First Impressions

On the day of my departure, January 26^th, I woke up with an intense sore throat and anxiety. Not the greatest way to start my trip to say the least. I purchased what I believed would be enough drugs to get me through my plane rides. The accommodating Air Canada was gracious enough to quarantine me to the back of the plane for the first leg of the journey. It was great having a whole aisle to myself, and I took advantage using all the pillows and blankets. I must have looked like a child building a pillow fortress. My stop in Heathrow was uneventful, used the 45 minutes of free wifi to buff up some Trailer Park Boy’s episodes and send messages home. I boarded my next flight to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. This ride was a little more cramped and I convinced myself my sore throat was strep.

After landing I gathered my luggage and met up with Jeremy. Both of us were exhausted and I was really nervous but grateful to have a buddy. As soon as we set foot outside the airport we were hustled by 3 men who grabbed out luggage and threw them in the back of a cab, with nothing else to do we hopped into the cab. The Cabbie spoke little to no English, but that didn’t stop him from pointing and talking in Turkish. I had previously been told that Turkish people drive crazy, well that was kind of understatement, they drive dangerously. Our cabbie was smoking and driving with one hand, talking on the phone with other and driving a stick – actually I was impressed by that, terrified but impressed. Did I mention there were no seat belts in the car? Driving through the 4 lane highways people were walking in the roads holding up products for sale – how do these people not die? Our cabbie also told us that the end lane, which appeared to be the shoulder was actually a lane for emergency vehicles and we could get a 300TL fine for driving in it. He then proceeded to drive in that lane. When we arrived we argued with cabbie over the price. He wanted to charge us 280TL but with the help of a stranger on the street we got away with paying only 170TL, which was probably still a rip off.

Tired and overwhelmed I passed out, only to be woken again by my roommates arrival a few hours later. Her name is Vania from Portugal studying public relations. After some quick introductions I went back to sleep again.

The next day I woke up tired but hungry, Vania and I walked through campus giving ourselves a tour. We discovered a little restaurant that had wifi and sat and had tea or çay pronounced chai the first Turkish word I learned. Tea is only a lira so I’ve been drinking quite a bit of it. Thus far I have not had much luck with the campus food. First time we went for breakfast and I pointed at a menu item - French fries for breakfast I guess. Another time I grabbed a dish which was good but I have no idea what it was called and can only describe it as a greasy cauliflower salad. Another time I ordered a pizza, which has the same name is Turkish, so I went with the familiar. The pizza’s toppings included corn, a ton of olives and no tomato sauce. I’m ready to assume the food off campus is probably better. I’ve decided to take a course on Turkish language and culture, so that I can at least know what kind of food I am ordering, and learn how to say please, thank you and excuse me. I really hope I have more motivation to learn Turkish than when I was trying to learn French in highschool.

Later that day Jeremy, his roommate Andre and myself explored campus some more. We took a dirt road up the hill behind the university to where we saw a massive picture of the late president Ataturk. People in Turkey love him, he separated religion from government, I believe. At the top of the hill there was an amazing view facing west towards the city. It was impressive and made me feel small.

January 29^th orientation day. All of the exchange students, about 150 of us, met up today. It was nice to be around people who spoke English and wanted to speak to you. Every single conversation in the room went along the line of “What’s your name?” “What are you Studying?” “Where you from?” – that one was always followed by some questions regarding typical stereotypes. As a Canadian I’m always asked “Do you ski?” or “This place must be summer for you?” I don’t mind the Canadian stereotypes so I’m going to embrace them. Coincidentally two Austrian girls that sat next to me were also anthropology students – my immediate new best friends. We were shown around the campus and where to sign up for courses, where classes would be and all those necessary things. I want to mention that there is a bus on our campus that drives around stopping at every building – this campus is smaller than the St.FX campus.

Later that evening we took the bus to Kadikoy, a district of the city south of the University. The streets of Kadikoy were full of shops and vendors. There were numerous vendors selling muscles, but to be on the safe side I’m trying to avoid meat and street food until I get used to the regular food. The streets were small and crowded, and the buildings were very cool. I caught myself looking around so much a little scooter almost hit me. We met up with other Erasmus students at a little bar. I tried two Turkish beers, one light and one dark… they definitely have an acquired taste. I also order ‘Patates’ or potatoes, which is fries. They were really good, or maybe I was really hungry, either way the most enjoyable food I had eaten so far. In the bathroom I met an Australian who wasn’t a student but has been in the city for four months. She was extremely excited to know that I was Canadian and gave me some tips to surviving Istanbul. The bar had a sign at the back that had no smoking symbol on it, but that didn’t stop anyone in the bar from smoking. I normally don’t mind cigarette smoke, but it was suffocating so I went outside the bar and chatted with all the exchange students who came out to join.

My initial impressions of the city are unreal, nothing here is similar to Nova Scotia. Even the packaged foods are unfamiliar, except for some coke labels, but even the lays chips are flavours I don’t recognize. Of course I’m sick and suffering from culture shock and I’m struggling to communicate, but I’m excited to be here.