Hello from Istanbul, Turkey!

Hi everyone in Seattle!

I am also sorry I have not written a post on this blog....I have been crazy busy since I arrived in Istanbul at the beginning of September. I have so much I could write about that I'm just not going to be able to fit it all in so I'll pick and choose certain things. First off, a big shout out to you Aaron for the great post on your experience in Denmark so far!! I was laughing so hard because I can completely relate with so many of the weird travel experiences you have gone through! 

Koc Universty

Koc (pronounced Coach) University is a private, non-profit university founded in 1993. The university is supported by the financial resources of the Vehbi Koc Foundation, set up by Vehbi Koc, a leading Turkish businessman. Attending Koc is pretty much like going to any college campus in the U.S. Its students come from very wealthy Turkish families and they are very westernized and super trendy. I cannot believe all the nice cars that the students drive into campus. Koc’s campus is practically brand new and very nice (by U.S. standards). I work out at the gym which is very nice but doesn’t open until 9am!! In Turkey though 9am is considered early (of course). 

Koc University is located at the very north of the European side of Istanbul. Its campus is located up on a big hill in the area of Sariyer. It is about a 10min shuttle (dolmus – pronounced dolmus

h)down to my apartment from campus and about a 10min dolmus ride to downtown Sariyer from my apartment. Downtown Sariyer is a small town where fairly conservative Turkish people live. It is not touristy at all and hardly anyone speaks English. I go to downtown Sariyer whenever I want to get away from campus and my apartment. I go there to go grocery shopping and to drink tea (caye –pronounced chai)and walk along the Bosphorus. Its very beautiful and Turkish people love to sit and have caye and stare out at the Bosphorus.

 There are about 3,000 students at the university. There are not many graduate or PhD students, but I have met most of the Master’s students. They are all very nice and there are a few Americans doing their Master’s programs here for two years. Its so nice to talk to Americans and native English speakers. The MBA program here is very small. There are only about 30 people per class. There are only two other MBA exchange students here; both are male and one is from Germany and one from India. They also cannot believe the backwards and inefficient manner in which everything is done here so we usually just sit around and laugh as we share out nightmare stories with each other.

While Koc is certainly nice and very modern, I don’t like that its far away from downtown Istanbul. With traffic it takes about an hour to get to various places in the downtown area. I am getting better using public transportation everywhere I go except that the bus drivers never speak any English and I never know how much a bus ride costs. The bus fare depends on how far you go and so I just hand the bus driver 2YTL and he gives me some change. There are no bus schedules posted anywhere nor are there any signs that explain the fare. I’m not surprised. Like everything else about my life here, I have had to embrace riding public transportation as an uncertain adventure. The first two words I had to learn in Turkish in order to get off the bus were dur lutfen! (stop please!). The bus drivers are very crazy and aggressive!

Istanbul

Given that Istanbul is an absolutely beautiful and amazing city but that setting up life here is extremely difficult, I would highly recommend visiting but not living. Unless you want to lose your mind and go crazy. I love Istanbul!! It is everything that everyone told me it was li

ke and more. Istanbul really is where old meets new, where conservative Islam meets liberal Westernism. Everyone looks different – from the skin color to the hair color. I don’t think there is any other place in this world where a Muslim woman is dressed head to toe in black and is walking arm in arm with another woman wearing a tank top, mini skirt and 4 inch heels. That is totally accepted here and no one thinks anything of it. People are free to be religious (although the secular people don’t like the conservative practicing Muslims) or not be religious. Turkey is the only Muslim country in the world that is a secular democracy. 99% of the population is Muslim. It makes for such an interesting and dynamic place.

 I do have to keep in mind though that Istanbul is not representative of Turkey as a whole. Istanbul is a very liberal metropolis of 16 million people. The rest of Turkey is extremely conservative. Still there are millions of conservative practicing Muslims living side by side with non-practicing Muslims in Istanbul. At first I could not stop staring at all the women who wear headscarves and now I don’t even notice it. I’ve already had many conversations with students about the religious, political and economic aspects of Turkey and it has been very interesting and insightful. 

 For anyone that has ever studied or cared about religion, philosophy, politics or history Istanbul is the place to visit. I’ve already visited many of the major historical sites around the city including the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia. I visited the area of Uskudar on the Asian side and I also went to the area of Eyup which is the fourth most holiest place in the world for Muslims. We climbed up to the top of an ancient grave site and had caye at a teahouse overlooking the town and the Bosphorus. It was very conservative with no tourists around and I always carry a headscarf with me because I have to wear one to enter a mosque. I have taken some photos inside mosques, but sometimes I feel uncomfortable doing so because of all the people that are actually praying. I cannot believe the beauty of all the hundreds of mosques around the city. I hear the Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day.

I have already learned so much about the battle between the liberal secularists who want to westernize and modernize Turkey and the conservative Muslims who feel Turkey is loosing its identity and religious roots. It is so fascinating the religious and political struggle that this country is going through right now. 

 Also, Istanbul is very expensive. I consider the cost of living to be higher than Seattle.