Hi Everyone,

Can't believe I only have a little over two weeks left here. I've had fun, but I'm ready for home. Classes end on May 27th and then I have four finals before leaving for Boston on the 4th. Between now and then, I have two papers to finish (basically done with both) and a 10 page essay that I need to begin. The 10 page research paper should be pretty interesting. I'm writing about the evolution of the EU's response to terrorism since the Madrid and London bombings in 2004. I'm writing it for what I thought would be my favorite class: European Foreign and Security Policy. Unfortunately, the class has only touched briefly on security issues and instead has focused almost entirely on economics. My professor, who I have since found out is trained as an economist, attempts to tie all the issues to security, but only in the vaguest possible sense. Besides for the paper, I have a birthday party to attend tomorrow night and a holiday on Wednesday. This weekend I want to go to Princes Island for the day (check out the wikipedia page for more info) and back to the Sirkeci Konak hotel for tea with the staff. However, I may save the trip to the hotel for my last day in the city.

On Saturday I went with three other people to the Istanbul equivalent of Embassy Row in D.C. Located in historic Taksim, many of the embassies are located along Istiklal Caddesi. Unfortunately, the US embassy is not located on the street, but I was able to see the British Consulate, the Netherlands Consulate, the Russian Consulate, the Australian Consulate, the Swedish Consulate, and the French Embassy. The buildings housing the embassies are really grand and beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and I was afraid of rain so I decided not to bring my camera. Plus, its nice to just walk around without always stopping to take photos! We walked for maybe three miles and had lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Now that the weather is nice all the restaurants are offering seating outside. I'm definitely glad I was in Istanbul during the Spring because it has been beautiful. Since the end of April its only rained once or twice and its been in the 70s everyday... my kind of weather!

Alright that's all for now. If I make it to Princes Island I'll definitely write about that, but with exams coming up and papers to write I may not write too many more posts. However, I've got a few ideas for my last couple posts. So stay tuned for posts about what I learned about myself while abroad, what I missed most/what I did not miss most about the States while being away, and my plans to explore Boston as much as possible next year. Can't believe that I'm graduating in less than a year... Yikes!!!

Talk soon... Love, Brett