"This is great practice for when I'm going to be on the Amazing Race!"

Sorry it's been a few days... I've been so exhausted when I've gotten back to the room that i've been taking naps in the time that I normally would have been able to post. But I'm back, so you can simmer down now. Sheesh.

Anyways, the past few days have been interesting, to say the least. As far as the "structured" activities have gone, the program could use a little work. It's their first time ever coming to Istanbul for the program, and I think that the things they planned turned out a little bit different than they originally thought. That said, here's the recap:

On Monday morning, we had to get up at some ungodly hour so that we could take an hour long bus ride to Sabanci University, which is located closer to Ankara, but is still kind of in the middle of nowhere. None of us were really sure what we were going to do at the University, and as it turns out, the people running the program didn't really know either. As it turns out, Sabanci thought we were coming so that they could convince us to come to their graduate program, and the people running our program thought we were going to learn more about university life in Turkey. Fail. So basically, we sat in a dungeon-like basement room and listened to three people go over basically the same powerpoint three separate times, and then three more powerpoints just because we were all so interested. And by that I mean they took our tears of boredom for tears of happiness. It's a Turkish thing. So all that said, not the best way to spend an entire morning in a foreign country. The buildings at least looked interesting, seeing as they were straight out of Future World at Epcot. Except this Epcot is the one where fun goes to die.


Sabinci University, where I plan attending for graduate school. Said no one.

Luckily, dinner that night made up for the lack of fun that was had earlier. We wanted to find a restaurant with live music for something kind of different, and were recommended to an area of town about 15 minutes away, located on the edge of the Bosphorus. So 8 of us took a cab over to the town, and it turned out to be a really cool place. We never actually found the restaurant with live music, but we did find a restaurant that turned out to be amazing. After so many meals of kebabs and things with strange textures, we were all craving something a little bit closer to home. We sat at a big table in the main room, and everything was bright and clean. The waiters spoke good English, the food was great, AND they could split the check. What could be better? Plus, the restaurant was located right on the water, and the view across the Bosphorus was truly amazing. It was definitely my favorite night so far, no question. Awesome.


Oh hey boat, I see you.


SEAFOOD RISOTTO SO GOOD


The amazing view from my seat in the restaurant.


The mosque on the edge of the Bosphorus, and the brosephs.

As it turns out, we spent the next morning in the same town we ate dinner in the night before. There was no actual plan for being in the town though, we just took the bus over and they kind of said "go for it, kids." So we milled around the same place we had explored the night before, and wasted a few hours before heading back to the hotel. After a brief nap, a huge group of us went out to Taksim Square, the main street in the city that Jeremy and I explored the first day. We just kind of walked around, poked into stores, and even found a Catholic Church, which was pretty cool just because it's so rare. The Catholics in the group went in, and lit prayer candles. After that, we decided it was time for dinner. Because there were so many of us, and so many opinions on what to do, we just kind of drifted into two groups and ended up eating at a pseudo-italian place that was actually really good. I had a turkish inspired pizza (that i forgot to take a picture of... i was way too hungry), and even though some of the people were different than we normally hang out with, still had a really good time.


The waterside mosque in the daytime.


The Catholics in the group hanging out with Pope PJP 2. The heathens had to wait outside.

Today the morning activities got back on track, mainly due to the fact that Betty, our tour guide, was back in our lives. Her name is actually something long and Turkish, but as she said, "my friends call me Betty." I don't know why that's silly to me, but... it is. Anyways, she was the same guide we had the first day of historic touring, and she's just really funny and nice and we all cheered for her every time she got on the bus. We went to the markets, including the spice market and the grand bazaar. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find that much that I fancied for myself or for other people, so I only ended up with a couple of things. There's just so much of everything, that it all kind of starts to look like junk after a while. I'm sure there were some hidden gems there, but we just didn't have enough time in either market to find them. The Grand Bazaar in particular was insane... my friend and I decided that if our task on the Amazing Race had been to find a particular shop in the bazaar, we would have failed and been the last ones on the mat. Sad, but true. We ended up getting pretty lost, and the shopkeepers were ridiculous, but it was still a cool experience. I would definitely recommend it for someone with less claustrophobia and more patience.


A shot of the Bazaar, where I plan on setting up a stall that sells recordings of my burps... my one true talent.

Then came the Bosphorus cruise. The weather has been pretty overcast and cold today, but it was still really cool to be out on the water, just chilling between Europe and Asia. The city is so hilly, and it's such a different sight than anything I've seen in the US. There are houses covering the hills, and there are so many different types of architecture and design for all of the buildings. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear much of what Betty was saying over the loudspeakers because people were talking, but it was a good way to end the day, and the planned activities in Istanbul.


BETTY! I want to keep her in my pocket so she can guide me around Istanbul when I get lost.


A really cool castle we could see from the ship.

After we got back, we still had to eat lunch... so we ran to this place we'd been eyeing called "Waffling," and I don't know whether or not there are placed like this in the US, but if so, I must find one and make it my wife. Basically. you get a waffle, smear it with stuff, put fruit in it, and eat it like a taco. Mine had nutella, bananas, strawberries, and kiwi. I think if you were to take a bite out of an angel, that's what this tasted like. I'm not sure how helpful that analogy is, but... you get it.


Catch me on the next season of "The Biggest Loser," this fall, Wednesdays at 8:00 PM on NBC.

So tomorrow we get up super early to fly to Verona, and I'm excited. Istanbul has been crazy and a lot of fun, but I'm ready to get settled in for a little bit. By the time of my next post, I'll be in Italia! Hope all you kids are doing well, and as always, I miss you all. Hoşça kal, Istanbul!