Arrival in Istanbul

I have safely arrived in Istanbul and I have been here for about a day and a half. The first half-day I was here was pretty tame. I was the only one out of my 4 roommates to arrive, so it was pretty quiet in our dorm room. The flights weren't as bad as I anticipated, however sleeping on my overnight flight was next to impossible. When I arrived to the airport in Istanbul I was required to do a passport check before I was allowed to go to baggage claim. When I got to the baggage claim for my flight, the sign said that delivery had ended for my flight. Trying not to panic, I calmly asked who I should talk to and was directed to the lost and found of the airport. I explained the situation to them. There was a bunch of turkish and walkie-talkie communication while I sat waiting to hear what was going on. Finally, they told me that the luggage had been put back on the plane and was no longer here. Therefore, I would have to wait for that plane to return before I could get my luggage. I gave them the address to the dorms and prayed for the best. Unfortunately, I had not done the one thing I told myself to do, pack a change of clothes in my carry on -_-. Luckily, I had thrown a shirt in my carry on at the last minute and had worn jeans during my travels so I wasn't too worried about what to wear for the following day, however I was still upset. Leaving the airport was pretty overwhelming. I was holding back tears in response to the luggage situation because I didn't want to look distraught to strangers. I went outside to pick a taxi and I carefully selected someone who I personally thought I could "take" in a fight. Growing up in Norman means that I am used to relatively tame drivers, Istanbul was a whole different driving world. Lane marking were treated more as suggestions than strict lanes, as my taxi driver wove in and out of traffic. I must have prayed 2 or 3 times during that car ride. The praying worked because I arrived to my dorm safely and filled out some paperwork. The dorm set up is pretty interesting and my room isn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially after adding decorations.

I skyped with my parents and little brother for my first hour or so in my dorm, which really helped calm me down and be happy to be here. It was nice to feel like they were there helping me move in. My next task was to find dinner because I was starving. The friend that I knew from OU planned to eat at home, so I was on my own since I didn't know anyone yet. I went down to the dorm market and checked out my options. My options were limited considering although my dorm has a kitchen, it doesn't have a microwave, stove or hot plate. Hot plates were for sale downstairs, but I didn't want to buy it quite yet. Unfortunately, most of the food needed to be cooked. Assuming that I would be going to bed relatively soon, I settled on some sour cream and onion Pringles and some crackers with Nutella, a dinner of champions, or a desperate student. I then put on the movie Eat Pray Love for some inspiration but passed out halfway through. Oddly enough I woke up at end of the movie most likely because my room was stuffy and hot. I tried to open my windows but was not successful. I decide to look through the exchange student facebook group for someone living here to ask if they were having the same problem. I found someone from Boston who said he was able to open them and he asked if I wanted to hang out. I was quite lonely and gladly took the opportunity to meet someone. We hung out and I felt much better about being here. He also came and opened my windows because apparently my upper body strength is severely lacking or I was just too tired to realize that it just needed a bit of a push. He also invited me to join him and two others to go to Taksim square to get phones as well as to just walk around. I gladly accepted and invited my friend from OU. I then went to sleep but didn't sleep that well due to the fact that I hadn't been able to go shopping for sheets and a pillow yet. I decided to to cover a pack of toilet paper with my shirt for the next day and some workout pants that I had also thrown in my carry-on last minute. Pretty inventive, if I do say so myself, but not all that comfy. Overall, the day didn't start off on the best note but definitely ended better! More on my first full day in Istanbul tomorrow! I'm beat, night!