This has been a Thanksgiving that I will never forget. Ever. On Wednesday night my roommates and I made a Thanksgiving dinner with our four other guy roommates, RA, and a couple other friends. Our program gave us 1000 kroner (about $200) to make a feast and, believe me, we did. It was so fun to combine old traditions with new friends. To go around and give thanks for this incredible semester and everything we have been given was truly amazing. A special memory, for sure.
At 5:00 PM the next day Ali, Jamie, Parker, and I boarded a plane for Istanbul, Turkey! Side note: Turkish Airlines is officially the best airline I've flown since being in Europe. Three course meals, free drinks, and movies. Sheer bliss. Every abroad student's dream. At the airport we met up with three of Ali and Parker's friends from the University of Denver, were picked up by a shuttle, and driven to our apartment! We got two apartments for the seven of us and it was such a great deal. After a long day of traveling we were all tired and went to bed pretty early. The next morning we headed out around 9:30 and went to breakfast at this cute restaurant right by our apartment. And this is when I realized how cheap Turkey is. My oh my.
Next stop: Hagia Sophia Museum. This museum was first a basilica dedicated in 360 A.D., became a mosque in 1453, and in 1935 it was opened as a museum. 360 A.D. is almost 1700 years ago and this structure is not only huge but also still standing. Unreal. I was more awestruck at the Hagia Sophia than any other place I've been this semester. No exaggeration. It's absolutely massive and just incredible to think about how it was built and is still structurally sound. Needless to say, I couldn't stop snapping pictures!
After the Hagia Sophia, we went to the Blue Mosque. Since it is still a mosque that holds services we had to take off our shoes and put our scarves around our heads. This definitely gave us some great pictures. Where else did we get good pictures you ask? After our Turkish bath that night. I won't put too many details on here but, needless to say, we definitely experienced a traditional Turkish bath. Emphasis on the word traditional. Here are some of these special pictures.
Both Friday and Saturday we experienced another abroad student's dream come true: The Grand Bazaar. Hello 50 cent bracelets and Tory Burch knockoff wallets. But don't worry Mom and Dad, I restrained myself. I may have even restrained too much, but that's in the past. We also went to the Spice Bazaar, home of our most favorite nickname we've heard in our four months abroad: Spice Girls. I can't even complain about it, my 90s dream of being Sporty Spice might have just come true for a couple days in Turkey. The Spice Bazaar was absolutely packed with people so we bought tea and spices and left as quickly as possible! On Saturday we also went to Asia for lunch because half of the city is in Europe and half in Asia. So now I can say I've been to Asia! Here are a couple pictures from the Spice Bazaar:
We did so much this weekend and I'm sure I'll be telling stories for months but I hope you all had a great holiday weekend (even if it wasn't in Turkey)!
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