It was my first day going to class, although classes don’t officially begin for the rest of the university till next week. Our professor, Dr Baker, wanted us to start school on Monday. We would be split into groups where we would present on what International Professional Behavior entails. Each Texas student would be paired with 5 Turkish students.
I got put in a group with some really cool cats. Gunayt, Burkay, Erhan, and Digele. We got some chay (tea) and after we put our presentation together they taught me how to play Backgammon; it is a really popular game in Turkey. It is also a really fun game. During this game I notice a few funny Turkish mannerism such as how to say no- all it takes is a raise of the head and a click of the mouth.
All the students can understand English since all their classes are taught in it. However, not many of them get much practice and sometimes struggle communicating or understanding the pace at which we talk. There is usually a small amount of fill time during conversations but I believe that after we leave their English speaking skills will be amazing and I will be able to converse in Turkish.