Welcome to Türkiye!

Welcome to turkey where there are an endless supply of cats…and even more (if possible) bees! I’ve never seen so many cats or bees in one place in my life. On the drive from the airport to the campus it was so beautiful J most buildings were tan, but randomly in the middle of a bunch of tan buildings, there was always a very brightly colored building-like pink or blue. It’s pretty funny. On campus there's lots of trees on one part and lots of sand on another, but as soon as you step off  campus, it's just sand, sand, oh, and sand :)

The campus is huuuuuuge. In my temporary dorm we have a beautiful view of the rest of the city. At night all the city lights sparkle.

Not many people speak english here…Kemal (my host student who shows me around) said the professors are required to know english, but not the workers. This made for a rather complicated day when I first arrived with trying to get to my dorm and then fill out paperwork when they didn’t know a word of english and I only knew hello in turkish. The little dictionary Tiffany got me is very handy. Now that I’m in a Turkish class I know some basic stuff but still carry the dictionary with me everywhere.  My English has become very bad, esp when I’m speaking b/c i’m not around it much so when I talk I either have a Turkish accent, mixing Turkish and English together or speaking in very plain English. Or, if I’m super tired I start speaking in Arabic instead of Turkish because my brain says “don’t speak in English” but I’m so tired all I can remember is arabic. I’ve actually met a few people here who didn’t know English but knew some Arabic so we were able to communicate some that way.

I still get very lost on campus…I know how to get to the food court and bank from my dorm and that’s about it. Breakfast consists of bread, sort of butter (butter without milk)  fruit and water. Meat here has been rather…hum…bad. My body is still trying to adjust to Turkish food.

I’m getting hooked on Turkish tea J

They kept us out til 3am last night and then we had to get up early for our Turkish class so I’m pretty tired. I’ve met a lot of the other international students…the largest group is from the Netherlands, next is a group of 7 from California. When I tell people I’m from America they say “ooh-you with California group yes? California group is everywhere!” lol

I thought of mom the other day when we were at a market and there was a huge row of all kinds of nuts-some I knew, some I’d never seen before.

There’s a trip to Ephesus next month :D and I’m excited to see Tiffany in Istanbul!!!