FOREWORD
This brief guide is intended to facilitate the orientation of foreign faculty to Bogazici University. It list a variety of visitors, providing them with a had start on certain practical matters.

LANGUAGE
The language of instruction at Bogazici University is English. The predominant language of the personnel administration, support staff, the bulletin boards, the services available on the campus, and most of the casual conversation is Turkish.Any student is a potential translator for you, as are faculty colleagues and departmental teaching assistants. And students are often gracious and particulary helpful in that role.

KINDS OF IDENTIFICATION AND THE CAMPUS
Virtually all kinds of identification require a photograph, and for some forms of identification additional photos are needed for filing.Bringing extra passport photos is helpful. Otherwise, photos can be procured in Etiler (per the following section):

Library card. Issued at the library.

University Identification Card. Processed in the xerox room in the basement of the Men's Dormitory.

Residence Permit. The university can assist in procuring it. Foreigners who enter with work visas are required to obtain residence permits. The office which handles these matters is in downtown Istanbul, and the vast majority of foreign residents in the city hire someone to do that process for them. The dearth of signs and instructions makes it a difficult place for anyone not already familiar with the process. Accordingly, allowing the university to help you obtain your residence permit is sensible. It requires a number of photos, filling some forms, and payment of a fee. Foreign faculty often tip the person who takes care of this process. Your department or the International Office can inform you of the necessary timing of these matters and how to begin the process.

COMMUNITIES AROUND THE CAMPUS
Istanbul consist of a multitude of major districts. Bogazici University adjoins four of these: Bebek, Rumeli Hisari, Rumeli Hisarustu and Etiler. Additionaly, Levent is a central district that is close to the university. These districts have distinct kinds of services and personalites:

Rumeli Hisarustu: Located across from the Etiler or North Gate of the campus, this town is particularly useful. It has the bread bakery closest to campus. On Saturday afternoons it has an open market from which vegetables and fruit of good quality may be purchased inexpensively. The Saturday market is also a source for some cooking utensils, laundry supplies, hardware goods, and the like. Rumeli Hisarustu has restaurants, a vegetable and fruit stand, some grocery stores, a pastry shop, pharmacies and a bevy of copy shops. It is also one of the more convenient locations for catching a bus downtown or finding a taxi.

Etiler: The road (Nispetiye Caddesi) from the Rumeli Hisarustu traffic circle runs west, past university library and eventually into a residential and shopping area that comprises part of Etiler. In general Etiler offers an array of services, including branch offices of many of Turkey's banks, some excellent pastry shops, a number of grocery stores (some quite large), film developing shops, newsstands and restaurants, some of whice are pricey. There is also a small book store, called Bogazici Kitapevi, which is across from the university's football field and faces a side street rather than the main street through Etiler. Strolling from Etiler to Levent (on Nispetiye Caddesi)one runs into AKMERKEZ, one of the best and most fashinoble shopping malls in Europe.

Levent: Of the three communities, Levent offers the widest array of shopping and eating alternatives, which compensates for the disadvantage of its distance from the campus. The main street splits here. There are shops on both the southwestward and northeastward lanes. Much of the commercial part of the town is reached by following the southwest lane, then turning right at Namli Kebap. Levent has an outdoor market, numerous shops for purchasing various kinds of food and clothing, many restaurants and some bars.
Namli Kebap has good food, is resonably priced, and is a place that attacts large numbers of Turkish families; as such, it is a useful place to go the first week and then use as a reference point for other restaurants. Bus and taxi transportation from Levent to the campus is plentiful.

Rumeli Hisari: The commercial part of this district is on a steep hill, which has some grocery stores, and the main road itself by the sea. Rumeli Hisar has some inexpensive restaurants and some places that are significantly more expensive, particulary if you choose to have fish instead of meat. Some of these places also have delightful seconts storey views of the Bosphorus as well as good food.

Bebek: Bebek in the summer caters to the wealthy tourist trade. It has a bookstore that carries a large array of foreign magazines and newspapers, a number of grocery stores, restaurants that range in price from normal to very expensive, clothing stores, bars and sweet shops.

Besiktas: A larger, more diverse, and for the newcomer who needs a variety of things rapidly, better place to go is the town of Besiktas. It is an excellent place to find eating, cooking and other houseold supplies; cooking and other household supplies; it has a large food markety, as well as a wide array of other kinds of shops.

TRANSPORTATION DOWNTOWN
The possibilities are bus, boat and taxi. The systems are relatively simple once you use them. The major destinations are Eminonu, Besiktas and Taksim.

Buses: The ticket is for getting on the bus, and it is not linket to your destination so there is no need to explain to someone where you are going. The ticket ("otobus bileti" or simply "bilet") cannot be purchased on the bus. At sizeable bus stops, such as the ones in Bebek or Rumeli Hisarustu, there is a booth that sells bus tickets so. Often other booths which sell soft drinks and newspapers also sell bus tickets. It is convenient to buy a group of tickets so that, if you need a bus at a small bus stop, you avoid the problem of trying to find a ticket. The colors of buses are irrelevant. What is relevant is the destination sign on the front of the bus, and sign on the right side (next to the entrance door) which describes its route. These signs alsa have route numbers. The bus-stops usually have the location displayed on the sign. With a city map, you can follow where the bus is going by noting these signs.

To Go to Town: Upper Road: From Rumeli Hisarustu virtually all buses go to Taksim, Besiktas or Eminonu. All of them go through Etiler and Levent. Lower, Coastal Road: This line is for either Taksim or Eminonu via Besiktas.

To Get Back to the University: Upper Road: You want a bus that says Rumeli Hisarustu on the font. With a bit of experience, you will also be able to make use of buses that say Etiler or Levent. For the upper road, your destination is one stop before the end of the line. Lower, Coastal Road: Bebek is usually not the final destination of these buses. Instead, you look for Sariyer and then look to be sure that one of the stops listed on the side of the bus is Bebek. General Comments: Buses are frequently crowded. Younger males yield seats to older people as a kind of reflex. No smoking is allowed. People exit from the rear. The button to get the driver to stop at the next exit is over the door; an illuminated sign before the driver means that someone has already pushed the button.

Taxis: Taxis are plentiful in Istanbul and are inexpensive by US standards. In this regard, Istanbul is easy for newcomers. No matter where you happen to get lost or run out of steam, you are likely to find an empty taxi to take you back to familiar surroundings.
All taxis use meters; be sure the driver turns the meter on. The cost is what the meter says. Drivers always recognize the major part of the city you want to go to (i.e. Taksim) and need that information in order to take you to some particular address. Returning to the campus is accomplished by asking for Etiler and then Bogazici Universty.

Boats: The boat dock is at Bebek. This is a very pleasant way to travel, less crowded during rush hour than one would expect, and also a rapid way to get downtown on a weekday morning.
Weekdays there are two early morning boats which go to Eminonu. Along the way they stop at Ortakoy and Besiktas. The schedule is posted at the dock, inside the waiting room.
You purchase a token from the ticket window at the dock. If the boat comes and ticket windows is closed, then a boat worker will sell you the token.
Going south, the final destination is Eminonu. These boats dock at a particular landing. To return from there, study the schedule posted inside the waiting room and look for boats that return to Bebek.

BOOKS TO BUY IN ORDER TO FACILITATE LIFE IN ISTANBUL
The ABC Street Atlas to Istanbul: This is the only detailed map of the city that is readly available. It is also a tractable device for helping a non-Turkish speaker to locate addresses.
"Strolling Through Istanbul" (Hilary Sumner-Boyd and John Freely): As a guide to historic places in the city, it is excellent, and, in any case, it is fascinating reading.

TURKISH LANGUAGE CLASSES
Relatively few foreign faculty partake of these opportunities, but they exist on the campus in two categories: Faculty may take regular courses for free. That includes the Elemantary Turkish course for foreigners. There is also a Turkish language course for foreigners who are not connected with the university. This course has a tuituon. It attracts foreigners married to Turks, foreigners who need Turkish for business purposes, and foreigners who want to learn some Turkish simply because they are here.

STUDENTS
The students at Bogazici are remarkably bright. They have tested in the upper 1/1000th on the national examination for admission to university study. They are also functioning in a second or, for some of them, third language as university students. Learning from colleagues in your department about the usual expectations professors have for students is an important issue. What the typical reading loads are, how many courses students are taking, what the grade distributions typically look like, and what the mechanisms are for making course materials available are illustrative of an awareness of the context that foreign faculty should begin to acquire as soon as possible.

SALARY
The university has little involvement in most of the salary approval process, and it is not unusual for information that triggers the university pay system to arrive after the semester has started. That delays your pay. When pay is significantly delayed, the university has a system of loaning money from the Bogazici University Foundation to visiting faculty, repayeble without interest when the actual salary is paid. It is prudent to arrive prepared to cover expenses for the first month. Subsequently, the money is deposited in your bank account at the campus Garanti Bank.

ACTIVITIES
The campus offers a myriad of extra curricular activities and social events, almost all of which are prepared by students: Concerts, plays, films, folk dancing, exhibitions, as well as sports competitions, make life at Bogazici University very colorful. Plays are in Turkish but foreigners can certainly enjoy the rest.

THE SPORTS FEST
The Bogazici University Sports Festival (Sportfest), a fine old Robert College traditions, takes place in late spring every year. University students from all over the world are invited to compete, and the result is a mini-Olympics. A colorful event not to be missed!

SOME USEFUL INFORMATION AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS FOR ISTANBUL

IMPORTANT NOTE : Do not forget the survival in Istanbul, the university is a microcosmos of the city itself.

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Contact Information Bogazici University 34342 Bebek, Istanbul Tel: 0212 359 54 00