Being Annie: Istanbul Trip

I went to Istanbul this weekend! I was up bright and early, like, before the first call to prayer early (the first call to prayer is at sunrise). I took a ferry from Bursa to Istanbul with Riad and his host family, and then after driving around for like half an hour, we finally found our hotel and were able to meet up with the other exchange students! Ahh, I love my exchange buddies :)

So, on Saturday we went to the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia and a few other museums within the Historical Peninsula of Istanbul, then we went to the Grand Bazaar. The mosques were so beautiful, and being with my friends was so great. Like, I was in ISTANBUL, but I was more excited about seeing all of my friends. At the Topkapi Palace, I met an American couple who is also living abroad, and they said they were going home for the holidays, and then we talked about how much we miss Chipotle and Five Guys, and all of the other delicious foods I haven't had for four months (it's been too long...). They were so nice. I love finding other Americans. :) After going to the Grand Bazaar, my friends and I found a Starbucks, so we went there to get some drinks. I seriously felt like I was in America standing in Starbucks. It was REALLY strange, but once I left what looked exactly like an American Starbucks, I remembered where I was.

Saturday night all of the exchange students stayed up talking, but I was crazy tired because of my really long day with little sleep, so I went to my room and just hung out with one of the girls from Brazil. After a wonderful night's sleep, on Sunday we went to the Spice Bazaar, then we took a tour of the Bosporus. It was my third Bosporus Tour, so nothing was really new. After that we had free time to walk around shopping then go to a cafe for hot chocolate. In the evening my friends had to leave to catch their bus to the airport to go back to Izmir, so Riad and I just sat around the hotel lobby until his host family was able to meet us at a bazaar. We shopped around for a bit, then we headed to the ferry back to Bursa. We just waited in the parking lot for about an hour, but I was able to sleep during that hour. I was a very tired girl after a fun filled weekend in Istanbul!

I had such a great time with all my friends, and I realized that even though I only get to see most of them once or twice a month, I'm really close to them, and we're like a big old exchange family. I'll attach pictures below, and hopefully get more up on Flickr soon!