomorrow morning but its an upper-level (read: grad) class in a department that is known for its difficulty. I am here to have some fun ya know!

Anyways, classes are definitely different from in the US. Like this is an english speaking school and all that, but none of the students speak english among themselves. Today was particularly frustrating because I am in this structures class that I think is going to be pretty tough, and the teacher was like: do this worksheet. And everyone starts talking in Turkish. Sometimes they even ask questions in Turkish. (The answer comes in english!) And yesterday my GSI person just started talking to the class in Turkish for a couple minutes. It's not like they aren't accommodating (the GSI translated for me after he was done), but it's definitely intimidating. And it's not like I don't agree -- even if I fluently spoke Spanish or something and went to a Spanish-speaking school with a bunch of Americans, I would speak in English. Intimidating is definitely the word of the week.

My schedule is almost all set -- a bunch of my friends are taking a photo class that I am in, so that should be fun. And Turkish for foreigners isn't all that exciting yet -- we're just starting on greetings, etc. Soon I will know more. And then I have my two civil classes that are back-to-back with mostly the same people, so I'm hoping to break into the group so I can get some help. This kid Ceki always helps me whenever I run into problems, which is a common and frequent occurrence.

We've met even more people this week, lots of exchange students from last semester are getting back from amazing travel experiences (southeast asia, all over europe). It's really nice because at any given point on my walk through campus or up the giant hill from campus to the superdorm I will run into someone that I know. After class almost every day this week I've bumped into a friend, grabbed dinner (its so cheap here, most places are like 6 lira or less) or gone to smoke nargile (mom, i promise I'm not addicted... it's not like that). We're getting a pretty cool group of people to hang out with -- plenty of americans (we flock like that) plus some really cool turks. My favorite is Ozgur, anytime I am lost or need help with my Turkish he helps. Today in class when I was like "oh my god I'm alooooone with my lowly english" I texted him asking how to say "I don't understand." He texted back in about 2 seconds "anlamiorum". So useful to know him. And the exchange students from last semester all know so much about istanbul -- the cheapest cafes where the owners greet them with giant hugs and kisses, the best clubs. And they have so many stories from their first months here I am excited to what lies ahead.

Tonight we are going back to that club we were at last Thursday -- apparently we are VIP if things work out. Um, yes please. I love Istanbul :)

Oh and the exchange commision set up a trip to Bursa for the weekend. So I'll be there Sat and Sun. Should be a good time -- although it may be snowy, something I thought I was done with for the year!

Caught by the Polis

Ahh, it's my last day of what has felt like an endless vacation. Class starts tomorrow. This is funny because spring break starts next week at umich. The schedule is so different here! I start my day with a photography class... but I don't know if I can actually take it because I don't have a manual camera... just my digital. My friend, Ozgur, is also in the class so he is walking with me there so I won't get lost, and I can find out about the camera thing. And then I have Turkish for Foreigners -- finally a course in this confusing language! Although I heard it goes painfully slow and I will probably learn faster just by hanging out with my Turkish buds.

Anyways, I got nargile tonight at a place right near campus with some people from the dorms. While we were there two policemen come up and ask for ID. I don't carry around my passport, just a photocopy in case of a Lindsey-incident (aka I do my usual and leave my purse somewhere, the contents only to be found in a ditch 2 years later). So I give him that and he (via translation from my Turkish friends) asked for my student ID card. The school appears to be really slow with this sort of thing and we aren't even expected to get ID for three weeks. And to apply for residency you have to send away your passport, so one kid didn't even have any "valid" ID. When the polis walked away with all of our ID's (including the Turks') our friends were really confused -- they said they had never had something happen like that before. They were even wondering if they were even real cops. Apparently something had happened because the polis checked every person's ID inside, but it was still an interesting experience.

Our 4th roommate came yesterday, so our suite is full. She is in her English prep year here, learning English before taking courses. So she has had a few months to learn, but is still quite shaky. Hopefully we'll be able to help her -- I told her I talk faster than most people so to stop me if I go to fast. She is super nice and offered me tea withing about 5 seconds of meeting her. A typical, friendly Turk. She is from Edirne a city on the European part of Turkey, about 3 hours from Istanbul -- very close to Greece/Bulgaria. Her name is Gunce (remember c = j) and so far I like her alot! It's exciting to finally have a Turkish person in our room!

Anyways here's a pic of our cloudy Istanbul from the ferry. It is supposed to start getting nicer again by Tuesday! And I guess vacation doesn't really end here because after class Sarah and I are heading over to do some more sightseeing. Maybe see inside the Blue Mosque or the Aya Sofya, visit the Grand Bazaar since Sarah still hasn't been, or perhaps even a Turkish Bath? We have so much left to see and do, I'm glad we'll be here for four months! My weekends are already filling up... Bursa with the exchange program this weekend. Skiing (hopefully!) plus the big rival football match -- Besiktas v Galatasaray next weekend. A trip to Barcelona in March. Scissor Sisters in either Germany or Belgium in April. Antalya for spring break. I am not complaining :)

Nightlife and Dirty Clothes

This weekend we experienced the nightlife in Istanbul (finally!). Thursday we went to a club called Discorium with the group of Americans we have been hanging out with. This guy who is apparently really rich and owns a bunch of nargile places and is also in love with Americans pretty much made us VIP at the club and then took us back to his nargile place and fed us cheeseburgers, french fries, waffles with nutella and bananas, and tea. Friday we made plans to go shopping down at Taksim, a big shopping/restaurant/bar/club area with Jackie, who is an exchange student from LA. We met up with the rest of the crew down here and had dinner at a traditional Ottoman restaurant. Jackie came to Istanbul in January to take a language course, so she knows some Turkish and a lot about the city. She's been super helpful with everything from finding good shopping to getting in to fun nightclubs. Anyways, down at Taksim we met with Ozgur, our new Turkish friend, who took our entire group out to a different club in this area. This one was more pricey, especially because it was a Friday, but it was alot of fun. However... Sarah lost her purse here so we spent all of today on a quest, but happily it has been found! We're being lame tonight even though we are on the guest list for this other club. Losing, then finding the purse was stressful, so instead we sleep.

On the purse quest we had a hilarious taxi driver who spoke about 2 words in English. He drove us all the way to the square for only 5 Lira, which is much less than we planned to spend. But there was a catch: he wanted us to go to the club with him. I spent the 20 minute cab ride imitating dancing, saying "yok" and "hayir" (both negations), and jabbing my finger at my purse and then saying "nerede? nerede?" (where?). I don't think he got it, but whatever, he wouldn't stop talking in Turkish. He definitely liked us... And then on the train ride home I was told that I looked 100% American. I am so obvious, haha.

So now that we have tramped all around this city (even the Asian part!) my clothes are getting disgusting. I can't decide if I want to use the laundry service they have at the dorm... I have heard horror stories of clothes being shredded. I think I'll trust some jeans and sheets but Sarah and I are planning on washing some stuff in the bathroom sink. We are so lame, but are clothes are even more dirty...

Hablamos muchas idomas en Istanbul

Today was probably the best day we've had here. Number one: we can do what we want because we have money.

We overslept so we didn't get the early start we were planning on. This is likely due to the fact we stayed up until 3-4 am hanging out with some Turkish students living in the dorms, just down the hall. Most of them are really nice and try to help us pick up some Turkish. However, I also learned not all Turks are nice... one of them called me fat and proceeded to go through the pictures I have posted online for facebook and pointed out pretty much every flaw I've ever noticed on my body in those pictures. Awesome. He was just mad because he looks just like Dylan Cimock and when I showed him the picture of Dylan dressed in a bright red muscle suit he got really offended. Whatever, I ate a billion pieces of Turkish Delight and had McDonalds today -- at least fat is delicious.

So today we went down to the Bazaar area. First of all, we run up to the bus and hop on... only to realize we have 1.70 Lira, not enough for us both to ride. Thankfully the driver let us stay on... but since we needed a bus and then a tram to get to that part of town we got stranded halfway through our trip. Armed with a Turkish phrasebook we asked for a money exchange place. Of course, there is not one. So we walked, which was actually quite nice. We were able to see everything we had ridden by before and got some good pictures of the afternoon sun shining on the Bosphorus. At the Galata Bridge we found a bunch of restaurants with waiters who knew of a exchange place. After changing money we sat outside and had fresh fish (Sea Bass, which reminded me of Dumb and Dumber, haha). Our waiters were obsessed with us because we were the only people in the restaurant and also because we were American girls. It was really fun because we got out the phrasebook and traded language tips. Sarah and I both received carnations and marriage proposals. Unfortunately we had to turn them down...

After lunch we kind of wandered around and found the outskirts of the Grand Bazaar and then the Spice Bazaar. At the Spice Bazaar they have huge amounts of lokum (Turkish Delight), loose tea (we bought Love Tea today, it smells so good), and a ton of other spices. At one of the places we stoped we met Antonyo a Greek/Spanish shopkeeper who, once he found that Sarah is fluent in Spanish, told us about the tons of people who speak spanish in Turkey. It was kind of sweet because I've never really used my high school Spanish before and I was able to keep up with the conversation and even talk some. So boo-yah to everyone who wanted me to study in Spain. I'm gonna be tri-lingual. We used our limited Turkish around the shops, and drank enough elma cay (apply tea) to fill a swimming pool (not kidding.)

At one point we were shopping for jackets and we were bombarded by the shopkeepers wanting us to come in. After deciding a particular shop didn't have what we wanted we made to leave and the increasingly touchy salesman grabbed my hair, looked deep into my eyes and tried to go in for the kill. I honestly think I saw moss growing in his teeth while we were talking to him so I did what any sane girl would do -- screamed and ran. In my disorientation I ran to what I thought was the door, but was actually a full length mirror. Then when I made it through the real door I stumbled down a cobbled staircase in front of all the other shopkeepers and Sarah, confused at all the commotion. As I ran away giggling with nervous laughter I could still hear everyone shouting at us to buy coats. And after this one kid was on a mission to help us find a coat, so he took us all around, and when we finally tried to ditch him he wouldn't be ditched. Finally I found "Stop! Get away!" in the phrasebook, which worked. So today I practiced: sprinting, evasive maneuvering, and saying the following in turkish: How much? Yes/No, No thank you, Get away, stop. Honestly, not a bad vocabulary to start with.

We also had our exchange/special student orientation yesterday. We met quite a few more students, mainly from the US who are here this semester. Sarah is more interesting than me because with her dark hard and skin everyone thinks she is Turkish or from the Middle East. But even being Latin American she is exotic so all the Americans love to talk to her. So I usually get the shaft because, ya know who wants to meet another American (ex convo Sarah: I'm Russian and Guatemalan; Enthralled Student: Wow, and you (me)?; Me: Ummm I think I'm like German or uhhh, well I'm just American). But don't worry, the people we meet around Istanbul are always in love with me because I am exotic to them. Sarah and I decided we are the perfect duo -- she will attract exchange students around school, and I will attract the Turks -- the ones that don't think I'm fat :). Anyways at orientation we went to Tophane for "Tea & Talk" which was smoking nargile (hookah for all my Michigan people), playing backgammon, and drinking the ever present apple tea. It's way fun and relaxing, we actually went again with Antonyo and his friend, where I proceeded to lose 3 times in backgammon (they call it something that starts with T...). I actually won a game of chess which I was proud of.

Um ok I think I am writing a novel. And crap, I'm up until 4am again. Well anyways, we're going to the Asian side of Istanbul tomorrow so I'm very excited. I added more pictures to the Istanbul album so check it. Peace dawgs (yea I said it).

A few weeks too late

Message Through ÖBİS System. Sent on 13.02.2007 16:51:49
Name:	OBIKAS Administrator
E-Mail:	registr@boun.edu.tr
Subject:	WARNING ABOUT PAYMENTS
Message:	Dear Students, Please pay attention not to make money transfers from any bank to our accounts at Garanti Bank and Akbank. We recommend you to use available university payment options on ATMs and Internet Banking of Garanti Bank or Akbank. Also at the bank offices please tell the officer that you want to use these options instead of money transfer.

That would have been helpful about 3 weeks ago...

1st Weekend in Istanbul

It's been a crazy few days, especially since I am still trying to figure out how to get cash! We spent Sunday navigating the public transportation here with the little cash I had from Saturday. There's buses running right outside our dorm, and you can usually just pay when you get on... but sometimes you can't and cause a backup on everyone else who is trying to get on the bus (as we learned today....). We made our way down to the Grand Bazaar, but almost bought tickets to what I can only guess is the city of "Abazzar" or something like that. After asking around in a park some Turkish guys brought us to the bus office (I can say bus in turkish!) but I think it was something like Greyhound, because there were no buses to Abazzar that day. This was a good thing because I think we would have gotten on a bus to some remote city if it was available. Turns out the Grand Bazaar is something different in Turkish. The bus drivers of the city bus are very nice though and when we asked (in terrible accents) for Kapali Carsi our bus driver told us which stop to get off at, which bus to get on, and then told that bus driver to help us find the tram. It was an adventure, but we made it. Since we had hardly any money we only bought 1 thing -- a hair straigtener to share between Sarah, me and our roommate, Miranda, from Oklahoma -- you know, the necessities.

After the Bazaar we found our way to the coast via a street of restaurants that were all named "Fish & Meat Restaurant." As two girls walking alone we were getting alot of looks, which were justified when we realized we were the ONLY girls in sight. I think it was a man-only street or something. Once near the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn we saw tons of families sitting in groups in the grass cooking food and enjoying the warm weather as the sun set.
We ate dinner at a restaurant around here and then went up near the Hagia Sofia to find the bus home. Registration was early this morning so we wanted to get to sleep earlier than our typical 6am. There were some shops where the guys working let us try on belly dancing outfits over our clothes. I think Sarah looks better than me but I'll let you judge:There were also some fun signs above the stores. My Turkish is worse than their English though... Or maybe they are really sorry that they have to be open?

And today was spent paying the rest of my tuition (yay I'm a student!) and trying to find the Western Union that has my bank. This proved impossible, and we were tired, so we went to a mall. Tonight we are going down to Taksim square, the place we went on Saturday, to find some nightlife and all that good stuff. On a sad note, Sarah and I bought cheese and wine to have for dinner in the dorm and apparently you can't drink in the dorms. And we got caught! A whole big bag of groceries and the woman is like "...What is that bottle?" Umm, so much for being legal... well I am just not in the dorms... when I am getting caught. Haha.

Tomorrow is orientation so maybe we'll finally know this campus a little better. And I registered for all my classes today. Only 1 was overlapping and I don't need it really, so as long as the others work out I am happy. Of course I am taking one structures class that may be too hard for me so we'll see. If that doesn't work out my dreamy graduating on time plan may not work out. But whatever... here is my tentative schedule for this semester:

Soil Mechanics + Soil Mechanics Lab
Computational Methods for Environmental Analysis
Structural Analysis II
Latin-Aero Dance
Rock Climbing II
Basic Photography
Elementary Turkish for Foreigners

Poop in the streets

So Aunt Pam, you will love this. I go out today to explore the streets and the first thing I do is step in a giant pile of poop while I'm asking some guys for directions. I have been warned of people pooping the streets (which I don't believe!) but this is still gross. And it made me laugh since that was my warning before I got to Turkey: "watch out for poop in the streets." Haha. [Edit: This particular pile of poop should not be assumed as human but as a product of one of the many dogs (stray and pet) that are all over Istanbul.]

We met 2 Turkish students in the dorm today who took our friends with Sarah and I in tow to a traditional Turkish restaurant and then out to a club. They took credit cards so we could afford it, and I managed to pay for some people and traded for 45 Lira cash. Yay!! So we can go ride public transportation and find our way to the Bazaar tomorrow. It was a fun night -- live music in the heart of Istanbul. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, especially since I have the $11 of tuition sorted out...

We're HERE, We're POOOOOR

We got into Istanbul around 1pm Ist Time... 6am Michigan time. We were exhausted, especially since the flights were very turbulent so we each slept very little. We went camera crazy on the ride into the city, since it was long due to the traffic we had been forwarned of.

Our cab driver from the airport wanted us to take a picture. He was on a 24 hour shift and still had 5 hours to go. That made us less tired.

Some buildings as we got farther into the city.


View the rest of my photos from our ride in HERE. There are also some shots of the view you see walking from our dorm down to the campus that has the International Center on it. AMAZING.

Of course at the International Center we come to find out our tuition is short (mine by a mere $11 resulting from unforeseen wire transfer fees). And yeah, our bank cards don't work in Turkey because of previous fraud that has occurred. So... FYI I didn't bring a dime of cash. Ok, I lied, I have a quarter. The soonest we can get money transferred is next Wednesday. We spent all the cash Sarah had paying for the taxi ride. THANKFULLY, Sarah found a $100 bill in her backpack (why doesn't that every happen to me?!). So $11 of that is going to the school on Monday to make sure I can register. And that leaves us with $89 to live off of this weeked. So much for crazy parties and good times on the first time out. I was really upset at first, but now that I've accepted, I'm really excited. We bought my favorite European meal staples -- good bread, ripe tomatoes and yummy cheese. And some Peanut Butter. Se we're packing a lunch and wandering on foot, taking pictures and learning where the hell we are in this huge city. Should be good, non spending fun :)

Other than that, we spent our evening unpacking and moving into our new homes. We met one of our other roommates, a really nice girl from Oklahoma, who is here with 3 other student from OK. We also met a guy from Texas who is Turkish (he saved us in several stores today with his language skills!) and a girl calledNana for short, who is from Greece. I'm excited to meet even more people -- so far everyone has been really nice and helpful, even through this money massacre.

The superdorm staff told us not to tape anything on the walls of this ultra-modern dorm... but I have a secret... it's not all that modern. My matress had stains (I flipped it) and my wall had a thin layer of white paint over the previous occupants hate message: "I will always lover her. Nadsko will regret not doing what I want tonight." I decided that, and other obvious tape marks on the walls gave me authority to tape whatever I wanted, so now my room is quite nice. And just as I am thinking this I hear Sarah say "ewww" from her room. There are gross stains on her mattress.... Oh dorms.

On to Istanbul

I leave in less than 6 hours and counting! I can't believe its already here. I've packed way too much already and I still have some last minute things to throw in my suitcase. I know in June I am going to be bitching "why did I pack so much?" Maybe I should just go take some stuff out... but its already all zipped up... (barely).

Anyways, I am VERY excited -- if I get bored on any of my stopovers (in Chicago or Frankfurt) I'll add more about our trip. I just know that when I get to Istanbul on Friday the last thing I'm going to want to do is play on my computer!

See you in Turkey...