Pictures? Links? More experiences..

Sorry its been awhile since my last post, I am hoping to eventually get caught up and post every single day, but I'm so far behind by now I dont even know where to start.  Part of the problem is that the computer lab on campus is "closed for the software update" and the other part is that I couldnt seem to get logged in and the password-change email thing was in Turkish and annoyingly hard to understand.  Some other tidbits of information that might be of interest include my roommates blog, which I have linked here.  You should check it out if you want to see some pictures from our excursions because she can actually upload hers, and since she HAS a computer, she gets to post way more than me.  I bet I study more though, HAH Alyssa.  Well anyway, in all reality, she's pretty awesome...  Anyway, I also take lots of pictures, but I doubt I can get them uploaded until I get home, depending on the computers in the lab (should they ever become available).. so please be appeased with her pictures for the time being :)

So, about my experiences here...  I'd said that I went out to eat for the first time on Saturday, we went to some Iskender kebap place.  No, I dont know what Iskender means.  We couldnt really read the menu, at least I couldnt, so I just guessed on something with "tavuk" (chicken) in the name and I ended up with.. guess what Jenn!!! Chicken wings!!!!  Yeah, suffice it to say I was thrilled to death about that.  Alyssa got peynirli pide, which is sorta like a mini cheese pizza. Both were awesome. Besides, our server kinda reminded me of Sylvester Stallone :D The servers kinda stalk around in the restaurants here.  They almost creep me out.  They're always standing at the front greeting people or looking at you while you eat or whatever.  I think its just because they want to take your plate from you within .5 seconds of you finishing a meal.  After we ate, we had a little cup of cay there before looking like idiots when we didnt know how to pay or understand the amount they wanted from us.  And I've eaten many other things since I've been here, lots of them I didnt really know what they were, but all of them have been fantastic!  We do have to eat out every single day, which gets sorta stressful, but it gives me a chance to try lots and lots of new foods and practice everyday speaking and listening.  Maybe someday I will understand prices... but they say them crazy.  500 means 50 kurus or whatever and 2 milyon 750 seems to mean 2.75 lira.  I'm just really happy that I havent had any problems with my stomach adjusting to the new food, it hasnt really been upset at all, which is pretty rare for me anyway :D  Especially considering the vast quantities of cay I consume, I would expect it to be more of an issue.

We also walked around campus and tried to find our building, which we sorta failed to do, but the campus is incredibly beautiful.  I was kinda curious about the "forest" they had written on the map, I mean, what kind of forest can you really find on a college campus? Not much of one was my guess, but no, its a real, honest-to-God forest in there. Also, cats, cats everywhere in Istanbul, but even moreso on campus.  The great part is that people here actually feed them too.  You definitely make lots of lovely kitty friends if you buy any sort of food and find a spot to sit outside.  I'll have pictures of them I'm sure.  There are dogs as well, but not quite as many of them.  Also, one day last week, there were two chickens just milling about.. I found that strange, I havent seen them since either.

Class is pretty awesome.  4 hours a day of just straight up class, I know it shouldnt be thrilling, but it is to me, okay?! I've been waiting for forever it seems.  We have a few different kinds actually, speaking, grammar, writing, reading and lab, which is mostly listening  to headphones in a very white room.  I have lots of homework each day, but its ok I suppose.  After class, we usually have informal speaking practice with our TA, who's super super sweet.  I like all of our teachers actually.  We see a movie once a week and we will have cultural lectures too :) Those start tomorrow and will be on every Tuesday and Wednesday after this.

Last Wednesday Alyssa and I went downtown in Taksim square to watch the futbol mac.  That was a glorious experience, actually, I dont remember ever having a better one.  We were both sorta scared of being German in heritage so we bought some really cheap Türkiye jerseys to wear around so that people wouldnt hate us, though I dont think they would have anyway.  We still got asked if we were German alot, or Australian.  Actually, lots of them yelled things like "thanks for to buy this shirt!" or "Thanks for the support our country" as we walked by.  They just seemed pretty thrilled in general.  There was a huuuuge mob in the center of Taksim, they had a massive screen set up to watch the game and people selling team paraphernalia everywhere.  We went down a side street to a small cafe to actually watch the game because there was nowhere to sit in the main square.  This place was pretty cool, the tv was small and not terribly nice and was sitting amongst a million oranges outside.  It was on top of a crate of oranges and the rabbit ears were stuck in an orange in a glass on top of the tv, I have no idea why... and there was a bag of oranges nailed to the tree beside it.  Its because they served fresh squeezed orange juice, which Alyssa bought, and we both had a CAY before the game... I always have a cay though...  There were other tvs set up with turks around them along the street too.  They were amazingly well-behaved actually :P but there was much rejoicing at the home team scores and lots of grumbling at Germany's.  I jumped up and screamed along with them :P  The end was sorta sad and depressing.. though, and afterwords was a sea of garbage and unhappy turks everywhere.  We caught a bus home and went to bed way way late :P.  Check out pictures of these awesome things on Alyssa's blog!

The Istanbul Gezi was awesome.  It was a really long walking tour of some lesser known historical sites in Istanbul, I'll hopefully cover this more in depth later but.. I have homework and I've already been on Alyssa's computer too long :P  For now, check Alyssa's blog for some pics of awesome mosques and such!

Travel and the first days in Istanbul!

Well, at long last, here is my first update from Turkiye.  I cant use computers all that much so I dont know how much I'll be able to post, but I should have more chances once life settles down a little.  I have so much to say about this whole experience so far that it might take a few posts to get through these first few days here.  Plus I should be doing my homework anyway...

Day one was just travel, nothing terribly exciting happened.  On the flight to Amsterdam I sat next to a really cool Nigerian man who had just been to America for the first time, he liked everything but the food.  Mexican food was particularly horrible I guess.  The lady sitting next to me on the other side spilled wine on me :P  And I was right in the middle of the plane so I didnt get to see anything from the windows :( I'm hoping I will on the way back.  So, on Friday afternoon I reached Istanbul and got my Visa and my luggage sans problem.  I also managed to get some money changed, phone the hotel and get a taxi into the city.

Scary.  They drive pretty maniacally here.  It sorta reminded me of Mexico City drivers only its faster and I think they have more accidents.  Im not really sure because I dont know what Mexico's stats look like.  I just heard that Istanbul's were pretty high.  It was scenic though, we went along the Bosphorus and there were old buildings and parks and ruin-y things most of the way.  Anyway, despite the driver not knowing where my hotel was, the whole drive went relatively well too, we didnt crash anyway.  I can see where it might be problem finding it actually.  My hotel was in the old city which is a place just crammed full of small buildings, narrow streets and pedestrians.  There are so many hotels like the one I stayed in all over these little roads.  After asking a few passers-by the way, we arrived and I naturally didnt have the correct change to pay.  Haha, so the guy at the hotel reception kindly payed him for me and I paid him back later.  

My hotel was pretty cool, I would definitely stay there again.  It wasnt all crazy and high class or anything but it was pretty alright, there was a TV, a fan and even an elevator!  Actually I had a balcony too, but the view was of a really gross building right next to us and some old metal siding heaps below.  This also reminded me of Mexico City :D  The doors all locked and there was a shower, that was the main thing, plus! the people there spoke good English, but Im pretty sure that receptionist guy thought I was crazy or something.  I managed to miss alot of the match because I fell asleep twice, but Turkey won and that was the main thing!  (Im definitely going out to watch the one tonight though!)  I didnt really go out much because I was kinda scared, although looking back, I dont think there was much reason to be.  I did go up to the little food shop to buy some bottled water, since you dont generally drink tap water in Istanbul. I also walked along the main road to look for an exchange office that the guy told me was there, but I never found it.  Breakfast was included in the room price so in the morning I ate bread, some cheeses, olives, cucumbers, and something that I thought was coffee at the time, but Im thinking now it was probably Turkish style tea, or cay, which is another good topic for later :D

So the receptionist guy called a taxi for me and I was on my way again.  This driver just wouldnt listen to me.  He wanted to drop me off at the main campus, not on Ucaksavar campus where my dorm is, I tried to tell him a few times, in English and Turkish but.. whatever, it wasnt my lack of communication either.  Luckily some girls on the campus set him straight finally but he never really found the dorm I was at, just one really really close.  

I got checked in with no problem and got up the stairs with my suitcase without major disaster.  I knocked over a potted tree actually....  I dont know that I would call the rooms "nice" but they are not bad.  Each one consists of a bathroom, a "kitchen" and two separate bedrooms.  The so-called-kitchen is just a fridge, sink and cabinets, as any form of cooking is not allowed in the room.  My room actually has four beds, desks and closets in it, although Im the only one staying there.  My roommate's is for two people, but she's also staying there alone.  We also have balconies!  I love it.  Since I've been waking up at 3:30 am-ish Ive been hanging out on the balcony and watching Istanbul go by.  Its also pretty nice because in spite of the blazing hot weather, the wind coming through the balcony door is always cool.  I can also see the sports field from mine, which to my horror, had an American football game on it the first day I was here.... I also slept alot that day, and ate out for the first time since I got here.  My roommate, Alyssa and I went out exploring around campus that day.  

Monday I had a placement exam and I placed in the lowest class as expected! Today was my first day of class and it was pretty crazy.  I think I'll have lots of homework but hey, Im here to learn so thats ok.  We have Saturdays off and we are going on the first of 3 organized trips on this coming Saturday.  Its a tour of Istanbul!

Anyway, Im already up longer than I should be and I still have homework to do for tomorrow.  Im having a sensory overload here and I just keep writing whatever comes to mind.  Hopefully I will eventually get to everything but if anyone has any specific questions about ANYTHING at all, please ask me so I can cover it next time.  I really want to keep writing.. about food, and life and class and campus and everything, but I think I'd best call it quits for now.  Look forward to these fantastic topics in the hopefully near future!

testing?

So, I guess this is my blog. I dont really know how to use it so this is the test run I suppose. Assuming I figure out how to post here properly and I can use this website in Türkiye, this is where I will post pretty much all of my news from İstanbul. This just makes it easier for me to handle all of that because there are too many groups of people in different places and websites for me to try to keep up with them all separately. At this point, I'm not sure how much I'll be on the computer or anything like that, but there are several computer labs available to me on campus.

I leave on Thursday, my flight goes out of Rapid at the ominous hour of 3:33 PM :P and as for now, I have almost everything I need to do done for the trip. I'm still looking into cell phone issues. I will definitely be blocking texts on my phone. I may rent a Turkish phone, I may not. Either way I will most likely be using phones sparingly and for short emergency type calls. I dont know if I will be able to get any pictures onto here either..

Thanks Kylen for making the blog for me! and giving it such a lovely name :P