(Title translation: In and from Ankara [Deniz, tell me if it isn't correct!])
Today, I met with A, a grad student and researcher in the cog sci department at Middle East Technical University (METU; ODTÜ in Turkish). I had planned to wake up at 9:30 so I could read a couple articles he's written and get some baklava, but my alarm failed and I didn't get up until Marcos came in and woke me up at 10:45. I hurriedly showered and got ready and quickly read his articles ("read" is being too generous––it was a skim), then Marcos and I packed and took a cab down to campus. I had failed to look up the name in Turkish, because I guess I felt like fulfilling the ignorant American stereotype once again, but we found it eventually. The security folks wouldn't let me through at first as I'm not a student there, but a helpful English-speaking student who came through a few minutes after us translated that I was a grad student in the US and was meeting a grad student at METU, and they let me through. We were about half an hour late, but fortunately, A said he'd been running behind, too, so it worked out okay.
We spent about 3 hours with him wandering the campus and then the downtown (well, one of the downtowns––Ankara has 5, apparently). He was incredibly nice and friendly and interested in similar things research-wise as me, so I really hope I'm able to secure the funding/support to study and research in Turkey next year! We didn't get the chance to visit the language school in town, again, but that's okay; I imagine they're all pretty similar, and there's always online reviews...
We barely made it to our bus on time, but A was kind enough to drive us to the station (after paying for lunch, even though it was a major holiday!), which saved us. We took Pamukkale bus company instead of Metro Turizm this time, as there were tons of seats available (since, much like Christmas in the US, nobody travels on the first day of Ramazan Bayramı). It cost the same as Metro, but is so much nicer. There's only 3 seats to a row instead of 4, so they're nice and wide, and as we weren't sitting in the front row, we had space to put our stuff under the seats! They gave us our choice of drinks throughout the journey, and offered pillows after our pitstop halfway for those who wanted to rest––I had napped on the first leg, though, so instead I took advantage of the internet to catch up on some stuff and chat with my mother. And write this post! The internet on this bus is better than some of the hotel internets have been, so I would definitely recommend Pamukkale if you have internetty things you want to accomplish en route. Of course, A said that a roundtrip flight to Istanbul costs 10 TL more than a roundtrip bus, so if I end up living here, that's probably the strategy I'll use! (Also, $60 for roundtrip flight?! America, catch up!)
We're nearing Istanbul again; we will probably catch a cab to our last hotel, though maybe we'll feel up to braving public transportation...I'm not positive what we'll be doing tomorrow yet, but we're going to lay out our plan of attack tonight before we go to bed. There's at least a week's worth of have-to-do's, and we only have 4 days, so there's some things we'll miss out on. But I hope to hit at least some of the highest of highlights, at least! If you have any places in Istanbul we must see, let me know!
Today, I met with A, a grad student and researcher in the cog sci department at Middle East Technical University (METU; ODTÜ in Turkish). I had planned to wake up at 9:30 so I could read a couple articles he's written and get some baklava, but my alarm failed and I didn't get up until Marcos came in and woke me up at 10:45. I hurriedly showered and got ready and quickly read his articles ("read" is being too generous––it was a skim), then Marcos and I packed and took a cab down to campus. I had failed to look up the name in Turkish, because I guess I felt like fulfilling the ignorant American stereotype once again, but we found it eventually. The security folks wouldn't let me through at first as I'm not a student there, but a helpful English-speaking student who came through a few minutes after us translated that I was a grad student in the US and was meeting a grad student at METU, and they let me through. We were about half an hour late, but fortunately, A said he'd been running behind, too, so it worked out okay.
We spent about 3 hours with him wandering the campus and then the downtown (well, one of the downtowns––Ankara has 5, apparently). He was incredibly nice and friendly and interested in similar things research-wise as me, so I really hope I'm able to secure the funding/support to study and research in Turkey next year! We didn't get the chance to visit the language school in town, again, but that's okay; I imagine they're all pretty similar, and there's always online reviews...
We barely made it to our bus on time, but A was kind enough to drive us to the station (after paying for lunch, even though it was a major holiday!), which saved us. We took Pamukkale bus company instead of Metro Turizm this time, as there were tons of seats available (since, much like Christmas in the US, nobody travels on the first day of Ramazan Bayramı). It cost the same as Metro, but is so much nicer. There's only 3 seats to a row instead of 4, so they're nice and wide, and as we weren't sitting in the front row, we had space to put our stuff under the seats! They gave us our choice of drinks throughout the journey, and offered pillows after our pitstop halfway for those who wanted to rest––I had napped on the first leg, though, so instead I took advantage of the internet to catch up on some stuff and chat with my mother. And write this post! The internet on this bus is better than some of the hotel internets have been, so I would definitely recommend Pamukkale if you have internetty things you want to accomplish en route. Of course, A said that a roundtrip flight to Istanbul costs 10 TL more than a roundtrip bus, so if I end up living here, that's probably the strategy I'll use! (Also, $60 for roundtrip flight?! America, catch up!)
We're nearing Istanbul again; we will probably catch a cab to our last hotel, though maybe we'll feel up to braving public transportation...I'm not positive what we'll be doing tomorrow yet, but we're going to lay out our plan of attack tonight before we go to bed. There's at least a week's worth of have-to-do's, and we only have 4 days, so there's some things we'll miss out on. But I hope to hit at least some of the highest of highlights, at least! If you have any places in Istanbul we must see, let me know!
