Merhaba!

Merhaba means hello on Turkish. I've been very busy in the last day and a half since I arrived in Izmir. Today Seval (my hostess) arranged for me to be a guest speaker at a local university - Celal Bayar. I talked for an hour or so in a freshman English literature class about my education, my work, and my art. The professors asked me to talk about books I've read since it's a literature class, so I summarized the plot of Cyrano de Bergerac, much to the amusement of the students.

The classroom. I am in the middle with Sibel, an English literature professor

The view from the campus - olive groves and other farms.

I definitely didn't expect to be a guest speaker at a university on my first full day in Turkey! I've done a lot more, but it's very late and I need to rest up for tomorrow!