- my specific friends
- people in general and their reactions
- how I react to things and people and social dynamics
- how not all gelato was created equal :(
- WWII and human atrocities
- general European history, the formations of nations and the movement of people
- how much I miss Western food (although I do love Turkish food...)
I think we were expecting this trip to be a lot like the trip we took over fall break, but it was really different. I think that that's really because of the social dynamics. Our fall break was socially lovely, and this one had a lot of tension. Also, it was a bit too long, which I never thought I would say about traveling. I think for these trips where we move around a lot two weeks would be perfect. We were saturated and exhausted by the end. But even though the tension and exhaustion made it often less enjoyable at the moment, it was still fantastic overall and I know that I at least learned a whole lot from even the negative experiences.
At the Milan airport we stocked up on some delicacies endemic to the "Western world", like M&Ms. We got home quite late and I slept in Ivy's roommate's empty bed since I had moved out of my dorm and hadn't moved into my homestay yet. The next day I moved. I am now living a 5-minute dolmus ride away from campus with Rahel, Eytan, and the two-year-old Kayla. The first week back was actually a pretty tough adjustment. Don't get me wrong, my host-family is wonderful. The hardest thing really was getting used to being on campus without everyone from last semester. Plus, we had to adjust to being back in Turkey and not being on the road. Then, even though my host- family is extremely laid-back, accommodating, and easy-going, it's naturally an adjustment to be living with them. Every family has it's own structure and patterns that are taken for granted within it, which means it takes time for me to figure some of them out. Not to mention I haven't lived with a family since high school and since then have been vigorously engrossed in the college-student lifestyle. And I've never lived with a two-year-old. I'm lucky that this one is an adorable sweetheart.
That first week was fortunately CIEE orientation, so there were no classes and us "year-people" got to participate in some of the activities with the new-comers. Some of them are really great. It's too bad that I can't spend more time with them since I'm living off campus :( Since then, classes have started and I'm really enthusiastic about basically all of mine:
- Crime and Deviance (sociology): incredibly interesting, it looks like I'm going to learn a whole lot. Plus our course includes trips to a prison and a mental hospital.
- Turkish Society in Comparative Perspective (sociology): also looks to be really interesting, although our packet of articles for the class is literally 4 cm thick. Hopefully it will help me deepen my understanding of Turkish culture.
- Culture and Behavior (sociology and psychology): this is basically exactly what I want to study later in life. It's soc and psych and cross-cultural. The only thing I would add is a neurological perspective. Also, our teacher, Çiğdem Kağıtçıbaşı, is highly esteemed and respected throughout the academic world. She even has her own Wikipedia page.
- Political Economies of Information and Communication (sociology): I chose this class because the title seemed long enough to denote an interesting course, even though I had no idea what it meant. I think it will be good, though. It's really small and is taught seminar style, which is my style. I really like the teaching style in general in this course. And as it turns out it's in large part about interactions of society and media, which is something I'm really interested in.
- Introduction to Psychology: everyone frowns when I say I'm taking this. It's required for my major and I'm a bit late to take it. It will be quite easy, and I'm okay with that :D
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