As you may have guessed, my program in Turkey is over. It was incredible—but way too quick. One month felt like three days. All the group pictures were taken on Barry's and Joanne's cameras, so in case you didn't believe I actually went to Ankara and Istanbul with six of SPEA's finest students and two of IU's finest students, then here's some proof:
Here we are sitting in a room in Bilkent University for our very first orientation.
During our campus tour of Bilkent, we took the first of many group pictures.
Here's R and I talking to M, our T.A., about our internship with Idema.
Every single day we took at least three group pictures in the classrooms at Bilkent and Boğaziçi. Here we are at Bilkent! The seats in this classroom were so uncomfortable because they and the tables were bolted to the floor, so there was only one possible seating position.
During my blog post about Atatürk's Mausoleum, I posted the picture on the receiving end of this picture. I snapped a picture of Barry snapping a picture of me!
Here's the finest-looking study abroad crew posing in front of the Mausoleum.
Suat was the best tour guide ever, mainly!
A group pic in front of Ankara's Anatolian Civilizations Museum. If you'll notice, my right arm is expertly hidden behind my body because I was holding a Magnum ice cream—during Ramadan.
After visiting Ankara's castle and touring the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, we stopped for grilled lamb kebap and ayran at this awesome little restaurant.
I took Barry and Joanne to the cat park in Nişantaşı in Istanbul. This kitten loved Barry immediately!
A beautiful day with some beautiful people at Dolmabahçe palace!
Yours truly standing in front of a tree. #artsy
During lunch at Boğaziçi University, at least 20 cats dined with us everyday. Here's one of the friendliest ones!
One of the best afternoons of the entire program was when we all went to Sultanahmet for nargile, or hookah. Barry and Joanne were so adventurous! And we each got to take turns wearing this sweet fez hat.
Only a few of us brought our SPEA t-shirts abroad, so we never got a chance to take a picture with everyone wearing them. :[
A lovely group pic after a lecture in the classroom at Boğaziçi. The chairs were also bolted, but they were much, much more comfortable here.
On our amazing boat tour, we got to take several group pics. Here we are on the yacht:
Here we are sunbathing on the yacht:
And here we are standing next to the yacht about to grab some dinner:
And, alas, our last dinner as a group—until we reunite in the US, that is. :]
Our very last program activity was giving a 40-minute presentation on an aspect of development in Turkey. K, R (different R) and I researched agricultural development projects and labor in Southeast Anatolia, which is much less developed than the western half, where we were.
If you're an IU student thinking about going to Turkey—or anyone thinking about going to Turkey—and have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. (jmstrzes@indiana.edu) I will chew your ear off about this program and the country/food/people/culture. We had an amazing month, and if I could, I would do it all again—even though I had barely any money. ;]
XXOO
Julia
