Day Two in Istanbul, Day One in Rome.

Day Two in Istanbul, Day One in Rome.

International travel three days in a row is tough. It feels like more than three days really, somewhere between three days and three years is more accurate. But spending part of those three ridiculous days in Istanbul and Rome makes it totally worth it. I woke up this morning at roughly 7:15, much earlier than I get up at home if I'm being honest. After a delicious breakfast of orange juice, olives, and a piece of bread with a mixture of date syrup and peanut butter poured over top. The view from the roof was spectacular to say the least.

Panoramic view from our hotel's roof

One of the many interesting alleys we found

With a group of five other global scholars, I proceeded to explore the town surrounding our hotel. At 9:30 in the morning, things were pretty quiet, but after getting some weird looks for taking pictures of alleyways and people leaning out their windows, our group managed to make some friends. We drank Turkish coffee and Chai tea while listening to Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift songs at the coffee shop and using hand gestures and thumbs-up to communicate with the men who worked there. They were so sweet, chatting with us, giving us blankets when it got chilly, and they refused to let us pay for our drinks at the end, leaving the six of us waving our thanks as we headed back to the hotel. 

Turkish coffee

The rest of the day was spent en route to Italy. We traveled in three vans to the airport, went through security to get into the building, got our plane tickets, went through more security, and ate lunch. We flew Swiss Air to Zurich on our way to Rome, and if I recommend anything about an extensive day of travel it's the chocolate squares one receives on a Swiss Air flight. Delicious.

The view as we disembarked in Zurich

When we arrived in Rome late tonight, we took a Greyhound-style bus straight to our various apartments. The guys are all in one apartment, and us girls are split up into three separate apartments. Our apartment is pretty big; equipped with a full kitchen, a clothes washer, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms. Since we got here so late I haven't had the opportunity to take many photos, but so far so good, here in Italy. Ciao!