School, or that thing I came here to do

So registration here in Ankara was one of the most painful stressful experiences I think I'll ever have, but its over so all is okay. I'm in 3 required classes on Turkey and Germany, a Turkish language class, and a class about gender in Turkey. Sounds awesome! The gender class should be great because people love to use women's rights as the exemplification of how Islam is "horrible" to women without looking at a broader understanding of women in religion and society. Do we all really think that women in the US are equal to men? Yeah, not, but people love to say how Islam treats women so terrible. Take a look in the mirror, America! Okay rant done.

The school itself is HUGE, really its enormous. The campus is in the middle of a forest with a lake. Oh how I miss Whittier where the farthest you had to walk was from the registrar to the athletic center. It's about a 10 to 15 minute walk where ever I go. Haha it makes my life at Whittier look positively lazy. Also METU has a history of being really radical. Below is a picture of the stadium where a chemistry student used acid to burn "Devrim" into the stadium. Devrim means revolution. He did this in the early 1970's and they've never been able to get rid of it.


Yeah its HUGE, those are little people there on the right.

In other news, people in the program seems nice. We had orientation and keep running into each other sporadically around campus. The national breakdown is about 4 Germans, 4 Turks, 2 Americans, an Armenian, a girl from Kazakhstan, a Brit, and a few others I can't remember right now. I guess there should be an Italian, a guy from the West Bank, and a Ghanian, but they missed orientation. I'm sure we'll all get to know each other pretty well considering we've got two years together.

The real fun news is that Tugba's brother was in town this weekend with his whole family. Tugba's brother (who's about 40), his wife, two kids (aged 7 and 10), and his wife's sister were all staying at our apartment which means I was inducted into the family this weekend. We went to Tunali and walked around the busy shopping areas and then went to the Ikea of Ankara! This was actually perfect because event though I have a great room, I needed to get some small shelves and things for my closet. Also I noticed that children are thoroughly loved in Turkey. When there's kids around, adults just kiss and hug and talk about how cute they are haha, maybe I just haven't been around enough young kids in the US, but it was like smothering the child at all turns with affection.


Here's a picture of Tugba's brother, his 7 year old daughter, Tugba, and me at a park in Tunali.


Also another cultural aspect about Turkey is that no one will let you pay for anything! I tried all weekend to pay for little things like tea, coffee, candy, my OWN food, but no one would let me. I know its all part of this game where you try and be the first person to sneakily buy the food, but ah I just feel so bad! I hate it when people buy things for me, but whenever I try and pay for things they all guilt me into letting them pay. I think I might be the easily persuaded person ever, but not because I don't want to pay because they just make me feel so guilty and bad about it! Tugba just goes, "Kristina, no no you can't, don't do this now, no you can't, this isn't nice, it's not nice at all, really let us pay, you cannot pay" and she gives me this pity face and looks a little angry and sad and I'm just like "ahh okay, okay, just this time!" Its so bad! I mean I know you just have to not listen to them, but gah its like a game I'm not good at at all! I have to become stone cold and just keep paying for my own things! I'd just like to note that I never let them pay for anything above a few lira, but gheez its so hard to try and slip money into Tugba's pocket!

Anyways, the best part of her brother's visit was the traditional seafood dinner we had on Saturday. This was a huge family gathering that Tugba graciously invited me to. There was fifteen of us total. We had mensa which are several small dishes that everyone shares (think tapas in Turkey). It's traditional to drink raki with mensa which is basically like Greece's ozo. Medium sized raki glasses are filled with half raki, half water, when water is added the raki turns foggy. Basically everyone sips hard alcohol plus water, haha amazing. Through observation I realized the appropriate thing to do was to keep cheersing the people around you going "shadaifay!" (pronounced sahy-day-fay meaning cheers!) and making everyone drink until all the raki was gone. Haha but even when it was gone, the servers kept refilling everyone's drink. They also added this sweet/sour drink to chase the raki with. Unfortunately they showed me the label which said "fermented carrot juice" ehh I think that if I had only left me in ignorance I would have actually liked it, but knowing it was fermented juice then smelling it was a horrible mistake. There combination of smelly seafood, practically straight hard alcohol, and fermented juice was just a little too much for me so I didn't really drink my juice chaser.


Family party!! From left to right: Tugba's sister-in-law in the blue shit, Tugba's neice in the pink, Tugba's sister-in-law's cousin's wife (blonde haired lady), her daughter, Tugba's sister-in-law's cousin, Tugab's sister-in-law's sister, Tugba's brother (standing), Berdam (also standing), Tugba's nephew (blue shirt), and then me and Tugba!

Its just an interesting cultural note that America really seems to be the only country in which adults getting drunk is frowned upon. At dinner the whole spirit of the meal seemed to be getting everyone drunk enough to dance to the traditional music and laugh at each other. It was great haha all the kids were bored out of their minds, but the parents were just laughing and joking with each other. Eventually we got the traditional live band over to our table and then the adults eventually got everyone to stand up and sing and dance. Yeah, WONDERFUL. Tugba's brother was the funnest, he kept dancing and pretending to be Berdam, Tugba's boyfriend, (who he was sitting next to), who apparently danced on the table in college once. Ah, the whole night was hilarious and so much fun! I was so lucky to get to join!

It's also just funny to look at culturally. Can you imagine a party of 13 drunk adults at Red Robin with their whole family taking shots of vodka and dancing? Haha yeah its so frowned upon. Ah our Puritan roots kill us from having so much fun. Just an aside, but I asked my British friend if drinking heavily as an adult was taboo in England and he was like, "God no, my parents probably get pissed every other night." America, we are really behind. I'd just like to also note that its not like people here are getting drunk with their family all the time, but every once in a while getting drunk with old family friends is part of life.


Here's the water chaser, the fermented carrot juice, and the RAKI!

Anywho the internet was installed this morning so *hopefully* this means its really working now. Its been much much much too long without seeing anyone's face on skype. I miss you all, I hate not having skype!!!! Its been wayyy to long.

There's no internet in my new apartment!

Okay good news is I have an apartment and the best roommate ever!! Bad news is her internet is broken until probably Friday. A man came to fix it yesterday, but apparently there was a problem with him and he spoke to me in Turkish which I didn't understand and I guess he was saying that he couldn't fix it so now we have to wait until Friday to get it fixed, booo. This means I have a lot to say and about little to no internet to share this with everyone, but I shall try a bit to share some of the amazing past few days.

Okay first off Tuğba is the best thing that's happened to me in Ankara. I honestly believe that choosing to live with her will be the best decision I'll make in Ankara. She is awesome and sweet and welcoming and wonderful. When I went to see her she was automatically a better fit for me than the other lady I visited. Tuğba is 26 and lively and chatty and asked me if I like to go out and told me all about her life in Istanbul and her family. She was really great annnd her apartment was awesome too. The whole place is really bright because its on the second floor and it has these nice big windows. About halfway through our conversation I thought this is it! So then as soon as I told her I'd live with her she was like, "okay you want to come with my friends and I? We're getting tea." Umm YES! It was awesome, all of her friends were so nice and after speaking to no one for longer than 5 minutes in 4 days it was like being alive again! Haha, it was really really great! Ah all of her friends were so nice and they were all like, "You are so lucky to live with Tuğba, she is so generous and sweet." Yeah, seriously. They even took me specifically to get Turkish coffee because I hadn't tried it yet. Anyways I love her and the apartment and I keep feeling like I just got super lucky because I get to live with her. She lives close to the very popular 7th street which is wonderful and a short walk to the bus. Ah so wonderful.

Here's some photos of the apartment.


Here's the bedroom. BEAU in the bed!




This is the view from MY balcony. In the bottom right hand corner you can see the wires to hang dry clothes.


Here's the bathroom. Side note, this is a really European bath style, my friend Kirk from Berlin called them "river baths" because you basically shower yourself with the shower head while sitting in the bathtub. Quite the experience.


Kitchen...


Hallway from the front door looking back to my room and the bathroom


Several photos of the huge living room.




And for those with a real curiosity instead of describing the layout here's a very special hand drawn version. Note: the hallway is not as big as I've drawn it and the front enterence is next to the hallway bench and Tuğba's room.


SO MANY PHOTOS, but here's one last one that Tuğba took of me drinking my first Turkish coffee the day we met.



I'll write again soon!

Get ready for the longest post in human history

SO MUCH TO SAY!



There's just so much to say, but I'm going to try and sum it up in little bullet points.

--The hotel has one of those awesome old elevators that you open the doors to get inside the elevator at each floor, but when you get in and elevator starts moving there's no door between you and the moving walls as you travel up and down the hotel. Very special and makes rides up to the 9th floor a lot more exciting.

--THERE ARE LITERALLY A BAJILLON PEOPLE IN THE STREETS. Like all the time, in the middle of the day. I have no idea what these people are doing or where they're going. It's like Turkish people are always shopping or something, but literally every time I walk outside the streets are super crowded. There's more people on the street in front of my hotel that I've ever seen ever in any city on one street. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that Ankara has 5 million people smushed into 971 sq miles. That's 5,150 people per square mile, which I think roughly (ack bad at math this could be wrong) means that there is one person per sq foot in Ankara. This explains the crazy amounts of people on the streets.


People in Kızılay square. SO MANY PEOPLE.

--Walking on the streets in itself is an interesting experience in Ankara. People walk slow and erratic and in all directions. There is no "walk on the right side of the road" theme going on. It's like everywhere you turn there's people bouncing off one another. Another part of the excitement is trying not to get hit by cars. There are no turn signals or proper lanes. In fact, you basically have to jump infront of a car to get it to stop and even then there's no guarantee. Yeah, watch out. It important to note that there is almost always a gigantic group of people trying to cross the road so its not too difficult avoid getting hit by cars. (haha no worries Mom!)

--Also no one wears their seat belts. I got into a cab to go to my school and there was no place to clip my seatbelt in. I reached down to try and grab it and it wasn't there. Then I thought I'd move to the other seat until I realized that the other seat didn't even have a seatbelt at all. It's all about the thrill here.

--Most importantly this city is BEAUTIFUL. It's really really gorgeous. Ankara is on a these rolling hills that make it easy to see how the city sprawls out in all directions. There are tons of places to get great views because there are so many hills. Also there are trees lining almost every other street and when you get a great view you can see how gorgeous the city really is.





I took these picture from the 9th floor of my hotel where breakfast is served. This is one of the first views I had of Ankara.

--Did I mention there are ROMAN RUINS IN THE CITY. I am literally living in a city that has been around since Roman times. Actually it goes much further back to the Hitties in 2000 BC. (That's 4000 years ago!!), but they didn't leave as many gigantic monuments as the Romans.

--In other news, I have become the sweatiest person on planet Earth. I spent all day Thursday walking around the campus in 85 degree weather (30 C) in pants and a quarter length sleeved shirt, wearing a big heavy backpack. My jeans have now become a death trap.


Accidental photo of my death trap pants.

--Now some might ask, "Why Kristina, why?! Why do you torturing yourself with jeans and a nearly long sleeved shirt?! I thought Turkish women wore modern clothes. Wear some shorts and a tank top! Be FREE." My answer to this is that I am trying (unsuccessfully) to blend in. Turkish people, along with most of Europe, dress more professionally than Americans. This means no shorts or sweatshirts, or white tennis shoes. Granted I have seen a few women wearing shorts, that isn't very common. Women wear pants or dresses or long skirts, while men really only wear pants. Yes, women are more conservatively dressed, but that really just means less cleavage and less booty shorts. Honestly there is a really cool street fashion with young women. They wear really popular styles like jumpsuits and high waisted pants and other things that only look good on models and as it turns out, Turkish women. I feel like I stand out enough as it is so for now I'm going to play it safe with my sauna death trap jeans.


Look it's Turkey's basketball team! And see those little fairies in white basketball uniforms? That's the women's team! Oh and why yes there is much I'd like to say about the women's team being portrayed as a fairies, but alas at least there IS a women's team which just illustrates what I mean about the many different ways for Turkish women to express themselves.

--As for the conservative Muslim women's style, from what I've seen about 40 to 50% of women wear these kinds of clothes. This usually consists of a stylish beige trench coat that goes past the knees and a pretty flower patterned headscarf. I haven't seen a single women wearing anything more conservative than that. Although only being here 4 days doesn't really mean I'm an expert, but we'll see.

--A special little side note dedicated to Lauren Johnson, my love, at breakfast everyday there has been a option to get this drink which looks like your favorite thing Lauren, Mt Dew. I though my god, is that soda for breakfast? Today I actually tried it and once you get past the Lysol lemon smell its actually this really sweet lemonade.


A picture of my breakfast, plus the Mt. Dew. I swear it glows, but in this picture you can't really tell because the lights shining on it. (Also those tomatoes are SO good. They're really sweet and don't really taste like American tomatoes)

--I'd say the best thing about Ankara is how the nice and kind the people are. Literally everyone (minus the guy who sold me my cellphone) has been soo nice. When people see me struggling, they help me out. When my laptop wasn't working a hotel guy spent 40 minutes trying to fix it then let me use his laptop until mine was fixed. So kind! Then the women at the registrar at my school was extremely helpful in explaining how to pay for my student ID card (Apparently my campus has several banks where you pay for your tuition and other school expenses, thank you registrar lady for explaining) So then while trying to pay for my ID card at a bank on campus I needed to get a number to wait in line except the computer to get a number was asking me all these questions in Turkish. This guy behind me just stepped forward and was like "what do you need?" then he proceeded to get my the right ticket for what I needed. THANK YOU Stranger!


A picture of my school's registrar's office (Just for you mom!)

--The most helpful person gets his very own special bullet point. So on campus I decided to use the bus to get back to my hotel. I sort of figured that as long as I took a bus to the district my hotel was in I could use my map to find my way back. Yeah, like hide and seek with my hotel. So I ask a guy who's also waiting how much the bus cost. He goes on to explain more about the bus system than any books, school pamphlets, or internet research has ever done. Basically you have to buy a card that gives you a certain number of rides and it gets punched by the bus driver when you get on. There is no cash payment for bus ride. Good to know. So this guy sees that I clearly have no bus card, just says "I can get you on the bus with my card." And we talk a bit about the school and everything. The conversation wasn't the 'I'm-just-trying-to-hit-on-you' way, but a 'Wow-you-are-from-really-far-away-and-clearly-know-nothing-about-Turkey' kind of way. Finally after 20 minutes the bus isn't coming and he's looking at his watch so he's like okay there is another bus you can take too. We run across the street and he explains how there are three buses I can take to get back to my hotel and on and on and on about everything. It was amazing. He even told me what stop to get off at. When I tried to pay him the 2 lira for the bus ride (equivalent to $1) he said it was too much and only took 1 lira from me. Ah so so so so so helpful. Thank you strange bus riding person! You have taught me so much!

--After the bus I wandering around the main area of Kızılay where there are tons of people, shops, restaurants, bars, and street food until I could orient myself and find my way home. I also found this really awesome park called Guven Park that was really lovely and full of pigeons and kids playing with them. I managed to turn this 13 minute walk from the bus stop to my hotel into 40 minutes by getting turned around no less than 4 times, but that's besides the point! I made it back! All by myself! I'm patting myself on the back for this accomplishment as I type!


Guven Park plus a thousand pigeons.


Adorable photo of a dad helping his son feed the pigrons.


Again, a thousand people in Guven park.

All in all it's been quite the learning experience. I still can't really believe I'm here. Orientation is on the 20th so then I'll get to meet these people I'm supposed to be learning with for the next 4 semesters. Crazy crazy. Anyways there is much more to come and I will add some pictures soon to make all this writing look more appealing.

Love you guys!

First Impressions

This picture is here in honor of the fact that it is the very first picture I took in Ankara in the bathroom at the airport. I took it because I was excited they were talking about ablution, which the ritual washing of oneself for religious purposes. Pious Muslims preform this before they pray.

Well hello everyone I am in Ankara and safe and sound. I'm in a hotel in the Çankaya district and I have just a bit of time to share some interesting first impressions about the city.

So first off there are green lights everywhere. When I flew in last night the city was illuminated by a ton of green lights mixed in with the typical white street lights. It's really cool. The green lamp posts shine light onto trees which essentially makes it look like all the plants in Ankara naturally glow green at night. My first thought was that its green because green is the color of Islam, but you know its probably just because green is a pretty color.

The next biggest impression was THE MOSQUES ARE AMAZING! They're HUGE! They are round and have two pointy triangular minarets coming off the top. So cool! Google "Turkish Style Mosques." It really makes me sad that not all mosques in the US look like that. I mean not all Muslims in the US are Turkish, but goodness the Turkish mosques are just so striking and amazing.

Also one of my very first thoughts was, "Shit I really should have learned survival Turkish before I got here." Oops. I mean there's nothing I can do about it now, but yeah it would probably have been a good idea to get some basics because so far people with a good grasp on English has been hard to come by. Well it's all about the adventure.

And most of all I realized that stereotypes and expectations are always wrong. Whatever I was expecting of Ankara, and Turkey in general, is just totally different from what I've found. I was expecting some type of Morocco which is poor and very Middle Eastern, but Ankara is so modern and bustling! There is such a mix of Western and Eastern influences. I was expecting conservative dressing women with a no shorts allowed policy, but again, I've seen all types of women wearing skirts, shorts, and tank tops. Ah its just exciting even if it's going to be difficult. I'm sure I'll pick up some Turkish along the way.

Well that's it for now. The internet at the hotel has been a little weird so if I'm not in touch with people its because the internet is acting up.

I miss everyone from home!

Waiting around in the SF airport

So it seems like a million years ago that I wrote that last post even though it was only a month.

Whew, but after going back and forth about going to Turkey this year or next it sort of feels epic that I'm sitting in the SF airport right now waiting for my flight to Munich. I feel like I should be soaking up the English around me and American-ness of everyone's clothes and mannerisms. Really all I'm doing is trying to watch movies on Netflix since I have about 7 hours before I have to move from this spot. Productive as always.

Pretty crazy that in a day or so I'll be in Ankara. Honestly I'm a little worried that I'll be totally lost and scared like a five year old without parents, but I think this is one of those character building moments that I'll think about later and I feel like if I made it through that then I can conquer the world. Haha or I'll just blunder through it and learn how to say thank you in Turkish. (Teşekkür ederim, yeah practice makes perfect)

Anyways the story of Ankara are soon to come!

Here's one last gem though, this is my last American dinner! Dos Margaritas, you are my favorite! Thank everyone for coming!



Also sorry mer you're not in this! I'll post the one with you in it when I get to Ankara. And Kate you're here in spirit since we visited you earlier in the evening. Love you guys!

Mer, I told you I would.




Mer Bear and I