Internships

Today was our second day of our internships in Istanbul. We were all talking today about how not many people can say that they participated in an internship abroad. Many of the Turkish people we are working with have never even worked with or interacted with an American. What an honor it is to be representing our not only N.C. State( Go Pack!) but our country as well in such a booming city. The privilege of being fully immersed into a culture is an experience that can never be replaced. We are all still a little rocky on our Turkish because it is such a different and unique language but we are slowly getting there! Tonight we took a group consensus and our favorite thing about this program so far is our internships: meeting new people, communicating, and sharing common interests makes us realize that although our cultures are different, we are all similar in some way.

My personal favorite activity of today was visiting Dr. Ozturk's University: Istanbul Commerce University. It reminded me of Hunt Library if that gives you a mental picture: modern and beautiful! Two of his students were more than excited to take us around the university, tour the library, and other areas of the school right on the Bosphorous. Below is a picture of the girls in the group with Dr. Ozturk and his students that graciously walked us around. We look forward to the days to come and growing in our cultural knowledge and outlook of this unique country.

From left to right: Dr. Ozturk with his N.C. State students and his Istanbul Commerce University students.