Author Archives: nrl5035

Home from Hatay, my summer abroad at an end

I came home from Turkey a few days ago. Our last three days we had spend working on our final papers and projects so the last three days seemed to go by really fast. There was not much time to do anything but work on the projects and hope that you finished in time. To get home I had to wake up in Turkey around 2:30 am, and get all my stuff downstairs and to the gate of the convent. Three other girls were coming with me on the flight from Hatay to Istanbul, so we had to say goodbye to the others the night before. One of the guys came down to help us get our stuff out and to lock the door behind us. It was actually really sad to say goodbye to my group members. After spending a month together with no real distance, I had gotten used to seeing them everyday. It was weird when I first got home and I was alone for the first time in a while. At the gate, the five of us climbed into a van which took us from Iskenderun to Hatay, where we caught our flight. This flight was delayed about an hour, and we had some difficulty checking in for the flight and making sure our baggage was switched from one flight to the next. After take off, the flight went smoothly, and we arrived in Istanbul where we went from the domestic to the international terminal. After checking in, we were able to get some food together for the last time. Two of our group members were getting on different flights, and we had to say goodbye again so that the three of us could walk to our gate. The flight to JFK from Istanbul was not a bad flight. It took about ten hours, and I sat between two nice people (one was a old Turkish man and the other was a young Turkish boy, and neither spoke English, so I didn’t talk to them). When we got to JFK, we had to go through passport control and claims, but it took a lot less time than I thought it would. After getting my bags, the three of us walked to the exit, where we said goodbye and I joined my family (my sister had come to pick me up with my two nephews). I thought originally that this would be the worst of my travel, but I did not think about the ride home from JFK. I had to sit in a car for about five hours while we drove from New York to Pennsylvania. After sitting for so long, my legs did not feel so great. By the time I had gotten home I had been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Even now I am still tired, and slightly sore.

It feels different to be back in the United States. The first major difference to me is that I can speak the language. In Turkey it was difficult, because I only know a few Turkish words and I can not say any full sentence. Here I am able to order the food I want without having to point to the menu and nod. The other major thing is that people stand a lot further away from each other in the US. Just walking in public is very different. There is much more personal space allowed in the US. I think overall I am going to miss Turkey. The day I left, I really was not ready to go, and I had wished I was able to stay longer. I had a really fun trip, and I hope I will be able to do it again some day.

Location: 58 Buck Rd. Dover, PA 17315, USA

Hittite Happenings and Hidings…

Yazilikaya was the first stop on our tours today. After driving for about three hours, we arrived at the site, and piled out of the bus. When I had done research on Hattusas, Yazilikaya was always associated with the information. I thought this rock sanctuary was actually in the site of Hattusas, but I was wrong. It is near, on one of the rock outcrops near the site of Hattusas. Yazilikaya means “inscribed rock” and was once used as a temple and ritual area. The New Year and spring celebration festivals and rituals took place at Yazilikaya. This rock sanctuary depicts much of the Hittite pantheon of Gods. There are two main chambers which are open to the public, chamber A and chamber B. Chamber A was actually discovered in 1834 by Charles Texier, who thought these were Iron Age inscriptions (Texier believed the site of Hattusas was Pteria, so he thought he would tie this into his theory).

Chamber A is very weathered because it was exposed for so long, so the inscriptions and reliefs are worn and hard to discern. Chamber B, however, was not exposed and was actually filled in, which preserved the inscriptions very well. I could tell the difference between the exposures when looking at the remaining reliefs. I was actually amazed at how clear the reliefs from chamber B were. I found it interesting how large this site was as a single ritualistic area when you compare it to some of the temples at Hattusas (not Temple 1, but the temples in the Upper City) and from Alacahoyuk. I also thought the proximity to Hattusas was interesting, because of the amount of temples at Hattusas. Yet, this site was important enough that they would perform the spring ritual here.

Hattusas was after Yazilikaya, and the site I am doing my presentation and paper on. This site was found in 1834, and excavations first started in 1906. Hattusas is the site that I have to research, present and write a paper on for the landscape Archaeology portion of this trip. I am also going to make a map of the site for my GIS course final. There have been about 5 different people directing the excavations, so preservation techniques vary. It was pretty amazing to see how big this site really was. When you look at a map, or read about the different components of the site, you do not get a good idea of how large and far apart the different parts are. I do not think I will ever be able to imagine the site the same way as before visiting it. I did get to see the parts of the site I had been reading about, but we also we went to parts that I had not read about. I had thought I had looked up a lot of information, but it seems like there is always more to find. I just feel that I could have been more prepared, but I can not change the past. The only thing I can do is look up the information, so that I am informed in the future. On of my favorite parts of visiting Hattusas was being able to walk through the only open part of the postern at Yerkapı. I also liked looking at the side of Yerkapı. It allowed me to see exactly how a 35 degree slope survives 2400 years.

Alacahoyuk was the last site of the day. It was presented to the public very nicely. There were signs for just about all the finds, and the site had flowers growing wild everywhere. The sight of the red poppies (at least I think they were poppies. I’m not exactly sure, because I do not know a lot about the varieties of flowers) and purple wildflowers are forever going to be incorporated with my memory of this site. I am also going to think about Turkish school children, whom seemed to swarm this site. As we were climbing through the postern, I could hear the children tramping down the stairs and running through the narrow tunnel. As I could only move as fast as the people in front of me, I was slightly afraid that some of the children were going to run into the back of me. Alacahoyuk is a Hittite (and pre-Hittite) site, with a temple, and a Sphinx Gate. It was interesting to see the reliefs and the gate with a similar style to Hattusas, but on a smaller scale, which seems to me like a much more likely spot for people to actually live.

One might wonder why as a US citizen, the Hittite empire means anything to me. Well, this empire, which was smaller than the Mesopotamians and Egyptians was able to challenge and win battles against both. They were able to manipulate their landscape to help them gain power. At the same time, we can look at their collapse and other internal problems to determine what can be applied to todays governments. Through the study of the past, a better future can be possible.

Location: Selvi Hotel, Cadnkiri cad. No: 16, Ulus-Ankara, Turkey

Climbing through Cappadocia

The study tour around Cappadocia began with a trip to the Goreme Open Air Museum. Goreme was once a city which was carved into the Tufa stone that covers this area. There were actually people living in this town until the Turkish government had them move a little bit away from the site, so that the site would not be damaged anymore by daily living. This is the area of Turkey where monasteries first came into use in the Christian world. The Christian priests believed that if one were to separate themselves from the daily life as experienced by others, then there would be less chance for them to sin. This was a measure taken to protect their innocence and untainted souls. Goreme was carved out around the Byzantine Period, and shows signs of the art from this period in the churches that are abundant at this site. We went into several churches, and we were able to see the difference between the frescos done by professionals and nonprofessionals. In most of the churches at this site, there was a Cappadocian cross. There was also the repeated image of the stylized version of Jesus on the cross with the two thieves beside him. This site did amaze me, however, due to the fact that all of these places were carved into the rock. There was thought about how the space was going to be used, and what had to be left so that more details could be put to use later. Goreme is also a UNESCO world heritage site. As we walked through this site, I felt like it would be difficult to live in this village. Everyone would have to live close together, and as you walked through an area, it wore down and became slicker, and harder to walk over. I could see myself falling from one of the buildings and doing some damage to myself.

After we went to Goreme, we went to the underground city, Derinkuya. This is a city that was formed by slowly scooping away at the Tufa stone which makes up most of this region. The city is well protected with mill stones, which would be used to close off passage ways, as well as having a good communication system within the city. Not only did the city have defenses, but the layout of these cities are not exactly easy to follow, and if you did not know where you were going, one could get very lost in the winding passageways. Derinkuyu was not just storage and housing, but it also had a church in the bottom level in the shape of an Assyrian Cross (slightly bent at the top, because they say that as Jesus died, his head leaned to one side). In the cross shaped church, a gallery was set up, which contained photos of the landscape in various parts of Turkey. As we walked around in the site, there were times when it was less walk and more crawl and bend. The tunnels at the site can get pretty narrow, and the ceiling seems to get closer and closer to the ground as the tunnel continues. Sometimes I wonder how people were able to get through these passages on a daily basis.

The second underground city, Kaymakli, was more interesting than the first city (or so I thought). It was much easier to imagine people living in the second city. There were more rooms for living and storing. Also, the rooms seem to break off in random directions, which gave a more comb like feel instead of the straight through tunnels like the first. Because we were able explore the secondary rooms and tunnels, I felt like there was much to see. I loved climbing through the tunnels, even if we didn’t know where they went. I also felt like it would have been so easy to get lost in these rooms in the past. I wonder how people were able to climb through without the use of electric lights and flashlights. There were parts of the tunnel that were really small and narrow, which would make it very difficult to walk though holding a torch or something similar. I wonder if people would walk around in the dark, relying on the information they knew about where they lived. I don’t know if I would ever feel completely comfortable living at a place like this. I would have to bend down a lot to keep myself from hitting my head, and I would be a bit too wide for some of the tunnels we went through.

Location: Kilim Otel Dumlupinar Cad. No: 50, Urgup-Neveshir, Turkey

Archaeology on the Run

The first site we went to today was Kültepe. Kültepe, also called Neşa and Kanesh had occupation starting in the Chalcolithic and continued to the Roman Period. Kültepe at one point in its occupation was a Hittite capital (this was the capital city that preceded Hattusha). Kültepe is the “Hill of Ashes,” as it has seen much destruction. The villagers were actually using soil from the site to fertilize their crops and were plowing the land in the lower city, which turned up cuneiform tablets. Over 100 tablets were found in the Lower City in the residential homes of individuals. These texts and other indicators denote trade with Assyria. Because of the location of the site, it would have been an important area for trade.

In the Upper City, no clay tablets were found, but the Warsamas’ Palace was found with fired mudbrick walls, which were vitrified. These walls gave a better idea of what kind of settlement was here, and how they were using natural resources to build their structures. Excavations were done on this site by Professor Tahsin Özgüç starting in 1948, and continuing until he died in 2005. It was interesting to see the site which preceded mine as the capital of the Hittite empire. I also found it interesting that both sites start out with Assyrian merchant occupation at the site. The lower city shows signs of the constant trade, and the site seems to have been in a very good location, otherwise people would have gone to another spot to live.

This was an interesting site to walk through. We did not have to have a guard with us, only our Tour Guide, and we were able to walk where we wanted on the site. This is not always a good thing, because those who do not care to preserve these places can have free roam, and may destroy more than they think simply by touching or putting pressure on an object in the wrong spot. I have to admit that even after seeing the sites up until this point, I am completely astonished at how anything from the past can preserve and give us a view of how things once were. These sites not only show what happened, but may allow us to stop a harmful event from happening simply by looking at reactions of the past and the outcomes that came from them. I know that it seems like archaeology is all about the past, but unless we put the information to use in the present day, there is really no point at looking at it.

After Kültepe, we went to a site called Kerkenes. When we got to Kerkenes, we were taking inside of the dig house by Scott Branting, the co-director of the site. He took us back to a room where he was able to show us maps of the site, and gave a brief overview of the site, and how the archaeologists working at the site were going about gathering and using the data. Kerkenes was an Iron Age capital with elements that suggest Phrygian origins. The Archaeologists excavating at Kerkenes think this site may be Pteria, which explains the short occupation of 40-60 years. After the only level of occupation is destroyed, no one built on top of it, leaving the perfect situation for archaeologist later to use Remote Sensing.

The archaeologists at Kerkenes are doing as much work as they can at the site without excavating. There is some excavation, but when they excavate a building, they leave half unexcavated so that people can go back later and check their work, or future archaeologists have better technology which they can apply to the site. In place of excavation they have intensive GIS maps that include an extremely accurate TIN that has GPS points at every inch of the site (a total of 1.4 million points). After the brief introduction to the site, we took a bus up to the base of the hoyuk. We were given the option of riding in the back of the land rover up to the top of the site or walking up hill side. I choose the hill, which I have to admit did not seem as bad at the base of the hill as it did about two-thirds of the way up. The slope was much steeper than I had thought it would be. I feel like it would have been really hard to get all the points for the site. Especially since the slope I walked up was not the steepest at the site. Scott Branting informed us that many of the people who took the points ended up with twisted ankles.

When we reached the top of the mound, Scott Branting gave us a tour of the site. After climbing down from the highest part of the mound, he took us to the Cappadocia gate. This is the largest of the gates, and what they think is the main gate of the site. Walking through, we were able to see the stone structure which was well put together, not leaving hand folds, or rough patches which would allow enemies to climb on. There were ponds which were used for the collection and storage of water in the site. As of now, they are full of leeches, which some people will travel to find because they are supposed to be good for the “health.” After passing both, we walked up to the remnants of the palace. We were able to see the throne chamber, but we did not walk far into the palace complex before we turned around and went back to the dig house.

At Kerkenes, we also found out a little more on the status of research visas. Apparently most foreign excavators and surveyors had not received their visas. Without the visa, we are unable to do anything. Scott also told us that this year, and new law went into effect that dealt with excavations. If the Archaeologists are foreign, they have to pay an extra sum of money to start excavations for that year. The amount is about 20,000 dollars, and this can be troublesome for smaller sites that do not have as much funding. Also, few foreign archaeologists had heard back out their research visas. We at this point have not even been contacted about ours.

Location: Kilim Otel, Dumlupinar Cad. No: 50, Urgup-Nevsehir, Turkey

Wandering through Turkey

Today we traveled to Mount Nemrut (Nemrut Daği). So far this has been my favorite part of our trip. Mount Nemrut was an amazing site. However getting there was a bit sketchy. The van driver did not drive on the windy mountain roads like I am used to. I felt sometimes that we were going to go over the edge. I was also at a window seat, so it didn’t help being able to see how close to the edge of the road we were. We didn’t die on the road, and were able to get up top of Mount Nemrut with out any injury. After scrambling out of the car, we walked up to the East Terrace. It doesn’t seem like much, but walking, even on the path at Mt. Nemrut was difficult for me due to the altitude. I grew up, and live in a valley my entire life. I also really do not like heights. I tend to avoid them as much as possible, so walking up to the East Terrace was kind of an accomplishment for me. I was able to force myself to walk on a narrow path on the largest mountain in the area. This is something that I can’t say I have ever done before.

When I reached the terrace, I was pretty amazed. There was a large raised platform that I could sit on and look around at the surrounding landscape as well as out on the tumulus and the statues of the gods. I found it very interesting that Antiochus would have a statue of himself placed at the same level as the Gods. He was the ruler of this fairly small kingdom of Kommagene, yet he was able to create a cult around himself that people actually followed. The tumulus that he had constructed to be his burial place is 150 m high and has a 50 meter radius. His burial chamber was never found, and no one has the clearance to excavate the tumulus to continue to look for it. This site also had two of the longest Greek inscriptions in Asia Minor. The last thing that I found really interesting is that Teresa Goell, the first female that excavated in Turkey, was not mentioned in any of the Guide books that we looked at, and was not mentioned by the tour guide at all. When she was mentioned at the site, the tour guide had seemed like he had never heard of her. I am wondering if this is because they do not like to talk about female archaeologists’ accomplishments, or if it was because they simply did not like this woman. However, she did spend a large amount of time at this site, and even camped out in the summer and winter.

After Mount Nemrut, we continued to Arsameia. Arsameia was originally constructed in the third century BCE, by the Kommagene family Arsames. However, most of the artifacts and structures we saw today were made in the first century BCE. We walked along the path, which may have been the original path from the third century BCE, and we looked at two reliefs with carvings of deities on the front with inscriptions on the back. Then we were shown to a cave that ended with iron bars keeping people from entering. The second tunnel we were shown, however, was not blocked off. A small group of us (five including me) climbed down to the bottom of the cave tunnel to see if it opened up to anything, such as the burial chamber, it was supposed to be connected to. After climbing down for what seemed a long time, the group reached the bottom, which abruptly came to an end because the tunnel was filled in with rocks. I enjoyed this part of the day very much. It is not everyday that you can climb down into a tunnel which once lead to a burial chamber of a king. The first bit of the tunnel was easy to get down into due to the carved stairs. However, as the tunnel continued, the stairs were replaced with a simple dirt tunnel which you had to use the walls to keep yourself from falling too fast down the tunnel. Climbing back up the tunnel was much easier and much quicker than going down. However, both ways I accidently kicked some loose rocks which hit one of the guys that went down ahead of me.

After Arsameia, we visited the Septimus Severus Bridge. The Roman Bridge (Septimius Severus Bridge) we visited crossed over the Cendere (Cabinas) River, which is a tributary of the Kafta River (which is also a tributary of the Euphrates River). This bridge was built in the second century CE by the XVI Legion. The bridge is 7 meters 50 centimeters wide, which was just enough space for 10 people to walk across together. There was no extra space given, so that the soldiers were not given any luxury. There were columns erected which had inscriptions on dedicating them and the bridge to the Emperor Sentimius Severus (who lived 193-211 CE) and his wife and two sons, Caraealla and Geta. When Geta was killed, his column was removed as commanded by Emperor Caraealla, which was the custom at the time. I found it amazing that the bridge was still standing, and that 10 people can actually stand abreast on it (there were ten of us, so we actually tried it).

Karakuş Tumulus was the last place we stopped on the way to the hotel. This tumulus was a memorial grave for the Kommagene Royal family of the first century BCE. We didn’t spend much time here, and there was not much that we talked about. However, it was interesting to compare this smaller tumulus to the one on top of Mt. Nemrut. It is much smaller in comparison, but it was created in the same time period.

Location: Euphrat Hotel Nemrut Dagi-Karadut Koyu 02446 Kahta-Adiyaman, Turkey

The death of a Bishop

Location: Tugcan Otel Ataturk Blv. No: 34 Gaziantep, Turkey

What’s up head nod

I have been really busy for the past couple days. We have been having our classes at the convent we are staying in, and I haven’t had much time to do anything but study. We eat with the staff and any visitors, which for about 3 days was pretty packed. A group of Germans came in on Monday, and then a group of Syrians came in on Tuesday. They are both gone now, but we had a full room when we were eating dinner and supper. The meal system is different here. We have breakfast and then a main, hot meal called dinner at the American lunch time. Then when Americans would eat dinner, they have a cold meal and call it supper, so that when you go to sleep you are not still digesting a huge meal. I think the meals are amazing. The cook is really good, and we get to listen to the two fathers, the sister, and the bishop talk in mixed languages. There is also a German student (I think they have been calling him brother) that is studying to become a priest. Like I said, there are different languages being used. There are staff members that speak in Turkish, the fathers speaks in German, Spanish, Italian, and a few phrases in English. The Bishop speaks in several languages, but mostly mixes Italian and English for our use, and Sister Leonora speaks English. When they talk to each other, they generally use Italian, or they change to something else depending on the subject. I love to watch the interactions between the people who live here. Sister Leonora is pretty much in charge of the running of the convent. If you have any problems, you go and talk to her. She likes to control what is going on, and even likes to preside over how much the one priest eats.

For five days straight (today is the 6^th day) we have had continuous lectures and labs for landscape archaeology and GIS. We start about 9, 9:30 in the morning and we have class until lunch (which is 12:30). We pick back up in the afternoon around 1:30 and continue until we have completed the lecture and lab for GIS (when you finish your lab you are done for the day) so I have been finishing about 4:30. It might seem like a normal amount of time for class, but we are only taking 6 credits. We had to cram all the lectures into about 5 days, due to the traveling we will be doing starting tomorrow. Like I said, we can’t do survey, or anything that even remotely looks like survey (unless we want to answer to an angry Turkish government) so we will be going from site to site. All of the students have a site that we have researched and are giving presentations on today. We will be visiting these sites and a few more. When we finish with the study tour, we will be back in Iskenderun for 3 days so that we can work on our finals (two papers and two GIS projects). I am doing research for Hattusas, so I get to write a paper on it, as well as do a GIS for this site and the other sites and cities (or areas) we are visiting.

We will be going to:

June 4: the Antioch Mosaic Museum & Cave Church of Peter; Gaziatep Museum and Gaziantep

June 5: Zeugma; Harran; Urfa

June 6: Gobekli Tepe; Kahta

June 7: Arsameia; Mount Nemroud; Malatya

June 8: Aslantepe; Kayseri

June 9: Kultepe; Kerkenes; Cappadocia

June 10: Cappadocia

June 11: Hattusas; Yazilikaya (which is beside Hattusas, sometimes incorporated in the site); Alcachoyuk; Ankara

June 12: Ankara; Gordion; Konya

June 13: Catalhoyuk; Karaman; Uzuncaburc/Diocasearea; Silifke

June 14: Cannet/Cehennem Cave; Elaiussa Sebaste; Kizkalesi; Mersin

June 15: Tarsus; Karatepe; back to Iskenderun

Like I said, this was not originally what we were supposed to be doing. We were going to continue the survey work that had been done every summer for 6 years (the MOPSOS project). I think I would have really liked to do the survey. It would have been a wonderful experience (even though it is completely tiring and hot work). I, however, and supper stoked to be going to Catal Hoyuk and Hattusas. I have done research on Catal Hoyuk for previous classes I have taken, and I am getting a chance to go see the work that I had only read about. This is something I would have never thought I would have gotten to do.

Location: Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia Cathedral of the Annunciation Yenisehir Mah. Mithat, Pasa Caddesi 5, P.K. 75, 31201 Iskenderun, TURKEY

The first four days of my trip to Turkey was to Istanbul. Yesterday after a trip to the old spice market, we got our flight to Hatay. After some turbulence, and an airsick neighbor on the plane, I settled in for an hour drive to Iskenderun. I am staying in a convent in Iskenderun with my group from Penn State.

We were originally supposed to survey for about a month while in Iskenderun, but we were unable to obtain research visas due to a back up in the Ministry of Culture. Our professor informed us that it was not only our group, but just about every foreign Archaeologist that was unable to get the research visa. So we are going to follow our plan B. In this area of the world, people are very superstitious. They believe that if you are given the evil eye, you will be unable to get out of your bad luck unless you wear the charm of protection against it (its a blue pendant that has light blue, white and black swirls and dots. I would upload some pictures, but I am having a hard time with the internet connection here. When I come back to the United States, I will be sure to place them on my blog). Our misfortune could be due to something like this occurring, problems within different governments, or the head sister at the convent praying to have open rooms for some traveling priests next week. It could also be just plain bad luck. However, without our permits, we are unable to survey, so instead we are going to visit pre-existing excavated sites, and look at how the archaeologist handle and protray their work to outsiders. We are still taking classes, but instead of shorter classes we will have 10 days of lectures that span for several (anywhere from four to seven hours a day) and we will be bumping up our presentations.
Last night I played several ball games with some of my group members from Penn State, a priest and Pilgrims from France. We started by playing volleyball with no rules then developed some rules. After a while we started to teach them four square which evolved to a game of six square then up to nine square. That was probably not the safest game I have played. It was interesting trying to teach the rules however, because the pilgrams spoke english, but the priest spoke german and italian with limited english. I have to admit that I am horrible at sports, so I was targeted when we were playing because I am almost a sure point for the opposing team. After trying to play nine square and failing, we tried a game of dodge ball. Oh, the fun that is dodgeball. One of the students on this trip was hit in the face with one of the first throws.

Classes started today, and I was able to sit through them with no problem. We were given a coffee break early in teh day and later a “dinner” break (there is no lunch meal in Turkey. The main meal of the day is at lunch time, and it tends to be hot and large. When we would have supper, they eat a small meal with salads and soup. This is so after consuming a large amount of food, you are able to burn off some of the meal before going to sleep.

Another event that occurred today was when I locked myself in the bathroom by mistake. The convent we are staying in is very old, and it has wooden doors with large metal keyholes. Unfortunately the lock sticks on the door, and when I locked it, I was unable to turn the lock back. After getting help from my professor, the graduate student, and five of the other students of the trip, I was able to get the lock to move. I was in the bathroom for about twenty minutes, and my professor had just gone to get help from one of the people who run the convent when I was able to get the lock unstuck. My bathroom is pretty tiny, and the window is too high to reach, so I am not sure how long I would have been able to stay in the bathroom without panicking. Now I think it was hilarious, but I was a bit frightened for a little.
Right now I should be doing research for a project that is going to be handed in within the month, so I am going to go work on it. I am enjoying my trip so far, and I hope to learn much on this trip.

Location: Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia Cathedral of the Annunciation Yenisehir Mah. Mithat, Pasa Caddesi 5, P.K. 75, 31201 Iskenderun, TURKEY

Arrival in Istanbul, Turkey

May 22, I woke up at 5:30, and got ready to leave for Istanbul. It is now 10:39 p.m. on May 23, 2010 and I am getting ready to sleep. My trip started out normal, but I had to drive from York, PA to JKF airport in New York. I decided to leave at 8 a.m., thinking that would be plenty of time to get to New York for my 4:45 flight. However, I was wrong. In New York I got into heavy traffic, and I ended up missing the boarding of the plane I was supposed to get on. It took about 6 hours instead of the 3 and a half it was supposed to take to get there. After some conversation with the woman at the ticket counter, I was able to get a flight that took me from JFK to Paris, France then from Paris to Istanbul.

I have to say for my first time flying, this was definitely and experience. However, I loved it. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The delay between my flight to Paris and my flight to Istanbul was about two hours, which gave me plenty of time to depart from the first plane, find the gate for my next flight, and board my flight that took me to Istanbul. I am going to say, that for the first part of my trip I was a nervous wreck. I had never flown before and here I am taking a non-direct flight. Instead of Turkish Air, I flew Air France. I was fed pretty tasty meals (my first flight had dinner and breakfast and my second flight had lunch). I arrived in Istanbul around 2:30 p.m. and went through the lines for passports and grabbed my baggage. I had no idea what most people at the airport were saying, and it was hard to understand where to go. I happened to run into a college student about my age that was studying abroad in the United States (he actually missed the same flight to Istanbul that I missed), who helped me make a call on a pay phone.I then went to find the place where we were to meet up with the rest of the group members.

After several students and the professor and grad student were assembled, we headed to the hotel. After a little time unpacking and resting, we ate dinner, and afterward we went out to walk to an open air market that is close to where we are staying in Istanbul. We have a Turkish tour guide, and he would point things out as we walked. When we got to the market he said good bye, and we started walking toward taksim square. As we were walking I noticed how hard it is to drive without people walking in front of the cars. We even saw an emergency vehicle that had to yell at people to get out of the way.

As it is getting late, I am going to head off to bed now. I have to get up early after only having a few hours of sleep on the plane to hold me over until now.

Location: Grand Hotel Halic Refik Saydam Street 37 TepebaÅÄ± 34430 Istanbul / Turkey

Day of the Flight

I am getting ready to catch my flight later today. I have to leave to drive to the airport very soon. I live in southern Pennsylvania, and I am getting on my flight in JFK, so I have a bit of a drive.

All of my stuff is packed, and I am nervous. I am not sure if I have all of the stuff I need, and I hope I did not forget anything. I also need to stop and get a baggage tag on the way to the airport.

This will be the first time I have ever flown, so I am even more nervous, because I do not know what all I have to do at the airport.

I will be flying Turkish Air, and will be taking a direct flight to Turkey. I should arrive in Turkey around 9am tomorrow! I can’t wait to get a view from a different part of the planet! I am excited to be so high in the atmosphere.

Location: 58 Buck Rd., Dover, PA 17315, USA

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