Arrival

Well, I have successfully made it to Istanbul. Not that the trip wasn’t without its thrills. Someday I’m going to discover something really clever to pass time during layovers. I just haven’t gotten there yet. We were late getting into Istanbul due to a delay in Amsterdam and I’ll admit that my brain had just about had it. My Turkish was sounding pretty much awful, the cab driver from Taksim pulled one over on me much to my later annoyance but at the time I was just too tired to care. I made it into the dorm, met one of my roommates, had some food and a shower and collapsed into bed. Jet lag being what it is I was awake again in a couple of hours, trying to figure out what to do with myself. I ended up watching an episode of The West Wing and reading until I felt like I could sleep again. I made sure to get up at a decent time so that I could make a solid attempt at getting used to the time change. I went to preregistration in the morning, and shopping, because it was really time to buy my own food. Luckily, food is dirt cheap in this country and I am now in possession of enough food stuffs to last for a good while. I was off on a walk when I bumped into the other student from MSU here and we grabbed a cup of çay and chatted, ran some errands and a came back to my room to hang up some photos and posters with newly acquired poster putty in an attempt to make my room look a little less institutional. It feels pretty successful so far. I’ll be grabbing dinner with Bobbie tonight and then perhaps a walk along the Bosphorus in Bebek, the neighborhood below ours. This first day has been primarily errands, catch up and transition, but it seems to be going swimmingly. Now to find out what tomorrow will bring. But until then, güle güle!