Canın Sağolsun (It's not important, you're alive, don't worry about it.)

A number of things have happened to me since my last blog post. I'll keep the lamer ones brief.

CLS Pre-Departure Orientation: Some speeches, a lot of meeting my classmates, finding out how the program would be structured, talking about figuring out how to spend my time in the most efficient way possible. The CLS staff on hand, especially David who once was spamming my inbox with all manner of CLS email, are really cool, and on the young side. Although pre-departure orientation was a bit too much time sitting in a hotel basement, it contained some good information on careers and stuff. Also, we went out for Korean food afterwards. It was tasty.

The exciting, swanky hotel room I was in.

The less exciting, less swanky scam to try to get you to pay $4 for a bottle of water. Did I ever mention I take pictures of pointless stuff?

Then, on June 7^th, we left the country Duelles was a dull airport, and the first flight was uneventful. Had a layover in Munich, and there were actually some cool things in that airport, even if it was an airport. Here's what they were:

German ice cream. Mmmm. Definitely a solid breakfast. I had the two rightmost flavors.

Apparently you can pay $30/hr to nap in one of these. What?

And, one of the airport's best features which we should totally have in other places is an interfaith prayer/meditation room. Check it.

Note that this tree is completely covered in Christian and Muslim graffiti. Do other faiths not vandalize?
(Click for full size on this or any pic. This one is weirdly displayed.)

After another flight, one on which I slept for a change, we touched down in Ankara. Customs was easy as cake to get through, and one stamp later I was out in the real world, hopping on a shuttle bus arranged by the CLS folks to take me to my host family. I got my first view of Ankara as a city. It's situated in the middle of a pretty barren landscape, but it's beautiful, and the more downtown areas are humongous. It's very spread out, and very big. Some of the buildings are in cool colors. Obviously I took pictures of hotel notices, and then not this. I am skilled.

I met up with my host family in the neighborhood of Bahçeliver. My host parents are Özgür (my host mom) and Gürsel (my host dad), and they are both fantastic people. They have a host son who is studying mechanical engineering in Germany, and they are both into civil engineering/planning themselves. Besides treating me to some Turkish tea, they fed me, and then took me out on a walk around the neighborhood that I'm living in. Although their large apartment is slightly more isolated from the hustle and bustle of Ankara city life, a few blocks away is Yedici Cad., or 7^th street, which is one of the most hopping streets I think I've ever been on. It's filled with shops, people, and people on the street offering popular novels at a low price, roasted corn, or any variety of stuff. Best of all within the neighborhood, there's a waffle shop, and I knew I had to take a picture of it to show Nur hanım, my Turkish professor from Pittsburgh.

Mmmm... Waffleler

One of the interesting things about Turkey is traffic patterns. My shuttle ride over taught me that driving the wrong way down a one-way street sometimes works if you can get the opposing traffic to shift into reverse. There are no cross walks. Street signs can be disobeyed. My host family kept a close eye on me, but I unfortunately did not keep a close eye on my camera. 

Ouch.

As you can see, I accidentally lost it. It fell into the street, where it was, presumably, run over repeatedly. It is no longer functional. Gürsel, my host dad, offered me a camera to use for future endeavors, and he also taught me the Turkish word that is the title of this blogpost. It's a term for an accident, which more or less means, “it was an accident, it doesn't matter, at least you're still alright.” Perhaps not the title I thought I'd give to my first post from Turkey, but a fitting one nonetheless.

To make a long story short, I'm in a fantastic place with fantastic people, and stuff couldn't be better.

(Post delayed because I forgot the title word, of course.)

Coming up: The events of 09/06/2013 (using Turkish dates.) A picnic!