I know Ive said this before but I feel like my observations are a bit better now having been here a whole week today wow a whole week done and gone. Anyway I really feel that this city has the charm of a beautiful European city like London or Florence yet has this wonderful mystic and mystery of an Asian city. Along with that it has this undeniable religious influence. Istanbul is not European it is not Asian it is not Muslim but a harmoneous mixture of the three along with so much more. I already feel like a local somewhat. I love being in one spot for a period for a change and being shoved into the mix of the locals using the public buses using the ferries I love being mixed right in. I feel almost at home here.

So yesterday was Princes Islands which was gorgeous. We had a relaxing day so we could sleep in for the first tıme really and then met Said later to go to Princes Islands. We met him at the ferry and sat got he got us all some Çay then we took a little of an hour of a ferry rıde to the islands the rıde over was so pretty we entered the Marmara sea. Once on the island we took a horse and buggy ride around the island and then got some supper. I tried pide for the fırst tıme last night and it was so yummy its basically like a turkish pizza i guess. Ill upload a picture later when I can. Then we stopped for some dondurma or ıcecream and of course i had to get pistacio since they are grown here. The ferry ride back to the city was gorgeous the sun had already set so all you could see was black except for the glittering of the lights on the islands popping out of the middle of the sea.

Today has been very relaxed nothing planned. I woke up this morning and met up wıth Kelsey and we walked down the street to a market to get some fruit. I bought some cherries which are so amazing here and a couple apples. After that all we have really been doing is reading for classes tomorrow. Ive been sitting outside with the dogs reading while they sleep. Al Abraham and Jacko were by us today. yes we name the dogs! For lunch me Kelsey and Lucian just ate on campus which surpisingly has good food. I have no idea what i got but it was like an eggplant puree with chicken curry over it and then some honeydew. It was actually really good. So far everything here on campus and off has been so good and really filling.

I think now some of us are going to go grab some dinner before we read some more. Starting this week our days are really pacted with a lot of great things to see and do. Our weekends are usually free extecpt next Saturday we are taking a cooking class which should be really fun.

I will try to upload my little cameras pictures soon that I have from the past few days but I guess my bıg camera wıll have to wait til ım home.