Dorothy Conquering Constantinople: MUTLU YILLAR! (Happy New Years!)

Happy New Year from Istanbul!

I'm still here. Classes officially ended yesterday, December 31st. The semester schedule (obviously) is very different from what we in the US are used to. Things I have to look forward to now that classes are over: Taking 5 exams. The fun starts with my Turkish exam on Monday. I should start studyingfor that... but in the mean time I'm going to fill you in on what I've been doing!

As you might imagine, Christmas isn't much of a holiday here. Most Turks are Muslims. That's not to say that there is no holiday cheer. The end of December is surprisingly commercial here, as well, but for different reasons-- it's New Years! There are lights up all over Etiler, the region of Istanbul I live in, and trees and shrubs on campus are covered in them. And there are some serious New Years sales going on, too. I have stolen some of my lovely Stella's photos to demonstrate the New Year decor, because I've been bad with the camera stuff recently. Also, Stella isn't my only friend, in case you were wondering. I do have other friends.... I think.

Apart from going to church on Christmas Eve, I spent Christmas pretty much like I spend any other Saturday in Istanbul. I even woke up at 7:30 Christmas morning to go to the boathouse with the crew team. I really struggled with that decision, but after some serious pondering on"What would Jesus do?", I decided that I would go to practice and not let my team down. I think Jesus would be proud. He always did stress the importance of early morning workouts, right? After practice, I went out to breakfast with some friends and watched Love Actually, which tries to be a Christmas movie but is really good to watch all year round. I skyped with my family, ordered Chinese takeout for dinner, and watched the Knicks play the Bulls. I don't usually pay attention to the NBA, but that's what my friends were doing, so I thought it wouldn't kill me to participate. Besides, they were wearing red and green for the occasion, and nothing says Christmas Spirit like red and green basketball jerseys!

New Years was outlandishly exciting. First of all, New Years Eve fell on the Friday that classes

ended. It was a perfect storm of reasons to party-- the end of a semester, the last hurrah before

several weeks of exams, and the celebration of a new year. Second of all, I went on a boat cruise

of the Bosphorus with lots of other Erasmus/exchange and Turkish students from all over Istanbul. It was a great idea in theory, but it was cold enough that I didn't spend much time out on the deck appreciating the fact that I was on a boat. I mostly tried to stay warm inside. But it was still outlandishly exciting. I think that's the best way to describe the night. Get it? Out-land-ish? Cause we were on a boat? Thanks, I know, I'm hilarious. Anyway, the boat cruise was great way to celebrate the new year with some of of the fantastic people I've met here. I have minimal photographic evidence, so again I have stolen pictures from Stella. See? I do have other friends! And they aren't just strangers posing for the picture. Although there were quite a few of those, too.