We are here! The 10 of us have officially made it to Istanbul..Dr. Ozturk and Dr. Appling made sure they were there on time to pick all of us up at our various times yesterday. I believe they went to the airport 7 times...now that's dedication.
The city of Istanbul is said to be 3 times larger than New York City, which is far from difficult to see while flying over the city. It seems as if Istanbul stretches on farther than the eye can see. This can be seen through the fact that Istanbul is one city separated by the Bosphorous in 3 sections: 2 sections are considered Europe and 1 section is considered Asia. We are staying in the European part of Istanbul that is known as the old city. It is full of history which contains a myriad of mosques, artifacts, and people... Lots and lots of people.
There is so much to learn in a city full of this much history, culture, and people. Today we toured the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. Each place built with so much intricacy and beauty. In the Blue Mosque, the women had to cover their heads, shoulders, and legs out of respect of the Islam religion. We learned that this enormous and extravagant mosque was built in a mere 7 years and is one of the 3,000 mosques in Istanbul. Hagia Sophia was my personal favorite: a unique spectacle to say the least. Hagia Sophia, meaning "divine wisdom" was first a church, then a mosque, and is now a museum which portrays the overlapping of 2 religions: Christianity and Islam. Lastly, we walked through the Grand Bazaar, filled with stores of rugs, pashminas, jewelry, souvenirs, etc.
Between jet lag from traveling from the United States, as well as a day of touring, everyone is now taking "siestas" preparing for our first day of internships tomorrow.
Until next time from Istanbul...
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