I’m Back! School and Dorm addition:

This is my third week of school. As I explained in my last post, the process for registering for classes at METU is very complicated. All my classes except Turkish are once a week, for three hours each. Turkish is twice a week for three hours in Kizilay. I am also taking an online class for Pitzer. I now officially have my finalized schedule:

Monday:
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM Modernity and the Idea of Freedom (Political Philosophy)
6 – 9 PM Turkish Two

Tuesday:
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM Sociology of Science and Technology
1:30 PM – 4:30 PM Contemporary Turkey: State and Society (International Relations)

Wednesday:
6 – 9 PM Turkish Two

Thursday:
12:40 – 3:30 PM The Secularization Debate (Sociology)

So far the classes have a lot of readings, and they each have drawn from philosophers like Marx and Weber. With the exception of my Turkish class, the classes are taught in English. Sometimes my professors will go back and forth between Turkish and English to make sure that everyone understands. The teachers have been very welcoming and make an effort to include us (the exchange students). There is at least one other exchange student in each of my classes. I am hoping to branch out though and meet the Turkish students in my classes. The few that I have met are really interesting. A few common questions I get when I tell them I am from Seattle are, “do you know about the riots in 1999?,” in regard to the WTO riots, or, “Do you really have a great underground music scene?”

My dorm:
The dorms at METU are fairly strict compared to Pitzer. I live in an all female dorm, and men are not allowed in. There are no co-ed dorms on campus. Boys are allowed in the café in my dorm. However, once a boy came to visit a girl in the study room (which is next to the café) and he got yelled at. It is a bit ironic because sometimes I see cats walking around the dorm, which would be against the rules at Pitzer.

There is a little glass gate to get into the room portion of the dorm, and you must swipe your ID card to get in. This is fairly typical of dorms in America. However, I did not have an ID card for the first two weeks. Sometimes I just had to stand and wait for twenty minutes for someone to open it or attempt to jump over the gate (I looked pretty silly). Usually there was someone at the front desk to open it.

The front desk is where you sign up for a time to do laundry or to request maintenance. If you are planning to travel on the weekend and not be in the dorm you must sign out at this desk. Every morning a woman comes into the dorms to check if you are in your bed. I suppose she is also checking to see if someone else is in your bed (joke). I have been told that because this school has the top 1% of Turkish students they are ensuring the precious students safely. However, if you come back past midnight (any night of the week) you must sign in at the front desk. I have heard many rumors of what happens if you come back past this curfew more than three or ten times. The dorm “mudur” or manager may call home, they may kick you out of housing, or they may have a talk with you. I really do not know what’s true. What I do know is that this curfew means the library closes early! So I often sit upstairs in the kitchen or study-room for late night work.

Dorm meals:
Almost every night I have been cooking dinner with some of the Pitzer girls. There is a large kitchen in my dorm with six stovetops. There are no ovens so we have been getting pretty creative. So far we have made stir-fries, home fries, lentil soup, crepes, pasta, pasta sauce from scratch, fried rice, steamed vegetables, etc. There is also a panini maker so I make a lot of warm sandwiches with vegetables, usually for lunch. There is a small grocery store on campus, but if I want anything “exotic” like soy sauce I must take a bus or walk a while to a large grocery store in a mall. There is also a huge open market off campus that is open twice a week. I go there to get fresh vegetables. Right now tomatoes, broccoli, and eggplant are a staple in my diet. This week I was able to find fresh spinach! Everything is organic and very reasonably priced. I bought two kilograms of onions for 1.5 lira – that is about 25 onions! Needless to say, I will be eating onions for a long time!

On days that I do not feel like cooking or I do not have time there are many cafes on campus. Apparently the café in my dorm is the best. I was just there and bought freshly squeezed orange juice and baklava! Each café has a buffet with a selection of hot and cold options. Occasionally I treat myself and have dinner in the city with friends. Though I was concerned about my diet before I left, I now know that I will never go hungry in Turkey!

Görüsürüz (See ya!)

P.S. if you have any vegetarian/vegan stovetop recipes please email them to me!