So what exactly have I been doing?

Perhaps it is about time I give a project-related update, lest you all think I'm spending my days perfecting my borscht recipe and dreaming about libraries.

My first month here has been considerably busy considering how little I feel I've gotten accomplished. At least 14 hours a week are filled with language lessons - I study Russian 10 hours a week with a private tutor, and Crimean Tatar for 4. I'm also trying to keep up with my Turkish by reading and listening to online news. I've heard about a Turkish conversation club at a local university that I think I'll attend with two aims - to keep my Turkish fresh and meet some new people outside the study-abroad crowd.

My other main preoccupation this past month has been graduate applications. I'm applying to Anthropology PhD programs for the second year in a row, but feel much better about things this time around. I'm applying to Michigan, Chicago, NYU, Berkeley, Washington University, Yale, UCSD and Indiana. My backup plan is a FLAS-funded regional studies MA, but I'll worry about that after the PhD applications are out of the way. It is amazing how time consuming (adult molar-grinding stressful?) this process is.

My project is slowing starting up. I've found an advisor at Tavrida University, Professor Adile Emirova, who has been extremely helpful and encouraging. She has connected me with a few more individuals and given me a great deal of materials to read, which I've been slowly but surely crawling through. After the application season and the holidays, I will have much more time to devote to visiting schools.

Every once in awhile I pop out for no other reason than to explore. There is a beautiful park near my house that I like to jog in, and a walk into town following the river that is quite nice (picture above). I've discovered an nice Indian Restaurant that is quite affordable, and came across a lokanta (named Mega Fast Food - Halal) yesterday with ezogelin worth writing home about (which I suppose is what I'm doing now). The market is my most frequent trip, and I'm enjoying some of my favorite fruits while they're in season. My fruit lady is always pretty happy to see me as she knows I'll fill up my entire backpack with her delicious tomatoes, apples, pomegranates and mandarins. But not the precious persimmons - must carry those by hand as they're so ripe they're threatening to burst. Wish I had a picture to share but suppose it will have to wait.