Snow days are a beautiful thing...

Pardon the extensive absence... As we get further into my time here, I find myself with less time to put proper thought into blog posts. With the acknowledgment of how long it has been since I have last written, I think that I will provide you, my reader, with a numbered list of my week's highlights.

1) I made it through Week 2 of classes. Unfortunately, my Independent Study proved to be near impossible to coordinate, so I ended up just picking up a 5th class. Organization Behavior, which seems very interesting. It is all about leadership, organizations, human nature and increasing satisfaction. Basically, its right up my alley.

2) Caught up with Cyrus via skype. Apparently, he is kicking some big hockey butt! Playing goalie for two teams isn't easy, but I've been getting the game analysis from him. Unfortunately, I am not there to witness all of his game saves, but I get the readers digest version from Turkey.

3) Learned about the differences in meaning between Turkish and American ideas of love and romance. I say that with some sarcasm. In my Turkish Family class, my professor dedicated a full class period to examining our ideas of love. She managed to wholly offend me, and the greater American understanding of love at least three times in this 75 minutes. While it was interesting to hear her obviously not-objective understanding of our cultural differences, I decided that I would continue to believe in my prior understanding of romance. For more details, feel free to ask. It was quite hysterical!

4) Engaged in Brain Gym exercises. My crazy, but fantastic Intercultural Communication professor (the American) taught the class several brain gym exercises to get us thinking at the start of class. This was interesting stuff. I'm not sure I am convinced yet, but we will see... She said that we will do it every day.

5) Valentine's Day. While I cmpletely detest this holiday, the exchange students were able to make it rather enjoyable this year. The 14th is also the birthday of the other student from American University (Sarah, the PhD student). So, Micol, my good Italian friend offered to cook everyone a fantastic authentic dinner. As sous chef, I helped her prepare food for about 20 people. Followed by birthday cake, it turned out to be a really good night.

6) Woke up at 6:30am to go to the Police Station. No, not because I was in trouble. All the exchange kids were bussed to the station so we could complete step 2 of getting our residence permits. That was exciting, as we caused quite a stir! 20 foreigners running around the station, it was good times.

7) From the police station, we headed out to the city, revisiting the Grand Bazaar, the book bazaar, Istanbul University, several area mosques, and the Roman Aqueducts. We ended the night with a 2.5ytl (Turkish Lyra) fish sandwich right on the water, and 3 hours of public transportation to attempt to get home. Amazing!

8) A whole lot of nothing. My regular 3 day weekend is pretty fantastic. It allows me to have a great deal of free time. Usually this time is spent on campus, with other exchange students, watching movies, gallivanting around Sariyer (the small city below the university). Saturday was no different, and ended with a large gathering in my room. Little Caesars and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ended our evening.

9)A new Turkish friend. A made a friend in my comm class, Pinar. She had me over to her apartment downtown on Sunday so that we could work on our Culture Collages together. (Yes, a collage, with pictures... I love my classes) I spent the whole day with her, her sister and her boyfriend. We cut out pictures, pasted, watched Desperate Housewives with Turkish subtitles and hung out. At the end of the day I had to brave the storm to get home.

10) Oh yeah... The STORM! We have been hit by a lot of snow. Not a lot by Rochester standards, but a lot by DC or Istanbul standards! Its been fantastic helping all of the exchange students who are new to snow get adjusted. There have been lots of snow angels, snow ball fights and snow men. Additionally, the storm has granted us SNOW DAYS. They canceled class today, Monday, and JUST announced that we will also have tomorrow, Tuesday, off. That means a 5 day weekend for me!!!!!!!! I appreciate the snow a lot more as a result of this.

That's about all... I'm off to got meet a bunch of people at the gym. They've started playing basketball, which is exciting. But, instead of trying my luck at a sport meant for tall people, I'm going to hit the cardio machines, and get some lifting in before another authentic Italian meal.

Hope all is well with you!!!