helloyesplease

Written June 1; disclaimer: I’ve been averaging about 3-5 hours of sleep per night so I’m blaming my less than perfect writing on lack of sleep

Shopping in Istanbul is quite the experience. Today, after a great tour of the city including an amazing lunch, a cruise down the Bosporous, and a tour of the most beautiful palace I’ve ever seen, a small group of us went off to the Grand Bazaar. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would have been, but it was about 5:00 on a weekday. But after two of us got separated from the group, I set out on a mission to find some Turkish gifts. The whole bazaar experience was interesting, shop owners yelling all kinds of things at tourists to get them into their stores. The one I heard that most, and I continue to hear on the streets, is “hello, yes please!” Although when they say this, it’s drawn together into one word. This is probably my favorite thing that I’ve heard people here say to us – the too-obvious group of Americans. I really am beginning to warm up to Istanbul, I love the little stores and the atmospheres of the bigger places in the city. Taksim Square is a fantastic place just for walking around – there are tons of shops and restaurants. I’m planning on spending the entire say there on Saturday. After walking down the street yesterday, I’ve realized that even a day isn’t long enough to do everything I want to there.

Written June 3: The best and worst part of this leg of the trip is how insanely busy we are. I love having something to do all the time, but as you can see from my lack of posting it’s really beginning to catch up to me. I have never been so happy when I’m this tired though. It really is nice to be going all day long just to do it all over again the next day. I also like being somewhat disconnected from the rest of the world. I don’t miss my BlackBerry at all, but at the same time I’m sure once I get back to “real life” back in Boston I’ll be attached to it again. It’s strange how much these trips abroad change perspectives on things at home. The same thing happened when I studied in London, and after that trip I had a lot of changes at home. I can’t say if that will happen again this time around. But between naps as we were taking the ferry back to Kabatas today, I was thinking about how big this world really is and the wonderful opportunities that Northeastern provides its students. Leaving the US and stepping out of my comfort zone has been a great experience for me. And being able to really specialize in photography has only made it that much better. I do miss my family (there have been many times I have wished you guys could be here sharing this experience with me!) and being home with the familiar, but I know that when our plane takes off in 10 days I will miss Jordan and even Istanbul much more – probably just because I don’t know when or if I’ll ever get back here. I know it’s early to be having these kinds of feelings about leaving, but I could honestly stay here for months longer and be perfectly happy with it. Our entire group, both the J-19 and the A-13, has become so close. From just walking into each other’s rooms without warning and spending days in lectures and on ferry boats, I really think we have all made lasting relationships. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience so far.

Pictures of our recent days to follow soon!