2 weeks!!

I've officially been in Istanbul for two whole weeks. I know the first week seemed long but this past one flew by so fast. And we've partied perhaps 75% of the nights we've been here so far :P

I've finally got my classes figured out! Here's my list:

• Mythology and Religion: it looks like this is going to be mainly reading and analyzing stories, mostly Greek probably, although we've started out with the story of Adam and Eve. It's not quite what I was expecting, but I think it will be interesting and fun.
• Basic Turkish: looks like this is all things that Rosetta Stone has already covered for me, but it will be nice to learn the grammar explicitly. Maybe if it truly ends up being too easy I can join a higher level.
• Introduction to Sociology: I was discouraged by CIEE from taking this course because it's intro-level, but it would be really convenient for me to have it before going back to Oxy if I'm serious about having a Soc minor. Plus, it looks like we will be looking at things from a "Turkish" perspective (using examples from Turkey, etc.) so it might be really interesting. And the teacher seems really cool anyway.
• Islamic Cities: I think that this will be interesting after the art history class I took last semester. Plus it will undoubtedly help me appreciate the city in new ways. And the professor is funny.
• Turkish Culture and History: this is a class for exchange students only. Which is really nice because it will give the basics for those of us who didn't have Turkish history in high school. Furthermore, the professor said she really doesn't want to overload us because she knows we want to be spending time exploring the country.

Last night the ISS organized a fantastic party on the beach of the Black Sea. We danced for 5-6 hours. I met some more international students, but spent most of time dancing :D The only classes that are held on Fridays are science labs, so most people have 3-day weekends. And they're taken seriously.

Tonight the ISS is organizing an exchange-student dinner where we make food from our respective countries. We're making chocolate-chip cookies :DDD I'm pretty excited about it. Afterwards apparently everyone's going to Taksim (the party center of Istanbul), but I'm not sure I'll make it lol.

So, I haven't started missing any things or people in particular yet, but I have been missing familiarity. I've been missing being around people who really know me and who I really know and seeing things I'm familiar with. It sounds like some of the other people in the program are in a similar spot. It's nice to be in it together at least :)

lovelovelovelovelove