The Chronicles of Neglecting our Blog: Some Weeks Later

So it seems as though we have neglected our blog (thank you for the push in the right direction Grandma Sara). A lot has happened in the last two weeks or so. We have been busy getting our resident's permits (we are now officially residents of this great country). More importantly, we are allowed to leave Turkey and not be charged exorbitant amounts of lira when we come back. 

We also started classes which has been an interesting process, to say the least. The way it works here is students need to get permission from their professors to get into a course and, if rejected, can either ask again or attempt to get into another course. We have a friend who asked 5 times to get into a course. She got in on the 6th try, though, so it isn't a totally hopeless process. There is also a professor here that rejects all requests as a rule the first time. So chin up kids! It'll happen for you if you try hard enough (this is for all those who are considering Istanbul for study abroad - you're welcome). After adding classes, students go to the classes and often times attend courses that they have gotten rejected from or haven't signed up for. It is a shopping period, if you will. For my parents who don't even know what classes I'm taking, here is my updated list:

1. History of Economic Thought

2. Evolution of Economies

3. Climate Change Economics

4. Turkish Literature 

5. Agriculture, Food and the Environment (or something like that - yes, I am on a computer and could check, but that takes all the fun out of this silly little side note (I love parentheses (truly!)))

While settling into courses, we have also explored a little more. Our friend (Kyle's friend) Rob visited us and it was a riot. He stayed in mine and Pratibha's room and it was quite the slumber party for three nights in a row! Miss you Rob Z! We tagged along to Kyle's architecture course's field trip and got to see several Byzantine ruins in Aksaray. This city has such an incredible history. 

I have also started to volunteer at a school for Syrian refugees on Sundays. The students are studying for their TOEFL so that they can continue onto english speaking universities. Many of them have completed engineering, math, and science degrees and then were forced out of Damascus only to get jobs that are not within their area of expertise. One student is taking 12 classes a semester at Istanbul University so he can graduate as quickly as possible and make up for the time he has lost in the transition to Turkey. They are all so determined and optimistic, though, that I can't help but feel inspired by them. I am hoping to start a blog for the class so keep an eye out for the link, I expect you all to read it! 

Lastly, we survived our first and hopefully last Istanbul blizzard. Three days of sideways slush and snow was brutal (I know we shouldn't be complaining considering Boston's situation, but they don't salt the roads here (an environmental victory) and I felt as though I would break a leg every time I walked to class. The silver lining, though, was that class got cancelled and I got to pummel Kyle with snowballs

I don't have too many more updates off the top of my head, but hopefully I will remember to update more frequently in the coming months. 

Here is a picture of me and Rob looking fresh as hell (and extremely white):

Peace out girl scouts!

The Chronicles of Palace Life: Days 4 and 5

Ok so I'm feeling guilty about not posting. My contribution this week is more on the educational side of things so our readers, when quizzed about one of Istanbul's most famous sites, can spew off facts like a local. We visited the Dolmabahce Palace yesterday which took 13 years to build and was finished in 1856. A number of sultans lived in the palace from this period starting with the majestic Sultan Abdülmecid I, who believed that his current residence was not quite suited to his needs. As a result, he bankrupted the already faltering Ottomon Empire. It cost roughly 1.5 billion dollars which is the equivalent of five million Ottomon mecidiye gold coins. Classic Abdülmecid! Between 1856 and 1922, a total of six sultans lived there ending with the first president of the Republic of Turkey, the revered Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. My handy dandy eyewitness travel guidebook claims that all the clocks in the palace are set to 9:05, the time that Atatürk died on November 10, 1938. He died in the palace so you can sometimes hear him running through the grand halls (one is plated with 90 kilos of gold) and sliding down the banisters of the crystal staircases. The palace is 45,000 square meters and has 68 toilets. I’ll let that sink in for a minute (nothing like a pun or two to keep this history lesson lively). The most significant part of the tour for me was when the guide mentioned that the architects and designers employed Rococo style elements. Consequently, I spent the rest of the tour singing Arcade Fire’s “Rococo” in my head.

Enough boring stuff! Tomorrow we play beer pong with the ESN group. 'Murica!

The Chronicles of BÜ: Days 3 and 4

visual aid 3.0

I'm trying to remember what I did yesterday and today and all I can think about is Şekerpare, a pastry I ate this morning It is a traditional Turkish dessert that is drowned in a lemony syrup and topped with a toasted hazelnut and I believe that I died and went to heaven the second I took a taste. The rest of the meal was equally as breathtaking (I legitimately did not breathe until I had eaten everything in sight - I think I shocked our roommate Selçuk with the amount that I consumed): fresh bread and honey and quince marmalade and Turkish olives and cheese and dried apricots and walnuts and baklava and eclairs and unlimited çay.....all for 6 dollars. Of course, I couldn't be bothered to take a picture before I had to shovel everything into my mouth, but I wouldn't want anybody reading this to get too jealous. Two nights ago we had a welcome dinner for the Erasmus students (visual aid 3.0) and it took my 7 minutes instead of my usual 5 to inhale it. Take a look.

We went on a pub crawl with the Erasmus group after our dinner. Yes, roughly 100 foreigners were ushered around Taksim square, for a drinking tour of the city. Somehow, we lost no one thanks to the expertise of our ESN leaders (bless their souls). The first bar we went to, drum roll please, was called "Rasputin Junior." I've never been more happy with the name of a bar (of the few I have attended in my short existence as a legal drinker). After this we went to another bar that was basically a smoke palace where every breath I had the privilege of inhaling someone else's cigarette smoke! What a joy!  

Today, we went to a bazaar in our neighborhood and to our friend Durant's dismay, we did not buy anything "bizarre." Our roommate is a favorite among the market sellers and local restaurant owners and was shaking their hands and joking with them all. It felt like we were in a small town in the middle of this 14 million person city. Kyle, a cat hater has somehow overcome his dislike of cats and even picked up a cat (probably so we would take a picture of him - see visual aid 3.1). We attended the market with our friend Emily, a beautiful gem from UNC Chapel Hill (visual aid 3.2). 

Right now we are just exploring our neighborhood and soon we may branch out to the unknown world that is outside. See ya laters alligators 

The Chronicles of Nutella: Day 2

As to avoid looking like a slacker like usual I am forced to write a blog post about the very interesting day we had yesterday. Here goes:

1. We made a friend from Raleigh (shout out to Durant). And a few others from about 20 different countries and states.

2. We stood in a line for 3 hours waiting for our student cards - I got yelled at in Turkish about why we couldn't get our cards because we had the wrong documents. 

3. We visited Taksim and it was everything I imagined and more (as in there was a huge Shake Shack in the middle of it).

4. Finally got around to watching Fargo (what better to do in Turkey than watch classic American movies?).

Here's a picture of my first Turkish coffee (most definitely not my last):

The Chronicles of Rumeli Hisarüstü: Day 1

After 10 hours of listening to an American guy attempt to seduce an entire airplane with a fake Scottish accent, Pratibha and I made it to Istanbul. Although we both consider ourselves savvy travelers, we were still scammed by the lovely Kurdish taxi driver who drove us along the shoulder of the highway all the way to Bogazici. I thought I would’ve learned a bit from my trip in Peru, but taxi drivers are especially skilled in making me feel guilty. We arrived in one piece, though, and we spotted Kyle swarmed by his new pack of cronies returning from pre-registration. He took us to our new apartment which is 4 minutes away from the South Gate of campus.

The weather was not great yesterday, but at least we aren’t up to our ears in snow like our fellow Bostonians. I’ll take 50 degrees and rainy any day and our campus may be the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen. The other two goobers have provided visual aid of our walk along the Bosphorous (see above), but here is a high quality photo of our quad (#nofilter). My dear mother already posted this gem on Facebook without my permission, but here you go again if you are not blessed with being her Facebook friend (love you mom).

As usual I am the last to post (and pay rent) so I'll step up my A-game (I won't). You'll just have to sit at the edge of your seat waiting to read the latest from yours truly. Humble as pie, I know.