Hello Family and Friends:
We successfully arrived in Istanbul, our first destination of our four month term abroad.
We finished our first test after only one short week of classes, we
completed our Turkish lessons (and a test), and now we're preparing for both our third test (tomorrow) and our fourth test (on Friday). Between classes and all the homework, the Turkish professors keep us very busy learning every possible part of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish revolution in the beginning of the 20th century.
Every day after a grueling 5 hours of intense Turkish history, we hike up the hill from Bogizici Universitesi and approximately 2 ½ miles back to our hotel, lovingly dubbed Oteli. Between the humidity, heat, and the workout of carrying our backpack and ourselves up the gentle incline causes quite a sweat and Oteli always has a nice cold shower waiting for us as well, although not by choice.
Our first full day spent in Turkey, was an all-day hike through the old city with our tour guide, Yavuz (pronounced similarly to 'yahoo'). Towards the end of the day, he was practically dragging us as we visited the Tokapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, and so many other places. The colors, the smells, and the people were all overwhelming. The distance and the hills tired all of us quicker than we could imagine, but prepared us for the next day of 4 lectures amounting 5 hours.
When looking at a map, it's hard to believe we're an ocean and a continent away from our friends, and even further from our families. Our group is comprised of Floridians (Chuck), Minnesotans (Beth, Callie, Anne, and Johnny), Oregonians (Abby), Alaskans (Scott and Monica), Wisconsinites (Carol Ann, Jenny, and Kate), Coloradoans (Mark), Illinoisans (David), North Dakotans (Geoff), and Nebraskans (Sarah).
One of the most memorable experiences for all of us has probably been the public transportation. Like a bad game of Sardines, we constantly find ourselves jammed in busses, metros, light-rails, and once or twice a taxi.
Exploring the Old City has given us memorable experiences, but the most
popular has to be the bustling Taksim Square. With restaurants, stores,
museums, and a center hub for the metro and buses, it creates quite a
popular place to read up on the reforms of the Young Turk Revolution, or to soak up the Turkish culture.
Marriage proposals and declarations of love by the local Turks are not
uncommon. The honking of horns throughout the night on the boulevard outside our windows initially kept us on edge all night, but we've quickly adapted to the noise and the 4 AM call to prayer.
Next week, we're all looking forward to beginning our excursion throughout the interior of the country, visiting the historical city of Troy, the capital Ankara, the infamous Cappadocia, and several other significant cities. After our week-long trip through the country, we're hopping on a flight to North Africa, and Morocco where we will be taking a Sociology and Anthropology class about Moroccan Society and learning yet another language, Arabic.
Until then, we're all thinking about our parents at home, and hope you're not too worried about us!
Sincerely,
Your dearest Child
We successfully arrived in Istanbul, our first destination of our four month term abroad.
We finished our first test after only one short week of classes, we
completed our Turkish lessons (and a test), and now we're preparing for both our third test (tomorrow) and our fourth test (on Friday). Between classes and all the homework, the Turkish professors keep us very busy learning every possible part of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish revolution in the beginning of the 20th century.
Every day after a grueling 5 hours of intense Turkish history, we hike up the hill from Bogizici Universitesi and approximately 2 ½ miles back to our hotel, lovingly dubbed Oteli. Between the humidity, heat, and the workout of carrying our backpack and ourselves up the gentle incline causes quite a sweat and Oteli always has a nice cold shower waiting for us as well, although not by choice.
Our first full day spent in Turkey, was an all-day hike through the old city with our tour guide, Yavuz (pronounced similarly to 'yahoo'). Towards the end of the day, he was practically dragging us as we visited the Tokapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, and so many other places. The colors, the smells, and the people were all overwhelming. The distance and the hills tired all of us quicker than we could imagine, but prepared us for the next day of 4 lectures amounting 5 hours.
When looking at a map, it's hard to believe we're an ocean and a continent away from our friends, and even further from our families. Our group is comprised of Floridians (Chuck), Minnesotans (Beth, Callie, Anne, and Johnny), Oregonians (Abby), Alaskans (Scott and Monica), Wisconsinites (Carol Ann, Jenny, and Kate), Coloradoans (Mark), Illinoisans (David), North Dakotans (Geoff), and Nebraskans (Sarah).
One of the most memorable experiences for all of us has probably been the public transportation. Like a bad game of Sardines, we constantly find ourselves jammed in busses, metros, light-rails, and once or twice a taxi.
Exploring the Old City has given us memorable experiences, but the most
popular has to be the bustling Taksim Square. With restaurants, stores,
museums, and a center hub for the metro and buses, it creates quite a
popular place to read up on the reforms of the Young Turk Revolution, or to soak up the Turkish culture.
Marriage proposals and declarations of love by the local Turks are not
uncommon. The honking of horns throughout the night on the boulevard outside our windows initially kept us on edge all night, but we've quickly adapted to the noise and the 4 AM call to prayer.
Next week, we're all looking forward to beginning our excursion throughout the interior of the country, visiting the historical city of Troy, the capital Ankara, the infamous Cappadocia, and several other significant cities. After our week-long trip through the country, we're hopping on a flight to North Africa, and Morocco where we will be taking a Sociology and Anthropology class about Moroccan Society and learning yet another language, Arabic.
Until then, we're all thinking about our parents at home, and hope you're not too worried about us!
Sincerely,
Your dearest Child
