Bilkent University!

A little over a week ago, our study abroad program officially started, and we arrived at Bilkent University in Ankara. For 10 days, we have had delishus food, a beautiful gym complete with weight room and track, single bedrooms with kitchens and private bathrooms, and amazing lectures from world-class faculty.

We are studying economic development in Turkey. But our lectures have also focused on the Ottomans, Turkish history and language, foreign policy, domestic politics, and economics. So, naturally, we are all experts on Turkey now. Enjoy this 10-minute explanation of stuff we've learned in our lectures and books during the last 5 weeks!

And get super jealous of this BA campus:

Our dorms are called the "Bilkent Hilton":

This is where we eat breakfast everyday!

These are the campus dogs. One is Toprak (meaning soil), and my super tired, it's-midnight brain cannot remember the name of the second.

Also, just FYI, we visited this mosque, which is the biggest in Ankara:

Bilkent is like a city. There are shuttles to go from Bilkent to Ankara, and they take at least 30 minutes. There are like 5 restaurants/cafés near our dorm, and we have supermarkets and a mall on campus. One of the program directors for Bilkent told us students can enter Bilkent as freshmen and never need to leave campus until they graduate. That's cool, but I am definitely happy to leave campus now and then.

XXOO