So to start off, the government here has decided to allow access to Blogspot again! Yay for freedoms!
Anyway there's quite a bit to update you on that has happened over a relatively short timespan. I will naturally start at the beginning and make my way chronologically towards the end. That is unless I receive any requests to Wonkafy my posts from now on :) I aim to please!
First of all I must finish with the workshop that I was able to take part in the weekend before last. It was amazing overall. What I was not able to tell you is that the second night we were all taken to an amazing restaurant, what would normally be quite expensive might I add, that was positioned all but in the Bosporus. One wall was entirely glass windows, allowing us to see the sunset off of the water and allow us to marvel at the reflection of the lit up bridges as night fell. It was quite gorgeous but I was also able to schmooze with some international types in Turkey and elsewhere that will definitely be great contacts if I wish to return here to pursue more school and research in the future. The last night was particularly the most exciting for me as we were taken to the seaside and put on a party ferry. Now let me start by saying that the food wasn't quite as good as the amazing restaurant from the night before, but I was so hungry that the beer and pizza hit the spot! It was really quite great. After eating we meandered up to the top deck of the boat where music played the rest of the night and we danced into the evening while floating along the Bosporus. It was quite amazing. Granted, it was not a lazy pontoon party at Grand Lake... but it did remind me of home and subsequently prompted me to begin planning a weekend lake trip upon my return home.
Here are some pictures from the conference and events. That weekend there was also a concert series going on at the university so it was great to get to go out and listen to some great free music in between the sessions.
So after indulging in the lack of classes and studying the workshop provided, I found myself getting considerably behind in my classes and, with only about a month of classes left, it was about time to put my nose not only to, but practically in the grindstone. Much of the next week was spent making up quite a bit of reading, homework and preparation. I am glad to say that I was able to do pretty well on the Turkish test I had and that I am caught up with my classes now… however there is one matter that I am a bit perturbed by.
A certain professor, who those of you with facebook may have seen me post about, is a rather pretentious horrible individual. Through most of the semester I was able to overlook his ego and personality of something akin to sandpaper on raw buttocks, but I reached my breaking point last week. I received my midterm back from him. To make a long and frustrating story short, he gave me a 20/40 on the assignment and upon asking him how I might improve and what I could do specifically to meet the requirements, he responded, “Take more care.” Hmmmm you gave me 50% of the possible grade and your only input is to insult my university during our discussion and tell me that my only area of improvement is to take more care?! That’s like someone who gives a performance review that is not 100% but then offers no comments in “areas of possible improvement.”
This past weekend was quite wonderful. Particularly Saturday’s festivities. I guess we just decided to have an ‘American’ day. Not only this, but a friend here from K State and I both were having our ‘graduations’ this day. Since our classes here run over the normal semester at our home universities we are not able to technically graduate until August. However those graduates also celebrate in the May graduation ceremonies… so we decided we would celebrate our own way here. A group of us decided to meet Saturday afternoon and begin the fun. We got a few beers and sat out to watch our illustrious American football team, the Bogazici Sultans, somehow win the game they were playing. I’ve seen 7 year olds playing flag football that hit harder and played more seriously than these individuals did… anyway it was amusing at the very least J
After we tired of poor football we caught two cabs who decided to race to our destination: Go Karts!!! Oh yeah! 35TL bought us 20 min on these go karts. Without seatbelts, gas tank positioned tightly against your crotch, these death machines were just what was needed on a beautiful sunny Saturday… much better than any commencement could be (even if Robert Gates did speak this year at OU). At breakneck speeds, much faster than any other karts I’ve been in before, the racing slicks let us power through the corners and drift around the competition. It was pretty incredible to say the least. We all got out of there adrenaline pumping and were in need of sweet sustenance… what better way to satiate our hunger for American culture and adventure than a Best Of Box from KFC! Not only that, but on the way… yes folks that is a Bugatti Veyron in the flesh. This car goes for $1M and that’s our of the factory before shipping. With a W12 engine, it’s a beast and I would NEVER put it on the streets of Istanbul… but someone’s dumb enough to so I snapped a pic!
So, though I thought my weekend was about over and would be quite quiet. I decided to go down to campus and study out in the gorgeous weather. Silly me, I forgot this was Sports Fest weekend. It was basically a small amateur Olympics put on by Bogazici. After about an hour and a half of not reading and watching the German girls’ volleyball team CRUSH everyone else, I decided to leave and get some real work done. However the rowing team came back from their meet (I wasn’t able to row in it) full of medals and joy! So I finally made it home in time to read a little before catching OKC’s great game 7 closer against Memphis.
And if the weekend wasn't great enough, we decided to catch the last home game of one of Istanbul's soccer teams, Besiktas, on Monday night. It was an amazing experience, the first time I've been to a professional soccer match. The fans were crazy! It was so loud and there was not more than 5 minutes in which there were not chants and cheers being shouted back and forth. Unfortunately for the visiting fans, stuck in their cage-like section, we beat the visiting team 3-1, finishing it with a well placed penalty kick as you can see from the video. All in all it was quite a win. And now its back to classes and finishing up the semester.
Trevor, Zoe and I
Visitor's cage
They wouldn't let us carry change into the stadium for fear of it being thrown at players, yet this flare and many others like it made their way in safely... hmmmm
Trev, Me, Ryan - State School Unite!
That's a W!
As I was walking back to my flat, these guys stopped me to take a pic, cuz we each had a different BJK jersey on.
P.S. - Thunder Up! We're playing game 2 of the Western Finals and down by 1 game. We can do it though!
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