Sharpen your pencils...

Coming back to Istanbul is when the culture shock, or whatever you'd like to call it, set in. And fast. English is not spoken here (outside of the university, at least), and, more importantly, I don't speak Turkish. Registration was a disaster, for all students (but is basically over now, phew). And I still can't figure out public transportation. But each day I learn a little more, and then a little more. Here are the things I do know:

1) How to say hello, goodbye (only two of the three ways), please, thank you (all three different ways), excuse me, and numbers 1 to 7
2) How to order chicken kabob, spiced beef kabob, soup, bread, tea, and water at restaurants.
3) Where the nearest Starbucks are. I vowed that I would never go to Starbucks abroad, but here it is the cool place to go. It's very strange, very trendy, and very expensive, but the Turks love it! And there is the most beautiful Starbucks in Bebek, the neighborhood down the hill from the university (my dream neighborhood lined with tiny shops and restaurants), that presses up against the Bosphorus, so you can sit outside by the water while drinking your coffee.
4) That you should NOT pet all stray dogs, but cats are generally fine, and will sit in your lap during class.
5) That all exchange students want to take the same classes, and therefore none of us can get into any.
6) That the best Baklava is along the Syrian boarder, but there is a nearby pastry shop that will suffice.
7) That 'Carey' is my favorite Joni Mitchell song now.
8) That everything is cheap, except for laundry and alcohol (Efes not included).
9) That hearing the call to prayer when sitting along the Bosphorus is very different from hearing it anywhere else. It becomes the soundtrack to your existence. It follows you, instead of lingering quietly in the background. Garance wrote that she cried every time she heard the call to prayer during her time in Istanbul. I haven't yet, but I think that I may cry in its absence, which is sure to be the loudest sound of all.

In the first class that I attempted to get into, the professor read off a list of names and harshly commanded "if your name isn't on the list, go home and immediately drop this course" (my name was not on the list). Though my experience with him was brief, this professor actually reminded me of why I came to here, instead of any other place in the world. After forcefully rejecting almost every student in attendance, he told us that we were free to stay for the rest of class. He was going on and on about the importance of geography in history and modern day international relations for Turkey. About the warm water ports, and the meeting of East and West. Then he paused, looked out the open windows beyond the chalkboard at the Bosphorus, softly separating the Asian and European sides of the city, and said "I think this is the only classroom in the entire world where you can look out the window and see, for yourself, Turkey's precious geography."


So, at the end of the day, after all the frustration and discomfort and emergency chocolate, all that matters is that I am here. In Istanbul. And there is no where that I would rather be.

Ciao