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!
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