If I could re-do my study abroad experience the only thing I would change is the university I chose, not the city of Istanbul, just the particular university because it's isolated location is very limiting. It takes an average of an 1:30 to get into Taksim and if you journey back during rush hour it can take upwards of 3 hours to return back to campus. Additionally, all of the Turkish students at Koc aren't very welcoming. One for the language barrier but also because a lot of them are stuck up snooty-pants. Before arriving I thought Koc was known as the most prestigious Turkish university but turns out it is better known as the most expensive Turkish university that the students buy their way into rather than earning their way.
However Koc is the only Turkish university with CIEE... so the perfect solution would be to transfer CIEE to Boğaziçi University (which is in Bebek) because it is closer to the city center and actually known for its academics. Bebek is a nice area on the coast of the Bosphorus with cute shops and an alternative liberal crowd unlike Sariyer where Koc is located which is a landlocked small village with an extremely conservative population. Yes Sariyer is close to the Black Sea which is beautiful but it still takes 30 minutes to get there and you can't even go swimming.
Whenever I told Turkish strangers, such as store clerks, that I went to Koc they would respond with "ohh expensive" and nod and smile gleefully and then UPCHARGE me because they assumed I was a rich snotty Koc student.
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