Finally in Turkey!

Wow, there is so much to say, and I don’t even know where to start. This entry will be longer than future ones just because it is my first one from Turkey. I guess I will go in chronological order.

First, all of the problems that I mentioned in my last post as far as my visa and housing in the Superdorm were solved, and as I write this, I have already been in Turkey for three days!

So my trip abroad started when I arrived at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, KS. The original path was going to be Wichita, Minneapolis, Amsterdam, and then Istanbul. That plan, unfortunately, was shattered pretty early on. While I was sitting on the plane in Wichita, they announced that some random part that is supposed to discharge static electricity was missing. They ended up deplaning us because it would take about an hour to fix. However, after more than an hour of waiting, they found out that they didn’t have the part they needed in Wichita at all, and just canceled the flight.

So then all of the people on the flight (and there were a lot) jumped out of their seats and ran towards the ticket counter in order to be re-ticketed. It is a good thing that I run pretty fast, because I was one of the first at the counter, and there was only one woman there to take care of everyone on the flight. If I had been near the end of that long line, I think I would STILL be waiting there to get re-ticketed. Anyway, she booked me on a flight through Atlanta that would arrive in Istanbul at the same time.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty boring until I got on my plane in Atlanta which flew me to Amsterdam. Let me just say, this was an awesome plane. It was humongous, and they had pillows/blankets (which was good since the flight was 8 hours long), a television screen for each seat, and pretty Dutch flight attendants dressed in blue uniforms. I slept for most of the flight, but also watched The Prince of Egypt towards the end.

Finally, I arrived in Amsterdam! I didn’t spend long in the airport here, but it was pretty cool. I noticed that the place had been very Americanized, and that there were American products and company logos everywhere. This is a trend that I also saw when I later arrived in Istanbul. Take a look at the following pictures:

In the first picture, look at all of the American brands. Mmm, Lays potato chips. In the second picture, notice that at the far right there are bottles of Sprite and Evian that are almost identical to what you would find in the U.S. As a side note, all of the signs that direct you around the airport are translated into English, as were the announcements on the actual plane. All in all, it seemed pretty easy for an English-speaking person to get around and feel comfortable.

Anyway, we lifted off, and I saw some of the most beautiful clouds I had ever seen.

I don’t know, I really like clouds. An hour or so later, we passed over the Transylvanian Alps, which I thought were really pretty as well:

Finally, we arrived in Istanbul! But then, another setback. After getting to the baggage area, I saw that my bag was not on the belt. Normally, I would have panicked, but then again, I actually expected something to go wrong because my flight had been messed up. And in general, things just go wrong when you fly on airplanes. So anyway, after talking to some woman who could barely speak English, and receiving a coupon for 25 euros off of my next flight, I left the baggage area. The woman said that they would call my dorm when they found my stuff, but it actually took them three days to get it to me. They gave me some stuff like toothpaste and toothbrush, so I was able to survive, but it still wasn’t fun.

Anyway, I moved past that setback and headed to the airport exit. Before I could even leave the building, this man at a booth for a private cab company yelled over at me and asked me if I wanted a ride. It seemed like a legitimate company, so I thought why not. 10 minutes later, I was riding down the highway in this taxi-van, with “Hit Me Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears blasting on the radio. Wow.

Then I finally arrived at the Superdorm, which is where I will be living for the next several months. Overall, the setup is pretty good, even though my actual room seems like a prison cell.

Here are some pictures:

Almost immediately after I arrived at the Superdorm, I saw Eric Dubs, the other Wash U student that is studying abroad here in Istanbul. After I got a little more settled in, we went and explored some of the surrounding areas. Here is what we get to see on the walk every day to class:

This, folks, is the Bosphorus river. The weather wasn’t that great when these pictures were taken, and I think that the view will be even more beautiful when it gets warmer and sunnier.

So later that night, Eric and I met several other students. Some of the them were American, some of them were Turkish, and a couple are even from places like Holland. Everyone is really nice. We all went out to some of the areas surrounding our campus, and saw some of the shops and restaurants, and it was great. However a lot of the people in these shops don’t speak English very well, so it isn’t always easy. Eric and I even found a place to buy cellphones, and we had one of the American students who also knows Turkish help us get them.

Then, the next day, we had to do some pre-registration stuff. This pretty much involved walking onto campus and signing some forms. When Eric and I arrived, we met a whole bunch of Turkish students who were extremely friendly. There were lots of hugs and such, which might seem weird to Americans, but which is actually very normal here. In fact, it is not uncommon to see heterosexual males walking down the street together, arm in arm. Here, it’s just not a big deal. Later that night, we all went out again to the areas surrounding the campus, and had a lot of fun.

And then today, Eric, a couple of other students, and I went to the Grand Bazaar, which is this large covered area where there are lots of shops with people selling lots of random things.

Unfortunately, my camera started running out of batteries, so I only got these two pictures of the outside. However, when you go inside, you see all sorts of jewelry and watches and clothing for sale. It’s hard to describe, but the place is huge, and we spent about an hour and half there. Eric and I were looking for watches specifically (and didn’t end up buying any), and noticed that the salesmen were relentless. As you walk past, they do everything they can to get your attention and to get you to buy their stuff. Some of them are also pretty funny as well. One said “Buy one get one free, like McDonalds” as we passed by them, and since there were a couple of girls with us, one made a funny reference to them being like Charlie’s Angels.

Those are the highlights of what has happened so far, though there is so much other stuff that I could say. Goodbye!