From Istanbul to Bursa

Ahhh, I just started to unpack my things into my room! I arrived in Bursa last night with my host mom and am starting to feel like I'm getting settled in.  I still don't have a daily routine, but once school starts in a week or two I think that will no longer be a problem.  Anyways, since I blogged last, I've been able to do a lot of sightseeing around European Istanbul with my host mom, which has been absolutely beautiful! My host mom and I went shopping one day, and it's really neat that there are old bazaars, markets selling traditional Turkish goods, right next to the modern western shops.  I really enjoyed going through the bazaars and looking at the beautiful jewelry, lamps and tea sets. After doing some window shopping, my host mom and I went to Galata Tower, which is touristy and all, but we got to watch the sunset over all of Istanbul and I got to eavesdrop on other English speakers. (it sounds terrible, but I haven't been able to understand what anyone is saying around me for a week, it's quite nice to have a little bit of familiarity...this is why I need to learn Turkish!) There are many street performers down the roads of Istanbul, and there was even a random Mariachi Band!

The next time I went into Istanbul, my host mom and I spent what seemed like HOURS looking for a parking space so that we could take another boat tour.  We eventually pulled over hand had dinner at a little sea side fish stand,forgetting about the boat tour.  We got to sit outside and enjoy the breeze and view of the sea while we ate dinner, it was very nice.  We later went to see The Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet Mosque, but it was dark once we got to them, so I didn't get very good pictures.  I know I'll be back to Istanbul, so hopefully I can go visit those in the daylight again!  (Little tidbit: The Hagia Sophia was originally a church, then a mosque, and is now half mosque, half church! My host mom is giving me quite the history lessons on our little adventures :) ) After visiting the mosques, my host mom and I went to get a bite to eat before we ventured back into the insane Istanbul traffic. The traffic is seriously insane, I know I have friends on exchange who are experiencing more insane traffic, but compared to Hilliard traffic, this stuff is crazy.

Anyways, my host mom and I have since left Istanbul and come to Bursa.  We took a bus from Istanbul to a ferry and then got back on the bus, which then took us all the way to Bursa. The sunset was beautiful from the ferry! It was only a couple hours to get there, and I got caught up on Angry Birds and Temple Run during the ride. When I first arrived last night, my host parents and I went out to dinner, then they showed me my school and we then came home.  My school is less than two blocks away, so I will be able to quickly and easily walk to school each day. Today has been my first full day in Bursa, and I've been able to partially unpack my things and attempt to get organized. This whole idea of having an "organized room" is completely foreign to me.  My American room is an organized disaster, so I will need to be sure to keep my Turkish room properly organized, which will definitely be a challenge.

I've been trying to learn the language as much as possible. I have a book, but as you can see based on the red corrections, Turkish is not the easiest thing for me.  Today my host parents went through the book with me and helped me out.  My host parents and I  talk with our hands a lot and then they give me the Turkish word, and I give them the English word. It's fun. I really appreciate that they use English enough for me to understand what's going on around me so I'm never completely lost, but it's still mesmerizing to think that I'll be able to understand all of their conversations by the end of this year because right now I pretty much just sit there and can only understand when people say numbers or "şey," the Turkish stutter word, during a conversation.  Today was great, I was able to start to settle in and have a mini Turkish lesson with my family, but as you can probably tell by the state of the writing and English of this blog post, I'm completely exhausted and need to hit the hay.  I'll update again soon! iyi geceler!