An Overdue Update

Hello friends, family, teachers, colleagues, and acquaintances I realize I have neglected my blog for the past several weeks and I would like to send out my sincerest apologies for leaving you in the dark about my experiences in Turkey (and now in South Korea). In this post I hope to recap my experiences at work and in Istanbul in general and speak to the specific activities I have done  in Istanbul during my last few weeks in Turkey . But first I would like to give a little explanation about the hiatus I took in posting to my blog:

When I went to Kapadokya a few weeks ago I spent an amazing 2 days exploring one of the most surreal landscapes of Turkey. My plan was to immediately share my experience with you all by blogging about it as soon as I got back. The problem I encountered was filtering through the vast amounts of pictures I took and describing the experience through just words and pictures. And as I continued to procrastinate I took another trip to Antalya which I would also like to dedicate a blog post to. So, aside from this general post I  am writing now I will hopefully be able to share my Kapadokya and Antalya experiences with 2 more blog posts in the very near future.

I can now reflect on the overall experience I had working in the 5th largest city in the world. When people normally speak about their experiences they tend to say time flew by or it felt like forever but I can't say for sure what my time here in Turkey felt like. My sense of time became clouded by the long commutes by the plethora of available forms of transportation in and out of the city, the long days at the office, and the relaxing time I spent with new friends on and off campus. I can truly say my perspective on commuting has changed quite drastically.

To the extent of my own understanding, the company we worked in Girisim Asset Management is a company that mainly buys loan portfolios that are not making any money from banks for a highly discounted price and works to transform the nonperforming loans into ones in which they can collect from. This is beneficial to the customers in that they can eliminate their debt and increase their credit while improving the economic status of the banks and Turkey as a whole. At first glance I thought this company was simply a collection agency, but it is a little bit more than that. The company's goal is to profit from the collections of course but also write off these loans as soon as possible, so the asset managers work with the customers to refinance or even reduce their amount due in a way that makes it possible for the customer to pay some amount of money that is more than what the company purchased the outstanding account for.

Working in a different country was a completely new experience for me. I often found myself penned up in the office with Boming, the other intern from UofM I worked with and our two mentors, Cansu and Yigit mainly because there was a pretty strong language barrier that prevented us from exploring other departments of the company. Although we did have the chance to meet other employees from other departments during lunch it was fairly difficult to understand their exact role in the company. Compared to what I was used to from my internship with Cisco in the US it was a bit more difficult to network and meet 1on1 with people in the office because of the language barrier. Although I did find the work culture to be quite similar aside from the wonderful lady that brought us chai once before lunch and once after.

Boming and I were assigned one main project at the beginning of our internship, along with a few side projects given to us by our mentors. They asked us to research the financial figures of various banks and asset management companies across the US, Europe, and China. At first there was a little misunderstanding in what type of information we were expected to find but eventually we made it back on track and were able to present our findings to our higher-ups. I was also given a forecasting project in which I was asked to basically forecast the revenue for the remainder of 2014. I really enjoyed this because I was able to utilize the knowledge I learned in my IOE 202 class. Overall, I had a good work experience aside from the fact that we had quite a bit of downtime but I cant complain because the extra downtime allowed me to take days off and travel to places in Turkey like Kapadokya and Antalya.

Apart from work life during my last few weeks I was able to explore some new places around Istanbul. One Saturday I went on an ATV tour with 2 international students from Azerbaijan, shout out to Lala and Ashraf. The natural forest park was really close to the dorms we stayed in so it was a quick and easy day trip. We went for a 2 hour tour which only costed 100TL.

We each had our own ATV. Mine was the slowest so I guess I pulled the short straw.

View of Istanbul, seemed so small from up here.

At the end of our 2 hours our guide took us to climb a tree where we enjoyed fresh cherries straight off of the branch. The tree was nearly impossible to climb because it was wet and we were wearing rubber boots.

This was probably one of the funnest trips I had in Istanbul. It was a really good way to escape the busy paved roads of Istanbul. 

I also was able to explore more areas on the Asian side of Istanbul after work by taking the ferry across the Bosphorous. I found it a little more bearable than the 2 hour commute straight back from the office to our dorms. I visited places like Caddebostan, Bagdat St, and other places in and around Kadikoy. Kadikoy is one of the more populated areas of the asian side. One of my favorite places was near the water where you can get cheap balik ekmek (fish sandwich) for dinner and enjoy it next to the water as the sun sets.

This man was great at posing for pictures by the sunset.

I had a really great time in Istanbul and I will miss everything about it aside from the long commutes. But more than anything I will miss all the great people I met from all over the world and the stories we shared. On the 21st of June I had one last short tour around Istanbul before flying to South Korea. This marked the end of my first, and hopefully not my last, Istanbul story and the beginning of my South Korea story. Stay tuned for my Kapadokya and Antalya posts. I will do my best to write them soon before my Korean experiences begin to pile on. I can already tell you the posts will be a lot different in terms of content :)

Blue Mosque to Grand Bazaar to Galata Bridge

Ok, so I will be a little honest I am a little behind in blog posts so I will try to get two posted by this weekend. I traveled to Kapadokya this past weekend as it was a long holiday weekend dedicated to the youth of Turkey so I wasn't able to post about my visit to the SultanAhmet area yet. I will attempt to make this post short and sweet since this was only a day trip

I started my trip on the last day of my first weekend in Istanbul, Sunday May 11th. I was posed with the challenge of travelling from the Özyeğin University campus to SultanAhmet alone since Jennifer and Boming, the other two interns from UM had stayed in a nearby hostel the previous night. After taking a blue mini-bus and the newly added Marmaray Metro line that goes under the Bosphorus, I successfully completed the voyage and met up with them at the Blue Mosque.

When I first arrived there was a very light sprinkle, nonetheless everything was still pretty damp. The mosque looks majestic even in the gloomy weather

Disregard the silly face I made in this picture. Here is a pic of me standing in front of the mosque in case you don't believe I was actually there...

Up close and personal, the place was infested with tourists

Beautiful designs from the inside of the prayer hall. I will be honest, like many other mosques the musallah (prayer hall) had the pungent odor of feet. I took some time to pray as well to get in on the full experience.

This the Hagia Sophia from the outside. We did not go inside. I am saving the trip for another day and hopefully I will be able to share the experience with you soon.

Just a curious kitty in the street on our way to the Grand Bazaar

The entrance to the Kapalıçarşı AKA the Grand Bazaar. It was only about a 10-15 minute walk from the Blue Mosque

This is what it looks like when you first walk in. The sounds of bartering echo through the intricately decorated halls. A large part of the bazaar is jewelry, jewelry that a college student like myself does not need and cannot afford.

We walked into this ceramics store that displayed colorful, meticulously painted dishware. I would think these are just to be bought for decorative purposes.

For some reason all of the suit shops had window displays of mannequin children with facial hair that seemed to be Sharpie'd on. This was just a tad creepy.

My curiosity for exploring random back alleys led me to this shabby one that seemed almost like a ghost town. I think it was just shut down because it was time for prayer. We found it on our way to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar.

This is what it looks like when you first walk into the Egyptian Bazaar. If only you could somehow attach the smell to the picture.

A colorful selection of teas and spices

When we exited from the bazaar we ran into what seemed to be an international festival celebrating the cultures of many different countries. Kazakhstan happened to be taking pictures with people and they even let me wear their hat.

We were getting tired and hungry so we began to head back towards Taksim. In order to do that we had to cross the Galata Bridge. In fact we also had our dinner on the lower level of the bridge.

These are the fishermen of Istanbul hard at work catching fish. They catch the fish and sell them to local restaurants, making the fresh fish cheaper than many other places. 

We decided to have dinner in one of the many seafood restaurants on the lower level of the bridge. The owner gave us a pretty good discount for being students so we were immediately lured in. I ordered the fried anchovies. 

I was half way into my meal when I remembered I should take a picture to show all of you. I apologize for showing you a half-eaten meal.

The view of the golden horn from the restaurant we ate at. It was a very gloomy day.

You can see the Blue Mosque from basically anywhere.

After our day I met up with some exchange students from the university that we stay at to spend some time in Taksim. I was able to finally explore some of the more touristic areas of Istanbul. It is safe to say that you can basically find everything in Istanbul.

This marks the end of this post. I hope you enjoyed it. My next post will include the experiences I had in Kapadokya which may take a while to document so bear with me. Until next time. 

Early Stages of Integration (Taksim Square)

Firstly, I would just like to say that I finally figured out how to change the language on the computer so that the keyboard types like an English style keyboard. Unfortunately the keys still are labeled for Turkish. Now I do not have to struggle with spelling as much (no guarantee). Also I finally got my pre loaded lunch card:

even though I am not getting paid to work, it is nice to have my lunch paid for.

This past week/weekend was full of fun and adventure. I think I am starting to get a hang of transportation in Turkey and an overall better understanding of the Istanbul lifestyle. I began to realize that Istanbul is a commuter city, not in the way that people commute to Istanbul from other cities but in the way that Istanbul is such a large city that people live in all different neighborhoods based on their wants/needs and commute to the city center when they need to. I began to integrate myself and slowly caught on to being an intermediate commuter. To my knowledge I have taken all forms of transportation available in Istanbul:  Taxi, Dolmus, MiniBus, OtoBus, MetroBus, Ferry, Metro, and Tram. I could not have become so familiar with travelling around Istanbul without the help of the metro map I downloaded to my phone (below) along with the offline travel guide, Istanbul - Triposo app.

Now, on to the good stuff!

Times in Taksim Square

I used the name Taksim Square in the title just because that is the most common name for this area but actually the the liveliest road in this area where we spent most of our time in the evenings is the street known as Istiklal Caddesi. Check out the following video for what I am talking about:

btw there are no cars allowed on this street except for police

 I have visited this area a couple of times thus far and there are still places yet to be explored. To start:

This is the Galata Tower from which one can see the wondrous bosphorous strait and surrounding areas of Istanbul. I plan to return to this tower for some good sightseeing eventually, hopefully during sunset.

One of the historic churches. It's easy to find historic religious places around here because of the significance of Istanbul's location during historic times.

In America you find candy shoppes making fudge or caramel in the window, here they make Turkish delight in the window! (sorry this picture doesn't really show it)

beautiful sunset near the end of Istiklal street

followed by a colorful array of fruits!

I have had a few meals in Taksim so far:

 First time having a whole-bone-in Fish (freshly caught Sea Bream).

You can order McDonald's delivery and you don't even have to tip! Also their menu is a lot smaller than in America but they do have a bigger version of the Big Mac, they call it the Mega Mac. You also do not get free soda refills

Midye Dolma (aka Rice Stuffed Mussels) These were really plentiful on Istiklal Street and you can buy them for really cheap.

The ceiling of this movie theatre was all mirrors! I was intrigued by this so I took a picture while I was waiting for a friend.

These toilets are not as common as people tell you they are in Istanbul but I finally found a squatting toilet in the seafood restaurant. I didn't have to use it though.

This is an interesting idea, a pay cellphone charging station on the streets of Taksim.

Somehow we were able to make it home using these directions we got from a stranger. Good thing the locals were very friendly when we got lost.

I was going to post about my activities on the Southern side of the Golden Horn but this post turned out longer than I expected and I do not want to bore you so I will save those experiences for my next post. I hope you enjoyed reading this post for now and expect to see another post soon. Nabeel. Out.

Unoriginal Title: Day 1-3

I just got home from a long first day on the job! This is going to be my first 'real' post aside from my welcome post. I'll walk you through day by day. Please bear my spelling errors as I am typing on a Turkish keyboard with the letters ç ş ğ ü ö İ scattered all over.

Day 1: Hoş Geldiniz (Welcome)

Into the clouds, I embarked on my first international flight in over 10 years.

 picture of the beautiful blue skies with fluffy white marshmallowy clouds.

I took off on my first flight at 630 am from DTW and after a layover in Boston and a layover in New York I arrived promptly  in Istanbul around 11am. I did not make it out of the airport until 1230 though because of the hour long line I had to wait in to get passed the passport check-point.

The other two interns from UM and I were picked up from the airport by a senior studying at the host unıversıty. It was an hour long car ride to the the Özyeğin Üniversitesi where we would be staying.

This dorm ıs very modern and sleek (similar to other parts of the university) since it was built only six months ago.

It wasn`t after a few days that we figured out there were some faults to the seemingly perfect dorm suite. One of which was the light switch for my room and Boming`s (the other UM intern). It turned out that I could not turn on my lıght unless hıs was switched on and when he swıtched hıs off mıne would turn off.

This may seem lıke a normal toilet but that little metallıc nub ın the bowl of the toilet actually shoots a stream of water at your butt and you can control how strong of a stream you want. Its a good way to save TP

We took some time exploring the campus:

Everything was very brıght and colorful (renkli ın Turkçe) and the vıbe on the campus seemed very relaxed

Kiwis were really cheap at the campus supermarket 1.49 Lıra whıch ıs about 75 cents for THREE kıwıs

I guess thıs ıs the Turkısh versıon of Oreos. I still have yet to try them

Thıs ıs the business administration buiding. The layout (see study rooms wıth yellow lınes) seemed oddly similar to UM`s Bschool, Ross.

You can,t tell from the picture but the computers ın the lıbrary were touch screen!

The student center had an area for random student performances right smack dab in the mıddle

Even though the mornings were rainy, they were followed with brıght blue skıes and sunshine! That,s our dorm ın the dıstance.

Day 2: Leaving campus for Altunizade

On day 2 we decided to leave the very secluded campus and fınd out what else there ıs on the Asıan sıde of Istanbul. The university provıdes a shuttle service to and from dıfferent places around ıstanbul for a small fee of 2.25 Lıra per rıde. We took the shuttle straıght to Altunızade where we were told was a mall called Capitol. It was huge but very similar to american malls.

The mall had 5 storıes

The terrain ın ıstanbul ıs very hılly. We crossed a brıdge to cross the street because the traffıc was too hectıc

One of the best dınners I had so far - baked patatoe wıth some sauce and chıcken, rıce and beans and some delıcıous custard puddıng. Thıs meal only costed 10 lıra or fıve dollars wıth the Öğrenci (studen) dıscount.

It took us some tıme to fınd our way home back to campus because there were no markers for where the shuttle stops so we spent an hour waıtıng at the part of the street where we thought the shuttle would come but never dıd. We were eventually able to communıcate wıth the locals and fınd the departure locatıon of the shuttles back to campus.

Day 3: First Day of Work

I am working with one other intern, Boming (an Econ major also from UM) in the office. we share a collaboration pod with our two mentors in our own separate room on the floor of the call center. We are working at Girişim Asset Management, a firm that buys loan portfolios from banks and helps people get out of debt. The offıce is almost a 2 hour commute by shuttle, whıch ıs provided by the company, making our days at the office seem lıke forever.

Keyboards are ın Turkısh. Stıll learnıng how to use it to type wıth normal English letters. Notıce the extra Ş(sh) Ğ(silent) ÜÖ(stronger U/O sound) Ç(ch) letters.

The new offıce ıs stıll being constructed (only 5 of the 13 floors are fınıshed) and the area around ıt ıs also currently beıng developed. Thıs sı the vıew outsıde our wındow. It may look a lıttle beat down on the outsıde but the offıce buıldıng ıs very modern and secure, sımılar to those ın Chi-town.

I LOVE HAVING TURKISH TEA DELIVERED TWICE A DAY. The same tea lady comes twice a day to delıver tea to offıce workers and she remembers how you like it too. Just make sure to say Teşekular. 

Street dogs and cats are plentiful here and they are very friendly unfortunately some of them do not have a constant source of food and are unhealthy.

So those were my days 1-3. I hope you enjoyed my fırst real post. It was hard to get thıs one out the door especıally wıth how lıttle free tıme I have wıth work and all so please bear wıth me as I get these posts posted. Stay tuned for a hopefully more ınterestıng post on my travels to Taksım Square and surroundıng areas. Güle Güle!