I'm taking five classes this semester: Introduction to European Integration (a political science class about the EU), Epistemology (a philosophy class), Phonology (a linguistics class), Advanced Turkish Reading for Foreigners and Advanced Turkish Grammar for Foreigners. The non-Turkish language classes are in English (as are most classes at the University). While it was odd at first being the only native English speaker in the classes--it almost felt like they were doing it just for me--I've adjusted to it. While 95% of the discussion is in English, sometimes a Turkish student, for better clarification, will ask a question in Turkish, and the class will drift into Turkish for a minute or so before the Turkish continues again in English. Thankfully, I know enough Turkish that I can usually understand what the question is about, though not typically the content of the question or the answer. Also professors will sometimes say commands ("everyone come forward") or jokes in Turkish.
The classes are definitely easier than the ones in the States, but this seems to be more due to language than anything else. The students here are definitely intelligent, though, as shown by the questions asked in class. It just isn't feasible, however, to assign 100 pages of reading to a class full of non-native English speakers, so the readings are lighter, and usually a lot gets repeated in class. While perhaps the students are learning less (or perhaps learning less information more thoroughly), this is moot in my view because the university serves a slightly different goal than those in the US: it exists (at least on the undergraduate level) to prepare Turkish students to pursue graduate studies in the English speaking world, which happens to have the best universities in the world. And at that, it does a good job, much better than if, for four years, the students were instructed in Turkish.
While the English-language classes haven't been so hard, the Turkish classes are a very different situation. The Turkish grammar class has maybe 40 students, when everyone shows up, by far the most of any language class I've ever taken. In addition to being large, the students come from vastly different backgrounds. Some are like myself, learning Turkish as a second language and are taking the class as part of a natural progression in their studies. Others come from Turkish families who have migrated elsewhere and speak fluent Turkish but can't read or write. Still others come from Turkic Republics in Central Asian, where the language is arguably the same, or where the language is extremely similar (think the difference between French and Spanish) and second language instruction in Turkish is extremely common. There are also reportedly one or two Turks in the class, born and raised in Turkey, for reasons that no one quite knows. Anyways, because of this variation in level, putting together a coherent curriculum seems to be a bit difficult. Thus, what we've learned so far has been a little bit jumpy--for example, from the correct use of punctuation to passive suffixes. Unfortunately, as of now, I don't if I've learned too much in the class, but I guess it's always good to have to listen to Turkish for three hours a week.
The situation in my reading class is again a bit different. While the class make-up is the same--students from Europe and Central Asia and few unexplained Turks--everyone is at a much higher level than me. While I have found the readings extremely interesting (always a 5 to 10 page short story), I have trouble keeping up with the fast paced discussion and especially the teacher's habit of beginning a new story in class by speed reading it aloud. I should have probably taken the Intermediate Reading Class (actually probably a little bit below my level), but by the time I realized that, it was already too late to switch around the classes. The class is registered in my scheduel as "non-credit," which hopefully means it won't matter how poorly I do, and the professor seemed understanding of my lower level, but I might end up dropping the class anyway. We'll see.
I've found a good group of exchange student friends, from both America (mostly from schools in the Northeast), and Europe (mostly Dutch for some reason). I'm still working on making Turkish friends, though, partially due to my own laziness, partially due to the fact that most of the Turkish students already have friends, and partially due to how much I enjoy spending time with the other exchange students that I've met. Excuses, excuses, I know.
I'll try to keep the blog updated a bit more than I have and will try to post pictures from my trip this past weekend to Edirne,
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