First Impressions

I have been making a list of things that are different in Turkey than in America. Some are obvious, some are silly, and some are unexpected. Hopefully this will help you get an idea of life here in Turkey.

First, the differences between my home university, ISU, and Bilkent University here in Ankara:

1)  Bilkent, and Anakra in general, is very hilly compared to central Illinois. I knew beforehand that Bilkent was on a hill overlooking the city, I just did not think of all of the stairs I would have to climb every day just to get back and forth from class. I have a workout walking to class everyday! In some ways, it is nice because it gives the campus a natural beauty. I would hate to be here if and when it gets icy! It does provide beautiful views of the city though.

2) The music building is new. When you walk into it, it has uniform design, with bright lighting, marble flooring I think, and just smells new. I don't know when it was built, but they did a wonderful job. The music building is about a 5-10 minute walk from the rest of campus, which is definitely different. The view, though, is unbelievable. It overlooks the entire city. It might be nice being secluded to a music paradise. Now, don't get me wrong. I love Cook Hall at ISU. I love walking into a castle multiple times a day. But I do like not having sewer backups or a tree that has fruit that smells like dung right outside your building.



3) They use cabbage to line their sidewalks. I guess it is pretty all year round!


And for some other impressions of my limited experience in Turkey:

4) For some reason, Turkey has huge curbs on their sidewalks next to the roads. They are the size of a large step. It is nice to be high off the road, but it is a big height difference compared to America's sometimes non-existent curb. I am still trying to figure out why they are SO big.

5) The Turkish people dress beautifully. The Hijabs that the Muslim women wear are such a wonderful addition to their outfit. They are so colorful! People look professional almost all the time. Ankara is quite conservative in their dress compared to other cities in Turkey, but it is refreshing to see people dressed beautifully, yet conservatively.

6) Turkish people are more expressive than I imagined. This might be due in part to the language barrier - the workers getting frustrated because I do not understand what they are saying to me - but I think many people are simply passionate. Humans are expressive beings no matter where you are in the world.

7) Turkish driving is quite intense and insane. The public buses drive quite fast, passing local cars, while everyone, I mean Everyone, uses their horns. I think America is the only country that does not use their horns on a day to day basis.

8) Compared to Normal, IL, and even St. Louis, MO, many more people, especially young people, smoke. It seems to be part of the culture to take a smoke break and socialize with friends and coworkers. It is very hard to get used to. In America, it is frowned upon by health administrations and by those in older generations. Here, it does not seem to matter that, in the end, it hurts your health immensely.

9) The only people that speak English are the students at Bilkent and the professors. When I heard that Bilkent was an international university, I assumed that all people on campus would be able to speak English. I was wrong. The cafe workers, the dormitory managers, the bus drivers, and any other workers at Bilkent speak either no English or very limited English. It is hard to order food or get directions or ask about an internet router because we cannot communicate with each other. Outside of Bilkent, no one speaks English. This makes for very exciting bus trips where, after buying groceries, detergent, shampoo, etc. we enter the wrong bus, thus making a 15 minute trip back to Bilkent turn into a 2 hour trip around Ankara. But we did meet a Turkish man who spoke a little German, so my friend from Germany was able to communicate with him to figure out where we were and how to get back to Bilkent.

Hopefully that gives you a glimpse of Turkey!

Travel Time

My travel journey began on Thursday morning. My mother made me perfect scrambled eggs along with two golden brown pieces of toast topped with butter and Kehe homemade jam. For those of you who don’t know, my family makes homemade plum, cherry, and when we have them, peach jam from fruit trees in our yard. It is, in essence, my home in a jar. It is the most delicious jam I have ever had. We double checked my packing, and realized I did not have my charger for my camera packed! What a disaster that would have been! No pictures, no videos, no memories. We packed that right away into my purse after that. Phew! I then had to say goodbye to my mother, which is always hard. After all, she is my mother, the woman who raised me and taught me all the life lessons imaginable, and who gave me the travel bug! Thanks mom!

I drove to the train station and boarded a Texas Eagle Double Decker train from St. Louis to Union Station in Chicago. It was a bit of an ordeal getting all my luggage onto the train with me. I’m very glad that Canada Air only allows one checked bag because otherwise I would not have been able to get on the train. The train was a sleeper, so the seats had additional leg room and a foot rest of sorts. I had two seats to myself, so I spread out and took a wonderful nap.

Then, when arriving in Normal, Illinois, where my home university is located, a good friend from school met me at the train station so that I could get a hug (or three) from her in addition to peanut butter m&ms. It was wonderful to see a familiar face in the midst of saying goodbye to my whole family.

Upon arriving in Chicago, I met up with my father who was in Chicago for a conference and was heading back to St. Louis later that day, so we had about 2-3 hours to chat. We looked at the historic part of Union Station, which I had never seen before, and its history through the ages in addition to the history of Chicago public transportation. We found my other train station to make my connection to a suburb, as I would be staying with family that night and needed to find the commuter train. While we were looking at pictures from the crusie, we realized that my train was boarding right then and he had only 15 minutes to get back to Union Station for his train! Thankfully, we both made it, but with only seconds to spare. I then made it to my uncle’s house, had some good ol’ fashioned American pizza, visited with my cousin, and headed to bed.

 

Friday morning my cousin drove me to the airport with about 3 hours to get through ticket and security, with many more hugs from her. I made it to my terminal in plenty of time. I could not print my final boarding pass while in Chicago and was told I had to wait until Istanbul. The main flight from Toronto to Istanbul was wonderful. One movie, two meals, and about 5 hours of sleep later we landed in Istanbul. Side note: Istanbul is huge! With a population of at least 12.5 million, it seemed to stretch on and on as we were landing. I saw the bridge that connects Europe and Asia! I cannot wait to travel there and walk on it, in addition to all the amazing historical sites. Ok, back to the airport: I thought I needed to get to my gate before printing my boarding pass, but apparently, after a 5 minute discussion with a security officer who spoke little to no English, I found out I needed to go to the ticket area to print my boarding pass before going through security. It was then that I realized that I was not in America anymore. My first experience with the language barrier in Turkey!

After the one hour flight to Ankara, including a full meal I might add, the group of 5 from my University waited in the airport for about 3 hours before the shuttle pick-up time to Bilkent University. While we were waiting, more and more students from other flights arrived. We had 4 more students from America, one from Canada, one from Germany, one from Singapore, and one from Malaysia join us. Upon arriving to Bilkent International office, we received our student ID cards that get us into our dorms, filled out some paperwork, and headed to bed! It was a very long day with many exciting things happening. It has hit me: I am here, in Ankara, Turkey. Look out world! 

This last picture is of a beautiful mosque that we passed on the bus on the way to Bilkent. Apparently there are larger ones in other parts of Ankara. Cannot wait to see them!

6 Weeks of Crazy

Well, here I am. Two days from starting the biggest adventure of my life. I will be studying abroad at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey for an entire semester starting in two days! I have known about this program since November 2013 and have been looking forward to this for an entire year. Now it is so close. It has come up so fast here in the last few weeks. Especially since I have only spent about 14 of the last 35 days at home.

I finished my fall semester at Illinois State University on December 13. I had six weeks before leaving for Turkey. I spent the first week at home. Wow! A whole week! I then went and visited a few friends right before Christmas. I was able to introduce one friend to ice skating while my other friend showed me How to Train your Dragon 2. I did spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family, having a wonderful ham dinner and singing in the choir for our church's candlelight service.

Then my family traveled to West Virginia to visit my Grandma and extended family, where we watched a few football games, played Grandma Game (Rummi), and ate wonderful family meals, including ribs, lasagna, and Grandma salad with Grandma fries. Immediately following, my sister, brother, cousin, and I piled into my sister's lovely Hyundai and traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, for Six Flags over Georgia! Their park has a special Holiday in the Park, where they stay open through Christmas and New Years. Take note Six Flags St. Louis. We spent a day and a half in the park with hardly any one else around, especially day two when it was raining. Imagine a 30 degrees Fahrenheit day riding a 70 mph roller coaster that drops you 20 stories. That, my friends, is their hyper coaster, Goliath, in January. The rain felt like little bullets hitting your skin. It was a bit brutal but totally worth it. After being bombarded by rain for an hour or two, they closed the major rides due to thunder and lightning. Seeing as we were wet to the bone, we left to eat lunch at Chic-Fil-A and to see the World of Coca-Cola. The best part is the Tasting Room, where they have different Coca-Cola products that are sold around the world that you are allowed to try. It got me quite excited to travel the world, since, wherever I go, I will never be too far away from a Coca-Cola product!

We returned to St. Louis where I met my campus ministry group, Wittenburg, for the LCMS-U conference held in downtown St. Louis. The title was Taboo: What we haven't been talking about. We discussed all the topics that seem to be hardly mentioned in the church, but are extremely important issues, such as sexuality, marriage, the blessing of children, defense of life, postmodernism, and other cultural issues. The conference was held at the beautiful SLU campus. We also had a service at the Seminary Chapel.

Two days after that, my family, extended family, and a few friends drove to New Orleans to go on a cruise to Mexico, Honduras, and Belize. Yes, while Illinois State stared classes, I was on a cruise ship headed to the Caribbean. It was the most relaxed I have been in a very long time. I got to go cave tubing in Belize and zip lining in Honduras.  I got to see amazing shows including a magician and a pair of aerial acrobats. And, of course, I got to eat wonderful food all week, including classic Caesar salad, lamb, duck, ice cream (lots and lots of ice cream!), and so many beautiful desserts. Life is amazing!

And now I have 2 days to pack for the experience of my life. It is a busy life, but it is the way I like it. I feel so blessed to have this extended break between switching universities for a semester. I spent time with many close friends and spent time with the family I love. I will keep you updated once I arrive in Turkey so that you all may experience Turkey with me. Keep me in your prayers as I venture across the Atlantic Ocean on Friday. God bless you all!