first impressions....

...so, i arrived three days ago in istanbul. bosphorous university is a bit far from the main city, so my contact with the city proper has been limited to my bus ride from the airport and a night at a bar in taksim. its a very beautiful city from what i've seen. the water, birds, mosques, pretty in line with the movie scenes ive seen. i enjoying walking around istanbul, because its less conservative about women's dress than damascus was, and i feel less self-conscious about what im wearing, being foreign etc. not that that's been a major issue since its been rainy and cold the whole week! not what i left seattle for....

my dorm room is very institutional looking, but has a lot of storage. my flat mates are pretty all right. one of them has never taken a turkish class before, but has lived here for 4 years, and takes great pride in her swearing skills. a little bit in your face, but learning your mom jokes in foreign languages, clearly important.

so far i think the turkish program is really good. we have hour blocks for different things like speaking, writing, grammar, all with different teachers. helps me not get burnt out on 4 hours of turkish a day. however, there are a shitload of films and lectures also scheduled for us, as well as outings. i mean, im sure its all cool stuff, but i just want a little time to check out istanbul on my own, and other stuff, like apply to graduate school. i guess that is all for now, pictures to come.