Lviv, Ukraina

Hei! Päätin vaihtaa blogin kielen suomeksi, koska nykyään tulee itseasiassa kirjoitettua enemmän englanniksi kuin suomeksi joten tämä on hyvää vaihtelua :)

Vierailin helmikuussa 2013 Lvivissä, Ukrainassa. Vieläkään itselläni ei ole hajua, miten kaupungin nimi tulisi sanoa oikein, mutta en antanut sen haitata, kun lähdin tutustumaan siihen.

Aloitin matkani Istanbulista, jossa oleskelin tuolloin. Lensin Pegasus-yhtiöllä, joka on erittäin suositeltava halpalentoyhtiö. Matkustin yhdessä turkkilaisen ystäväni kanssa, joka sai kärsiä erikoisesta passistaan Lvivin lentokentällä. Passintarkastuksen jälkeen ongelmana oli rahanvaihto, mutta pitkän jonotuksen ja hämmennyksen jälkeen oli meillä vihdoin kädessä hryvnioita. Otimme kentältä paikallisbussin keskustaan. Huomasin bussimatkalla kuinka aina kirkon ohittaessamme kaikki matkustajat tekivät ristinmerkkejä. Järkytys oli myös lumen näkeminen. Istanbulissa oli ollut erittäin lämmintä lähtiessämme.

Majoituimme Old City Hostellissa, joka nimensä mukaan on vanhassa kaupungissa. Erittäin suositeltava mukava paikka. Henkilökunta oli erittäin avuliasta. Kävimme syömässä pizzat ja sen jälkeen menimme tutkimaan viinakaupan antimia. Loppuilta sujuikin hostellissa muiden matkaajien kanssa vodkaa maistellessa. Tässä vaiheessa täytyy todeta, että ainakin tässä osassa Ukrainaa ihmiset ovat uskomattoman ystävällisiä ja saimme erittäin hyvää palvelua joka paikassa!

Seuraavana päivänä tapasimme ukrainalaisen tuttavani Iurin, joka oli suostunut näyttämään meille nähtävyyksiä. Iuria parempaa opasta ei olisi ollut, sillä hän työskentelee kaupungin matkailuneuvonnassa. Ensiksi kävimme syömässä hyvin erikoisessa ravintolassa nimeltä Kryivka. Sisäänpäästäkseen tulee tietää salasana ja ottaa vodkashotti. Ravintolan teemana on toisen maailmansodan vastarintaliike. Tarjoilijat juoksevat välillä aseiden kanssa ympäriinsä ja ravintolassa on kaikkea sotasälää ja torni, josta voi tähyillä vihollista. Kryivkan jälkeen katsoimme nopeasti läpi sen yläkerrassa olleen toisen ravintolan. Tämän ravintolan teemana vapaamuurarit. Ravintolaan pääsee sisälle vain vanhan miehen pienen asunnon läpi ja ravintola on täynnä salaisia huoneita peilien takana. Hintataso ravintolassa oli kallimpii kuin Kryivkassa. Tosiaan unohdin mainita, että Ukraina on järkyttävän halpa maa. Keitto ja kanapiirakka maksoivat yhteensä 8 euroa Kryivkassa.

Seuraavaksi kiipesimme kaupungintalon torniin, josta oli upeat näkymät kaupungin yli. Erittäin suositeltavaa, vaikka rappusia riittää paljon. Sen jälkeen oli vuorossa kirkkokierros. Vaikka kirkot oli Neuvostoliiton aikana laitettu muuhun käyttöön, oli ne nyt korjattu hienosti ja suurin osa oli erittäin koristeltuja sisältä. Suosikkini oli kuitenkin yksinkertainen armenialainen kirkko. Kirkossa olleet maalaukset olivat hyvin erilaisia, mitä yleensä näkee, mistä pidin. Kirkkojen jälkeen menimme kävelemään kaupungin hautausmaalle, jossa lepää paljon kuuluisia puolalaisia (Lviv on ollut suurimman osan historiastaan osa Puolaa). Yllättävää oli, että hautausmaalle tuli maksaa pääsymaksu.

Välipalan jälkeen tapasimme taas Iurin, joka oli tässä välissä käynyt luennollaan. Hän esitteli meille kahvilan, joka muistutti kaivosta ja ravintolan, jonka jokaisessa kerroksessa oli eri teema. Yhden kerroksen teemana oli kääpiötarjoilijat - only in Ukraine. Kaupungista löytyy myös mm. Harry Potter -ravintola, en usko että sille löytyy Rowlingin hyväksyntää.

Valitettavasti päivän aikana oloni muuttui hiljalleen heikoksi, ja jouduin menemään aikaisemmin nukkumaan. Seuraavakin päivä kului pedissä omituisista oireista kärsiessäni. Vierailun viimeisenä aamuna oloni oli jo hieman parempi, joten jalkauduin ulos ihailemaan auringonpaistetta ja uutta puhdasta lunta, joka oli satanut kaupunkiin yön aikana. Kävin ostamassa junalipun seuraavan yön yöjunaan ja kohteenani oli Budapest Unkarissa. Loppupäivän vietimme kaverini kanssa hengaillen suosikkikahvilassamme ja kierrellen vielä suosikkikirkomme. Illallisen jälkeen oli aika sanoa hyvästit, mutta näkisimme toisemme kuitenkin hieman yli viikon päästä, joten mistää tunteellisista hyvästeistä ei ollut kyse. Hyvästit sanottua otin ratikan juna-asemalle, jossa kömmin makuuvaunuuni. Koska lippua ostaessa oli ollut kielimuuri, en ollut varma onko minulla istumapaikka vai makuupaikka. No se näytti olevan makuupaikka ja jaoin huoneeni mukavan ukrainalaisen miehen kanssa, joka oli matkalla kohti Portugalia. Ennen nukkumaanmenoa mies olisi halunnut jakaa kanssani itäeurooppalaiseen tapaan kaljapullonsa ja tarjota vodkahömpsyn, mutta lääkityksen takia jouduin kieltäytymään tarjouksesta. Sain junassa erittäin hyvät unet, ja passintarkastuksenkin taisin hoitaa täysin unisena. Aamulla heräsin unkarilaisiin maisemiin ja juna saapuikin nopeasti Budapestiin.

Exchange in Istanbul: It's over now

When I'm writing this I'm staying in the hostel in Budapest, Hungary. I left Turkey week ago and I miss back so much. So I decided to buy flight ticket back to there and next week I'll be again in Istanbul!

My exchange studying ended on 13th of January and after that I was just hanging around in the city, partying for the last times and seeing the sights I had missed earlier or visiting some again. I visited in Eyüp which is religious district by the Golden Horn with beautiful mosque and Pierre Loti hill next to it which has nice view over the Golden Horn. Mostly I was just enjoying my last days there with good friends.

My plan was to travel through Europe back to Finland but I changed my mind. I started my trip in Lviv, Ukraine and then from there I came here to Budapest. Tomorrow I will leave to Ljubljana, Slovenia and from there I have flight back to Istanbul. I was waiting for this trip but in Ukraine I had a personal crisis and now I feel very lonely and I don't feel like traveling at all. I was thinking going straight back to Finland but then I decided go back to Istanbul because I have some great friends there now and I miss the city and I was not ready to leave it or Turkey yet. I hope to do some small traveling there also as I will spend 2 weeks in the city. I will write about my experiences of Lviv, Budapest and Ljubljana later.

But about studying in Istanbul: do it! You won't regret it and trust me, you will miss metrobüs in the end ;)

Exchange in Istanbul: Update and visiting Izmir

I haven't wrote anything here for long time. November went by so fast with studying, doing mid-term exams and partying and December seems to do the same. Last night we celebrated Christmas together with exchange students and ended up being very drunk night. First time for me being drunk during Christmas as I don't like to do that in family environment. Nothing much has happened, I have now get used to the life of Istanbul. Last week there was however one really hard day. Snow came to this city and traffic was after total chaos. It took me 5 hours to get back home from university. If I see any snow again in this city I definitely lock myself inside or at least I'm not going to the university.
Next week starts our final exams which means my time in Istanbul is getting short. I will leave at the start of February back to Finland but the university already ends for me at 10th of January so I will have couple weeks free in Istanbul. Most likely my time goes to preparing going back to Finland but hopefully I got some time to visit some sights I haven't yet visited.

Since my last blog I haven't really been any special place in Istanbul. I visited in Istanbul Modern, the modern art museum which was ok but not the best art museum I've been in my life. View from the museum is however amazing! I walked around in Fatih district which is located west from Sultanahmet (the area containing Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace & Blue Mosque). It is really interesting part of Istanbul and it's also location of Chora Church which contains amazing frescoes and mosaics, the best ones in Istanbul. I also visited in the old fortress of Rumelihisari which is located in a very beautiful area of Istanbul. Otherwise I haven't really visited any remarkable places here anymore, just living the daily life and hanging out with friends has taken most of my time lately and I don't complain because I like to do that. It's funny to read my earlier blog post about the things I miss. Some of them don't bother me anymore and actually I don't really miss anything from Finland at the moment. At here I'm feeling really happy and I would like to extent my stay but unfortunately it's not possible...

 I made 3 day visit to Izmir which was nice breakaway from Istanbul's traffic chaos. I stayed with local geography student and he showed me around the city and I really enjoyed my stay there. I also visited in the ancient city of Ephesus which is located near Izmir, one-hour train ride away. Ephesus was nice experience as it was first time for me to visit in ancient Roman archaeological site. And Ephesus is really well-preserved. I'm surprised it's not World Heritage Site yet. It's was also really quiet during mid-December day, not much other tourists around. In Izmir my favourite place was the bazaar area Kemeralti. It's really huge and easy to get lost. I lived in this area called Bornova which was full of young people studying in the nearby Ege University. I would like to visit Izmir again in summer and see the city life full on then.

And like for many other exchange students around the world I went and found my soulmate in here. I'm dating seriously a local and because of that leaving from here soon feels really horrible. I'm trying not to think about it much and enjoy the time we have now together but still the future haunts in the back of my brains. But we will see now one day at the time what will happen.

So if I doubted anything when I was coming here all those doubts are now gone and I feel really happy that I came here and experienced this all. I love my life at the moment and I've never been happier. :)

Exchange in Istanbul: Trip around Turkey

Not much has happened since I last wrote. Studying is going on but this week we have holiday because of Kurban Bayramı or Eid al-Adha as it is known in other parts of Muslim world. I planned to travel this week but unfortunately I was too late for buying bus tickets, everything was sold out on the dates I planned to travel. So I'm staying this week in Istanbul and see the sights I haven't visited yet. During my time in here I have usually visited every weekend in some new places in the city. I visited in Basilica Cistern which is underground palace with water covering the floor. I don't really understand what is so special in it, I think it was quite boring place. Grand Bazaar is grand but very touristic, so is smaller Spice Bazaar also. Eating fish bread in Eminönü is however recommendable touristic activity, but buy the bread from the boats, not from Galata Bridge restaurants. In Ortaköy I went taste the best kumpirs in city. Kumpirs are baked potatos with all kinds of things in it, so delicious! Ortaköy's famous waffles however were expensive but worth of trying. Otherwise my weekends have been full of partying like it should be during Erasmus exchange, good places to go are places like Eski Beyrut and Araf, no entrance fee and quite cheap beer. 

 But now I will write about my trip around Turkey which I made before university started. 

So I started my trip with shuttle bus from Baghdad Street to Ümraniye bus station which is on the Asian side of Istanbul so most travellers don't use it. I used bus company called Kâmil Koç. In Ümraniye there is no traditional bus station but every company has their own station. When I arrived I was first quite confused how everything was working but soon I figured out that I should just wait patiently and everything will work out fine. And so happened, my bus came just in time and then I was on my way to Ankara. Buses are quite luxurious in Turkey, you get free drinks & snacks on the way and there is always tv (but signal is mostly bad). I arrived to Ankara in late afternoon. I took metro from bus station to centre and found my hostel easily, it was located very near of metro station. I didn't visit any interesting place because Ankara was just resting stop for me on my way to Cappadocia. I walked around centre, went to eat and tried to buy medicines in pharmacy and that was my experience for that evening of Ankara.

After nice breakfast in hostel I went back to bus station and took bus towards Göreme which is the touristic centre of Cappadocia region. Cappadocia is famour for it's rock formations called fairy chimneys and many of them host carved caves where people used to live or they were churched or other holy places. From Ankara I used bus company called Nevşehir Seyahat. On the way to Göreme we passed huge salt lake, it was really interesting sight and I wished we could have stopped there. The bus arrived to Nevşehir bus station where I changed to minibus for the last 20 minutes to Göreme (minibus was included in the price, ask your driver what is the right minibus because there are some cheaters on the station). The views were amazing when we got closer to Göreme. I didn't expect that the town was also full of these fairy chimneys. I walked to my hostel and I realised on the way that 90% of the people in this town were tourists, and of them 90% were Asians but surprisingly I didn't care about this (like in Ubud I think touristness ruined it). I stayed in a place called Nomad Cave Hotel. They had one dorm room for 12 people but on my first night there were only 3 people with me there so it was really peaceful. Hotel was really nice and I recommed it to everyone! I went to at a restaurant and that was all I did that day. Rest of the day I was hanging out at the hotel and talked with other travellers.

Next day it was time for sightseeing. But first I stopped at one tourist office to buy tour to Mount Nemrut. I had wanted to visit this mountain since child and when I heard about the tour I wanted to take it immediately. The tour was 3 days, 2 nights, including all tickets, transportation & food and costed 180 Euros which in my mind is very good price. The tour was going to start next morning. After buying it I walked to the Göreme Open-Air Museum. On the way I made couple extra walks to take pictures of the amazing landscape. Weather was really hot that day, and I think it was only day I used sunscreen. Göreme Open-Air Museum is an area full churches carved in the rocks. Some of them have lots of frescoes, some just few. The place is worth of visit but it was really packed with tourists when I visited there. You had to line in to almost every church and wait while the tour guides were explaining the frescoes, good thing in that was that I got all that information free! For one of the churches you have to pay extra fee and it is really worth it. It had the best frescoes and not many other tourist because of the extra fee. After touring around I walked back to Göreme and took minibus to Uçhisar, town next to Göreme. The drive was only 10 minutes and the distance is walkable but it's uphill so I wasn't really in to that. In Uçhisar I went to see the Uçhisar castle, which is the highest point in Cappadocia. Eventhough it is called castle, it is not man-made building but one of the rock formations which has been carved full of caves. The views from the top are amazing but climbing down the stairs afterwards can be quite exciting. I recommed visiting the castle.

When I came back to hostel our room got 4 new inhabitants. I decided to go eat first with one of them and then after that we all went for beer with group of consisting people from Finland, USA, England, South Africa, Australia & Slovenia. It was really nice evening with interesting persons.

Next morning it was time for the tour. After amazing breakfast that the hotel offered I got picked up by the tour company. We went to pick up all the others who were also joining and then we were on the way. Our group consisted of 6 persons: me, one guy from Hong Kong, one guy from Australia, 2 women from Taiwan and one woman from Iran. Our first stop was old caravanserai in small village of Karadayı. It had just been renovated so it looked really clean. Funny thing was that inside the old camel room it was still smelling like camels. There was old lovely lady guarding the place with couple children, they were quite excited to see foreign people. Then we had long drive ahead. We were driving in quite amazing landscapes through Taurus Mountains. Our guide said we can stop whenever we want to but it would have been all the time because the views were amazing all the time. We stopped for lunch in small place called Tekir which I heard is famous for fish food (and it's middle of mountains???). After some driving we arrived to city of Kahramanmaraş were we had famous ice cream called dövme dondurma and it was super delicious! We didnät had more time to see the city but it was located quite interestingly on hillside. After that we had still some hours of driving and then we arrived to our final destination of the day, the city of Kahta. We checked in to our hotel and then had dinner and after that it was time for sleep as we would have really early wake up next day. Before falling asleep I watched some Georgian Idol from tv; the hotel had quite interesting channel options.

 Wake up call was at 3am so I think I had nice 4 hours of sleep or less. Then it was time for ride up to Mount Nemrut. When we arrived to the car park we had still lot of time until the sunrise so we had some tea before walking up to the summit. Mount Nemrut is famous for it's artificial summit amd it is believed to be the grave of Antiocus I Theos of Commagene and some of his family members. There are 2 man-made terraces on the summit which are decorated with statues of king Antiocus himself and Greek gods. We first went to the eastern terrace and waited there for the sunrise. There were other tourists too, some part of group tours, some came with their own transportation. Sunrise created interesting light on the statues but unfortunately my camera is not professional enough to capture those kind of lights. After the sun had risen we visited the western terrace where the statues are in better conditition. After that it was time to walk back down. Driving down the mountain was also quite interesting experience. There was no fences between the road and the canyons and sometimes you had to go quite close to the edges. Or pass sheep and cows. We stopped to see ruins Arsameia and the Roman time Septimius Severus Bridge. When we arrived to hotel it was time breakfast, short resting and then drive towards the city of Şanlıurfa, which for short is known as Urfa.

Most of the driving went by sleeping. On the way we stopped to see Atatürk dam which built on Euphrates River. We also stopped at Göbeklitepe which is an archaelogical site, newly opened for visitors. Göbeklitepe is the location of the oldest religious buildings made by humans in whole world and they even could be the oldest any buildings made by humans. Research is still going and there were many archaelogists working at the site when visited there. It looks mostly just pile of stones but there are some very fine carvings. And the views from the hill are nice too. After walking around the site we drove the last kilometres to Urfa.

At Urfa we left our stuff at our hotel and then went for lunch. I ate eggplant which was filled with lamb meat, it was delicious! After lunch we started to walk around the city. Soon I realised that this city was quite different from Istanbul and Ankara. There were not other tourists to be seen and everybody was staring our group. I got last time this much looks in Indonesia. We visited the famous fish pools and mosques around them, they're located in a park which is full of locals, especially women with children. Then we walked through the bazaar, had some drinks in café, and then went to see the oldest mosque in the city. After that sun was already getting down and we went back to our hotel. From my hotel room I could see a wedding party in neighbouring building and unfortunately I also could hear it. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant and then it was time for bed for everybody eventhough we planned earlier to go walk around to see Friday night life in Urfa. But I needed sleep and it would be again tomorrow early wake up.

On the drove back to Göreme we only stopped to eat in Tekir again like on the way to Nemrut. We arrived to Göreme in the afternoon. I went to the same hostel I stayed before. When I went to have dinner I met one of the guys from our tour group and so went together to eat. My hostel room was full of Koreans who didn't have any respect for the people who were already sleeping. Next morning I woke up early, backed my things and went to wait for the bus to Ankara. While I was waiting I got to see the sky full of hot-air balloons, very interesting sight. In Göreme it's popular to go see sunrise from a balloon but I skipped it because it's expensive. Bus came and I was on my way to Ankara (with a change in Nevşehir again).

In Ankara I had the same bed in the same hostel as last time I was in the city. It was late afternoon when I arrived so there was no time for sightseeing anymore. I went to walk around to find pharmacy which was quite hard task on Sunday evening. All the pharmacies I saw were closed. I had dinner and then went to ask help from my hostel. They gave me directions to a pharmacy which was open and again it was nice to try explain what was wrong with and what I need. It helped a lot that I had written the key word up: ishal. Yep, my stomach finally had problem with Turkish food. Next day I went to visit in Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. I took metro to the nearest stop and I walked from there. All guide books say that it's hard walk but I found it very easy (and I'm in bad shape) and the neighbourhood you have to walk through has some old buildings which is nice sight in mainly modern Ankara. Museum was partly closed but there was still some nice things to see, I liked the special exhibition of Troyan jewellery. There was American tourists group same time with me and I followed them to get free tour. After I had enough of Hittite carvings I started to walk towards
Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of Turkish Republic. It is long walk and not easy to walk but at least you can see lot of the city during the walk. I for example passed the largest mosque in Ankara, Kocatepe Mosque. The mausoleum was very refreshing place after walking through the busy city. Large parks surrounds it and the park is surprisingly quiet. The mausoleum is huge complex and it includes of museum about Atatürk. I really recommend visiting it, the most interesting place in Ankara and the Roman architecture of the mausoleum attracted me. After walking around the complex I took metro back to the hostel where I just picked up my stuff and then it was time for bus station again. At the station I took a bus towards the town of Safranbolu.

I arrived to Safranbolu's bus station around midnight and one staff member from my hostel came to pick me up. So nice service from them! I stayed in Efe Guest House with bunch of Asian tourists, I was the only western tourist there. In the morning I went visit in house museum and then walked up to the hill fortress to see the views over the small town. That was it basically. There is not much to see in Safranbolu. After walkign around I had lunch and then I went back to hostel. I was little stressed out because I needed to do my course selection for the university at the same time so I spend rest of the day at the hostel doing that. The hostel owner made dinner and to my surprise the 2 Taiwanese woman from my Nemrut tour were also in the hostel having the dinner! Small world! Next day I took bus back to Istanbul and that was my really nice trip in Turkey!

Exchange in Istanbul: Things I miss

Ok, I haven't been even 2 months in Turkey yet but there is so many things already that I miss from my home country Finland. I will list some of them here. But don't get me wrong, I love to be in here and I would not change it to anything!

- Milk: this is on top of my mind now because today I bought again milk, and I always buy different labels but unfortunately they all taste wrong! All milk they sell here is kept in warm not in fridges so of course it's different in taste than the ones in Finnish fridges. So I think I will stick with ayran (yoghurt & salt water drink) because it is the closest taste of normal milk I have found.

- My apartment: I need privacy and that is only possible in your own apartment. My roommate is nice but I'm used to live alone :)

- Empty public transportation: in Helsinki there is maybe once a week a situation where I can't find free seat in bus or tram, here it is everytime I enter bus, tram or metro.

- Knives: they don't use knives in this country, wtf?!

- In Finland you don't have to ever hear that somebody is too busy serve you even when you have specifically reserved a time from that person to serve you. So no matter if you get early time for your residence permit appointment, they probably will tell you to come again in 2 weeks.

- Oven: there is no oven in our apartment, how can I cook????And also no microwave!

- Cheap tuna: canned tuna is expensive!

- Frozen pizzas: my basic food doesn't exist here, but we don't have oven so I couldn't warm then anywhere anyway...

- Kebab: yes, I'm in Turkey and I miss kebab because lamb meat is not my thing, sorry...

- Toaster: and we don't have toaster. I could of course buy these things but for only half year it's not really necessary

- Cheap & tasty university lunches: I will never ever complain about the taste of the food in Helsinki University's canteens

- University staff: You could think that everybody in university could speak in English but no. So good luck in copy center!

- Computer classes: There is no open computer classes in our university, or possibility to print by yourself

- Public transportation card: there is only one kind of monthly ticket in Istanbul and that is useless unless you travel like crazy

- Spotify: it doesn't work here! And YouTube is slow most of the time!

-  Recycling: doesn't exist here, everything goes in the same trash can and then to street where somebody collects them.'

Exchange in Istanbul: University starts

Almost 2 weeks since I last wrote and again many things has happened during that time. So my time in Fatih University started on on lovely Tuesday morning.  I was supposed to meet my friend Nora at Mecidiyeköy metro station and travel together to the university but somehow we missed each other and ended up traveling alone until we met in Avcılar. The trip to the university is quite experience for me. The traveling time is exactly 2 houra for me. I first take metro from Taksim to Mecidiyeköy and then metrobus from Mecidiyeköy to Avcılar where I change to other metrobus to TÜYAP. And from TÜYAP there is fre shuttle bus to the university. But we didn't know this shuttle bus possibility on first day so we took local bus from Avcılar to the university. That bus was the most crowded I've ever been in but we met some other exchange students in it who were also coming to Fatih. Thankfully the bus was getting less crowded during the trip and I even got a seat.

When we arrived to the university we had orientation presentation where told us all the important information for example about registrations. It was also nice finally to meet other exchange students. Otherwise nothing much happened during that day but me, Nora and other girl went to see if we could get student travel cards already but unfortunately the office was already closed. Next day we had tour at Istiklal Caddesi which was very short. Some of us went for tea and nargile and it was really nice time to get know each other. In the evening few of us went to watch football match together in a bar. It was very nice to see Turkish fans' reactions during the game but unfortunately the local team Galatasaray lost against Manchester United.

On Thursday we were supposed to have a tour in the newspaper called Today's Zamaan but it was cancelled so the day was free. But in the evening there was first official Erasmus party which I took part. I met first with my Finnish friend Arttu and with other exchange students Bence and Tomas and we went to have beers under the Galata Tower which is great spot for having beers if it's not closed by the police like it sometimes is. Me and Arttu's friend Inka had time between her flights in Istanbul and she joined us for the party. It was crazy night and thankfully the next day was free also.

On Saturday we had tour with all the exchange students around Sultanahmet area where is located all the famous landmarks of Istanbul: Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. We visited them quite quickly but I will go there some day again on my own because I have now card which allows students enter for free. In the evening I had party with Arttu, Bence, Bence's girlfriend who came for visit and 3 Korean exchange students.

So first week was quite party oriented but on the second week the courses started. Everybody was saying before I came to Turkey and also in here that the lessons are not going to in English and education in Fatih is horrible conservative. After first week I know this true on some courses but thankfully not in the ones I am. All my teachers are not from Turkey originally so they speak good English and not Turkish at all (except for my Turkish language teacher). I have courses from many different years and the ones which are meant to for second or third year students feel like high school classes in Finland. Teacher has to remind students to be quiet and sit still. I could maybe understand this if the students would be 18-year-olds but they are 20 or over. But I also have to say that Turkish students are really friendly and helpful and interested in exchange students. I have enjoyed a lot talking with them but unfortunately most of them are shy to use English eventhough they're studying in that language! I have one sociology class where to teaching is totally different. Every student speaks good English and the subjects of the course are on the level I'm expecting the university courses to be.

So I would rate Fatih University positively at the moment. Teachers and students are really nice and classes seem to be interesting. Some negative things are that staff of the university doesn't speak English at all which makes you rely on the help of the other students all the time when you're trying to take copies in copy center or buying food in the canteen. And I don't get pricing system in the canteen yet. And the traveling time to the university but that is my own choice basically. Funny thing about the university campus is that you can find everything from there. There is supermarket, book store, 2 hair saloons (one for men, one for women), post office, fast food restaurant and many cafés. Also there is really nice view from the university to the Lake Büyükçekmece because it is located in top of the hill.

After the first week we Erasmus students decided to relax together at Galata Tower but unfortunately police had closed it that night. We then found good spot in a park in Kabataş where you could see the Asian side in it's night lights and the Bosphorus Bridge with it's light show. It was again crazy night and while writing this I'm still recovering from it. It is interesting to see what the next months will bring with them, especially when the weather starts to get colder because it is still very warm and even hot if the sun is shining from clear sky.

Exchange in Istanbul: Princes' Islands & getting apartment

A lot has happened since I last time wrote this blog. I had little over week long trip around Turkey but I'm going to write about that later. I'm now back in Istanbul and university should start next week. I rented a room right next to Taksim Square which was not my original plan. But I will write more about that later in this blog.

Before I left for my trip to central and south Turkey I spent sunny Saturday with Can on Princes' Islands which are located right in front of Istanbul on Sea of Marmara. We took a boat from Bostancı towards the islands. We were supposed to go on Büyükada which is the biggest island but Can mixed the islands and we ended up first on the island of Heybeliada. We first checked how we can go to Büyükada and because there was some time until next boat leaves we walked around the village of Heybeliada. The village is small but full of beautiful wooden houses. Cars are not allowed on these islands so it's easy to walk around. Horse carriages cause sometimes troubles though. After the walk it was time to have a short boat trip to Büyükada.

At Büyükada we met Can's friend Yusuf whose family owns a house on the island. We had first quick snack which was kokoreç, bread with lamb intestines. Good thing was that I didn't know what I was eating but it was bad anyway. Spices were good though. We then rented bikes eventhough I was quite suspicious of that first because I have bad experiences with them. And the island is very hilly. And the first bike I got broke down soon after I jumped on it. Next bike also had some problems but we fixed them and then it was time for bike trip. Route was surprisingly easy because it was mostly downhill on the way where we were going. The roads were lined with very beautiful villas but it was hard to marvel at them when you had to look that you don't hit tourist or horse or chickens. At one point villas ended and we cycled through pine forest. Soon we were at the middle point of our trip, a bicycle park at the bottom of the tallest hill on the island. We left our bikes there and then started to walk towards the top of the hill. The hill is very steep and the walk took at least 30 minutes. Thankfully there is one point where you can fill your water bottles by the path. Towards the top wind was also blowing harder which gave some relief. Finally at the top we visited the small monastery of St. George, established by Greek Orthodoxs. Then we had dinner at the restaurant which was located next to the monastery and had nice views towards Istanbul's eastern districts or on the other side towards Sea of Marmara. After dinner we walked down the hill and then cycled back to the village of Büyükada where we started the bike trip. Sun was setting down when we entered the boat and it was dark already when we arrived to Bostancı.

Next day I planned my trip to Anatolian Turkey and went to buy bus ticket and new smallet bag for the trip. I found very good one for very cheap! And then on Monday it was time for trip but more about that on other blog post.

When I returned from my trip I picked up my luggage from Can's home and then I moved to Chillout Hostel in the centre of the city at İstiklal Caddesi and in the hostel I met my Finnish friend Arttu who is also coming to study at Fatih University. Together we decided that it's not probably good idea to go living in university dormitories so we started quickly to find rooms for us. After sending some emails we went to see some apartments. All of them were very nice but unfortunately from the more expensive side of the price range. I however decided to take one room right next to Taksim Square. It is quite expensive on Turkish prices but affordable. And the location is amazing, near all the important places, except Fatih University :D Arttu decided to try university dormitories for some time and I went with him to see the dormitories. As soon as we arrived there I was sure I had made right decision to stay in the centre of the city. The neighbourhood where the dormitories were located was quite unfriendly looking and it was still 30 minutes from the university. After saying goodbye to Arttu and to other exchange student from Hungary which I met at the dormitories I took some very slow bus back to Taksim. After arriving back to centre I went to hostel, took my stuff and moved to my new room and now I have happily lived here for one day :) As I have lived alone in Helsinki it takes me for some time to get used to have a room mate but Ehad, my room mate, seems to be very relaxed and friendly person.