Turkey Part 1 – Istanbul

I am sitting on a bus right now to Bodrum – and it has wifi.  Perfect chance to post on some of my experiences so far.

I am here in Turkey with a group of 10 students and our professor who is leading our experience here.  Over the past 4 days we have been visiting several of the historical places in Istanbul and really trying to soak up the culture, architecture styles, and people.  The style of learning is a little different than a lot of what I’m used to.  For example, we are writing poetry to describe our experiences and sketching landscapes and arches in some of the mosques we are visiting.  It’s stretching me a bit as I am not much of a poet and not much of a sketcher, but I am understanding some things better by spending time.   Generally during the day we have visited some landmarks such as the Aya Sofia and have traveled to specific districts to identify some specific archetypes of both people and business types.  We’re working hard to understand the ways in which things operate here so we can apply it to working in Bitez, the town in Bodrum which we’ll be making a plan for.

I’ve got so many pictures, but I will try and post a few here to give an idea of where I’ve been.  Wireless on the bus is pretty spotty, so I will do another post soon.

Even though Jess and I traveled here before, I am seeing new things and understanding the area better than I did before.  It’s been great to share ideas with other students here and with Korkut (our professor) as we get together as a group to discuss daily.

From here we are headed to spend 6 nights on a boat on the Bodrum Peninsula.  We’ll visit 5 or 6 communities to further refine our understanding of the business types and people types, and then we’ll use these case studies to apply to Bitez to help develop a sustainable plan for them.  I’m excited for this portion of the trip — should be a lot of fun.