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...

The Real Countdown Begins (with some minor glitches)

So I've applied for my student Visa, gotten all my vaccinations, finally received my acceptance packet in the mail (It has been lost for 2.5 months), and now I only have a month left before I leave! I'm so excited but still so unprepared!!

First of all, I don't know where I'm going to live. The dorms, which I applied for in December after being accepted to Bogazici, just contacted me -- and the dorm is full. So, no housing. And also -- I don't speak Turkish. Yeah, I' m supposedly learning right now, but I've just spent my time watching movies and being lazy. However, I can now count to six (instead of only 5).

We're hoping the dorms clear out at the end of the semester (they are having exams right now and are done in a few weeks). If not, my friend who is from Istanbul knows of a 2-bedroom apartment near campus. But.....I don't know if I'm quite ready to have a Turkish landlord yet, seeing as I can't count as high as the rent is!

I leave for Turkey in 677 hours!

Green Roof Project

We finally finished our green roof project and this is the video that we submitted with it.



And as a side note... only 5 more days at University of Michigan until next September!