Blogs from Middle East - page 1206

Amandahanim and I got here on June 29th, 5 days before the start of the program. We stayed the first few nights in a hostel with an incredible view of the Bosporus, and now that the program has started, KU has put us up in a nice hotel a few blocks from Bacesiher University (i know i misspelled that but am too lazy to look it up). The university is in the banks of the Bosporus. Our first few days here were spent hanging out and seeing some of the major sights. The most interesting of which was the Aya Sophia. It was built in 536 AD by the Emperor Justinian - just after Constantinople (that’s Istanbul’s previous name, for my friends from Missouri) became the capital of the Roman Empire. It’s the largest open structure ... read more

We have been in Istanbul for almost 2 weeks now. I have to say - I love the city more and more every day. We have class everyday from 8:30 - 12:45, with both Turkish and American students. There are students from several American law schools including KU, South Texas, New York Law School, and Temple. The Turkish students are really fun and open. We have gone out with them several times - they are completely willing to be our gracious tour guides, and most of them speak very good English. One of the Turkish girls named Merve had us over for a party last week. They are just really open and helpful and fun. Actually, one of the students in the program from NY is half Turkish and fluent in the language. His name is ... read more

Welcome to Cyprus: Birthplace of Aphrodite: Goddess of Beauty Cyprus is the first stop on our 3 week journey throughout the Middle East and Europe. We visited the North Cyprus Republic of Turkey. In 1983, the Turkish Republic took the Northern lands from the Greeks and therefore North Cyprus is controlled by the Turkish Republic while the rest of the island remains Greek. We were not able to visit the Greek side because Ismail is a Turkish citizen and at this time Turkish citizens are not allowed to cross borders into the Greek side of Cyprus. After missing our first flight at 7 am Saturday morning from Istanbul to Ercan, Cyprus, we searched for the next available flight. We found one leaving the next day. So we arrived at the airport in Ercan, Cyprus where ... read more

Well ıt has been a couple of days sınce we wrote. We checked out of our hotel, ıt really was nıce wıth wonderful food and met up wıth our frıend lısa who teaches here ın ıstanbul. We settled ınto her apartment whıch ıs near Taksım square. We have been havıng a great tıme ogether laughıng and eatıng wonderful food. Laura has bought gold, we had our fortunes told by a rabbıt, we have consumed lots of tea, vısıted so many amazıng hıstorıcal sıtes ıt ıs hard to tell you about all of them. Everythıng ıs goıng so well for us - except that our budget ıs already blown as thıngs are very expensıve here. Most thıngs cost as much or more than back home. Oh well, why else do we work? We are ın an ınternet ... read more

Yesterday was such an amazing day. We decided to take a planned tour to help us get our feet wet and give us a guided overview of what the old city was about. The old Constantinople was a walled city and we are staying within these walls in our wondeful hotel. We are about 2 blocks from the old center of the city where the hippodrome was. The hippodrome was a circular stadium where races and cultural events and ceremonies took place. Off of this street is also where the huge and incredibly beautiful Aya Sofia and Blue Mosques are located. The Aya Sofia is over 1500 years old and was a Greek Orthodox church; the greatest in the world for a 1000 years. St.Peter's Basillica usurped this glory. It has numerous tiny gold mosaic tiles ... read more