Hick in the District

Its 101 outside right now, at 7:30 in the evening. It’s currently 64 in Ankara, today’s high was 88. Here’s a picture of what Ankara looks like in winter.



I've never lived where it snows. If it drops below 40 at night I think the government should send money. I guess I can put on another sweater.

Yesterday about midnight (10 am Turkey time) a fax came through that read as follows:

I am pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Master’s in International Affairs and Public Policy programme at the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences on the basis of the evaluation made by the Institute of Economics and Social sciences and the Department of International Relations.

Looking forward to seeing you in Bilkent in 2005-2006 academic year fall semester.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ A. L. Karaosmanoglu
Prof. Dr. Ali L. Karaosmanoglu
Chair

I got that after I asked them to fax the acceptance letter they're sending me via DHL. That letter was the last thing I needed to apply for a student visa, and wouldn’t have been here for a week (maybe?) but for the fax.

When I called the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles to double check that I had everything I needed for the visa, I also asked the guy how long it would take to process the application. To my surprise he said less than two weeks. So then I told him my sob story about how I need to be there before the 8^th and what not, so he told me he’d try to get it taken care of in time for my scheduled arrival. I about did a back flip putting 06 September 2005 as my scheduled arrival on the application. Just to make sure they could start work on it ASAP, I faxed them everything the visa application asks for with a nice cover letter begging them to process the visa in like two days instead of two months. Then I hoofed it over to the post office and dumped everything in an express mail envelope (including my precious passport), replete with a stamped express mail envelope addressed back to me.

According to the service clerk, express mail between Atwater and LA takes two days. Another reason to hate SoCal and small cities.

Next step: tons of debt.

Dear Michael,

I am sending you an official acceptance letter with DHL on 26 August.
Even if your visa process takes longer than September 6 which is the
official registration date you will be able to go through late
registration until September 23.

Sincerely,

Muge Keller
Dept. Secretary

uh...now what? More waiting I guess. I can't get the visa until the acceptance letter comes in, and just about everywhere I've researched say student visas take about EIGHT WEEKS. Maybe the Turkish Consulate here will be a tad faster. But still, the best I can hope for is two weeks.

Assuming DHL takes 4 business days to get me the acceptance letter I won't be able to mail my application for a student visa until Friday of next week. Assuming that makes it into the Turkish Consulate by Monday the 5th and assuming they take just two weeks to mail it back, I should get it on the 19th or 20th. Assuming I can fly out on the 21st, I'll be in Ankara late the 22nd. Assuming I don't have to register in person, I should be fine (except for missing the first 2 weeks of class). And all this assumes I'll get a student loan I can live with.

That's too many assumptions for me to get too excited just yet. If I actually board a plane I'll do a happy dance. Then pop three unisom pills and pass out til Munich.

Dear Mr. Michael Davis,

Many thanks for your application to the MIAPP program. However, to be able to evaluate your application, we urgently need your GRE scores (copy of the official document) and two reference letters. We would be pleased if you could fax them to us as soon as possible.

Muge Keller
Dept. Secretary

My parents are antsier than I am, which is saying something. I told my dad this evening that I would call the good people at Bilkent and find out what is going on. I called and got a voicemail, so I left a message basically asking what I have in several e-mails: please let me know as soon as possible, I have to get a student visa and that takes a minimum of two weeks.

That deadline is coming up soon. The website talks about a mandatory orientation for all new students that starts on the morning of the 8^th of September. Since it takes 19 hours to fly to Ankara, I would have to leave SFO sometime on the 6^th to arrive on the 7^th. Two weeks prior to the 6^th of September is today, the 23^rd of August.

For this to work as I understand things now, they would have to let me know within the next three hours that I am admitted, I would have to get them to fax me something to that effect, I would then have to call the Turkish Consulate and beg them to fast track my application and maybe even drive my passport and application down to the consulate in LA myself to save the day FedEx overnight would cost. Maybe if I make the Education Attaché brownies they’ll take less time. Too bad I can’t fax brownies to Turkey.

Extra points if you know where that dialogue in the title came from.

My passport came today. Those things are way cool with the three or four layers of holograms. And the jacket's texture? Heavenly.

Still no word from Bilkent...

The question this time was "Should TSA lift the ban on carrying razor blades on flights?"

I sent in:


It wasn't the first e-mail they read, but I got Cafferty to chuckle.

CNN’s “The Situation Room” has a segment every hour where Jack Cafferty asks a question and viewers e-mail in their response. In the 2-3 pm hour the question was “Would (some teacher in Tennessee who had sex with one of her 13 year old PE students) have gotten off as easy (she plead no contest to 28 counts, got 9 months instead of multiple decades) if she were a man?”

I sent this in:

"If it were a male teacher he'd have been lynched before he got to the court house. She got off easy because she's easy on the eyes.

Mike
Atwater, CA”

It was the first e-mail they read.

"Waiting, waiting. I never get out of Casablanca. I die in Casablanca."

~Casablanca

Dear Mr. Davis,
All MIAPP applications will be evaluated and processed after 15 August. Results will be mailed to you immediately. The director of the program, Prof. Ali Karaosmanoglu is not here until then and I am not able to answer your questions. You can contact him at: -------@bilkent.edu.tr.
Sincerely yours,
Asst. Prof. Gülgün Tuna
Asst. Chair

Good thing I submitted my passport application today.

Tuition	11,600
residency permit	800
food	4050
housing	2150
camera	400
europe summer tour	3200
books	800
clothes	400
misc	2000
plane ticket there	1000
health insurance	150

There better be a MasterCard commercial coming out of this.