On Saturday afternoon, I took the metro to Taksim Square.
Taksim and Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street) are the big hangout spots in Istanbul. Istiklal has tons of shops and restaurants, a high school, several foreign consulates, various churches and lots of cool old buildings.
I met Rebecca at the McDonald's. I got there early, since it was my first time and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there from the flat. I was sitting outside McDonald's and a woman with a dog came to sit at the table next to me. She asked me if I was afraid of dogs and I told her No. She sat down and started talking to me. And she talked. And she kept talking. I won't take up a year of your life going into detail, but I'll just say that she has an opinion about everything. I just tried to explain that just like all Turks don't agree with the government, so it is with Americans. The funniest part of the whole episode is that she took the dog to McDonald's because it was a special day. He became a man that day, as she put it. :) She fed him a couple of hamburgers and he was happy.
Rebecca and I went to dinner at a delicious restaurant. I had a mix platter with kuzu, kofte and other yummy stuff. The custom here is to bring the guests a cup of tea after the meal, sort of like the American custom of giving mints. After dinner, we walked down Istiklal. I took a bunch of pics, they are on FB.
Istiklal is very busy and is closed to traffic, except for official vehicles. There can be thousands of people there at any given time. An old fashioned type of street car runs down the middle.
We went into St.Anthony's Church, which is really beautiful. They still have their large nativity and beautiful Christmas decorations up, so that was very nice to see.
She took me to the Galata Tower, which is truly stunning. It's HUGE. It was originally built in the 14th century. It's over 200 ft tall and the walls are 12 ft thick. It has a restaurant, a cafe and a nightclub. When you get to the top, you can walk around the Tower and there is a panoramic view of the city. It is beautiful. We went just as the sun was going down and the lighting was gorgeous.
You can see the Golden Horn that separates the Old District from the New District on the European side, and the Bosphorous Bridge which connect Europe to Asia.
On our way back up Istiklal to the metro, we stopped and had amazing dessert at a place Ozsut. I tried a drink called Salep, which is made from orchid root. It is frothy and white and served warm with cinnamon on the top.
We had a great day together and it was fun to see some of the sights.
On Monday, I was lazy for the most of the day.
Fatma and I started talking around 4 and I said Well, I should go outside...
So we got dressed and went out for a little while. We went to a photography studio and she helped me get my portrait taken for the photos that I will need to register for classes and to get my residence permit.
We went to dinner at this little place that serves one dish - manti (but the i doesn't have a dot and makes a different sound).
It was delicious. It is teeny fresh made dumplings/ravioli served warm with yogurt (kind of like sour cream), pasta sauce, garlic, butter, fresh herbs and spices. It is fantastic. We stopped on the walk home and I got some fresh baklava, also fantastic. My tummy was very happy.
Today I have to go pick up the photos and go to school to get my student ID and password. I am meeting Rebecca at 5 and we are going to paint the town red. ;)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
One week milestone
On Wednesday, I rode the bus for the first time and that was an experience.
I had orientation at school and it was my first time in campus. Fatma told me what bus to take, so I rode the metro to Sisli and found the correct exit up to civilization. :)
The bus system here is somewhat chaotic. I only knew I was in the correct place because a bunch of buses seem to randomly stop there. I just sat and watched for a while. The bus pulls up, the doors open, people stream off and then stream on. The buses are often very crowded. The driver will be pulling away and people are still trying to get on. Sometimes the bus is so crowded, people are standing on the steps that lead up to the driver's seat.
I finally worked up the nerve to get on the one I needed, 59R. I stepped on and asked the driver "Bogazici?" He looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. At first he told me No and I thought ok, what's going on? So this very nice looking, very well dressed young man who was sitting in the seat closest to the door started speaking to him in Turkish and after some deliberation, he told me "Yes" in English.
It turns out that the bus does a little loop around the station before it heads the opposite direction to Bogazici and I think that is why the driver told me No initially. Thank God the nice guy was there to help me, because I probably would have gotten off and gave up and just went home.
I think the lack of order caused me some anxiety. I rode the bus for years before I started driving, so it wasn't new to me. But the buses in Napa are a little different. ;)
The driver does not call out the stops and there isn't a recording that plays or anything. It seems that you just need to know where your stop is. So we putzed along and I saw a very official looking entrance with the little booths and a big sign that Bogazici University. I got off the the bus and started walking.
And I walked. And I walked. This part of campus is up on a high part of the city and you have to walk down this windy road to get to the buildings. I got down to something that sort of resembles a quad. I saw a short line forming on the steps of one of the buildings. I walked over and asked someone and found out that I happened to be in the right place.
This was just not well thought out. There were no signs or notices or anything saying "Orientation Students - Follow this path!"
All they did at orientation was tell us about important dates (registration, add/drop etc.), took questions, and a couple of students talked about all the different clubs and specific groups for the exchange students.
I am not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.
I talked to a couple of very young American girls who are at Bogazici because they were evacuated from Cairo. They didn't seem too concerned about this. :)
I'm reluctant to say that in general, the Americans I observed all seemed like preppy snotty undergrads in their sweaters and skinny jeans and boots, who asked stupid questions and laughed at the accents of the school admins when they were speaking. Someone needs to smack them. I am so glad I am not staying in the dorms, because they put all the international students together and I would be stuck with these people.
There was a dinner after orientation (15 lira a person, a rip-off), but I didn't go. I got some chips and juice at a little shop across from the bus station and rode back to the Metro. A little boy got on the bus with an older woman and he sat down next to me. I smiled at him and held the bag chips down so he could reach and he took one. This was my effort for American/Turkish relations that day. :)
On Thursday I stayed in the flat for most of the day and went out in the evening to Carrefour.
On Friday I went back to Cevahir and got some new stuff for my room. I went to Koctas, the Turkish Home Depot and got a rug, a lamp, and a curtain. I found another shop that had a ton of bedding, towels, etc. and picked out a very cute bed set and a couple of pillows. I am very pleased with my purchases. The bed set has a big poppy pattern and it really brightened up the room. It was a bit of a chore hauling all those bags back to the flat, but I managed.
Today I think I will go to Taksim for the first time. Taksim is the big shopping/eating/touristy area in Istanbul.
I was hoping to get in some travel before classes begin, but it turns out that I can't leave the country until I get my residence permit, or my student visa is basically voided. So I am stuck here in Turkey. :)
I had orientation at school and it was my first time in campus. Fatma told me what bus to take, so I rode the metro to Sisli and found the correct exit up to civilization. :)
The bus system here is somewhat chaotic. I only knew I was in the correct place because a bunch of buses seem to randomly stop there. I just sat and watched for a while. The bus pulls up, the doors open, people stream off and then stream on. The buses are often very crowded. The driver will be pulling away and people are still trying to get on. Sometimes the bus is so crowded, people are standing on the steps that lead up to the driver's seat.
I finally worked up the nerve to get on the one I needed, 59R. I stepped on and asked the driver "Bogazici?" He looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. At first he told me No and I thought ok, what's going on? So this very nice looking, very well dressed young man who was sitting in the seat closest to the door started speaking to him in Turkish and after some deliberation, he told me "Yes" in English.
It turns out that the bus does a little loop around the station before it heads the opposite direction to Bogazici and I think that is why the driver told me No initially. Thank God the nice guy was there to help me, because I probably would have gotten off and gave up and just went home.
I think the lack of order caused me some anxiety. I rode the bus for years before I started driving, so it wasn't new to me. But the buses in Napa are a little different. ;)
The driver does not call out the stops and there isn't a recording that plays or anything. It seems that you just need to know where your stop is. So we putzed along and I saw a very official looking entrance with the little booths and a big sign that Bogazici University. I got off the the bus and started walking.
And I walked. And I walked. This part of campus is up on a high part of the city and you have to walk down this windy road to get to the buildings. I got down to something that sort of resembles a quad. I saw a short line forming on the steps of one of the buildings. I walked over and asked someone and found out that I happened to be in the right place.
This was just not well thought out. There were no signs or notices or anything saying "Orientation Students - Follow this path!"
All they did at orientation was tell us about important dates (registration, add/drop etc.), took questions, and a couple of students talked about all the different clubs and specific groups for the exchange students.
I am not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.
I talked to a couple of very young American girls who are at Bogazici because they were evacuated from Cairo. They didn't seem too concerned about this. :)
I'm reluctant to say that in general, the Americans I observed all seemed like preppy snotty undergrads in their sweaters and skinny jeans and boots, who asked stupid questions and laughed at the accents of the school admins when they were speaking. Someone needs to smack them. I am so glad I am not staying in the dorms, because they put all the international students together and I would be stuck with these people.
There was a dinner after orientation (15 lira a person, a rip-off), but I didn't go. I got some chips and juice at a little shop across from the bus station and rode back to the Metro. A little boy got on the bus with an older woman and he sat down next to me. I smiled at him and held the bag chips down so he could reach and he took one. This was my effort for American/Turkish relations that day. :)
On Thursday I stayed in the flat for most of the day and went out in the evening to Carrefour.
On Friday I went back to Cevahir and got some new stuff for my room. I went to Koctas, the Turkish Home Depot and got a rug, a lamp, and a curtain. I found another shop that had a ton of bedding, towels, etc. and picked out a very cute bed set and a couple of pillows. I am very pleased with my purchases. The bed set has a big poppy pattern and it really brightened up the room. It was a bit of a chore hauling all those bags back to the flat, but I managed.
Today I think I will go to Taksim for the first time. Taksim is the big shopping/eating/touristy area in Istanbul.
I was hoping to get in some travel before classes begin, but it turns out that I can't leave the country until I get my residence permit, or my student visa is basically voided. So I am stuck here in Turkey. :)
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Day of Firsts
I woke up at 4am, went back to sleep at 7am, and woke up again at 10am! This is the best night of sleep I've had since I arrived.
I decided to go out and brave the metro for the first time. I got to the station without any problem (Fatma walked me there on Sunday) and hopped on the train. The mall, Cevahir, is just one stop up, so it actually takes much longer for me to talk to the station from the flat than it does to get to my destination once I get on the train. :)
Cevahir really is enormous. Truly. In fact, it's too big. Unless you know what stores you want, you could spend all day there. I never even saw the roller coaster, but I think it might be in the entertainment section.
There are a lot of the same American food places as in Forum, McDonald's and Burger King, etc. I had a tasty slice of pizza at sbarro. They passed me off to one of the employees who spoke some English. :)
I was on a mission to find some things for my room and a couple of towels. I went into Migro, which is like a grocery store and got a notebook and some tape.
I was totally surprised to find a big Yankee Candle display in a store called TepeHome. I had to take a picture of it. :) I got two towels and some neat adhesive wall decor things of the NYC skyline. I still need to get a small lamp and maybe small bed table.
There is an entranc/exit to the metro on the bottom floor of Cevahir right by TepeHome, so I hopped back on the train. At the Osmanbey station, you can exit to Rumeli Street or Pangalti Street. I ended up at Rumeli and I needed Pangalti. So I went back down the escalator, walked around, and went up the correct escalator to Pangalti.
I did have a little scare with my keys. I left the flat before trying the front door with my keyes. Fatma's keys were in the lock, so I unlocked the door, stepped out, and shut it. I immediately tried my keys to see if they worked...... And I couldn't get the door open. *gulp* I tried and tried and tried and the key wouldn't turn at all. So I just prayed that Fatma would be home and able to let me in when I returned. :)
She was indeed at home when I returned and I asked her about the door. It was like I suspected - you can't unlock the door from the outside if the key is in the lock on the inside. Good to know. :)
I showed her my purchases and we put the NYC decor up and then I put up all the pics. The room really looks lived in now. I am so pleased.
It's almost 4 o'clock and it is a beautiful warm sunny day. Fatma said it is supposed to be unusually warm this week, so that is good. She is studying for an exam and I think I might go out to the market and stock up on chow.
I decided to go out and brave the metro for the first time. I got to the station without any problem (Fatma walked me there on Sunday) and hopped on the train. The mall, Cevahir, is just one stop up, so it actually takes much longer for me to talk to the station from the flat than it does to get to my destination once I get on the train. :)
Cevahir really is enormous. Truly. In fact, it's too big. Unless you know what stores you want, you could spend all day there. I never even saw the roller coaster, but I think it might be in the entertainment section.
There are a lot of the same American food places as in Forum, McDonald's and Burger King, etc. I had a tasty slice of pizza at sbarro. They passed me off to one of the employees who spoke some English. :)
I was on a mission to find some things for my room and a couple of towels. I went into Migro, which is like a grocery store and got a notebook and some tape.
I was totally surprised to find a big Yankee Candle display in a store called TepeHome. I had to take a picture of it. :) I got two towels and some neat adhesive wall decor things of the NYC skyline. I still need to get a small lamp and maybe small bed table.
There is an entranc/exit to the metro on the bottom floor of Cevahir right by TepeHome, so I hopped back on the train. At the Osmanbey station, you can exit to Rumeli Street or Pangalti Street. I ended up at Rumeli and I needed Pangalti. So I went back down the escalator, walked around, and went up the correct escalator to Pangalti.
I did have a little scare with my keys. I left the flat before trying the front door with my keyes. Fatma's keys were in the lock, so I unlocked the door, stepped out, and shut it. I immediately tried my keys to see if they worked...... And I couldn't get the door open. *gulp* I tried and tried and tried and the key wouldn't turn at all. So I just prayed that Fatma would be home and able to let me in when I returned. :)
She was indeed at home when I returned and I asked her about the door. It was like I suspected - you can't unlock the door from the outside if the key is in the lock on the inside. Good to know. :)
I showed her my purchases and we put the NYC decor up and then I put up all the pics. The room really looks lived in now. I am so pleased.
It's almost 4 o'clock and it is a beautiful warm sunny day. Fatma said it is supposed to be unusually warm this week, so that is good. She is studying for an exam and I think I might go out to the market and stock up on chow.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Home Sweet Home
My sleep schedule is giving me fits. I am dead tired around 7 or 8 in the evening. On Sunday night, I went to sleep around that time and was wide awake at 1 am. I was up until about 5ish. I got up, had breakfast, checked out of my hotel and took a taxi to my new flat!
I unpacked everything and Fatma and I had lunch and talked for a couple of hours. She made a yummy lunch: pasta, tomatoes, hardboiled eggs, and pickles. I showed her pictures and we talked about our families. We seem to have a lot in common, so I think we will get along well.
I ended up staying in the flat, so I will probably go to Cevahir today. I managed to sleep until 4am! This is the longest I have slept since my arrival.
Things I am learning:
The Snickers are better here. I am not sure what they do differently, but something is different. I think it might be the peanuts. I think they are roasted. Anyways, they are tasty.
Breakfast is an American art, in regards to sweet fluffy kinds of things.
They have Dunkin Donuts here :)
Planning ahead and doing things early isn't a priority. Classes start in two weeks and they don't have days/times listed yet.
I unpacked everything and Fatma and I had lunch and talked for a couple of hours. She made a yummy lunch: pasta, tomatoes, hardboiled eggs, and pickles. I showed her pictures and we talked about our families. We seem to have a lot in common, so I think we will get along well.
I ended up staying in the flat, so I will probably go to Cevahir today. I managed to sleep until 4am! This is the longest I have slept since my arrival.
Things I am learning:
The Snickers are better here. I am not sure what they do differently, but something is different. I think it might be the peanuts. I think they are roasted. Anyways, they are tasty.
Breakfast is an American art, in regards to sweet fluffy kinds of things.
They have Dunkin Donuts here :)
Planning ahead and doing things early isn't a priority. Classes start in two weeks and they don't have days/times listed yet.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Not in Kansas anymore...
I'm here!
The flight from SF to London was long and uncomfortable. Those seats have no lower back support and it is just unpleasant for me. I only managed to get about 2ish hours sleeptime. But the flight crew was so nice and they serve a lovely cup of tea! I had a short layover at Heathrow, which is massive. I couldn't get the public wifi to work, so I just gave up. I used a whole package of Kleenex on the flight, so I stopped at my old friend Boot's and got some cold medicine. Apparently, you can't find cold med that doesn't have a dose of caffeine in it. Silly Brits.
The seats on the smaller plane from London to Istanbul were much more comfortable and I was able to sleep a little more. There was an adorable little two year old across the aisle from me. His dad was so cute, so attentive to him and and kept shooshing him in a mixture of French and English.
I arrived around 10:30 and went through customs without any problem. I got my luggage and took a taxi to my cute little hotel. It's cute and clean, just typically small.
The time change has me all messed up, so I was only able to sleep for about 6 hours. I got up and wondered around the hotel and found the breakfast buffet down a couple of floors. Breakfast here is great, lots of foods that I enjoy. A typical breakfast here consists of bread, cheese, cucumber, tomato, yogurt (real yogurt, the semi-runny, tart kind), some form of cold meat (like cold cuts), olives, dried fruit and a couple of other things. They have this juice here that is so awesome, I think it's cherry pomegranate. It's so delicious.
The Davids were very thoughtful and got me a converter/adapter set. I didn't think to check it before I left and didn't find out until I arrived that it doesn't work with the plug on my laptop. This made feel a little worried, because the battery was low from me messing with it at Heathrow when I couldn't get the public wifi to work. I wasn't sure where to go and how to get there to buy the right converter. I am so glad I have my iPod touch, because I was able to use that for internet access.
I have been in contact with a few people here about renting a room and I had it set up to meet with a girl Saturday night. She told me what metro station to go to and when. So I had basically all day and I saw in the lobby of the hotel that there was a little brochure for the Turkuazoo, Turkey's only aquarium. I thought Well, that sounds fun. I do love me an aquarium. :)
I took a taxi and that was my first time seeing the city during the day. It has such personality. The landscape is kind of like San Francisco, just bigger and more spread out and older.
It turns out that the Turkuazoo is in an enormous mall called Forum Istanbul.
I stopped and Starbucks and had a snack. There's no place like home, right? :) The menu board is in English, which is a plus.
I guess I have become an aquarium snob. This one is not so fantastic. I think after visiting the most awesome one on the planet in Atlanta, anything else just cannot compare. But it was enjoyable and I had fun people watching.
It didn't take very long to go through it, so I poked around the mall for a while. I went into an electronics store like a Best Buy and found the correct converter for the laptop, another memory card for my camera and a USB charger for my iPod so I don't have to use the converter.
I went into a big store called Real, which is like a Super Walmart. I found a copy of Jane Eyre in Turkish. That totally made my day, as it is the one specific thing I wanted to get here. And it was only 2 lira!
It was Saturday so the mall was pretty crowded, especially the food court. They have a lot of American fast food places - McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Popeye's, sbarro. There is a Mexican food shop that sells pizza and burgers. :)
Something scary happened as I was eating my piece of kibbeh. I was going to go down the escalator to the next floor, but I decided to stand at the railing next to it and eat quickly. I was standing there and suddenly people started screaming and a crush was forming on the escalator that was going down. It had malfunctioned right at the bottom and things and people were getting caught in it. They managed to get everyone off, but one lady was injured. Very scary. :(
I went back to my hotel and left that evening to meet with the girl about the room. I was very hopeful that out meeting would go well, as she is a student at Bogazici and seemed very nice. I waited for 40 minutes and she never showed. This was so frustrating to me. I was getting quite cold and the place I was at is kind of like a small version of Times Square. I got in a taxi after 40 minutes and came back to the hotel. I was disappointed. I emailed her and she never replied.
So, I took this in stride and emailed another girl who was on my list, Fatma. She also seemed very nice and we set up to meet at her flat on Sunday morning at 11.
I got up and got ready and stumped another taxi driver with trying to find the flat (they always seem to have a problem finding my little hole in the wall hotel). We finally found it and Fatma greeted me from an upper window. The buildings here can be five or six floors. She unlocked the door for me and I went up a couple of flights.
Fatma is a sweetie. She is Turkish and was raised in France. Her English is great, we had no problem understanding each other. She is very self-conscious about her accent and English, but I kept telling her that her skills are so good and the accent isn't a problem for me. We sat there and talked for two hours. I told her that I would not be offended if she decided that she did not want me to live in the flat after meeting with me. I said "This is YOUR home." She said that she had one other girl who was coming to look at it. But after we talked for a while, she basically said that she liked me and wanted me to stay and the other girl would just have to deal it. :)
She is a very interesting person, very smart. She has a law degree from France, but wants to live in Istanbul and so is studying Turkish law. She will work in the business/corporate area of international law.
The flat is very cute. It has two bedrooms and one living room, which are all a good size. The bathroom and kitchen are typically small, but that just makes everything within closer reach. :) My room has a twin bed, a wardrobe and a desk with a small chair. There are new wood floors that are nice and shiney.
Fatma lived in Istanbul previously as an exchange student and she explained to me why she chose this flat. It is in a neighborhood called Kurtulus (Ker-too-loosh) in the Sisli (chiz-lee) district. There are all variety of small shops and everything I will need. She took me out for a walk and guess what the closest metro station is???? Yes, the one where I waited for 40 minutes the previous night. :)
I couldn't believe it.
Fatma is very excited about me living there. She is very social and wanted someone who would be a friend and flatmate and wouldn't just stay in their room all the time. I am excited to polish up what little French I remember and she can also help me with learning some Turkish.
The time change is giving me some trouble. I can't sleep for more than 5 or 6 hours at a time. I woke up at 5:30am on Sunday morning and fell asleep at 7:30pm because I was tired, then woke up about an hour ago at 1 am. I hope this doesn't take too long to work itself out.
The traffic here can be awful and riding in a taxi is interesting. These guys are somewhat homicidal maniacs. :) They get so unbelievably close to other cars and people. When you get into the smaller neighborhoods with streets that seem about three feet wide, it gets even more interesting. When I was going to meet Fatma, the driver had to keep backing up because there wasn't room for another car to pass by him. But the cars here are all very small, so they zip around quickly.
Pre-registration and orientation are this week, but I haven't received any communication from the school about specifics, so I guess I will have to try to find that out for myself.
If anyone has any questions, just ask!
Oh, Fatma has two goldfish! :)
The flight from SF to London was long and uncomfortable. Those seats have no lower back support and it is just unpleasant for me. I only managed to get about 2ish hours sleeptime. But the flight crew was so nice and they serve a lovely cup of tea! I had a short layover at Heathrow, which is massive. I couldn't get the public wifi to work, so I just gave up. I used a whole package of Kleenex on the flight, so I stopped at my old friend Boot's and got some cold medicine. Apparently, you can't find cold med that doesn't have a dose of caffeine in it. Silly Brits.
The seats on the smaller plane from London to Istanbul were much more comfortable and I was able to sleep a little more. There was an adorable little two year old across the aisle from me. His dad was so cute, so attentive to him and and kept shooshing him in a mixture of French and English.
I arrived around 10:30 and went through customs without any problem. I got my luggage and took a taxi to my cute little hotel. It's cute and clean, just typically small.
The time change has me all messed up, so I was only able to sleep for about 6 hours. I got up and wondered around the hotel and found the breakfast buffet down a couple of floors. Breakfast here is great, lots of foods that I enjoy. A typical breakfast here consists of bread, cheese, cucumber, tomato, yogurt (real yogurt, the semi-runny, tart kind), some form of cold meat (like cold cuts), olives, dried fruit and a couple of other things. They have this juice here that is so awesome, I think it's cherry pomegranate. It's so delicious.
The Davids were very thoughtful and got me a converter/adapter set. I didn't think to check it before I left and didn't find out until I arrived that it doesn't work with the plug on my laptop. This made feel a little worried, because the battery was low from me messing with it at Heathrow when I couldn't get the public wifi to work. I wasn't sure where to go and how to get there to buy the right converter. I am so glad I have my iPod touch, because I was able to use that for internet access.
I have been in contact with a few people here about renting a room and I had it set up to meet with a girl Saturday night. She told me what metro station to go to and when. So I had basically all day and I saw in the lobby of the hotel that there was a little brochure for the Turkuazoo, Turkey's only aquarium. I thought Well, that sounds fun. I do love me an aquarium. :)
I took a taxi and that was my first time seeing the city during the day. It has such personality. The landscape is kind of like San Francisco, just bigger and more spread out and older.
It turns out that the Turkuazoo is in an enormous mall called Forum Istanbul.
I stopped and Starbucks and had a snack. There's no place like home, right? :) The menu board is in English, which is a plus.
I guess I have become an aquarium snob. This one is not so fantastic. I think after visiting the most awesome one on the planet in Atlanta, anything else just cannot compare. But it was enjoyable and I had fun people watching.
It didn't take very long to go through it, so I poked around the mall for a while. I went into an electronics store like a Best Buy and found the correct converter for the laptop, another memory card for my camera and a USB charger for my iPod so I don't have to use the converter.
I went into a big store called Real, which is like a Super Walmart. I found a copy of Jane Eyre in Turkish. That totally made my day, as it is the one specific thing I wanted to get here. And it was only 2 lira!
It was Saturday so the mall was pretty crowded, especially the food court. They have a lot of American fast food places - McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Popeye's, sbarro. There is a Mexican food shop that sells pizza and burgers. :)
Something scary happened as I was eating my piece of kibbeh. I was going to go down the escalator to the next floor, but I decided to stand at the railing next to it and eat quickly. I was standing there and suddenly people started screaming and a crush was forming on the escalator that was going down. It had malfunctioned right at the bottom and things and people were getting caught in it. They managed to get everyone off, but one lady was injured. Very scary. :(
I went back to my hotel and left that evening to meet with the girl about the room. I was very hopeful that out meeting would go well, as she is a student at Bogazici and seemed very nice. I waited for 40 minutes and she never showed. This was so frustrating to me. I was getting quite cold and the place I was at is kind of like a small version of Times Square. I got in a taxi after 40 minutes and came back to the hotel. I was disappointed. I emailed her and she never replied.
So, I took this in stride and emailed another girl who was on my list, Fatma. She also seemed very nice and we set up to meet at her flat on Sunday morning at 11.
I got up and got ready and stumped another taxi driver with trying to find the flat (they always seem to have a problem finding my little hole in the wall hotel). We finally found it and Fatma greeted me from an upper window. The buildings here can be five or six floors. She unlocked the door for me and I went up a couple of flights.
Fatma is a sweetie. She is Turkish and was raised in France. Her English is great, we had no problem understanding each other. She is very self-conscious about her accent and English, but I kept telling her that her skills are so good and the accent isn't a problem for me. We sat there and talked for two hours. I told her that I would not be offended if she decided that she did not want me to live in the flat after meeting with me. I said "This is YOUR home." She said that she had one other girl who was coming to look at it. But after we talked for a while, she basically said that she liked me and wanted me to stay and the other girl would just have to deal it. :)
She is a very interesting person, very smart. She has a law degree from France, but wants to live in Istanbul and so is studying Turkish law. She will work in the business/corporate area of international law.
The flat is very cute. It has two bedrooms and one living room, which are all a good size. The bathroom and kitchen are typically small, but that just makes everything within closer reach. :) My room has a twin bed, a wardrobe and a desk with a small chair. There are new wood floors that are nice and shiney.
Fatma lived in Istanbul previously as an exchange student and she explained to me why she chose this flat. It is in a neighborhood called Kurtulus (Ker-too-loosh) in the Sisli (chiz-lee) district. There are all variety of small shops and everything I will need. She took me out for a walk and guess what the closest metro station is???? Yes, the one where I waited for 40 minutes the previous night. :)
I couldn't believe it.
Fatma is very excited about me living there. She is very social and wanted someone who would be a friend and flatmate and wouldn't just stay in their room all the time. I am excited to polish up what little French I remember and she can also help me with learning some Turkish.
The time change is giving me some trouble. I can't sleep for more than 5 or 6 hours at a time. I woke up at 5:30am on Sunday morning and fell asleep at 7:30pm because I was tired, then woke up about an hour ago at 1 am. I hope this doesn't take too long to work itself out.
The traffic here can be awful and riding in a taxi is interesting. These guys are somewhat homicidal maniacs. :) They get so unbelievably close to other cars and people. When you get into the smaller neighborhoods with streets that seem about three feet wide, it gets even more interesting. When I was going to meet Fatma, the driver had to keep backing up because there wasn't room for another car to pass by him. But the cars here are all very small, so they zip around quickly.
Pre-registration and orientation are this week, but I haven't received any communication from the school about specifics, so I guess I will have to try to find that out for myself.
If anyone has any questions, just ask!
Oh, Fatma has two goldfish! :)
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
One more day!
My visa arrived on Monday morning!!!
I booked a hotel for the first two nights. I will go there and crash and try to look at a couple of rooms that weekend. I got an email from the buddy that is assigned to me from the university. She seems great and is already helping me with some things. Today I am doing laundry and getting my suitcase one day closer to being good to go.
Smith and I went to Sac and had dinner with Bethany and Stanley. The house is so nice and the kitchen is especially awesome. ;) We had Bethany's yummy taco salad for dinner.
It is a beautiful warm and breezy day here. It will probably be raining when I arrive in Istanbul, so I am glad for the sunshine.
This feels so weird, I don't think it will be real until I get on the plane!
I booked a hotel for the first two nights. I will go there and crash and try to look at a couple of rooms that weekend. I got an email from the buddy that is assigned to me from the university. She seems great and is already helping me with some things. Today I am doing laundry and getting my suitcase one day closer to being good to go.
Smith and I went to Sac and had dinner with Bethany and Stanley. The house is so nice and the kitchen is especially awesome. ;) We had Bethany's yummy taco salad for dinner.
It is a beautiful warm and breezy day here. It will probably be raining when I arrive in Istanbul, so I am glad for the sunshine.
This feels so weird, I don't think it will be real until I get on the plane!
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