I have been here five or so days and time is flying.
I arrived in Istanbul on the afternoon of Wednesday Sept 5. I took a bus from an airport to Taksim (a neighborhood in central Istanbul) and from there a Taksi to the dorm office. After a minute of slight confusion I received a key and was told to hop in another taksi. The taksi took me to Yonça 7, the building that will be my home for at least the next few months. No one was home when I first got here, so I was able to select my room after careful weighing the pros and cons of each. I settled on a room with the light switch outside the room, but a decent view and lots of natural light. Wednesday night was consumed by unpacking and early to bed. The jet lag was actually not too bad. The primary challenge with sleep is the stray dogs conversing and the revving engines that charge up the steep hill outside.
Thursday I used to complete my registration. This primarily was answering questions about why I chose Koç (technically they were answered by a student who could speak Turkish, so I actually don't know why I chose the school) and providing proper documentation. The afternoon I wandered around the campus exploring and attempting to get my bearings. In the evening I met up with a student who I had met while still living in Seattle. Lewis and I travelled across Istanbul to the Asian side (quite the trek from Sariyer where we live) to meet up with some second year students, all of which happen to be in my department. The food was good and the company was great. After dinner we found some beers (a great shock after living in the PNW... the beers are more similar to bud light...) before making the long journey home which I believe ended shortly after 2 am.
Friday we had agreed to meet at a ferry and head towards the Princes' Islands. The ferry ride was around an hour and a half, but was filled with product demonstrations and some impromptu jamming. The lemon juicer was pretty impressive, but even more so was how fast the product moved. We stopped at Burgazada (one of the islands), found food and set out for the beach. A charming aspect of these islands is that they do not have cars and instead you must walk, bike, or go by horse and buggy. There were four of us and we opted for a carriage ride to a public beach. It was terrible... no really it was pretty heavenly. There are a vast number of old Ottoman houses on these islands and the blue Bosporus makes the whole setting quite serene. We relaxed in the sun, swam, and subsequently headed home to meet other friends for food and beers.
Saturday a new roommate arrived. Zhang is an exchange student who will only be here for four months. My understanding is that she will study International Relations. Together we went to Sariyer to figure out cell phones and groceries. I had originally bought a cell phone on Thursday and by this time it was still not working. Fearing I had been taken advantage of and wanting to yell at the seller, I invited a Turkish friend of mine to come along to the fight. We did a lot of back and forth between phone shops and called the company to make sure that my number had been registered etc. Turns out that it had not been registered until that day (Saturday). Grrr. Burçu (the Turkish friend) and I did some errands and walked a lot. Somewhere in there the phone turned on! YAY. Burcu went home and I continued strolling towards the neighborhood where I would meet the same group of graduate students I had been with the past few days. Arriving early, I was able to sit, reflect, people watch, and write. Dinner, drinks, and dancing ensued. We ended up in Taksim, a neighborhood notorious for the bars. There truly must be thousands of them. That was a late night... got home at 4:30.
That being said, yesterday was a slow relaxing day. Another roommate arrived, this time from France. I slept, relaxed, read and caught up with family. Today I will run a few more errands relating to school and food. Sorry about the delay in posting and the rambling content. I miss you all and hope things are peachy back in the States.
Hugs.
Thursday I used to complete my registration. This primarily was answering questions about why I chose Koç (technically they were answered by a student who could speak Turkish, so I actually don't know why I chose the school) and providing proper documentation. The afternoon I wandered around the campus exploring and attempting to get my bearings. In the evening I met up with a student who I had met while still living in Seattle. Lewis and I travelled across Istanbul to the Asian side (quite the trek from Sariyer where we live) to meet up with some second year students, all of which happen to be in my department. The food was good and the company was great. After dinner we found some beers (a great shock after living in the PNW... the beers are more similar to bud light...) before making the long journey home which I believe ended shortly after 2 am.
Friday we had agreed to meet at a ferry and head towards the Princes' Islands. The ferry ride was around an hour and a half, but was filled with product demonstrations and some impromptu jamming. The lemon juicer was pretty impressive, but even more so was how fast the product moved. We stopped at Burgazada (one of the islands), found food and set out for the beach. A charming aspect of these islands is that they do not have cars and instead you must walk, bike, or go by horse and buggy. There were four of us and we opted for a carriage ride to a public beach. It was terrible... no really it was pretty heavenly. There are a vast number of old Ottoman houses on these islands and the blue Bosporus makes the whole setting quite serene. We relaxed in the sun, swam, and subsequently headed home to meet other friends for food and beers.
Saturday a new roommate arrived. Zhang is an exchange student who will only be here for four months. My understanding is that she will study International Relations. Together we went to Sariyer to figure out cell phones and groceries. I had originally bought a cell phone on Thursday and by this time it was still not working. Fearing I had been taken advantage of and wanting to yell at the seller, I invited a Turkish friend of mine to come along to the fight. We did a lot of back and forth between phone shops and called the company to make sure that my number had been registered etc. Turns out that it had not been registered until that day (Saturday). Grrr. Burçu (the Turkish friend) and I did some errands and walked a lot. Somewhere in there the phone turned on! YAY. Burcu went home and I continued strolling towards the neighborhood where I would meet the same group of graduate students I had been with the past few days. Arriving early, I was able to sit, reflect, people watch, and write. Dinner, drinks, and dancing ensued. We ended up in Taksim, a neighborhood notorious for the bars. There truly must be thousands of them. That was a late night... got home at 4:30.
That being said, yesterday was a slow relaxing day. Another roommate arrived, this time from France. I slept, relaxed, read and caught up with family. Today I will run a few more errands relating to school and food. Sorry about the delay in posting and the rambling content. I miss you all and hope things are peachy back in the States.
Hugs.
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