Koc University

Koc (pronounced Coach) University is a private, non-profit university founded in 1993. The university is supported by the financial resources of the Vehbi Koc Foundation, set up by Vehbi Koc, a leading Turkish businessman. The Koc family is a very well known and wealthy Turkish family that own a holding company with several Koc named businesses in Turkey from insurance to the university. Attending Koc is pretty much like going to any college campus in the U.S. Its students come from very wealthy Turkish families and they are very westernized and super trendy. I cannot believe all the nice cars that the students drive into campus. Koc’s campus is practically brand new and very nice (by U.S. standards). I work out at the gym which is very nice but doesn’t open until 9am!! That is so ridiculously late for me so I can’t work out in the morning before class. In Turkey though 9am is considered early (of course). Because this is a very nice private school, the security is very good. Everyone coming into the university campus has to pass through a security gate and show id. They sometimes question people although its in Turkish so I don’t know what they’re saying. I just say

“exchange student” in my American accent and they figure I’m ok to pass.

 Koc University is located at the very north of the European side of Istanbul. Its campus is located up on a big hill in the area of Sariyer. It is about a 10min shuttle (dolmus – pronounced dolmush) down to my apartment from campus and about a 10min dolmus ride to downtown Sariyer from my apartment. Riding the dolmus costs about $1 every time I ride. Downtown Sariyer is a small town where fairly conservative Turkish people live. It is not touristy at all and hardly anyone speaks English. I go to downtown Sariyer whenever I want to get away from campus and my apartment. I go there to go grocery shopping and to drink tea (caye –pronounced chai) and walk along the Bosphorus. Its very beautiful and Turkish people love to sit and have caye and stare out at the Bosphorus.

 There are about 3,000 students at the university. There are not many graduate or PhD

 students, but I have met most of the Master’s students. They are all very nice and there are a few Americans doing their Master’s programs here for two years. Its so nice to talk to Americans and native English speakers. I have made very good friends with Marisa who is from New Jersey and here doing an MA in Anatolian Civilizations and Cultural Heritage (don’t ask). She’s been a great part of my support system here because 1)she’s American and understands the cultural differences 2)native English speaker 3)she’s already lived in Istanbul for 6mo during her undergrad through an exchange program 4)speaks a little Turkish! The MBA program here is very small. There are only about 30 people per class. There are only two other MBA exchange students here; both are male and one is from Germany (Conrad) and one from India (KG). They are great guys and are also part of my support system here because they have gone through a lot of the same things I have since I arrived here. They also cannot believe the backwards and inefficient manner in which everything is done here so we usually just sit around and laugh as we share out nightmare stories with each other.

 While Koc is certainly nice and very modern, I don’t like that its far away from downtown Istanbul. With traffic it takes about an hour to get to various places in the downtown area. I am getting better using public transportation everywhere I go except that the bus drivers never speak any English and I never know how much a bus ride costs. The bus fare depends on how far you go and so I just hand the bus driver 2YTL and he gives me some change. There are no bus schedules posted anywhere nor are there any signs that explain the fare. I’m not surprised. Like everything else about my life here, I have had to embrace riding public transportation as an uncertain adventure. The first two words I had to learn in Turkish in order to get off the bus were dur lutfen! (stop please!). The bus drivers are very crazy and aggressive!