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I sat next to a 15 year old Turkish girl and her aunt on the plane ride form London to Istanbul. The girl, Bosnra, was able to speak a fair amount of English and we spent the majority of the flight talking in a mixture of my broken (hardly functional) Turkish and her English. Occasionally her aunt would ask a question or two and Bosnra would translate it for me. I learned quite a bit of Turkish on the flight, not to say I am any good now. After we landed the two were kind enough to walk me to costumes and the bag check area where their family was waiting to pick them up (much younger sister, mom, dad, and grandmother. All of whom were incredibly welcoming and happy to meet me and impressed that I was going to go to Bogazici University. The father, Tuncay, helped me exchange my $100 for 145 lira. When I found out that a cab ride would be 65 lira I decided to wait for the Havas shuttle bus which was only 10 lira. That's when Bosnra said her mother had offered to give me a ride! They drove out of their way to drop me off, even putting up with getting slightly lost several times. The entire car ride they laughed and joked with each other and got Bosnra to translate questions for me every once in a while and pointing out various landmarks. When we finally arrived at the Super dorm they made sure that I would be taken care of and helped me with my baggage before rejecting my attempt to give then 10 lira for their trouble. I got a picture with all of them and several phone numbers to call once I purchase a cell phone here.
That was the first night, I was forced by the security officers at the superdorm to sleep on the front lounge couches, not bad, but annoying. I managed to check into my room, a nice little place with both privacy and the change to be social.
Today I bought a cell phone and managed to register for classes. Anyone who complains about the UW system has seen nothing. I had to go to about 6 different buildings just to figure it out and 90 percent of the faculty speak little to no english.
Last night all of us exchange students were taken to a massive hookah lounge block that had at least 4 different lounges: all outside and separated by a few ropes. It was a really fun and relaxing experience, plus it was a great opportunity to meet ppl.
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