End of Ankara (Hoş Cekal!) >>> Return to Turkey (Döneceğim)

So, I sorta stopped posting at July 31st after saying I felt slightly sick, leaving all the numerous readers of this blog who never met me to conclude that I had died of some horrible disease. Not true. What actually happened will be appended to the end of this post.

To make a long story short, the Critical Language Scholarship is an awesome program, and I loved spending last summer in Ankara! I made a lot of really good friends, and did a lot of cool stuff. In addition to improving my Turkish, I definitely feel that I really grew as a person thanks to my interactions with so many cool people!

As a result of my experiences, I have continued studying Turkish at the University of Pittsburgh through the Less-Commonly-Taught Language Center,. Pitt has a fantastic Turkish program, with a truly passionate instructor, and I am truly grateful that I have been able to continue studying Turkish on an independent study basis over the last year. I recommend anyone to take Turkish (not that I've ever convinced anyone, but I sure have talked people's heads off about how much I love the language.)

So, anyway, having completely loved studying Turkish and being in Turkey, I applied for the 2014 Critical Language Scholarship program, and have been accepted to study Turkish in Bursa! I leave for orientation on Thursday. Yay.

But, before I talk about Bursa, I really should finish up talking about my time in Ankara, which I can do pretty non-briefly here...

Geçmiş Olsun = Let it pass (Get well soon!)

So, it's Wednesday now, and when this blog last heard from me it was Friday, and not even Friday night yet. Have I done things since then? Oh yeah, you better believe it! For one thing, I learned just how much I appreciate Schweppe's. But, let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Domates Biber Patlıcan - Tomato, Pepper, Eggplant

In this post, I will attempt to interweave the story of things I have done this week with the story of Turkey's greatest singer.

Dikkat Sulama Var! - Caution: Sprinklers!

What did I do this weekend? I'm not quite so sure myself, because it contained what is easily the single most interesting and surreal day I've had my entire time in Turkey, as well as a mixture of strenuous hiking and relaxing swimming. In short, I went out of town to a place called Eğirdir. The tale of what passed there is about to be told... (It is mad lengthy)

Hammamistan - ("Hamam land")

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Right. What have I been up to lately in Ankara?
Answer: Fantastic things.