So I've gone through Cyprus and Greece and I'm now in Turkey. Istanbul is an amazingly gorgeous city and my brand new hotel room (we are literally the first guests in this hotel) has a view out the window of the famous Blue Mosque (I'd include a link here to more info but I'm beyond exhausted and trust that you know how to work Google).
We had one day of meetings here on Friday, when we met with the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church (the equivalent of the Pope) and then an NGO and documentary filmmakers. Then yesterday we spent time shopping at the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia (for real, google these places, they're beautiful). Today we took a boat ride on the Bosphorous to the Asian side of Turkey (yes, I've been in Europe and Asia today) where we had a delicious seafood lunch. Then we came back and visited a palace whose name I won't attempt with this much exhaustion. Afterward we had some free time (gasp!) and some of us took advantage of that to go to a Turkish Bath where we sat in a hot marble room for about an hour and then got a massage. One of the most relaxing things I've ever done but also contributed to this exhaustion(sorry is this sounds like I'm complaining! I'm not!).
Funny story that I've been complaining about today though...
Last night, a large portion of the group went out to celebrate one of our classmates' birthdays. When we came back, I hopped in the shower where I barely had time to get my hair wet before the power went out in our hotel. After trying to figure out what was going on, I decided to take a dark shower anyway. Then, just after I washed the shampoo out of my hair, the water turned off. The sink in our room still doesn't work but power and most other water is back on today. Just thought I'd share a bit of what this trip has been like!
We have 2 more days full of meetings and then back to DC we go :(
We had one day of meetings here on Friday, when we met with the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church (the equivalent of the Pope) and then an NGO and documentary filmmakers. Then yesterday we spent time shopping at the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia (for real, google these places, they're beautiful). Today we took a boat ride on the Bosphorous to the Asian side of Turkey (yes, I've been in Europe and Asia today) where we had a delicious seafood lunch. Then we came back and visited a palace whose name I won't attempt with this much exhaustion. Afterward we had some free time (gasp!) and some of us took advantage of that to go to a Turkish Bath where we sat in a hot marble room for about an hour and then got a massage. One of the most relaxing things I've ever done but also contributed to this exhaustion(sorry is this sounds like I'm complaining! I'm not!).
Funny story that I've been complaining about today though...
Last night, a large portion of the group went out to celebrate one of our classmates' birthdays. When we came back, I hopped in the shower where I barely had time to get my hair wet before the power went out in our hotel. After trying to figure out what was going on, I decided to take a dark shower anyway. Then, just after I washed the shampoo out of my hair, the water turned off. The sink in our room still doesn't work but power and most other water is back on today. Just thought I'd share a bit of what this trip has been like!
We have 2 more days full of meetings and then back to DC we go :(
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