Some stuff:

1. I took Gözde out for sushi. She liked some of it, which is all I was hoping for. Yay!

2. Went to Ankara kalesi (the castle) with her too. Explored Ulus and found out that there are a crapload of bead stores there. Makes me want to be all creative-like. Also made me wonder (like I always have) about the economic effectiveness of having an entire shopping center full of separately owned stores that all sell exactly the same thing. It's so different from what we have in the states. 

2. Went to the hamam today. Why do we not have them in the states? Oh yeah. Cuz you have to get close-to-nakie, and I don't think the market for something like that's all that big. Plus part of the appeal is that it's hundreds of years old. Anyway, I found my way there by myself from memory (I'm proud of that, cuz I kind of suck at directions. A lot. Especially after almost a year has passed). 

3. Hung out with Nesrin and Ceyhun again. Watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - all out of order, which I suppose is fitting to the movie. Oh, funny: Nesrin used the word "kismet", and then stopped and asked if I knew what it meant. I said, yeah, I did, because I named one of my dogs that when I was younger (which she thought was crazy). And then later, Ceyhun and I were watching Benjamin Button and they used the word kismet! Weird! Must be, you know, fate. 

4. Hung out with Carolyn (one of the CIEE people), Ahmet and Yavus (a couple of Turkish friends). Got to hear about a lot of stuff - Ergenekon, Carolyn's research on the PKK, religious marriage... Haha. 

5. Made plans to one day go to Tibet with Gözde. Maybe somewhere else first, but one day Tibet. She came up with the idea. 

6. Did a lot of research, at ODTÜ and other places. I decided that coming was definitely worth it as far as the research is concerned. I learned a ton, and might add another section to my thesis based on all of this, instead of just using it as supplementary info - it might even change the direction I take. I was kind of worried that I would come home having had a lot of fun, but feeling bad because I didn't really get much done for my thesis. But it definitely exceeded my expectations. 

7. Also decided that even though I'll be sad to leave, I'm excited to be home. I'm so excited about this semester! Plus, I've been here three times in less than two years. I'm sure I'll be back soon. Not that I'm taking it for granted - I don't think I could. Oh yeah, I also made a resolution to improve my Turkish. 

Ugh, I swear I've done more than that, but I've forgotten for the moment (or maybe I'm being distracted by delicious smells from the kitchen). 

Well, this is probably the last time I'll write in here until the next time I come to Turkey, so bye! Thanks for reading! Hope it's been fun or interesting or something. Kendinize iyi bakın!