Turkey: Istanbul and Capadoccia

Istanbul is by far one of the most interesting cities i have visited. I definitely felt some culture shock and noticed some strong cultural differences. With the country being mostly Muslim, you get a sense of people being more conservative (you see women wearing berkas, long pants and covered shirts). But it is an interesting mix because Istanbul is also a very modern city, and in that side you see big shopping areas, clubs and all these other 'western' stuff. For example, when we visited a university, the students were all modern and didn't seem very different from us.
Something that took me by surprise were the prayers and how five times a day they could be heard throughout the whole city from the mosques' speakers. That was
something new and definitely felt strange, but it was a cool experience.
Also, as a girl, walking around places such as the Grand Bazaar and having random men say things to you was not rare at all. We'd get asked questions such as if we had a husband or a boyfriend and if not we'd be offered a ridiculous amount of camels for our hand in marriage. Something I learned is also common in Egypt and Morocco. I learned not to walk by myself because men would for sure hit on you, and I also learned that pretending that your guy friends are your boyfriends (or even husbands!) is great for them to leave you alone! so yea, make some good friends before you get there :P

Going out: So pretty much throughout the whole trip you wonder when you won't be able to go out at night anymore because its socially unacceptable in more conservative countries and women shouldn't stay out late or dress provocatively; but the truth is where there's young people there's partying and although the culture is more conservative, you'll always find a place to hang out in. In my personal experience, a night out in Istanbul to the Angelique was probably one of my funnest nights out =) (yay for dave's bday!).

The second part of my turkish experience was very different from what I experienced in istanbul. It involved a long trip to a rural area in mid-Turkey called Capadoccia. I had a chance to visit an underground city and go watch the sunrise on a hot air balloon, which was awesome because it was something i never thought I would do! The trip to Capadoccia itself was really cool, i became closer with some other students and got to meet a couple too. I highly recommend visiting, i don't think i will ever again visit a place that slightly resembles Capadoccia's scenery.

We got to go to a Sufi Dervish dance, it was very interesting and odd to us at first... take a look!