Turkey: Like Nowhere Else Past Review
By Jenna D (International Studies, Wichita State University) for
Bogazici University: Istanbul - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
You learn things in another country that you acn't learn at home, how other people live and gain extra street smarts.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The teachers are incredible, very knowledgable, and always ready to help. HIST 412 and TRM 106 were not demanding at all and they were ver intellectually stimulating. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
ADministration at Bogazici is terrible. Sermin, the Residence Director, is great, but outside of her it was a total mess. If it wasn't for Sermin and Dani Averill we would have literally gotten nothing done and would have been registered and/or in all the wrong classes. Also, AIFS and Bogazici rant and rave about all the English they speak and their great English speaking skills, this was NOT the case. Besides teachers and ver few students, NO ONE spoke English and orientation was an absolute joke. It gave us no useful information whatsoever and all the building codes were in Turkish. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The building wasn't even finished, staff would literally barge in our room without any notice or knocking, they ripped up our shower 3 times when it was perfectly fine, the building fried peoples electronics even with a converter, our floor flooded, the power went out, the ACs didn't work, and the laundry machines were all in Turkish and people would move your laundry without telling you. Besides all that, the flooring, size of the rooms, and bathrooms were very, very nice. |
| * Food: |
School cafes have very little, but do have some good sandwiches but I would stick to outside cafes, they aren't much mero expensive. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Turkey is my favorite country and I've been to 7 other countries. There is rarely a time where there isn't anything to do! There city and scenery is like nothing in the world. It is an incredible adventure. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Around the school there was no question of ever not being safe. I took a train from Ankara to Istanbul and there were some bad people that caused a big problem but they were taken care of. Istanbul is safe if you are smart. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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Language
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Anatolian Civilizations |
| Course Department: | TRM 106 |
| Instructor: | Banu Yilmaz |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Amazing! I learned so much about so many civilizations and the origins of any things in daily life that we take for granted, highly reccomneded! |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
History of War and Revolution from 1900-1945 |
| Course Department: | HIST 412 |
| Instructor: | Selim Deringil |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Great course very eye opening and interesting! However, the syllabus said it would cover the 1905, 1915, and 1917 revolutions of Russia and he ended up ignoring the 1915 revolution and gave us a final over WWII, that was not satisfactory. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
