My flight over on the 28th ran as smoothly as possible and I then spent the last three days within Istanbul doing some sight seeing or "cultural orientation" before travelling to Gallipoli today.
A few things I didn't realise that was a shock was Istanbul is not cheap, it is almost on par with Australian prices which is scary considering how little money I have left haha. Also a lot of the men have zero respect, so much cat calling and it made me feel very uncomfortable. Other then that Istanbul is just divine... But not as beautiful as a Spain though ;)
The first day in Turkey I looked at the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome and Topkapi Palace. The Blue Mosque was so big and the jewelry in the Topkapi Palace was amazing. The Hippodrome alsi had some ancient artifacts and it was hard to imagine standing there that many years ago people use to do gladiator fights there.
The next day we visited the Haghia Sophia which was a church turned mosque turned museum. It was amazimg to see when Islam converted it to a mosque they didn't remove the Christian images but only covered them in a sign of respect. We also visited the cistern which was used as their underground water storage, it was so pretty and the waters were filled with fish. That day ended with some shopping at the grand bazaar but I didn't buy much as it wasn't as cheap and then a visit to Taksim Square to see the city centre.
Today I arrived at the Kum hotel on Gallipoli beach at lunch time and in the afternoon we went to the battle grounds of Anzac cove, lone pine, etc.. The experience was eerie, standing there knowing 100 years ago many of our soldiers were fighting and dying there. Reading the grave stones got a little emotional at times when the Lecturer told us of the soldiers and their back story with their families, etc..
Now it's time to get on with my studying and bed and tomorrow we head back to the grounds for more course work. This experience is so amazing and I feel so honored to have this opportunity given to me.
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