It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. I wish my excuse was a good one -- I've just been lazy about posting.
So here's life so far in Istanbul.
Part I
School:
After getting back from Cappadocia, we had a few days to kill before school started. We did some exploring of the city, as well as the area around school, Rumeli Hisarüstü. We discovered some great restaurants and bars (to be discussed below in the section on Scrumptiousness), and enjoyed the company of each other, and the Turkish roommates that started showing up.
My roommates arrived the day before school. I still haven't really had more than a five minute conversation with any of them. They are all freshmen and their English is not the best.. And while I have nothing against either of those items, it makes it more difficult to relate and interact with them. But I've been enjoying hanging out with some of the roommates of the Duke program kids, so that's good. I still need to meet more Turks, though.
I signed up for a bunch of classes, and the first week attended 6 classes. The two I ended up dropping were Islamic Art and Architecture (just not my cup of tea) and Everyday Ottoman Life. The former was something I was not too interested in, the latter had nothing but readings in Ottoman Turkish... A little past my language abilities.
This left me with the requisite four classes Duke and Wash U are requiring me to take. My schedule is as follows, finalized two nights ago officially:
Monday: no class (hell yes, three day weekend!)
Tuesday: 9:00-11:00 - Turkish Language for Foreigners I; 2:00-5:00 - Alexander the Great and His Legacy.
Wednesday: 9:00-11:00 - Turkish Language for Foreigners I; 11:00-12:00 - Historiography II (there is also a 3:00-5:00pm Turkish section that I can attend if I happen to sleep through the morning section)
Thursday: 10:00-12:00 - Historiography II
Friday: 9:30-12:30 - Philosophy of Religion and Morality (or Morality and Religion, I can never remember)
Turkish is a self explanatory class title. But the teacher's style is pretty self explanatory as well. She reads from the textbook. Literally. I could read from the textbook too. It would teach me Turkish at the same rate. The only advantage so far to her teaching is hearing her say the words correctly. But she doesn't answer questions, or not well, and I feel that I could get just as much benefit, if not more, from sitting with a Turkish friend and having him teach me the material from the book over lunch.
Alexander the Great is a fascinating class so far. We have only met twice, and the first class she let us out immediately after reading off the syllabus, but my professor is really interesting and gave a fascinating lecture last Tuesday.
Historiography II is the continuation of an historiography class last semester, but it's not necessary to have that class to take this one. Each week we look at a different era of history and how it's been written about, explored, examined, and viewed then and since. It's pretty cool. I also recently discovered that the class is a requirement for all history department students, and it's one of the classes that no one wants to take but everyone must. Yet I find it fascinating. And the professor is so opinionated and confrontational! I'm afraid (as of yet) to open my mouth in class. Partly because I'm the only foreigner in the class, and partly because every time someone makes a point he does his best to get you to defend it with all your might, with citations of specific authors and publications or through historical examples. He's brutal, but I like it.
Philosophy is with all the Duke students, taught by Karanfil, who came with us on the excursion and works with Duke to make this program happen. She's a Boğaziçi graduate and professor. We had an interesting first class (though I was incredibly hung-over and thus didn't participate. Had spent the entire night before drinking away my troubles over a bottle of tequila due to a hellish experience with a package my parents tried to mail me... Much, much more on that in a later post), and class this week was cancelled due to a medical emergency that Karanfil had to deal with. But I'm looking forward to it.
And that's it! Only four classes, but they all seem manageable and interesting and worth it. And I'm among the brightest young minds in Turkey; only something like the top .1% of Turkish students can get into this school. It's the best in the nation and I think 34th in the world right now.
Part II
Strays:
İstanbul has a lot of stray animals. Lots. They're everywhere. Dogs and cats are on every street corner and rove with complete freedom. I used to think this was depressing, dangerous, and unhealthy. But it's none of those things.
The municipality makes sure to spay and neuter all of the animals. And they vaccinate them. And then tag their ears (for the dogs) so we know that they're safe, and so the city can look after them and keep track. And the people take responsibility and feed them.
Boğaziçi loves its strays. There are cats and dogs everywhere. Cats wander into buildings, dogs stretch out on the grass. Some people pet them, others ignore them. But they have such a good life, lazing and wandering, playing and being played with. They're pervasive: a cat found its way into my philosophy class, on the 4th floor of a building.
Naturally, I've adopted a few dogs of my own. Some naysayers have told me they probably only like me because I feed them. I have yet to offer any of my dogs a scrap of food (with the exception of one time, when G-dubs wouldn't take my last scraps of Simit; they're too well fed to eat people peasant food).
My dogs are as follows, in order of when I met them. We Duke students gave them the names we call them, though I hear most of the dogs have their own names from other groups as well.
Hercules, tag 427: Hercules is a fully grown golden retriever who spends her time (yes, her, I did not check gender before the naming process) around the Superdorm, and occasionally down the hill in Bebek by the Bosporus. She sleeps at the gate to the dorm, on mats provided by the gatekeeper. She loves a good belly rub and will follow me for hours.
George Washington Carver, tag 396: Emily named this one for his peanut colored fur. He's a playful guy, loves to nibble on us, and plays pretty rough. But he's a loyal and friendly dog. Spends his time by the Cengiz Topel and Nespitiye bus stops. Recently he was walking with a limp on his back right foot, but he's been feeling better since.
Loki: Hillary gave her the name, and it suits her. Loki is another golden retriever, but much younger than Hercules. They spend all of their time together. We first met Loki in Bebek but she lives with Hercules at the gate now. The two of them are always playing or sleeping together, and hate when the other one gets more attention than them. Loki is easily as mischievous when it comes to attention as her Norse namesake.
Mr. T, tag 426: I just met Mr. T, and haven't seen him that much. But he's a friendly black dog with some serious bling-colored hair around his neck, which earned him his name. Hopefully I'll see more of him, but I'm not sure if he lives around the Superdorm or not.
Part III
Superdorm:
The Superdorm is impersonal and cramped. The rooms are tiny and the hallways dark. There's no wifi (though someone set up a personal wifi station and I've been stealing it from them), and partying is not allowed in the dorm.
Not that that stops us. We have a good time, we just have to revert to freshman year rules, bringing empty cans and bottles out by ourselves to anonymous dumpsters so the cleaning crew doesn't find it.
There's a little shop in the basement where we can get snacks, toiletries, water, etc. It's priced fairly enough. There's also a Landry room, and you have to pay a woman to do it for us. One load is 10TL, a little over $5. It's pricey but the only cheaper option is a laundromat down the road a ways that'll do a load for 8TL, which does not make it worth it to haul your crap to and from.
We have an in house hair cutter, but he doesn't even give straight razor shaves, so what good is he? I've been getting a 6TL straight razor shave every weekend, and it's the highlight of the week for me. So much awesome.
There's also a not-very-good cafeteria that's overpriced and under par with the food in the area. It's close, but that's all. And most places around here deliver for free, so if we were desperate to not move we could just do that.
Speaking of food....
Part IV
Scrumptiousness:
The food in this city is incredible, flavorful, and unbelievably varied. David pointed out the other day that it'll be hard to get sick of the cuisine, as you can pretty much keep switching it up and never get bored of one thing.
That being said we have all discovered our favorite food spots and watering holes. Here are a few:
Nexus: we discovered Nexus a day or two after it opened its doors for the first time. It's the cheapest beer in town, and the bar atmosphere is wonderful. It's one of the few bars around here that doesn't allow smoking inside, so the clean air is a nice change. The beer is 4.50TL for half a liter, and tequila shots are 5TL. They also make a good gin and tonic and the girls have very much enjoyed their sangria. Great music, good staff, lots of fun. We have been there at least more than half of the total days they've been open, which is about a month now.
Mutfak: Mutfak means 'kitchen' in Turkish, and that's what this is. Mutfak is a little kitchen with two tables and a door. You come in, sit down with whoever is at the tables already, and pick from a wide variety of homemade dishes, just like some Turkish mother might presumably make. Actually, a Turkish mother makes all the food in front of you, and is cooking while you walk into the kitchen part of the kitchen and peek into all the pots and pans yourself. It's the only place to get free water and the easiest and cheapest place to get a really healthy meal. We frequent at least ever other day, they know us and love us.
The corn guy: just outside the Turkcell store that Serkan, program coordinator Sarah Carpenter's brother-in-law, owns and operates, there's a nice old man serving corn. Just corn. For 1TL, he'll salt a ton of kernels, but a little butter on top, mix it up and serve it to you in a cup with a spoon. It's the best dessert to a meal at Mutfak on the walk home. He speaks no English, but we're getting to know each other slowly but surely.
Doydos: this place has some of the best drunk food ever. It's a little burger joint on the walk back from Nexus, and they make a Tavuk Burger (chicken burger) that's unbelievable. And only 3TL or so.
Rumeli Pilav Üstü: this is THE chicken place. You have three choices for food. Rice, chicken, or rice and chicken. It's simple, it's delicious, and wonderful. Half of a chicken on a plate costs 9TL, a thing of rice with shredded chicken is only 4. They have homemade Ayran, a salted yoghurt drink that's popular here, but is an acquired taste. I like it, most don't.
Börekçisi: Börek is simultaneously fantastic breakfast and drunk food, and it's open for both times, from about 8am to 3am. This place makes only Börek, a flaky breaded item stuffed with either cheese, meat, potato, or spinach. To die for.
Beyaz Kale: literally translating to "White Castle," this place is nothing like the American version. Good breakfast food, fresh squeezed orange juice, and great outdoor seating. Always fun.
Galata Mutfak: all of the above are in the vicinity of the South Campus of school. This place, though, is downtown by Galata tower. It's worth an honorable mention because Sara Sandmel discovered it when she first arrived, and I went with her in early February. We've been back a few times, and it's wonderful. A larger version of our local Mutfak, with higher prices but more food selection. Great location and so good.
Ok, and in addition to all of those, I need to mention the Holy Book.
No, not the Bible. I'm talking about something more sacred. Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets. It's a book that the above mentioned Sara discovered a month or more ago, and it contains the secrets of the city, with hidden gems sprinkled all over to discover and fall in love with. I have been to approximately five restaurants in this book, and not once have I not been blown away. It's incredible. None of the places feel overrun, either. The restaurants are modestly priced, but the best food in town, for any taste buds, and they're uncrowded and perfect. Cannot get enough of Istanbul Eats.
Well, that's all for now.
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