Hello all,
Things are just moving along here. The professor I will be doing research for arrived last week and I have been helping her with inputting grades since it is the end of the semester here. I will start research this week or something. I am also doing some work for the dean and for other staff. This week I will help out with admissions for the business graduate programs. So, since I am doing work for a few different people, I am definitely staying busy. I am enjoying the work that I am doing because I am learning a little bit about everything within higher education, which is providing me with a different perspective on the field overall. I am looking forward to my work this week to learn more about the admissions process and to start research.
Besides that, I am pretty comfortable with transportation and getting around, but I need to work on speaking the language. There are Turkish classes that start next week and I would like to go to them because it is hard for me to order food and say basic stuff, and I would like to be able to communicate better with others who do not speak any English. I also would like to make some friends but it is hard because I work alone in my own office and the students are done with school (plus my work does not involve them).
But, this past weekend, I went to Istanbul and met up with some UM friends that were studying abroad in Europe as well as some Turkish UM alum. We had a great time. Istanbul is a beautiful city with tons to do, but it takes a long time to get anywhere so we spent alot of the weekend just trying to get to where we wanted to go.
That's about it for now. Let me know if you have any questions.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Entry 2: Week 1 at Bilkent
Hello all,
I am finishing up my first week of work at the Bilkent University Business School (Işletme Fakultesi).The apartment I live at is about 30 minutes from Bilkent, however, it is approximately a 40 minute bus ride to and from the bus stop. The closest bus stop to my apartment is a 10 minute walk (up and down many hills at that, I am beginning to appreciate the flatness of Ann Arbor). I am still getting used to the public bus system (separate from the Bilkent bus system). I work from about 930 AM-530 PM. The people here are very friendly and most of the faculty, staff, and students speak English. So, as I said, I am here to do primarily research and general office work. The research professor is out of the country until next week, so this week I have been focusing on administrative work and my job tasks will alter next week when she returns. I was given my own office to work in, which is a plus, however, it is a floor below my superiors so I am a little isolated. One of my bosses said that it is okay for me to audit some of Bilkent's summer classes, which start in June, so I will probably take a Turkish class. Besides that, I am enjoying the food, the tea, and the people. Yesterday was a national holiday called World Youth Day so nobody had work or classes, so I had a nice day off. Ankara is a beautiful city, which I believe involves the fact that there are many hills meaning that there is usually a good view wherever you go. There are many shopping malls here, too. On one street, there are 2 complete malls right next to each other (and one or two more along the same road just in different places). Kinda funny. That's about it for now, I will write more next week. Please let me know if you have any questions.
I am finishing up my first week of work at the Bilkent University Business School (Işletme Fakultesi).The apartment I live at is about 30 minutes from Bilkent, however, it is approximately a 40 minute bus ride to and from the bus stop. The closest bus stop to my apartment is a 10 minute walk (up and down many hills at that, I am beginning to appreciate the flatness of Ann Arbor). I am still getting used to the public bus system (separate from the Bilkent bus system). I work from about 930 AM-530 PM. The people here are very friendly and most of the faculty, staff, and students speak English. So, as I said, I am here to do primarily research and general office work. The research professor is out of the country until next week, so this week I have been focusing on administrative work and my job tasks will alter next week when she returns. I was given my own office to work in, which is a plus, however, it is a floor below my superiors so I am a little isolated. One of my bosses said that it is okay for me to audit some of Bilkent's summer classes, which start in June, so I will probably take a Turkish class. Besides that, I am enjoying the food, the tea, and the people. Yesterday was a national holiday called World Youth Day so nobody had work or classes, so I had a nice day off. Ankara is a beautiful city, which I believe involves the fact that there are many hills meaning that there is usually a good view wherever you go. There are many shopping malls here, too. On one street, there are 2 complete malls right next to each other (and one or two more along the same road just in different places). Kinda funny. That's about it for now, I will write more next week. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Entry 1: Intro
Hi-My name is Sarah Casinelli. I am a psychology student and I just finished my junior year. I will be interning at Bilkent University Business School in Ankara, Turkey this summer. I will work in the business school office and I will also help do research in organizational behavior. I think this will be a good experience for me because I want to pursue a career in higher education. I am leaving in about a week and will start work on May 17th and work through July 16th. I will write again during my first week of work.
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