Pamukkale

a few of us decided to go to this city to see the calcium rocks but we ended up seeing a lot more than we expected.

Formula 1 is starting this weekend get excited!!!!!!

Well since the last time I talked to you all not too much has been happening outside the face that there is school work that needs to get done. Once we got back from Paris I brought back some kind of evil stomach virus that dominated me and stopped me from going to the gym for a week. But now it is gone due to the magic of home remodies. So if you ever get something like this just make yourself some tea and squeez half a lemon in it and thish should cure your problem. In other new the sun actuall came out for the eintire day which I think made everyone very happy. On monday Chad thought that it would be a good idea to place a little bet about my weight since I did not workout for two weeks. He thought that I would have lost 1kilo and I thought I did not loos any. SO we bet that if we was right that I would have to eat at Jimmy's chicken and I was right he would have to eat 17.5 olives. Well needless to say I won. So apparently I am some knod of freak on nature according to him but all I know is that he is going to have to eat some olives and he hates olives. Tomorrow we are going to meet our teacher down by the water to go to the asian sid for class at 10an which will be nice cause I get to sleep in. We have already decided that we are going to get a fish sandwich since we are going to be over there and they look amazing. Other than that we have to pin up on thursday so I am trying to get all my stuff done so I am not scrambelling around at the last min. I have a little bit to go but I think I should have plenty of time to get it all done. Hope everyone is doing ok backhome and I cant beleive that I have less than 50 days left here. Time went by too fast but I am knid of ready to come home. I miss my fish and my MGB. So I think leaving wont be such a bad thing. Ohh and I found out that Amy is going to be comming to vist next month so that is very exciting. In other exciting news Formula1 is staring back up this weekend. So everyone should be as excited for it as I am. GO FERRARI!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ok well I better run since I should be doing work. Talk to you later.

Paris what an amazing trip

Ok well here do I start. We left for Paris at 5:50 pm and we made a stop in Frankfurt, Germany. Well our plane was 30 min late arrivine in turkey so once we made it to Frankfurt we only had a few min to get to the other plane, which by chance was on the complet other side of the airport. Imagain that. So we were the last ones on the plan but we made it. We arrived in Paris around11 pm and by then we were all pretty tired. We found Charlotte waiting for us as we came out of the baggage claim. It was very nice that she was there waithing for us cause I think we would of mannaged to get lost trying to find out way to the train to get to her place. Once on the train we then made the journey to the other side of Paris where she lives. When we made it to her place she had prepared dinner for us, which was absolutley amazing. We had different trypes of cheeses and some amazing little "pork nuggets". Then thet main dish was a home made keish. Ohh my that was some of the best food I have ever eaten. The next day we wee off the the the city. We first started out at the Eiffel tower. 

I could not beleive how amazing that structure is. It is one thing to see it in pictures but it is even more amazing to actually see it in real life. After that we went to see the Arch de Triumph. That is another thing that is just amazing in real life. It has names of soldiers that lost their life in world war one. So we sat there and and watched the cars go around the roundabout and watch people escape a major accedent every second.

 Then wee set off to see De Louvre. On our way we stoped and got a sandwich that was sooo good and after that I spoiled myself and boght a crepes that had nuetella in it. Ohh my that was the best thing ever. Then we continued the journey to de louvre. before we made it there we stopped and an obelisk that was from Egypt.

 Then we went and sat around a pond that was located in the kings garden for an hour or so. We all we soaked up the suns rays and fed the ducks in the pond while Chad was sleeping and . Then once he woke up we made out way to our destination. There were so many people there it was unblevable.

 We got some pictures of the exterior and the interior so the trip there was worth it. After that we were off to go get some amazing French food for dinner. We went to this little place that Charlotte knew about that was supose to be amazing. Let me tell it was some of the best food I have ever eaten. Later that night we ended up missing the last train out of the city so we ended up waiting for a bus until 2:30am. So we got back around 4-4:30am. The next day we got a late start due to the fact that we went to bed so late. Once we got into Paris we went to a caffe and got some food. Then we made our way to the Eiffel tower. Once we got there we stood in line for a while so we could get our tickets to go up the tower. We could only go to the second level because they top was having work done to it. Once on the second level we had am amazing  view of the city at night. After we walked down the hudreds of stais we made our way to a resturant. After dinner we went made sure that we caught the train so we did not have a repeat of the other night. The next day we got up early so we could got to euro disney. The nice thing about euro disney we got in free and it was only one stop on the train. At disney we had some tex mex food which was amazing to have something other than turkish food. We went on the pirates of the carabbean and space mountain. They were both different than the rides in orlando but they were amazing. It was nice to  go there cause it was a deffinate reminder of home. After our day magical day at disney we made our way back to her place and began to pack our stuff since we had to get up at 4 the next morning. The next day we caught our taxi and took the back roads to the airport. On the way there we were definatly were crusing at 100 mph. So then we made our way back to the amazing couny that is istanbul. And that is our amazing trip to Paris. it was probably the best trip I have ever been on and I definatly know I am going to be back in Paris sometime soon, I hope. I love Paris and want to live there as soon as possiable.

A amazing sight to see when the sun is going down.

Just another amazing thing I say in Paris. Ohh and did you know I could sell my 76 MGb for 

20,000-25,000 U.S. dollars. Yes I could sell my car that I bought for 4,000 dollars and make

some redicoulus money. 

going to paris today

Latley I have not really been  up to a whole lot other than trying to get all my work done before I leave to go to Paris. But for wednesday I made had to make a movie out of still images from our trip to Mardin. So I had to learn a whole new program so that took me a whole day to figure it out. But looking back I am really excited about what after effects can do so I think everyone can expect more movies made by Adam. Here is the link so you can enjoy my amazing movie.

I know it is a little different but so am I so its alright. So I am leaving today to go to Paris. I have been

really busy the last few days trying to get all my work done so I could go and it is all finally done.

So all of you can expect lots of photos when I get back.Well I have to run and get catch my plane so

I guess I will talk to you guys later. But you can expect lots of photos when I get back. Talk to you 

all soon.

 Sorry for no post yesterday but I was busy celebrating a friend’s birthday last night. Well the other day was just another typical day but the sun actually came out which was amazing. So that made mw and my friend’s ohh soo happy since we have seen the sun for quite some time.  In other news last night we went out to a bar that had karaoke. Let me tell you that I thought that I would never ever go to a place like that but since she wanted to go to the place we sucked it up and went. To my surprise I actually had a good time because all of us go up and started to sing so it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Then today a group of us went to a furniture expo over by the airport. When we got there we found out that it was 50 lyra to get in but then we asked for a student discount and we actually got in for free. Yes free. So you could not beat that. Once we got inside we roamed around for a few hours and saw some interesting designs. We actually say the company that sponsored our trip to Mardin there. After that we made our way back to Taksim to grab some dinner and we ended up going to this amazing restaurant that we have gone to a few times. After that we decided to stop in at out Tarik’s house, our professor, to say hi and to discuss some interesting news that we found out the other night. We had a sneaking suspicion that we were paying for the security mans gas and water since he lives right below us. The other day we turned off our water heater in our room to see what would happen and shortly after we did that he came and found us and was complaining that he did not have hot water in his place and made us turn it back on. So hopefully out teacher will take care of it. So tonight I think I am just going to take it easy and may be light up my nargile or a hookah with some of my friends. So I guess I better run and I guess I will talk at you guys later.

OHHHH YAAAAA

Ok well today was just another typical day in Turkey except the sun finally came out. You have no idea how happy that made me since I have seen the sun for around 2 weeks. We had a class this morning and after that amazing experience some of decided that we would try the cafateria. For 2 lyra you can not beat that. The food was alright but the best thing was the the tray that they put the food on was made out of metal. So I felt like I was in prison , so needless to say it was a different experience. For dinner we went to this place called Jimmy's Chicken. Just imagin a KFC and that is pretty much  that explains this place. But the food was suprisingly alright. Then it was off to the gym, which is a long trip. Well needles to say I am finally back to where I was, lifting wise, when I left the states. So that made me feel good that I was lifting the same if not more than I was back home. So when I get home you all should expect to see super man. Hahahaha.

 

Ok well I guess I better run and try to get some sleep tonight since I ahve to get up in the morning and get my water-color done for class tomorrow. So i guess I will talk at you guys later.

This is giong to be one massive post

Hey there everyone. Sorry that I have posted anything for a while, we were in Mardin, Turkey and there was no internet, imagine that. Well we flew into Mardin Thursday morning and I Think I have found the smallest airport in the world. It only consisted of one really small building that had one check in counter and one line for security. Well enough about the ridiculously small airport. Once we arrived in the city we dropped off at the police house, which is the place we stayed. Then we made our way to the different sites on the city. So I made my way the street market, what an amazing experience. If you want to kind of get an idea of what it is like just imagine a massive garage sale that had anything that you could ever imagine and then some more, ohh and with lots of mules running around. One of the coolest things that I saw at the market was the amazing view of the city. We got on top of the buildings and we were able to out over all of the buildings and we could see for miles. We could even see the Syrian border just to give you an idea of how far we could see. 

 

While walking around in the market all the people were really nice and would try to speak English to us. Later that night we went to a little place where we were able to sample some wine Mardin wine. The next day went and visited a few places one of them was a university and an old monastery. 

Later that day we got to meet the governor of Mardin which was neat since one of the projects that we could choose was is mansion. Later that night quite a few of us went to this really nice restaurant and had some amazing Turkish food. It consisted of around 8 courses or more, I lost count since they were just bringing out soo much food. The last day in Mardin we went to Darda, which is a city that can be dated back to 5600 BC. Yes that is before Christ was born. Ohh my what a experience. To actually see something at old with so much history was mind blowing. We got to see caves that people lived in and then we saw the city walls that went for over 8km around the old city.

 Then we went into a jail that was used by the Romans and was also used when the Ottoman Empire was around.

 Ohh and another thing was that I got to see the Syrian border whish was really cool. Over all the trip to Mardin was one of the coolest things I have ever seen and I think I will ever see in my life time. And I am pretty sure that I will be the only Leonard that will ever see the things that I have seen. Which in of its self is mind-blowing. Well I guess I better run so I will talk at you all later.

Long time no post

Sorry everyone. I have been kind od busy with school work so I was unable to make posts on my blog. Some of the interesting stuff that I have been up to was a trip to the golden horn to see Hagia Sophia. Ohhhhhh my what an amazing thing tofinally see. I think I took over 250 pictures, so no worries it is well documented. The size of the building absolutly amazing. I really did not expect it to be that big.

Well one of the other things that I was able to go see wat the under ground sisterns. That was an itreesting thing to go see since it was how water was stored when the romans were here. I was kind of hard to get pictures of it but I managed to get a few good ones, since it is really dark down there.

Other than that I really have not gone anywhere else in the city. Just been doing a lot of school work and trying to get ready for the trip to Mardin, Turkey this thursday. Which is exciting since it is extreamly old and rich with amazing histoy. The other day we had a water color due for one of our classes so that was an interesting thing to attemp to do. I thought it turned out good for being my first one but I still hope to improve me painting abalities. I am going to try to set some time aside so my posts will be more frequent.  Ohhh we think we finally found an area code, 34367, so if you have not sent my package try putting this on it. If you have already sent it it is no big deal I will arrive eventually. Here are some photos for you enjoyment.Talk to you guys later.

Hagia Sophia

Underground Sistern

Well no snow today

Well it did not snow today, so it was a sad day. But in better news I got my project that is due tomorrow morning, so that is one less thing to worrie about. Well today Chad, Nick, and I went on another adventure to the golden horn to see if we could find a art supply store.

 We took the metro so we would not have to walk four miles. The interesting thing was that the metro was on such and incline that there was a cable that helped it so it would not go down the tracks out of control. Once we made it to the golden horn we wandered around and ended up finding the store. The store was amazing, it had everything that J&M would have and the prices were half as much.

 After our trip we caame back and relaxed and then we went and got some food and the ever faithful Damak. After eating way to much we made our way home and began the adventure of water coloring. It took me about 2hr's but I think it turned out alright. But we will see how Tarik likes it on Thursday. Well I finally got some pictures of the school, so I hope you enjoy.

Main entrance

Our studio

Snow, an amazing thing

Sorry everyone that I have not posted anything for a few days. I hate to say it but not a whole lot has been hppening, just trying to do school work, so nothing interesting. The other day we got out water and gas bill and we were suprised at how much it was. I wish someone could tell me how two guys living in a one bedroom apartment could have a higher gas and water bill that four girls, not to mention that they have a washer and dryer that has been going nonstop. So now we are going to try and cut down on our consumption of gas by turning our heater down and not cooking as much. Today in studio I finally had a break through on out Mardin project. So I am pumped about that. In some interesting new it finally snowed tonight. It has been cold enough for a while so it was nice to finally see snow. Tonight Nick and I went to Fish alley and bought shrimp and came back and made some pasta with a butter sauce with out fresh shrimp. It was pretty much amazing. So I will have to make that another time. So tomorrow we have class at 9:30 in the morning so I probably should try and get some sleep so I am not falling asleep in class. So untill next time.

It's snowing!!!!!!

Finally no more rain

Well it finally decided that it would stop raining after two days of nthing but rain. The other day we found out that we had a project due today, that no one had any idea that the project even existed. So the other night I was up late trying to finish it, so thats why there was no post. Well needless to say I got the project done and showed up for class at 8:30 am. Once we got there we finally meat the teacher for the calss. That lady is one energetic person. I am not sure if she takes something or what but she is definatley to awake for 8:30 in the morning. Well back to the project that was thrown on us at the last min. I show up the the school around 8:00 to print my stuff off and come to find out that the computer lab does not open untill 10:00am. What kind of school does not open the computer lab when the entire building opens. And another thing that just seems odd is that they school actually closes at 10:00pm. This means there are no sleeples nights up in studio, which I am not looking foward to because that means all the work is going to have to be done eaily in the day. Sorry I am getting carried away. Back to the project, so come to find out after most people stayed up most of the noght working on it, it was not due today but actually the following wednesday. Oh well I guess that means that it gives us more time to actually do what she wanted rather than doing whatever. Other than that I think I pulled or sevierly strained a muscle or ligament in my foot. So walking is a challange but I got some tape so I hope that will help a little.  Other than that I dont have studio untill 1:30pm tomorrow so I am looking foward to sleeping in finally. Thanks for thoes who left comment finally and I guess I better get back to doing nothing so you have to here me rambel on and on about nothing.

Here is a pic of the building I go to school at

Nothing works in Turkey

I am sure that you all are wondering why the title for today. Well today we went to deposit money in our name so we could get our bu spasses that we should have gotten when we first got here. So we got that step done and then we go to fill out the form online and we find out that you cant fill out the form for some unknown reason. Then chris plugs the teachers USB flash drive in and he get three viruses on his computer. The third floor washer leave a massive puddle of water sitting in the bottom of it after you wash your clothes so they take three days to dry. These are just some of the things that just are amazing that are happening here. But today we had studio as usual and then Chad and I went to the gym, which was just amazing in and of its self. So we will see if things go smoother tomorrow, I hope they do. Ohh and I know people are reading my blog so if you would be so nice to leave comments instead of just reading it. That would be amazing so I dont think I am just writhing to myself. Thanks.

Is ever going to stop raining?

Well today I wantd to go see Hagia Sophia but that did not happen due to the fact that it rained all day. Instead I went up to studio and did research in the city Mardin, were our studio project is located for this semester. Ohter than that nothing is really happening here other than that nothing works at all and the simpelest tasks are made quite hard by the Turkish people!!! Ohh well I guess I might just have to get use to that since I am going to be here for a few more months. Well till next time!!

Sorry

Sorry that I have not posted anything for a while. The problem is that we are not really doing anything interesting. I think we are going to Hagia Sophia so I hope to have some amazing pictures and something interesting to wright about. Well till then I guess I will try to find something to do tonight.

America is not so bad!!!

Well it was the second day of class and our class started at 8:30an and definitely someone was informed that there was going to be 14 Americans in the class. There was all of us and around another 14 Turkish students crammed into possibly the smallest room in the entire building. After that amazing class on city planning I picked up the money my parents sent and after converting the currency I definitely made out like a bandit. I ended up being able to keep over 250 Turkish lira’s after paying my rent for the entire semester.

Once we made it back on campus we all thought that there was going to be amazing internet waiting for us. Needless to say we were all disappointed due to the fact that there was absolutely no internet in out studio. One good thing that we did find out is that we could get around the Turkish government’s ban on YouTube. This was possibly the highlight of the day. I did not think that not having just the simple things like you tube would be that big of a deal but my friends have been watching it like it is out job. Ohh and another thing that people take for granted in the U.S.A. is deodorant for sure. I don’t think I have seen any deodorant that is any digger than a travel size. You know that’s only going to last no more that a few weeks. Ohh well hopefully my parents will de able to send me some since it is impossible to find here. It’s just the little things that you miss and you don’t realize it till you don’t have it.

The magic of deodorant!!!

Finally the has come to actually go to class!!!

Today was a very exciting day because it was finally the first day of class. We all had to be at school at 8:45am to meet the rest of the foreign exchange students. It was quite a feet to get up this early since no one has really gotten up that early for some time.. In studio we have students from Finland, Germany, Turkey, and France so it is nice to have this mix of people from all over Europe.

 After our meeting this morning we had to meet back at 2:00pm to meet the studio professors and get the project description. The professor that I will have for this semester is Turkish, so it should be an interesting experience. The students that are in studio are a mix of Americans and Turkish. Our project is located in Mardin, Turkey which is a very old city on the east side of turkey.

 After a long day at school I can home and was starving, since I did not have anything for lunch, I decided to make dinner for my roommate again. I can’t wait till he makes me something but he says he can only cook breakfast food and/or grill. Oh well I don’t mid cooking I actually really enjoy it. Tomorrow we have class at 9:30am so I don’t think I am going to be staying up to late since I did not get to much sleep the other nigh.

Well nothing really interesting happened today due to the face I really did not leave the apartment. This morning I woke up and made breakfast for my roommate and I. Then we just set out on our balcony and had some tea. It was nice to sit out there and just relax and take in the surroundings.

Then later I made some pasta with zucchini and potatoes, it was pretty much amazing if I don’t say so myself. We finally figured out how to make Turkish tea and it is wonderful.

Other than that I think I am going to try and get some sleep tonight since school starts tomorrow at 9:00am.

Just another rainy day

Not a whole lot happened today due to the fact that it rained all day and it is extremely cold. I guess the only interesting thing that happened was out trip to the market were Chad thought he would be smart and try to break 50 lirar and he ended up getting a ridiculous amount of coins for his change. I made rice, potatoes, zucchini, and some amazing bologna thing.

Here is my address here in Turkey so feel free to send some amazing things that I can not get over here. Such as Simply Orange, Pork, Easy Cheese...... Just use you emagination and I will be more than happy to take what ever you send.

Adam Leonard
Salim Bey Apartmani
Elmağ - ölçek sokak no:21/1
Harbiye/Taksim/Istanbul
Turkey

Talk to you all soon.

Well I guess I have some catching up to do since I have been overseas for two weeks. I arrived in Istanbul, Turkey on May 14, 2009. The second day that we were here our professor, that we came over with, arranged a bus tour to help us get oriented with the city. On the tour we got to see most of the city and learn some history of Istanbul. We crossed the Bosporus and got to see the Blue mosque and Hagia Sophia. It was amazing to actually see something that I learned about in architecture history class in person. The size of these two building just could not be described you would have to come and see them for your self to get the real picture of them. We also got to go see the school that we are going to be studying at. A couple of friends and I the next day decided that we wanted to go to the Asia. So we boarded a ferry and took the ten min ride and we were in Asia. That was amazing to say that I have been on three continents.


A couple of decided that we would like to go to London for a week, so we began planning that trip. We left January 19, 2009 and returned January 27, 2009. What an amazing city. I hope one day I have the chance to live there or visit again. When we arrived we road a train into the city and took the tube right to Piccadilly Circus. We got settled in the hostel and then set out to explore the city. We ended up getting lost and talking to a stranger about where we could get the best fish and chips in London. The restaurant’s name was rock and soul and it was just a hole in the wall place but I must say they had the best fish and chips that I have ever had. The next day we set out and wandered the city and saw some amazing buildings.



We also got to see lots of Aston Martin DB9’s which was nice to see since it is one of my favorite cars.

Later that night we got a big group of people from the hostel and set out to see the city at night. We got to see Big Ben, the London eye, and the parliament building all lit up.


The next day we made our way to the Thames River and got to get up close to the London eye. Down on the river there were many street performers entertaining the tourists. Then we made our way to see Tower Bridge and a castle that was right next to it. We even got to take in some Norman Foster architecture.




On the fifth day we decided that we need to see Buckingham Palace. Once we got there we got to see the guards out front of the palace and the huge fountain out front. Later that night we went to the Tate Modern Museum. It had some interesting stuff but we were all pretty tired so we did not spend a lot of time there.



A few days before we left we took a trip to see Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, and Bath, a Roman city. The cathedral was amazing to see in person, the amount of detail throughout the building was unreal. After having lunch at a pub we were off to Stonehenge. When we arrived at Stonehenge, which is located in the middle of no where, there were quite a few people marveling at the massive stones. Then it was off to Bath where it was like Disney with all the tourists everywhere.



While staying at the hostel we meet lots of cool people from all over the world. There were tons of French people and some Australian’s and some people from the states. Then we had to leave the amazing city that is London and go back to Istanbul to get ready for school to start.