2022 SDSU Turkey Trip

We are all checked in to Frankfurt Germany!  Our plane is leaving shortly.  All is going well!

Good evening from Turkey!   We are wrapping up our last day in Turkey.  It has been a fantastic trip.  We started our day at 9 AM with a visit from staff at a local hospital to collect nasal swabs for our Covid PCR test.  (All students and staff tested negative!)  At around 11:30 AM, we traveled to the Urgup city center to shop and relax.  Later in the afternoon, we visited with the Rector at Cappadocia University about Turkish international relations with other countries, including the USA and Russia.  After this visit, we stopped at a local winery and tasted some white, red, and sweet wines.  We then ate dinner before heading back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation! We will leave for the Ankara airport this evening for our 5 AM flight to Frankfort, Germany tomorrow.  I'll do my best to update you on our progress back to the USA!  We are sad to leave but at the same time happy to return back home!  

            Today we all woke up with slight sadness that we would be saying goodbye to our second home, Turkey. Turkey has truly welcomed us with love from her bosom. However, even in our sadness we woke up excited to be transported to another ancient history of Turkey.   Our first visit was to an underground city/museum known as  Kaymaklı.   We were also joined by  Kapadokya   Unversity  students from their English Language Department.  The  museum first opened in 1964 and only ten percent of it is cleaned up for site visit.  Kaymaklı  may have been built by the  Phryginas  in the 8 th -7 th  century B.C.  It was used as settlement for Christians to hide out from wars and storage system during time of peace. As we bent our backs and squatted through each tunnel, we all felt transported back to history. Some of us questioned what it felt like to have a normal life while li...

Our morning started bright and early at 4:30am for a sunrise hot air balloon ride! We drove through the city to the balloon valley; a place full of people just like us waiting in anticipation for the ride. We watched our jackrabbit blue and yellow ballon blow up before climbing in. As we dipped between the valleys of Kapadokya we watched the sun rise over the horizon admiring the view with the other hundreds of balloons around us also on a morning ride. We had a smooth landing followed by cherry mimosas to celebrate a successful flight. After that it was back to the hotel for breakfast. After a quick moment of rest we meet the students from Kapadokya University who will be traveling with us throughout our time here. They are all students in the English Language and Literature Department and will be helping to translate on the excursions. We started our day of touring with a bus tour of the Castle of Cappadocia and The Red Valley. The Castle is the tallest rock structure in the area and...

Hello everyone! We slept in a bit today and left by bus around 10:30 AM for Cappadocia.  Along the way, we stopped at Lake Tuz, an absolutely beautiful salt lake in Anatolia.  We took off our shoes and walked into the lake.  The lake itself is very shallow this time of year, only reaching our ankles. After this stop, we made our way to Urgup, the main city in Cappadocia.  The town has a population of about 20,000 pey, about the size of Brookings.  The terrain is awesome and to my eye somewhat similar to Western SD.  We are staying at a University owned hotel used to help train their students in the hospitality industry. After ordering some Turkish pita and pizza, the students went shopping.  Everyone is very happy!  Looking forward to tomorrow: our hot air balloon ride early in the morning to start the day!

Today started with a 9:30 am departure to the Turkish Parliament, known in Turkey as the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. While there, our tour guide walked us through the General Assembly and the areas surrounding, such as the entry point for important politicians and dignitaries, and the wreckage from the 2016 Parliament bombing. We learned about the physical division of the Grand Assembly: elected representatives sit on the floor, dignitaries are situated above and to the left, high ranking military and judiciary personnel view from the upper, right section, and the press sits in the back along with other spectators (see photo below). Parliament has 600 members elected by proportional representation. Perhaps one day I’ll be entering through those tall and shiny doors as a diplomat! Next, we spent time at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk essentially founded the Turkish Republic, and led the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence...