Koç Üniversitesi

The campus is beautiful; I'll post pics soon (I know I keep saying that, but I will! Soon...), but for now I'll try to describe it in words. At some points on campus, you can see rolling mountain/hills covered in trees, the faculty apartments, which are across a valley and set on a hill amid forestry so that there buildings look kind of like Hogwarts, and the blue expanse of sea with the occasional ship.

I went running today, which apparently isn't done much because everyone I ran past gave me a weird look and it was tough finding a place to run. I guess I haven't said this yet, but security here is...intense, to say the least. There are gates with security guards at all the entrances and everyone has to show their student ID's before they can enter. There is a sign that says "Warning Spikes" and has a picture of long, pointy spikes...which you can also see on a metal strip a little past the gate. The campus is also surrounded by serious-looking green, barb-wire crested fences. On top of this, there also security guards and security guard outposts at the most-frequented places on campus. (Side note: It is illegal to take pictures of guards in Istanbul; they will make you delete the picture if they see you. My friend Jordan did manage to sneak a shot, though.)

When I went running, though, I ended up at the faculty apartments and as I entered the area, a guard came out of his round look-out hut and followed me for a bit, I guess to make sure I didn't vandalize anything, I don't know? The view when I was over there was amazing, though. I was at the top of a steep hill (there is no such thing as a moderate hill here) and the brick red and white apartments and the rolling forests surrounding them performed an amazing frame for the ship-clad blue of the sea. It was so beautiful I stopped for a moment to admire the view before I continued down the drop-off also known as a hill in Turkey. Apparently "normal" people don't swim in the Bosphorus because it isn't that clean, but there is a beach around and I would love to at least walk the shores...we'll see what happens. I do think that I will rent a boat to go across to the Asian side of Turkey, though, it sounds exciting!

The lights are turning off on me at the student center, so I think they are "subtly" telling me to go, but a few quick notes before I go:

1. Stray cats are EVERYWHERE in Turkey, they are curled up on cars, slinking through the gates of a mosque, even here at Koc I've seen some. There are a few dogs as well, but mostly cats. Apparently Greece has a majority of dogs, which is funny since Greece and Turkey are very similar in culture and food apparently.

2. They have markets down in Sariyer, the city at the bottom of the mountain-hill Koc is on and I'm really excited to get fruit, vegetables, and fish! They have piles of whole fish in the stands and it looks nice and fresh!

3. Ironically, I am also learning a lot about the US here, just from talking to other exchange students. I had figured that most universities/towns were pretty similar to mine, but I've been talking to my friends from Texas and the East coast and their college experience and even culture, to a degree, is pretty different from mine. It makes me want to live outside Minnesota for awhile!