Yesterday when I arrived on campus, I felt very overwhelmed, partially because of jet lag, partially because of the new scenery, but mostly from my own pressure to make the most of my experience here. It seemed like just getting to know the surrounding area, some of the wealthiest districts in Istanbul, was going to be enough of a project for one summer, leaving me completely removed from the rest of the city. But that feeling is subsiding, thankfully, and rationality is settling in. 

I knew there would be one other UChicago student at this program: a kid named Alex who I remembered as shaking his hips with the belly dancer at Kan Zaman during what was otherwise a girls night out my first year. While I was looking out for him at the dorm orientation session tonight, I heard, "Hi, how are you?" I turned and looked at the man sitting next to me. "Um, good, how are you? [awkward silence] Oh! Hi! How are you?" It was Mike, a Music grad student and former member of the Middle East Music Ensemble. "I had advanced notice; Duru told me you'd be here," he said. This is his second time doing the program, which is encouraging, because he liked it enough to come back. He assured me that once I got settled in here, I'd certainly have enough time to go do some, if not all, of the other things I had been planning, like interviewing Armenian musicians and taking a few kemençe lessons from Issa's friend. 

I'm also realizing that, like Hyde Park, which is certainly not representative of all of Chicago, the University area is still a community in its own right.  Just look at the party going on below my balcony:

On round table in the lower right corner sits a radio, which is currently playing Avril Levine's hit single, "Girlfriend."

Here's the main view from my balcony:

The tower in the background on the left is the minaret of the campus mosque.  As promised, it blasts the call to prayer five times a day.  The sound is quite soothing, even though the use of a megaphone makes it at first seem to come from a loud car radio on the street.