Oh! The Places You'll Go!: March 2012

So in like every study abroad program we actually have to attend school.... who would have thought? I attend Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi (pronounced Bah-che-shir) in the neighborhood of Beşiktaş. The school is only 12 years old and is geared towards international careers. Because the school is so young not all of the classes have transferred to completely english speaking, so in a few of my classes students and teachers converse in Turkish but the lectures are mostly conducted in English. I feel really lucky to be at this university because it is very much geared to political science and international relations which is basically what I am studying at UVM.

My coarse list is as fallows:

Social Movements - A senior level class that talk specifically about movements that are geared towards change in some the current system. For this class we will have a midterm and final and we also will have to participate in a movement in Istanbul and report to the class what we experienced. This class really excites me because it teaches us how to interact in movements that can actually make a difference.

Politics of Oil and Energy - This class is also a 4th year class. The professor is a very intelligent man who know so much about how oil and energy issues create problems in international political affairs. We talk a lot about the history of these issues and what the future holds for countries and their energy consumption. This was one of the classes that I came to Istanbul for. Where better to learn about these issues? Certainly not in the USA.

Contemporary Issues in Turkey - This is a class that we have to take through Syracuse. Our signature seminar introduced us to the ancient history of this area and now this class will take us from WWI and Autaturk all the way to present day issues in Turkey.

Politics of Gender - This is a new class at the university so there is not too much to expect from the class yet. Right now we are spending a lot of class time discussing gender and sexuality. Eventually we will move into looking at cases in Turkey as well as the rest of the world and specifically the middle eastern

area.

Conflict Management - This class as well as Politics of Oil and Energy were what really drew me to this program. My professor is American but basically she was born in the USA and lived all over the world. She grew up in Japan went to college in the States and has lived in Turkey for the last 10 years. She is asked to attend many different conferences as well as be a part of think tanks. There is nothing like this class offered at UVM so I am very excited to see where this course takes us!

Other interesting facts about the University is that one of Istanbul's largest courts is literally right next to our school. Some of Turkeys biggest most serious cases are tried here, creating a large amount of protestors on campus and many police forces on campus as well... Right now there is a trial going on that has to do to with threats of a Coup by a Kurdish group. Some of these cases and especially this one is very serious and there are lots of protestors and emotional people around campus which is very fascinating but one must be careful. Since we have been here that have been a handful of Kurdish protests in the neighborhood I live in as well as other big neighborhoods in Istanbul.

Another perk of the school is that it is located right on the Bosphorous and from the top balcony of school you can see a lot of the city and the Asian side! Its beautiful!