Notes on Bureaucracy

As of 48 minutes ago, I wrapped up my first week as a student at Bogazici University.  In the week and half since I last posted, I have discovered that I am a Russian student, oppressed by every force possible and struggling to survive in a bureaucratic machine that cares nothing for me.  In fact, I believe that I might not even exist.  Thanks Turkish bureaucracy. 

In the time before classes began- aka last weekend- I took advantage of my free time and started to explore the city a bit.  And by explore, I went into the mostly touristy areas to see the sights in Istanbul that cannot be missed.  I walked accross the Galata bridge, saw evening prayer in the Yeni Camii (New Mosque), saw the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque in the afternoon, at sunset, and lit-up at night.  I visited the Topkapi palace.  I walked down Istiklal Caddesi more times than I can count, and helped a program-mate avoid getting picked up by a Turkish prostitute.  I got to see my friend Kylie, a fellow classics student from Mac who was in town from her semester abroad in Athens, and we went to the Pera Museum, home of some beautiful Orientalist school paintings (which I am obsessed with, of course) and an interesting exhibit on the hippodrome of Constantinople.  I am going to have to return for the "esoteric collection of Anatolian weights and measures" (thanks Lonely Planet, for being esoteric in your own right) and a nice Picasso exhibit that I did not have time to see at the Museum.  I also have a pretty good grasp on Istanbul's disjointed and poorly planned public transportation system.  I know my way around many of the main areas of the city, though I am still not entirely comfortable in the Old City, and I have yet to go to some of the more residential neighborhoods (Eyup, Fatih) or to the Asian side.  I also still have not been on a ferry.

Alas, play time ended abruptly on Monday with my first class.  However, in order to actually get to class, we had to navigate the kafka-eque Bogazici registration process.  This involved registering for classes you don't want to take, and then desperately registering for any class that will take you in order to not get kicked out of school.  Everyone here takes 6 classes a semester, and during registration, they register for up to 10 classes to make sure they get into the few they actually want to take.  Every student needs to get professor consent to register for a class, and many of the professors don't keep up with requests.  The horrible registration process means people care even less about it, which in turn makes it more awful.  During the first week and a half of class, people go to tons of classes, and often simply get up and leave in the middle of class.  Also, skipping class on a regular basis is accepted, and even encouraged.  I, for instance, was told by my Turkish professor to switch into another section of Turkish, which would make me miss one hour of class a week.  And now, we cannot actually add or drop classes yet, because add/drop begins next Monday.

My first class was one I registered for but had no intention of taking (Medieval Art and Architecture).  Good thing I was planning to drop it:  During the first class, the professor proceeded to humiliate me publicly by referring to me as "Texas," made classist remarks about her doorman and housekeeper, disparaged Christians (called them idolaters), and claimed that in the 20th century, people are free to observe or break the rules of art, but that art is defined and controlled by the institution (hypocritical, yes?).  Luckily, things got much better from there.

I chatted with a Byzantine history professor, and she seemed eager to have me in class.  I went to a classical Ottoman history class which was fascinating, but also taught by an ancient professor who had a tendency to ramble and meander around though time and space during her "lectures."  I also went to a modern Turkish history class, which was surprisingly interesting.  The professor kicked all the freshmen out during the first 10 minutes of class, proceeded to shock many of the Turkish students by telling them they would have to do tons of reading (100 pg a week!) and even write a paper (8-10 book review).  Some of my program-mates who were also in the class laughed at this, but I cannot imagine doing 100 pages of reading a week in a foreign language.  Anyway, that class looks to be the most interesting and challenging so far.  Karanfil, our program director, cancelled her class due to her father's illness.

So, now I have decisions to make.  I must take Karanfil's class (10 am-1 pm on Fridays), and Turkish language.  Now 2 out of the three history classes I've sat in on: Byzantine, Classical Ottoman, and Modern Turkish.  I'm gonna give the Ottoman professor one more chance to woo me- if she dazzles on Wednesday (the last day of the add-drop) and actually brings a syllabus to class, then I will probably drop Byzantine history.   I love the Byzies but I cannot pass up an opportunity to take classical Ottoman history in Istanbul, at the same time that I'll be taking a class on the making of modern Turkey.  It will also mean I have 6 hours of class on Fridays ( Karanfil from 10-1, and Modern Turkish History from 2-5).

Anyway, this has been a long enough post.  For now, I will continue to scrounge for food on a razor-thin budget, and in the process try to save enough for books (which are all blatantly xeroxed because apparently copyright laws never mad it to Turkey), and eat more than just starch and meat.  Watch your mail- I just blew some serious lira on sending postcards!