We made it!

Lily, Julia, and I were the first to arrive. Since we weren’t expecting anyone else from our group to arrive for at least a few more hours, we showered up and walked around a bit. We stopped at a mosque but weren’t able to get in because it was prayer time. We also saw Hagia Sofia, but didn’t go in because we’ll probably be doing that as a group tomorrow.

We went through a bazaar which was bizarre in how it reminded me of Canal Street in NYC; the shop owners stood at their doors or sat outside with a selection of their goods and tried to usher us into their shops. (Some of the smells also reminded me of NYC). Çay, or tea, is a very common drink in Turkey and they drink it out of transparent, tulip-shaped glasses. Many of the shops sell these glasses. I’m planning on picking up a few on my way back to the States (don’t want them to break in the next month that’ll be here).

Something that we’ve noticed is that men and women don’t come into much physical contact. I’ve seen more same-sex couples holding hands/linking arms than opposite –sex couples.