Hello again!
So, a quick run down of where I left off last time.
After arriving at Koc University, I was taken to my temporary room. Apparently the heat in the main buildings hasn't been turned on/ isn't working quite yet, so all of the exchange students are being placed in temp locations. I met my temp roommate, who is an exchange student from Italy. From there, she, I, the other exchange student (a guy from the Netherlands) and two Turkish students headed off campus to find dinner. However, our first stop was a Turkish grocery store. As we roamed the store, looking for the basics, my new exchange friends and I joked about how unprepared we felt to be shopping for groceries already. I then proceeded to break a plate, by sending it crashing to the floor. My mentors started laughing, and hid it under the display. Of course it would be me... But at least it got people laughing a little more.
From there, we drove down the hill that Koc is located on, and past the sea that borders the main town we are closest to. It is an incredible journey at night, with the city lit up, and people coming back and forth. Suddenly, we stop, and one of the mentors said that we had arrived where we were going to have dinner. It was a Turkish McDonalds. No joke... My first Turkish meal was at a everyone's favorite American establishment. Except, this one delivers (on moped, of course) and serves a McTourc, or a pita with Turkish-style meat.
After we finished and headed home, it was already well past 10:30, or more than 30 hours since the last time I had slept. So, my roommate, Michol and I went to our room, where we proceeded to unpack a little, set up internet, chat and get ready for bed. Turns out, we are both interested in politics, so we discussed that for a whole, as well as the differences between American and Italian universities.
Today (Tuesday) we had to meet the other exchange student and our mentor at 12noon. So we slept in a little, and then got ready for our day. After meeting the staff at the exchange student office, and getting a tour of the student center, we sat down for Turkish lunch at the cafeteria. (This place's food is so good, TDR looks bad... Which, I know isn't hard... But still...) From there, we ran around campus doing a million errands, back and forth from the housing office to the bank, to the exchange office, to the student center, to the finances office... etc... From there, our mentor left the three of us, and instead of resting (like he suggested) we decided to find our way to the town directly at the bottom of the hill that Koc is on. So, we found a bus, and proceeded to walk around the town, finding a pair of gloves for one friend, and an adapter for another. From there, we found a place to have our first glass of real Turkish tea! We then headed back up the hill to the university, to meet the new exchange students arriving.
Two more Americans arrived today, one of which actually goes to American. But, she is a PhD student, so I had never met here. After lots of introductions, and a quick game of 20 questions (where are you from, whats your major, why are you here... etc) we decided to head out for a very traditional Turkish dinner. The place was fantastic, and the food was incredible!!! We started with a cheesy dip for bread, pickled cucumbers and cabbage and dolmes. From there, I had a chicken dish with rice. Fantastic! After, we all had tea or Turkish coffee.
After dinner, we returned to campus where we played fooseball, and randomly decided to had to Taxim, which is the equivalent of Addams Morgan, only bigger, fancier, and and more fantastic. We ended up at a pub, and sat around for a couple hours just chatting and getting to know one another. After that, we headed back to the university, and here we are now!
But now, it's late, so I should head to bed... That's all for now!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Marhaba from Istanbul!
Marhaba (Hello) is my first Turkish word, and it has been very helpful over the past 24 hours... But let's back up, and start from the very beginning.
After taking Cyrus out for what turned out to be a very slow breakfast, with a very confused waitress, I headed home to finish packing and head to the airport. It was at this point that we had the packing emergency mentioned in my last post. Don't worry, it was quickly solved! After a tearful goodbye to Julius (yes, our dog) the Sussmans headed to the airport. The man who checked me in totally overlooked the fact that each of my suitcases were horribly over the weight limit, and let me through. After taking a quick break with my family, I was headed to the gate.
The flight to Dulles was rather uneventful, as I anticipated it would be. It was so reminiscent of heading back to school, that I was worried that I would forget to get on the plane to London! After a short stint in the Dulles airport, I was in the plane, ready to head out of the US.
The flight to London was 7 hours long, and left Sunday night, US time, and arrived very early Monday morning, London time. Since I made friends with the British lady working the counter for British Airways, she moved me to an end seat with no one next to me. This was fantastic! While everyone else on the plane slept, I watched two movies (The Nanny Diaries and For Your Love) and fussed around. About half-way through the flight, a man collapsed right next to me, on the floor of the plane. We all rushed over to see if he was okay, and the flight attendants came over to check him out. He was okay eventually, just had a moment of exhaustion and dehydration. After we landed, they kept us in the plane for over a half hour due to the fog. It was incredible. I looked out the window, and you really couldn't see anything....
Once we finally got off the plane, we had to walk down this long corridor, and split off into different lines for each terminal for our connecting flights. I waited in the hallway for about 10 minutes, and suddenly, Brittany Schell and Amanda Kisner walked down the other side of the hallway. I knew that they would be arriving at around the same time, but I wasn't sure if we would get to see each other. They are both going to Paris for the semester, and had flown out of BWI. After a quick hello, we went our separate ways. I took a bus to the proper terminal, went through security again, and proceeded to try and locate my gate. However, in London, the gates are only posted shortly before your flight. So, I sat around for a while, and then they announced that my flight would be delayed 30, then 50 minutes. (Side note: For those of you who understand, I had a Wes Peskin look-alike sighting... It was really really funny) Long story short, we finally boarded the plane, and proceeded to sit on the tarmac for another hour. Instead of leaving at the scheduled 9:40am, we left at noon. I sat next to a nice Turkish guy, who was really excited about returning to Turkey. We finally landed at 5:15 (Turkish time) which was more than an hour and a half late.
From there, I went to customs, got myself stamped, went to currency exchange, got myself some lyra, and went to baggage claim, and got myself some baggage. Since I was so late, I figured that my Turkish mentor had given up, and that I would have to take a cab to school by myself. Just as I was about to give up, I noticed that there was someone with a sign that said "Koc University, Sabrina Sanam Sussman". They had picked up another exchange student, so he, I, and one of the Turkish students headed out to the car. A man from the university was driving us back to Koc. After a struggle with my suitcases (they didn't fit in the small Turkish car) we headed out. It look us about 45 minutes to get to the university, because we hit traffic coming out of the city. I wont even begin to describe the driving... It was incredible... But, I made it to the university safe and sound, and began the process of settling in.
This has been really long already, so I am going to stop for now, and get ready to meet the other students and my mentor. I will post about my first night in Turkey later today! Look forward to tales of supermarkets, McDonalds, my roommate and hail!
After taking Cyrus out for what turned out to be a very slow breakfast, with a very confused waitress, I headed home to finish packing and head to the airport. It was at this point that we had the packing emergency mentioned in my last post. Don't worry, it was quickly solved! After a tearful goodbye to Julius (yes, our dog) the Sussmans headed to the airport. The man who checked me in totally overlooked the fact that each of my suitcases were horribly over the weight limit, and let me through. After taking a quick break with my family, I was headed to the gate.
The flight to Dulles was rather uneventful, as I anticipated it would be. It was so reminiscent of heading back to school, that I was worried that I would forget to get on the plane to London! After a short stint in the Dulles airport, I was in the plane, ready to head out of the US.
The flight to London was 7 hours long, and left Sunday night, US time, and arrived very early Monday morning, London time. Since I made friends with the British lady working the counter for British Airways, she moved me to an end seat with no one next to me. This was fantastic! While everyone else on the plane slept, I watched two movies (The Nanny Diaries and For Your Love) and fussed around. About half-way through the flight, a man collapsed right next to me, on the floor of the plane. We all rushed over to see if he was okay, and the flight attendants came over to check him out. He was okay eventually, just had a moment of exhaustion and dehydration. After we landed, they kept us in the plane for over a half hour due to the fog. It was incredible. I looked out the window, and you really couldn't see anything....
Once we finally got off the plane, we had to walk down this long corridor, and split off into different lines for each terminal for our connecting flights. I waited in the hallway for about 10 minutes, and suddenly, Brittany Schell and Amanda Kisner walked down the other side of the hallway. I knew that they would be arriving at around the same time, but I wasn't sure if we would get to see each other. They are both going to Paris for the semester, and had flown out of BWI. After a quick hello, we went our separate ways. I took a bus to the proper terminal, went through security again, and proceeded to try and locate my gate. However, in London, the gates are only posted shortly before your flight. So, I sat around for a while, and then they announced that my flight would be delayed 30, then 50 minutes. (Side note: For those of you who understand, I had a Wes Peskin look-alike sighting... It was really really funny) Long story short, we finally boarded the plane, and proceeded to sit on the tarmac for another hour. Instead of leaving at the scheduled 9:40am, we left at noon. I sat next to a nice Turkish guy, who was really excited about returning to Turkey. We finally landed at 5:15 (Turkish time) which was more than an hour and a half late.
From there, I went to customs, got myself stamped, went to currency exchange, got myself some lyra, and went to baggage claim, and got myself some baggage. Since I was so late, I figured that my Turkish mentor had given up, and that I would have to take a cab to school by myself. Just as I was about to give up, I noticed that there was someone with a sign that said "Koc University, Sabrina Sanam Sussman". They had picked up another exchange student, so he, I, and one of the Turkish students headed out to the car. A man from the university was driving us back to Koc. After a struggle with my suitcases (they didn't fit in the small Turkish car) we headed out. It look us about 45 minutes to get to the university, because we hit traffic coming out of the city. I wont even begin to describe the driving... It was incredible... But, I made it to the university safe and sound, and began the process of settling in.
This has been really long already, so I am going to stop for now, and get ready to meet the other students and my mentor. I will post about my first night in Turkey later today! Look forward to tales of supermarkets, McDonalds, my roommate and hail!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
I'm leaving on a jet plane...
In spite of a packing crisis that lasted 2 days, and a packing emergency about 30 minutes ago, (We discovered that my suitcase that was all packed didn't have a working zipper...) I think I am all set.
I'll be leaving Rochester this afternoon, headed to Dulles and then London en route to Istanbul.
Good bye for now, I'll see you soon, from TURKEY!
I'll be leaving Rochester this afternoon, headed to Dulles and then London en route to Istanbul.
Good bye for now, I'll see you soon, from TURKEY!
Friday, January 25, 2008
For every door that closes, a window opens...
In about 40 hours, I will be boarding a plane to the Dulles Airport in Virginia. In the past few years, this has become something that I do fairly regularly. Between school breaks and the occasional quick trip home, I have become quite adept at the 55 minute flight. However, my final destination on Sunday is not American University. Instead, I will be traveling to Istanbul, where I will spend the next six months of my life.
This blog will chronicle my trip, hopefully providing details to those of you who I unfortunately, ran out of room in my carry-on for. Check back for pictures and stories, so you can be a part of of what I expect to be an unbelievable trip.
For now, I have to continue packing. They tell me that I get two suitcases to fit the next six months of my life in... For those of you who have seen me pack, this should be an adventure in and of itself!
This blog will chronicle my trip, hopefully providing details to those of you who I unfortunately, ran out of room in my carry-on for. Check back for pictures and stories, so you can be a part of of what I expect to be an unbelievable trip.
For now, I have to continue packing. They tell me that I get two suitcases to fit the next six months of my life in... For those of you who have seen me pack, this should be an adventure in and of itself!
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