Day 2: Istanbul

I can’t believe it is only the second day with all that we have seen! We started our morning taking a bus to Kadir Has University. There we met with Professor Mustafa Ayden who told us that American and Turkish relations originally started in the Ottoman Empire and how they have changed and developed. Professor Ayden also explained the history of the campus building, which has four different levels where the history was left and built on top of. We were able to see the cistern (an old waterproof receptacle), an old cigarette factory, and museum that are all part of the campus building. 

After a wonderful morning, we set out on foot to go have a meal at a beautiful little restaurant where Dr. Gonda made a stray cat his friend (or rather the stray made Gonda and his chicken its friend). Moving along through the city we saw the Bulgarian Iron Church which was the last church built in the Ottoman Empire. We also saw an Armenian church with beautiful marbling where we all made a wish.   

As plans changed and it started to rain, we made our way back to the campus where along the way we found an umbrella café. Once on campus, we quickly made our way through the rain to our first ride on the metro system back to our hotel. Here one group smartly stayed at the hotel to wind down for the night, while the rest of us went back out into the rain to find food at a mall. Twenty minutes later still in the pouring rain we finally found a restaurant, all wet but happy after another great day!

Taylor Eitemiller