I saw this in another blog post and I thought it was a good idea, so I have decided to write about a few things that I have been noticing in Vienna recently.

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I had never been one to enthusiastically celebrate Valentine’s Day, but a weekend in Paris with close friends made it difficult to not become a hopeless romantic.  From fresh out-of-the-oven baguettes to perfectly balanced macaroons, I fell in lust with the glamour of France.

Last Sunday IES took us on a day trip to Nagahama, a city in the Shiga Prefecture of Japan just one hour away from Nagoya by bus. Having taken off at around 9 am, we made our first stop at Nagahama’s Hokkoku pottery studio. I tried making a bowl for the first time. Hopefully when the studio sends the bowls back to us I will have something good enough to drink tea with!

There are two things that I guarantee happen in almost every single conversation. Immediately there is the greeting like a hello, how are you, or the casual “what’s up.” Then of course the meat of the conversation follows (you could say that the greeting was one of the buns), which can vary in length and quality. Then, at the close, the final bun in this delicious conversational sandwich-metaphor is put on, the goodbye. These two components, the hello and the goodbye, have forever kept our conversations together like book-ends on a book shelf.

Through IES, I am able to participate in an internship this semester. I am so excited, and I feel so lucky to be able to have the experience of working in Rome. My internship this semester is through the C.R.E.T.A Rome Gallery and Ceramics School which I mentioned in my previous blog! After going to the pottery aperitivo and meeting both Lori-Ann and Paolo, I knew I wanted to have my internship experience with them.

About two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to travel to Florence and Pisa with some of my friends from the program. Being able to see other parts of Italy, as well as other countries for such an inexpensive price, is definitely a pro of studying abroad. While we did have to buy ourselves food, which of course was a little pricey, the overall trip barely cost me over 70 euro. As an art history major, Florence was at the top of my list for weekend trips in Italy.

A month has passed and I can’t describe how its been in words! This has definitely been a life changing trip and I am sure it will continue to be. I am currently at my home university, Sabanci Universitesi and I love it. The people are amazing and very welcoming. I am currently taking five courses: Anthropology of the Body, Basic Turkish, Turkish Culture, Renaissance Art and Human Rights in Global Affairs. The classes are really amazing and very interesting.

There are many things that I like about Istanbul but I will name the top 5 so far.