Merhaba!

Hello from Turkey! I am (finally!) blogging and have quite a bit of catching up to do...so where to start? From the beginning, I suppose, all of about a month ago when I left the US for Oslo, Norway on the first leg of my journey. Norway was wonderful; my Grandma Judy and I stayed with fabulous hosts (Eli and Steffen Qvam - Eli was my grandma's "exchange sister" in Norway over 50 years ago!), and I had a fantastic time exploring Oslo, meeting new Norwegian friends, and practicing my norsk! Look for pictures sometime soon in my online Flikr photo gallery (see the right column).

Although I would love to be able to write more about Norway, I'm afraid that I should probably get moving on to the the place where I've spent a majority of my time these past few weeks and what will be the topic of this blog: Turkey! I arrived on the 9th of September and, after spending an extremely quiet night in a hotel, moved into my dorm on the Bogazici University campus. The dorm is called the Superdorm (no, that's not a nickname - it's featured prominently on the outside of the building!), and so far it has been a good place to live and meet other students. I live in a 4-person flat with single bedrooms and a shared bathroom/living space/kitchen. All-in-all, it's not bad. I have three roommates, one from Poland and two from Turkey. It's great to be able to practice my limited Turkish skills with someone, even if so far I'm only able to say things like "good morning," "How are you?" and "What's that? That is a peach." I guess you have to start somewhere!

The first week or so of living in the dorm was VERY quiet as most of the other students didn't arrive until this past weekend (because of Ramadan and Bayram, the holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan). Luckily, however, I had several international student friends to explore the city with! This included a group of wonderful fellow St. Olaf students on a semester abroad program called Term in the Middle East (TIME). They studied at Bogazici University for a month and were great sightseeing companions in addition to being very helpful in explaining bus routes, recommending restaurants, etc. Here's a photo of five of us girls who lived together on the same corridor during our first year of college:

Kirsten, Nora, Maddie, Erin and I at Yoros Castle

I've done too many things in Istanbul for me to possibly list and describe everything, but here goes:

• Iftar (breaking of the fast during Ramadan) in Sultanahmet, the historic area of Istanbul where the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, etc are located
  
• Bosphorus cruise to the Black Sea and visit to Yoros Castle


• Synagogue visit for Saturday morning service


• Prayer service at the New Mosque (Yeni Cami)


• Visit to the Blue Mosque


• Beşiktaş vs. Manchester United soccer game
  
• Delicious meals in many Turkish and non-Turkish restaurants throughout the city
  
• Tea (Çay) in countless cafes, gardens, and restaurants
  

I know there are many more things that I'm forgetting at the moment, but at least that gives you an idea of what my days have been filled with over the past few weeks! During the last week before classes began, another friend from St. Olaf (who will be here for the entire semester as well) and I traveled to Cappadocia, a region in central Turkey known for its fantastic landscape and ancient rock-cut churches and towns. Words can't really describe how beautiful and strange it was - I will definitely have to post some pictures. We got to use so many different types of transportation during our trip - bus, train, ferry, taxi, moped, hot air balloon...yes, we actually went hot air ballooning! We weren't originally planning to spend the money to go up in a balloon, but after meeting and talking to a balloon pilot and several other people who said that Cappadocia is the best place in the WORLD to do it, we were convinced. The experience was amazing - clear blue sky, fascinating rock formations, and what seemed like hundreds of other balloons rising up into the air as the sun peeked over the horizon...simply beautiful!

The start of classes on Monday (the 28th) was a bit of a reality check after such a long and wonderful summer vacation, but I think most of us were happy to have a little more structure in our days! I'm taking five classes, including "Modern Turkish Literature," "Culture and Identity in the European Union," "Foreign Policy," "History of the Turkish Republic," and, of course, "Elementary Turkish for Foreigners." So far everything has been extremely interesting and I'm really excited to dive into the readings and class discussions. Here's to a good semester (for all of you other students at home and abroad, too!)! Check back soon, as I hope to make this blogging business a regular habit!