http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Arey/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Arey en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:10:33 BST Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:10:33 BST The trip is quickly drawing to a close. Finals are upon me and while I know I should be reading I canrsquot help by try to find ways to procrastinate.May has been a time of continuing great experiences. Starting with Spring Break and the exploration of the majesty eastern Turkey it transitioned into visits by a number of friends allowing me to share part of my life here with them. Each ha http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Bosphorus/blog-282489.html Spring Break was phenomenal. So much so that I have no idea what all we actually did. There were about 15 of us from a variety of countries. We left Istanbul in a rented tour bus on Saturday the 26th arriving in Ankara that evening for a huge dinner at the parentrsquos apartment of one of the exchange commission members. The apartment was part of a complex a little removed from the city a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Southeastern-Anatolia/Urfa/blog-275112.html Wow it's been a while. Since my last post I've been busy. Most of my time was taken up by taking midterms studying for midterms and planning planning my Spring Break trip and figuring out my schedule for when friends visit and stuff like that. I'll get to that in a little bit but I want to add a few pictures. Spring came with a huge vengeance to Istanbul in the last week or so. The plant http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-269892.html VideosOnly two they take soooo long to load but there are more trust me http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Edirne/blog-265992.html I made my first day trip out of Istanbul today traveling west to the city of Edirne. The trip lasted all day and I took over 200 pictureshellip so this is a very quick summary of some of the highlights. Since we visited several mosques including the one usually designated as the most impressive in Turkey Selimiye Mosque I took many videos in the style that you have all come to know and l http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Edirne/blog-265976.html Aunt Janet asked me to take some photos of my classrooms and such so that her second graders could see themhellip so here they are. They were hard to get as I usually got to class started taking notes and forgot about pictures. I also tend to sit way up front and a little to the sidehellip which mess up the angles. Also it is weird to take pictures during class so I tried to take a few http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-264698.html As mentioned in the previous post the taco night last Friday was a success. However it was hard to get all the necessary ingredients as Turkey is located absolutely nowhere near Mexico. Turkey has ground beef so we got that taken care of easily and one of the staple meals here is called a drm which as far as I can tell translates to ldquowrap.rdquo It is some kind of meat chicken or http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-264692.html Well I should have posted this a while ago but for those of you who are wondering I got all my paperwork and stuff done on the 22nd of March meaning that I am now a legal resident of Turkey and have actually received my public transportation student card so I can go places cheaply. It was good to get all the paperwork done with. And it only took two monthsRegistration for classes next sem http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-262986.html I am long overdue for some kind of update though I havenrsquot really traveled around anywhere or done much earthshattering exciting activities or traveled anywhere really far out or interesting. What I have been doing is hanging out with people.Back on March 22nd I visited went with a few friends to explore some of the archeology of Istanbul housed in a museum complex. It was a huge gat http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-262345.html I finally got out to see Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque today. There was a group of us out late last night watching a movie with some Turks and on the way back Josh Emiel and myself were organizing our trip to Hagia Sophia for today Saturday when two other people chimed in that they hadnrsquot been either. Because we were out so late we decided to wait until noon today before venturing http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-257085.html It's been a while. Without an internet connection in my room I need to go the library if I want a good connection or wander down to south campus if I just want to check my email. It's not too inconvenient but it means fewer posts as things classes touring pick up here.On Friday I spent the entire day again dealing with the Turkish government and civil services in an attempt to pick up m http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-255401.html So finally an update on my classes. To reiterate from previous posts I am taking a total of four classesTKF 111.01 Elementary Turkish for Foreigners So far a super basic mostly unhelpful course but one that I think will pan out into something helpful. Irsquom going to a Turkish Conversation Club weekly which has taught me more in one hour than the two weeks of Turkish class has.Histor http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-253403.html Armed with my new camera I decided to make up for lost time and do some touring nearby. A week ago right after my camera stopped working I had gone down to Bebek which apparently means bay in Turkish a nearby neighborhood in Istanbul. Bebek is generally agreed to be the most expensive area in all of Istanbul as it has some of the most spectacular views. Bebek has a single main street http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-251936.html I spaced out entirely that this year was a leap year. It didnrsquot really make a big difference though I gained an extra day but at the same time basically lost it too. I entered Turkey with a Student Visa declaring my intention to come to Turkey to study. As part of the deal I needed to apply for a residence permit within 30 days of my arrival in Turkey. Time was ticking away but thi http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-251911.html Well today I went to Akmarkez a mall about 1520 minutes walking or bus away and bought a new camera. I donrsquot usually go to the mall back home except the occasional trip to the Mall of America because of Legoland but I had a good time. I had no idea where I was going so I just looked at the map failed to find a ldquoYou are Hererdquo looking picture so just started wandering http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-251047.html It's been a while since I've updated and so much has happened.First a quick blurb why I haven't updated. First off I've been doing so many things that it has been hard to get time to sit down and type up something to post. Second my camera broke about a week ago. It seems to be a hardware problem so I can't really fix it on my own. That's not really a reason to stop posting but I liked a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-250372.html Itrsquos the night before classes start and itrsquos also been a few days since Irsquove updated so I figured Irsquod write a bit about what Irsquove been up to.On Friday the International Office of Bogazici finally had a formal orientation for the foreign exchange students. We learned a lot about the bus system got some information about museums and sightseeing places and learned http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/blog-248223.html Cool Happy Valentines Day everyone. This will be posted on the 15th but Irsquom writing it on the 14th. Irsquom writing because I need something to do before I go to bed. I was originally going to go out to Taksim tonight with a group to enjoy the crazy nightlife of a major city but became exhausted after a long day and when I thought about it also didnrsquot really want to have to d http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/blog-246482.html Feb. 13th 2008 RegistrationThings are starting to pick up here. I've been hanging out with some really cool people lately. Most are foreigners like me but the studentled Exchange Commission is starting to lead us on fun things while we're waiting for school to start. Last night we all went to a fancy desert place there were about 30 of us and sat around and talked for a few hours. It wa http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/blog-246138.html Feb. 8 2008The weekend was ok and I'm starting to get on a better sleep schedule so that's a plus.My roommates still haven't shown up and talking with other students that means they're either Turkish or really late. My Lira says Turkish. The dorm is an odd place. It is a conglomerate of 5 dorms with pseudoapartments with 24 people per apartment. It seems that most of the housing is 1 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/blog-244799.html