These are still the early days. Things seem to go smoothly. Last night I stayed in the apartment I will live for 6 months. Still waiting for a formal approval from the leasing office. I pay a lot but it is close to the campus, brand new. I felt good.
There are attacks of loneliness. Moments of happiness. But mostly I am still not sure how I should feel. After settling down, I will probably have the same patterns in a day I had in Istanbul- except lively game sessions with my gang- but there is still one thing for sure: A peace of mind. No broader political anxiety directly affects your psyche. And there is still a major expectation: engaging mind-opening academic discussions with the super-qualified academics here.
Got a parking ticket! Now I learn that even the staff has to pay for parking on the campus. I hope our Bilgi administrators do not hear this, then we will have to pay back in Istanbul, too. I appealed and I was forgiven as it was the very first time:)
After check-in with the international office, it takes around a day to have UCI email and wifi facilities. I have been using Vodafone Red roaming tariff but it is time to move on and I started with a T-Mobile plan.
As of now, I have one major thing to do before I am good to go: Buying a car. Irvine is a rich miniaturized version of Houston. You can not survive much without a car. In fact, if I only go between home and campus, then Uber or Lyft can fix my transportation problem- which will be the case for the next few days.
A former student of mine, Kaan and his girlfriend, İrem were very helpful in this process, and they will help me buy a car, too. Another student of mine, Tugay, who lives in LA took me to a Korean BBQ place and as a meat-lover, it made my day. Anyways, back to some initial work.
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