Week 3: What A View
It hit me last night as I was closing the curtains before going to bed. I can see another continent from my room. Off in the distance, to the left of the red glow of the Bosphorous Bridge are hundreds of glowing lights--the windows of apartments, homes, on a different continent.
Sometimes I forget. When I'm walking back from class with nothing on my mind but getting under the warm covers of my bed and watching some mindless Netflix, I forget about the fact that I'm in another country and in a city with a foot in two continents. But then I go to class, or the supermarket, or the cafe on the corner, and I hear adults and students alike speaking Turkish, Dutch, Italian, and more. I realize that I have this privilege of living in a new city, becoming a Turkish resident, and meeting students from all over the world.
In three weeks, I've learned so much about different countries and cultures. Most of these things seem small and insignificant--like the tune of the Dutch national anthem, the fact that 60F is cold in Australia, and House of Cards (more specifically the character, Claire) is revered all around the globe. I am really excited to see how these global perspectives impact my classes here. For example, last week in my political science research methods course, I learned that some Turkish students see a causal relationship between election results and the candidate's haircut. It is interesting to take political science and economics courses in another country because [so far] so many of the textbooks and research journals in this area are based on or based out of the United States.
The past week has been relatively uneventful, with the first week of classes and some extremely dreary weather. It snowed for about two full days and we're expecting more snow the rest of this week! None of it has really stuck, but this trace of snow would definitely shut down Atlanta. This weekend, we made a trip to Kadıköy (#AsiaDayTrips) and tried some of the roasted chestnuts off the street (yum). I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that it takes a short 3 lira bus ride to get to another continent. The view of the Marmaris Sea while crossing the Bosphorous Bridge was beyond breathtaking. It made me wonder if that ever gets old. Do people, who have grown up seeing something this magnificent every single day, ever get used to it? Does it ever lose its magnitude? Being a foreigner, I can't imagine ever taking such a thing for granted, but it makes me wonder what simple beauties of life I take for granted back home.
Sometimes I forget. When I'm walking back from class with nothing on my mind but getting under the warm covers of my bed and watching some mindless Netflix, I forget about the fact that I'm in another country and in a city with a foot in two continents. But then I go to class, or the supermarket, or the cafe on the corner, and I hear adults and students alike speaking Turkish, Dutch, Italian, and more. I realize that I have this privilege of living in a new city, becoming a Turkish resident, and meeting students from all over the world.
In three weeks, I've learned so much about different countries and cultures. Most of these things seem small and insignificant--like the tune of the Dutch national anthem, the fact that 60F is cold in Australia, and House of Cards (more specifically the character, Claire) is revered all around the globe. I am really excited to see how these global perspectives impact my classes here. For example, last week in my political science research methods course, I learned that some Turkish students see a causal relationship between election results and the candidate's haircut. It is interesting to take political science and economics courses in another country because [so far] so many of the textbooks and research journals in this area are based on or based out of the United States.
The past week has been relatively uneventful, with the first week of classes and some extremely dreary weather. It snowed for about two full days and we're expecting more snow the rest of this week! None of it has really stuck, but this trace of snow would definitely shut down Atlanta. This weekend, we made a trip to Kadıköy (#AsiaDayTrips) and tried some of the roasted chestnuts off the street (yum). I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that it takes a short 3 lira bus ride to get to another continent. The view of the Marmaris Sea while crossing the Bosphorous Bridge was beyond breathtaking. It made me wonder if that ever gets old. Do people, who have grown up seeing something this magnificent every single day, ever get used to it? Does it ever lose its magnitude? Being a foreigner, I can't imagine ever taking such a thing for granted, but it makes me wonder what simple beauties of life I take for granted back home.
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| The illustrious view from our flat |
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