Why did Constantinople get the works?

That's nobody's business but the Turks

Today is my last full day in the US but I'm not frantically packing or anything of that sort. I leave tomorrow night and I think the wait is actually the worst part. I'm checking two medium-sized duffel bags and taking a carry on. I didn't think I honestly had that much stuff to take but I'd rather be overly prepared than screwed.

I'm flying the whole way with another girl in my program which I think will be good. Strength in numbers, right? If we have problems in Turkey, we can just jointly yell in English to try and get our point across.

We're taking a smaller (my mother calls them "puddle-jumpers") plane to Dulles Airport (in D.C.) and then from there we're on one of those monstrous planes where I hopefully will get some sleep. Unfortunately, we weren't lucky enough to get a direct flight, but we only have about an hour in Frankfurt (Germany) so it really won't be too bad.

I'm pretty sure I've got everything packed and ready to go, but of course my mother will probably ask me 7-8 times and double check everything just in case.

Again, I will attempt to update this as possible but I really don't think that's really going to happen so I will apologize in advance.

See you in <48 hours, Istanbul!

Hoşçakal, America.

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam

A lot of people have been asking me "Why Istanbul? Why would you choose to study abroad there?" and I thought I'd go ahead and settle that question here and now, once and for all.

Mostly, my decision was influenced by this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOG8emH4Ab8&feature=related
(though the original by They Might Be Giants is better...)

Other than that, I thought that the convergence of many different cultures might be interesting to study as a history/political science major but y'know...the song really influenced me most.

For those of you who don't know anything about Istanbul, it's in Turkey, located near the northern border. It sits basically in the middle of Europe and Asia so I can go ahead and knock those continents off my list. Almost 13 million people live in Istanbul and the majority of them speak both English (thank god) and Turkish. I'll be attending Bogazici University while I'm there (Feb-June). It's considered the Harvard of Turkey. No big deal. Okay, I totally made that up...but it's still a good school.

I'm working on my Turkish and will undoubtedly learn more while I'm there but at this point I admittedly know very little. I'm secretly hoping that some Turkish people will just take pity on me and chauffeur me around but that's probably highly unlikely.

I have about two weeks before I leave so I'm mostly just working as much as possible and also making an effort to not forget anything I seriously need...meds, clothes, making sure I eat all my favorite foods before I leave, all the important things in life.

Anyways, I'm sure I'll attempt to update this blog on a regular basis but will fail horrendously and will apologize for that now.

See you in two weeks, Istanbul.