Through My Eyes, In My Words:

Turkey: The Cradle of Civilizations

Taught by M. Erol Ulucakli, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Ilan Peleg, Charles A. Dana Professor of Government and Law

Lauren Clarke of Cleveland, Ohio, is a double major in economics & business and history. She is a member of the varsity tennis team and an orientation leader. This interim-session course complemented many previous travel experiences. She has traveled to China, Japan, India, Spain, Italy, England, Mexico and “many islands.”

I had a great time on this trip. Going into it I did not know anyone in the class, but I made such good friends coming out of it. We saw so many sites and historical places. We spent most of our time in Istanbul but had the opportunity to travel into Anatolia and see the western coast on the Aegean Sea.

We saw a lot of ancient Greek and Roman ruins from 2000 to 4000 years old – amazing. My favorite ancient city was Ephesus. This city is about 2000 years old and has remains of the library from which books were sent to the library at Alexandria after that great library burned. The theater at Ephesus could house about 20,000 people, and the acoustics were amazing despite the fact that there were no modern scientific means of determining how to build the theater for acoustic purposes.

My favorite sites in Istanbul were the Hagia Sophia, because it is such a huge part of history and is unbelievable; the Grand Bazaar, because there is so much social culture to soak in by walking around; and the Blue Mosque, because it is bigger than the Hagia Sophia but also has grand architecture and artwork inside.

The professors were great and so much fun to be around. They gave us suggestions about where to eat or and have fun. They were really enthusiastic about us learning about the culture and did their best to help us get a good grasp of the country. The workload was manageable and the talks were always interesting.