Work, work, work

Its difficult sometimes with all of the fun things I've gotten to do this summer to remember that I am in school, I am getting credit, and I do have certain obligations to fulfill. Today and tomorrow promise to be mostly "work days" as we finish up our Istanbul school obligations and prepare for the quarter to end.

This afternoon I am finishing drawings from our second assignment, to choose and document a particular mosque, especially with respect to its approaches and how a visitor/pilgrim would experience coming to it. Ron and I chose the Blue Mosque, of which I have spoken in previous posts. We chose it for many reasons (and, primarily, because it was close!) but have found it more and more interesting as we continue to study it. The mosque has many approaches from at least 3 distinct directions, each of which contains a sequence of spaces that make it interesting to look at from both close and far. I am rather happy we are getting close to finishing the drawings though...its so difficult to do work when the weather is so nice and you are in a foreign country, just wanting to see things!

Tonight Carin and I will go with the class on a boat trip up the Bosphorus, the large body of water that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. We will be provided dinner on the boat and the entire trip should last about 4 hours. We'll be taking a bus from our hotel further out of the city than we've ever been to catch the boat, with the hopes that we may make it all the way to the Black Sea. I would love to see it, so I'm hoping for a speedy ride. We're both excited about the trip and are looking forward to getting out on the water for an evening of fun and learning. We'll let you know how it went tomorrow! Ciao for now...