I am sat in a tiny room, I am eating a pomegranate and I am listening to the Ministry of Sound R’n’B anthems. Right now the “Thong song “ is playing. Now this could be a regular Thursday afternoon for me, but it is not. It is far from regular. I have been in Ankara for 3 days now. Which seems surreal  -  as it feels as long as three years. It’s very difficult to try and articulate everything at the moment, I can’t really get my head around things. (I am trying not too to avoid a major freakout) With this in mind I am going to systematically divide this blogpost, as a means of trying to get everything down.

Wait a second – Boyz 2 Men have just come on, underrated I feel

Day ONE

We set off for Stanstead at about 6.30pm. After much deliberation I decided that my boyfriend Neil should come with me and my parents to the airport. I am glad he did, as he definitely helped me keep it together. After stopping for some emergency comfort food (2 portions of burger king fries) we arrived at stanstead. This was the moment I was dreading – the goodbyes. I think I was quite good at holding it together – only a few tears. I never want to relive that moment however. I could of happily scrapped everything and not got on the flight. As I walked away I had a horrific feeling of guilt, that I was being so selfish as to leave. However – I sucked it up  and went through security. The flight was unremarkable and the transit in Istanbul was smooth.  We arrived in Ankara at 9am (accidently skipping international customs and momentarily losing our luggage.) We hopped on a bus which took us through the city centre, which is crazy. The people here drive like absolute maniacs – its difficult to explain and has to be seen. One of the students referred to the roads of Ankara as a “daily rollercoaster” which I think best summarises it. Apparently on the roads people have right of way, and so if you step infront of a car it has to stop. I’m not going to try this though. We arrived at ASTI bus station to be greeted by Sonat, our host student (not only host student but lifesaver, personal jesus, and absolute saint – I would be so lost, physically and mentally, without his incredible hospitatlity and willingness to help in every situation – so if you ever read this Sonat, sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. ) We arrived on campus and quickly found our dorms. The campus is absolutely huge with a 15km artificial lake and Forrest on the grounds. Once more it is difficult to explain how big the campus is – but believe me it is fucking massive (sorry mum, excuse my French)

The first day was awful. It was horrendous. I don’t want to really talk about it but imagine you had had no sleep, said goodbye to the people that you love more than anything, arrived in a country where you don’t speak the language and you are in a strange room – and nobody else is around.

Day Two

On day two we had an unremarkable morning, and then ventured into Kilzalay, the centre and cosmopolitan area of Ankara. After getting lost and bumping into a protest, which was policed by the entire Turkish Army it seems we met with some other Erasmus students. We went to a bar and embarked on drinking. There is such a variety of people here from all over the world. From Japan (Japon in Turkish ;) ) to Czech republic, France, Germany, Holland, Singapore, the USA etc etc etc. A real mix of people – which leads to sometimes awkward but often hilarious conversations (especially after lager) If I’m honest I can’t remember anyones names – but they are a great bunch and hopefully will become great friends one day. With the Erasmus students we had a few beers and then headed for some Shisha – which was great.

Day Three

Day three was the first day of the international orientation. Overall there are 120 international students, most are here for one semester which makes things a little bit more depressing considering I am here for an entire year.Sigh. . (note: I am now writing my blog in my room. I can only get wifi in one corner of my room, and I am practically sat in my wardrobe. It is not an ideal situation. Turkish internet is shit.) In this meeting we were lectured about boring things like deportation etc etc etc.  Regular things you know. We were then taken on a little tour of the campus, and shown to the medical center. They have a dentistry department and apparently a lot of foreign students get their teeth done for free over here.  In the evening I attended the official “Erasmus” welcome party. Hightlights included random turks in suits, very drunk Dutch people and a lot of questionable dancing. I got pwetty dwunk by accident and came home to faceplant my bed.

Day Four

Turkish Lessons with a hangover! Hurrah! Hurray! Not advisable. I have nothing to say about day four. I have been a tired and hungover husk of a woman all day. This section of the blogpost reflects this.

Lessons Learnt so far;

1) Turkish wifi is shit and its making my life very hard. Can someone PLEASE post me an ethranet cable? Infact, can someone please write to me. I miss everything
2) The only way to get through stressful things like this is taking it day by day and to not let yourself get overwhelmed
3) The dutch can’t drink but make great drinking partners
4) I still can’t pronounce the number 3 in Turkish, I don’t think I ever will.
5) Having no food/no kitchen/no money is bad for the health but good for the waistline.

6) It is easy to adopt some kind of weird accent when living in a country where English isn’t spoken. I skyped my beloved (of whom I adore and I thinking of always and every moment and I wish so much he was here but we will make it cause we’re wicked lalalalala) and he said I sounded nothing like myself. YOU HAVE TO SPEAK S  L  O W  and  C     L    E    A    R)
7) I miss crumpets.