Day two Istanbul. As a first out of the country experience for me, this has been quite the experience thus far. The culture is so different from what I’m used to in the United States. The food especially! After sampling different foods I have new cravings beginning, namely for freshly bakes bread with apricot jam and Turkish tea. That was by far the best breakfast I have had in quite some time. I have a feeling this will make me a carb junkie. Thankfully during the course of the day we all walked off any unneeded calories we ate (which was quite a few). We visited the German fountain, the main park near the Sultanahmet tram stop, the Museum of Islamic Art, as well as a couple other areas. At first we walked right past the German fountain and could not find it at all… little did we know that the fountain was not a typical fountain; it was a huge dome structure with beautiful gold and dark blue inlay designs on the inside with little water spigot on the outside. It was different to see people going up to it and putting their head under the water to cool down, but also drink it. Definitely had me wondering about the safety of drinking the water. But, I have to say that the fountain was probably my favorite attraction we went to today. No matter if the people were of different nationalities, male or female, whether they were wearing burkas, hijabs, or neither, everyone seemed to congregate around it. The variety struck a chord with me. Even though it was only a water fountain, it brought people together because of a basic need.

The final part of the day was Iftar, which was amazing! The food was incredibly delicious and very plentiful. I could not believe how much food was offered when after the first course I was quite full. However, I was thankful they had rice to go with the food; it made a new country feel a bit like home for me. Overall, it has been a wonderful experience so far and cannot wait for what the rest of the trip holds!