MY YEAR ABROAD: Republic Day, Turkish Class, and Halloween

Hey guys!

Wow, I really haven't posted in a while... Sorry about that. Okay, get ready for probably the longest post I've made so far because a lot has happened over these last couple days that I want to share.

((Okay Sarah, here is your shout out haha)) I skyped my cousin Sarah the other day for the first time since I've been here in Turkey! It was so great to talk to her, I've missed her a lot :)

Alright, so last weekend the Roteract members organized a scavenger hunt around the European side of Istanbul for all of us exchange students (so we could learn the city better and see so many amazing sites too). We were divided into 3 teams for the hunt. My team was: Me, Julia, Hana, Annalise (all USA), Luis (Germany), and Charlène (France). Our team name was "The Red Tigers" because it "sounds fierce" haha. So our team plan was to just take our time and take in the city while we walked and talked. And we even thought about stopping for a short coffee break, but that idea was short lived because Luis, the only competitive person on the team, was dead set on winning. And since he had the map, we had to follow him otherwise we'd be lost. Even though Luis basically sprinted the entire race (with us running behind), we all still had a good time! And the funniest part was that of the three teams, we got dead last. And when I say dead last, I mean so far behind that the other teams went to eat Baklava and just had us meet them at the resturant when we finished. Oh well, I really enjoyed seeing parts of European side I wouldn't have normally seen. Here are some pictures from the day:

Charlène and I

Luis

Beautiful side street we happened to stumble upon while lost

Awesome street food we all got after the race. So delicious :)

Then, another day we went to see the Hağia Sophia and Sultan's palace with all the exchange students! So fun! Here are pictures:

Hağia Sophia

Me, Luis, and Julia

Gorgeous view!

Inside Hağia Sophia

Windows

Outside we found this sign that pointed in the direction of all these famous cities

Lunch Break! The salad had the most amazing dressing on it, I only wish I remember what they said it was made of! ((Future reference, the spinach and artichoke dip was delicious))

Such a beautiful resturant!

Here's the dessert we had.

Oh what would a Rotary event be without an awkward and dysfunctional family picture? ((It's such a long story to explain the awkward family, but what I will say is that almost all the Inbounds and Rotex are involved so it makes the situation even funnier!))

Then we went to the Sultan's Palace.

*major props to the peeing dog photo bombing our picture, you are such a genious!

Dysfunctional Fam with a guard

Our group!

Daffne and I

Okay, next up is Republic Day.

((Quick lesson for everyone who doesn't know what Republic day is: This day celebrates Turkey going from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. This day is very important for modern Turkey's history))

So we all heard a speech about Atatürk (founding father of Modern Turkey) and later we went to Asian side of the city to participate in a candle-lit march for Republic day. As usual, here are pictures:

Here I am before the march. I'm so proud to call Turkey my second home. Not a day goes by that I don't remind myself how lucky I am to be able to live abroad for an entire year in this AMAZING country!

Daffne and a Rotex

*also notice the stick lit on fire with Atatürk's picture on it. They were everywhere.

Among the crowd there was this huge Turkish flag!

A few different Atatürk pictures

(Sorry for bad lighting) me, Annalise, and Rotex

Such a fun night! But towards the end it started raining. Mostly everyone in our group started covering their hair or going for umbrellas but I really love the rain, so I didn't mind it at all :)

Moving on to Halloween!

Here is Daffne and I with the Jack-O-Lantern we helped a Kindergarden class carve!

Then Saturday, after our Turkish lessons (picture below), we had our Rotary Halloween Party!

Now starts Halloween pictures:

Here are a few of us at the party. Kutay (a Rotex), Hana (dressed up as a hippy), Me (I went as a gypsy), and Luis (he hadn't changed yet into his costume).