& I Have Resurfaced!

My dear friends & family, I am sorry for having neglected my blog for so long. Ever so much has happened, & I am quite certain that it will take ages to catch everyone up on the happenings of the last two months or so.

So, I will leave that for a day when I have more courage & patience. :)

Instead, today I will give the first in a serious of hopefully brief updates on my current situation here in Ankara, Turkey, starting with school since it is the reason why I am here in the first place.

Be prepared for a very long stream of conscious description of Bilkent, followed by descriptions of my courses. :)

Bilkent University is ever so different from UC Davis! This is, of course, the number one reason why I chose this university (followed closely by the fact that my aunt is a retired professor, it is one of the best schools in the nation, & it provides a better libarts education than ODTU), but I still did not expect such drastic differences. Take, for example, the fact that the campus is cobble-stoned & hilly compared to Davis' flat, paved roads. Or that all of the classes at Bilkent start at the 40 (12:40 etc.). Or that the students here are noticeably much wealthier. The parking lots are filled with nice cars, girls wear high heels to class, boys flaunt designer shades & polo tops... Even the menu choices at restaurants are different. Baguette sandwiches are very popular. People smoke a ton; sometimes I feel like I am in a smoke shop, not sitting outdoors. The bus system is not conducted with red London double-decker buses like in Davis, but with luxurious charter buses. Classes are conducted in English but all extracurricular conversations are in Turkish. There are cats & the occasional dog that roam the campus. There are security guards in every building, & even metal detectors in some facilities (due to previous bomb threats). Everybody photocopies their books from the library, choosing not to buy them from the bookstore since it seems there is no book buyback. The dorms are not co-ed like back home; instead boys are separated from girls. Indeed, girls are not even allowed to visit their boy friends in dorm rooms or vice versa! Nobody rides bikes here or even skateboards; it is all walking, driving, or taking public transportation. Teachers & classes seem to be generally speaking just like back home; class sizes are small, some are more lecture, some are more interactive, etc. I am taking:

International Business - Taught by a very impressive Canadian who worked with the UN for something like 17 years. I love his class, I love him, I love the topics we are learning. I am fascinated & strongly think that I will want to go to graduate school for international business as I have been considering. In any case, my professor seemed to have a bias against Americans in the beginning of class, but seems to be coming around. By the end of the semester I hope the love is reciprocal! I took my first midterm yesterday. I studied for a week, with color coded notes & everything, but it was a 50 multiple-choice question test with tricky answers so I have no clue how I did. Hopefully I got the A I was striving for. If not, I got a B. There's no way I got lower than that! I also love the class because I have a ton of Turkish & international friends in it.

Turkish - It is mandatory for UC students to take a course of language of the country in which they are studying abroad. Even if it hadn't been mandatory I probably would have taken the class because I came to Turkey to become a true Turk. I am quickly catching on; my speaking & spelling skills have improved drastically! Again, I love my teacher, & it is a very fun class because it is filled with international students who can't pronounce the Turkish vowels. :)

Media Ethics & Responsibility - Yet another course I adore. It is unique because this course is taught by an NYU professor... Via SKYPE! I love the topics & find the subject fascinating. My one complaint is that the TA does not take control of the class. Because it is via video conferencing, the professor cannot hear the noise level in the classroom at Bilkent. Thus, students are reading papers, gossiping, laughing... There is a roar in the classroom when I just want quiet so I can learn! The TA just sits in the back & flirts with the male students... But I do not want to say anything & label myself as the goody-two-shoes exchange student. I will just give my feedback at the end of the semester, when my grade is not in jeopardy. Instead of complaining & facing potential classroom exile, I sit in the very front & participate often. I have a 10 page paper (the first of 4) due next Tuesday! There goes my weekend.

Democratization of Turkey - Although the class is going to be a lot of work (a 20+ page paper included), I find this class very education. While it may be boring for native Turks who know all about the history of Turkey, I find I am learning everything I ever wanted to know about the current democracy in Turkey. The professor teaching the class is a very esteemed man who apparently is helping draft the new constitution of the nation, so political science students always say I am lucky to be taking the course from him. I already gave my classroom presentation, & believe I did well.

& finally, Middle East Security Structures - I won't say anything too harsh about this class just yet. I'll wait until the end of the quarter to really judge. All I will say is I find the reading fascinating, & enjoy that I have a large group of friends in the class with me.

ALSO: I am currently a columnist for Bilkent News! Check out the online interactive website to see my latest article on American Slang. :)

In any case I have a ton of work to do before the night is over. I will most probably come back & edit this post as thoughts strike me, but this seems to be a pretty accurate summary of my school life here at Bilkent.

Over & out!

XO.

Dear World,

&, I have reappeared once more. It is currently 6:30 A.M. in Ankara, Turkey & I'll be taking the bus around 8 so I have a little bit of time to update. :) Ay ay ay where HAVEN'T I been in the last couple weeks since my last picture update is the question! I've let my blog slip so much... In my last post I promised pictures & reflections but the pictures alone will dominate a post so I'll conquer that task first. These are pictures from my couple weeks spent in Istanbul:

I went to a bar in Taxim with family & friends :)
& we shopped around.
There were numerous celebrity sightings...
We went to the Bosphorus.
This is my mom's favorite mosque.
It's beautiful, extravagant almost. It's small but comes with a bang, & the ocean views are gorgeous.
I've played numerous games of tavla (backgammon); this is at a chai garden.
We went to the Istanbul Modern Art Museum which was TREMENDOUS. It's too bad I couldn't take pictures...
I've had some great desserts :)
& there was a rare moment when all 4 of us won Esek at the very same time!
Oh, my waitor also hit on me. & how!!
I saw the beauty of Istanbul from the Galata Tower...
Needless to say I climbed up wayyy too many stairs.
As we left we saw men gathering in the street to pray because there wasn't enough room in the mosque. My family dislikes this, saying it is not only a prayer but a statement, but I enjoy it. I like seeing how dedicated the city is to its religion... To a certain extent.
I had my first waxing experience: Everything from the neck down. It was very, very painful. Halfway through I just couldn't bear it anymore so I popped two huge painkillers. Then, it was painful, but I was slightly high so it wasn't as bad. Oh, I cried bitter, bitter tears. As my cousin says, "It's not easy being a woman!!!"
I saw sights like this :)
& I went to Bayramoglu for a day!
I saw fireworks over the Bosphorus from our balcony...
& I went on a fieldtrip to my cousin's flight school :)
I visited the Haghia Sophia.
Along with the Blue Mosque.
The Hippodrome.
Yerebatan.
We saw a lot of great graffiti.
& I took my cousin ice skating for the very first time :)

Much, much more to come in the days to follow :) Need to go get ready for school now.

XO.
Shawna

Happy Zafar Bayram!

It's been a little over a month since I have written, my immense apologies. I have been traveling from one place to another, & just got back from 2 weeks in Istanbul & a week at my uncle's summer house in Yalova. I promise to update with pictures & reflections (of which I have tons) in the posts to follow, which will more than likely be more often because school starts tomorrow. As we all know, with homework comes wasted time on the world wide web.

In any case, it is early, I am sick in bed, & today is one of Turkey's Bayrams, or big national celebrations, so I thought it warranted an update.

Today is the Zafar Bayram or Victory Day. 80 or so years ago on this day my great grandfather (buguk dede) ran to the very front of the parade holding my grandmother (babaanne) so she could see Ataturk in person for the first time. 3 months later he died. This morning record breaking amounts of soldiers (askerler) are going to march in celebration, but also as a warning to the current backwards, overly religious government which has begun to overturn all of Ataturk's progressive reforms. Women now wear scarves when it was once illegal, & censorship is at a high. Youtube is banned (due to a conflict with the Greeks) along with numerous other websites. Citizens, including my family, have felt uncomfortable with these changes & there has been much hushed discussion about moving to different countries. I have even heard the words "civil war" mentioned. The soldiers have always remained faithful to Ataturk and have been the balancing force in this nation but little by little the government is trying to take their power away. We'll see about that.

Hanging from our balcony is a small, proud Turkish flag & another flies from the antennae of my uncle's car. My babaanne says that anyone who loves Ataturk & the country will fly a flag today. When I go out, hopefully I will see a lot of love for our nation & love for Ataturk. Yesterday, already there were huge flags flying from the larger corporations. Turkey may be far from perfect, but its citizens, myself included, love our country. With this love there is faith that change & progress will come.

Updates soon to follow, promise!

XO.

The Promised Long Post :) WOOHOO

I've finally found a little bit of time to sit by the computer & thoroughly update the blog so here goes the writing & after that the pictures. :) It's taken me 3 sittings!!!

Family: I LOVE BEING HERE IN TURKEY!!! My family here is so large & so closeknit. It's very different from being back home in California, because whereas I may see my extended family there once a month, it's weird if I don't see everyone here at least once a day! It's very different living with grandparents versus parents... They are very set in their ways & don't go out as much, & they are more frail than anyone I've been used to spending time with. & they have somewhat different values. But I love it. I love being doted on, & I especially love hearing all of the stories from years gone by. & I love the fact that aunt & cousin live just one flight of stairs down! & that I have an entire other family in Istanbul who love me, & another cousin & her husband just a short taxi ride away. It's definitely more family than I've ever been emerged in at one time, & everyone is very close & very affectionate. It's going to be a very healthy environment for me. My mom arrives in just a couple days to Istanbul & will come straight to Ankara. My dad arrives on the 10th! &, when everyone goes back to Istanbul to fly back to the states on the 11th, I will travel along with them in order to stay with my family over there for a couple days again. :)

Friends: I'm not homesick but I'm super friendsick. I find the time difference very aggravating because it means I rarely find my friends online to talk, etc... Hopefully no one forgets about me while I'm away! I hate being out of the loop... I sent Haley a birthday package, & I've been gift shopping for others, maybe even more than for myself!

Boys: Psh, what boys? Everyone here is dark haired, dark skinned & I prefer them white & blond... That being said I may just give these kiddos a chance. Some of them are pretty attractive, dashing young folk.

& the general surrounding environment: Ankara's buildings are tall & very tightly clustered. The parks are small, but at least they exist. The weather's been hot, but thankfully no more mosquitoes in Ankara!! The infrastructure is somewhat lacking in terms of sidewalks & paved roads in certain areas, but the actual ENVIRONMENT - the people, are warm & charming. They love striking up conversations with strangers, especially when they realize that I'm "yabanci" or foreign. I have not felt unsafe yet, although I have noticed I get a lot of attention, especially from men. I don't know if this is because they can tell I'm foreign or because they think I'm pretty! As for fashion & how people dress, I've seen everything from fully covered women (only their eyes showing) to the skankiest dressed girls. Men wear whatever...

& now for the pictures!

There are so many that I won't be able to caption properly as I did last time.

&, the pictures include my first weekend trip! It was to Amasra, a small town on the Black Sea coast. It was very charming & I loved it!!! For any of you who have been to Italy, it reminded me a lot of Cinque Terre. Except it was less developed...

So these pictures start from back in Istanbul up until this weekend!

Turkish manti handmade by our family :) Including yours truly.
Making friends with the neighborhood cat.
In the apartment garden.
Playing "tavla" or backgammon, a very popular game, with my cousin. I won :) He's in school to be a pilor, hence the practice posters on the wall.
Little sis, me, & my cousin at a nice restaurant on the Bosphorus for dinner.
Yes, we saw Harry Potter!!!
Have you ever seen a more luxurious movie theater? Leather seats & plush walls.
Out for drinks on our "last" night in Istanbul.
Istanbul at nighttime.
Now in Ankara, for a walk in the park.
Bringing babaanne flowers.
Turkish policemen. THEY wanted the picture with ME!
Typical morning with the grandparents.
Ankara from a tower.


Bilkent University!!!



Amasra, Turkey!!

If anyone wants to know about any pictures specifically, leave a comment & I'll let you know the backstory. :)

XO.

Merhabaler!

It's been a couple days since I've been able to update & unfortunately I won't really be able to write much just yet because İ have to run home to do errands! I don't have internet at my place yet but as soon as I get ıt I promise a thorough update with tons of the pictures all of you seem to love!

What I can tell you is that things with my cousins left on a great note. My boy cousin took my sister & İ out the night before we left so we got to spend time with him & there is the promise that when İ return for a visit that we will all go out clubbing together.

Now I am at my grandmother's & grandfather's house & I am loving it. I go through the old pictures, dad's records, his stamp albums... My aunt & younger girl cousin live right downstairs so I am never lonely!!! We go out a couple hours a day & spend the rest of the time together.

Hope everyone is doing well! Keep your heads up for the longer post :)

XO.

Grumpy

I am in the worst mood I have been in a long time. My credit card won't work here in Turkey for some unknown reason, & it has caused me a lot of inconvenience. My sandals broke today while I was walking in the street, & instead of buying shoes with my emergency credit card I had to pay with cash. My uncle had to buy my bus tickets to Ankara because my credit card isn't working. I had to buy my cell phone (which is super lame & cheap) in cash today, too. I paid the bill on time, in fact I paid a couple hundred dollars of it right before I left, & I still have credit... I informed the bank I was leaving... I don't know why it isn't working. I tossed an email to Wells but there has been no answer back yet.

Because I don't have a card & my parents haven't transferred money to my account yet, I'm completely broke out of cash. Tomorrow during the trip I hope nothing happens because I have maybe a couple dimes to rub together & that's it.

The bug bites are really starting to annoy me. Among the many locations, the worst have been on my back right above the back of my bra & on the backs of my ankles where the creases are. When I wear shoes the backs of the shoes land right on the bug bites making them itch crazily.

& finally, I'm staying with family but this has annoyed me, too. Especially my boy cousin. He's 22 & doesn't ever come home. I live across the world. It took me 19 hours by plane to get here. & yet he has classes in the morning, then he comes home for lunch & just spends his time on the computer or the phone, then he leaves to play sports & doesn't come back. Yesterday we went out to a nice dinner & instead of coming along he went out to dinner & drinking with his friends... He didn't even invite me along!!! & my girl cousin has only been dating her boyfriend for 2 months but yesterday she left at 10 in the morning & spent all day with him until 7 P.M. while we waited around at home for her to come back. I'm trying to be gracious & understanding but I would never behave the way they have. I don't want to complain but by not letting them know how I feel I have been pretty unhappy. We leave Istanbul tomorrow, & especially for my sister, I sometimes feel like our time was wasted. We barely went around the city at all.

Gr.

XO.

Pictures Time!

After all of those boring all-words posts here are some pictures to tide you over until the next time I find the time :)

Today after getting my Turkish coffee fortune read by dad's cousin's husband's mother (anybody know what I would call her?) we went to Taxim which is a long road with tons of stores, restaurants, stands, & entreeways into hidden inside bazaars. We had a great time. i got Haley a couple things for her 21st birthday. Hopefully sending the package won't be too expensive because she definitely needs to get her presents before she leaves for Italy!

& now for the pictures! The rest of my day will more or less be told through them :)

Poor bunny was left behind! Hope she's doing okay at the bunnysitter's.
My fabulous packing job!
Stretch limo to the airport: a perk of being my father's daughter.
Dad & sister :)
One of Sibel's drawings on the flight to London. It's a little grumpy old man!
We arrived too early in London so they parked us on the cement somewhere, put stairs up for us, & bussed us to the airport!
The view from one of my family's windows in Istanbul.
A bazaar!
You can find everything there... Even underwear!
The view from my cousins' room. I was changing with the light on & my girl cousin quickly turned it off. I forgot there are people literally across the way from me that could easily play "Peeping Tom!"
My girl cousin made the best chocolate-orange cake from scratch ever!
A Turkish shopping mall. You need to go through security to enter, & while I was taking this a policeman came up & informed me that photos inside are illegal. Oh well.
I thought this was funny. It's an arrangement at a bookstore of the same book... The gray is for the men who are too embarrassed to be seen reading a hot pink book!
Naturally Twilight has a following here as well.
Under Foreign Music Michael Jackson is number one in Turkey.
This is my family's apartment complex in Istanbul. The building is getting painted & repaired. Note how frail the structure is that the men are working on! Just some poles with some wooden boards to hold them up. No security harnesses or anything! & they are up there in sandals just climbing around. I was afraid for them! Thankfully they are done & as far as I know everyone lived.
There are tons of very sweet neighborhood cats :)
Turkish money. Note that Ataturk is on every bill, unlike our money which has different presidents on each. Interestingly, a Greek insulted Ataturk on Youtube & it is now BANNED in Turkey. There are websites you can go through to reach the videos but it is very inconvenient!
The view from the big balcony. That is the Bosphorus ocean! We are going tomorrow to see it.
My dad's cousin's husband's mother read my Turkish coffee fortune. You drink it, then swirl the ground coffee remains at the bottom as you ask a question or make a wish. Then you put the saucer on top, swirl it swirl it swirl it, then quickly flip it over! Custom is to usually put a cold coin on the bottom of the cup so it cools quickly. Then, when it is cold & the coffee remains have moved from the bottom of the cup into the saucer, the fortune teller flips the cup over & reads the pictures & images. Mine had a big white space, which she said means a clean break & a new start. It also had a horse, which is good fortune. There were 2 figures, one of whom she said I would fall in love with. Also, she said I would come into 3 big sums of money. She said I will basically have a good time on this trip & although I will miss my family a little everything will be well. She also invited us over for dinner tomorrow. :) An interesting sidenote: many families live in the same building. For example my grandmother & my aunt live in the same building in Ankara, & my family here & their families share the same building
This is today before leaving for Taxim.
Just a nice poster.
Standing in Taxim.
Harry Potter is out in theaters! We may go see it tomorrow.
Streamers between buildings.
Cafe Ara (Gunler) a famous Taxim restaurant. The cover of the cafe menu.
My sister & I with our matching headbands.
The 4 of us sitting at the cafe after our splendid meal. The owner & famous photographer who started the cafe was there just a couple tables away!
The cafe.
A Christian church where we went in, lit candles, & said little prayers.
The "secret" chocolate shop for locals only!
An ice cream man playing a trick on Sibel.
When you get off of the main streets in Taxim, you enter little covered bazaar-like boutiques...
I really loved these necklaces but they are so expensive! 140 YTL!! My dad would have killed me.
T-box is a store where you buy clothing items in those small air-tight shrunk packages... They come in all sorts of colors & shapes.
I thought these outdoor spiral fire escape stairs were very cute.
The 4 of us in a dolmus, or van-sized taxi, on the way home.
Exercising in the park near our apartments. I think it is very funny, but it makes sense that there would be big parks that encourage exercise near such big apartment complexes in a city.

Hope this finds everyone well! Hopefully I will get around to replying back to comments & reading blogs tomorrow morning :) For now, the time here is approaching 1 A.M. & it is around 3 P.M. there...

The weather is hot, sticky, & the mosquitos are loving me!

All is well with my cousin's ene (he almost gouged it out during a basketball game yesterday) & my girl cousin's boyfriend (he might be leaving to study in a different country because his grades weren't good enough for universities here...)

I feel like I have so much to say but so little space & time!

XO.