Today is the 14th of July, and the beginning of our last week in Freiburg! It’s been a very short summer. Since my last update, we’ve finished the last leg of Turkey, and made it back safely to Germany. It’s good to be back, but Turkey was a lot of fun.
After our escapade into Ephesus, we listened to some excellent speakers who delivered lectures on Turkey and the possibilities of Turkey joining the EU. The speakers had some interesting points, and ultimately helped us to make sense of what had been discussed in class beforehand. A fresh perspective is always welcome, especially with topics as complex as what we’ve been discussing. As it turned out, we had a few speakers address us in Izmir, and some address us in Istanbul. I thought this was a pretty good way to go about it, seeing as it broke up the academic work with some lighter tourist-y stuff.
Speaking of tourist-y stuff, I think we managed to see way more of Istanbul than any one should be able to in only a few days. Of a much larger list of things we saw, we toured the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Bosphorus strait, and took two city tours. Although it was a lot to do in less than a week, I’m very happy with everything we we’re able to accomplish. There was never a hope of really being able to familiarize oneself with a city as large as Istanbul in less than a week, but I’m satisfied for now!
Sunday was spent traveling back to Germany, and thankfully everything went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, after completing our fantastic week in Turkey we had to hit the ground running, seeing as we started our last week of classes. Waiting upon our arrival were two papers and two finals. It’s been hectic to say the least. However, I think we’ll be able to finish strong and be ready to head home soon!
Speaking of home, most all of us have arranged our trains back to Frankfurt for our flights out, and signed up for checkout appointments. I knew it was coming, but not this quickly! Our time abroad isn’t quite over (our finals will make sure to remind us of that), but it’s getting harder and harder to put leaving this fantastic place in the back of our minds. No goodbyes yet, but I’m sure not looking forward to it!
More Blogs From This Author
Reintegration
A look at getting back into the swing of things since coming home.
Greg Hauser
<p>I'm a sophomore at NC State University studying Materials Science and Engineering. I've lived in North Carolina all my life, but my family and I have traveled all over the U.S. I enjoy spending time with friends, meeting new people, listening and making music, and working with kids through the outreach program the College of Engineering at NC State operates. I love to jump into new things, and can't wait to see what is in store for me in Germany this Summer!</p>
