Life in Afyon became a bit more exciting for me last week: I started taking Turkish folk dancing classes. From 7-9 on Mondays and Wednesdays, I learn dances from the Afyon region and from 5-7 on Wednesdays and Sundays, I learn dances from the Karadeniz (Black Sea) region and from the eastern part of Turkey. It is so much fun. The place where the dance classes are held is just down the street from me (it takes me 3 minutes to walk there) which is an added bonus.
I also joined my school's Girl Scout/Boy Scout troupe, which gives me another thing to do twice a week after school. I don't really understand the meetings right now, but hopefully that will change soon.

Last week, I had my Deutsch/Almanca/German exam. All the questions were in German and I did really well on it. In fact, I ended up getting the highest grade in the class, which is something that I am very happy about. I am the complete opposite of the other students in my class. I enjoy languages and history, which they hate, and they are good at math and science, which have never been my favorite.

I am going to Ankara tomorrow for an Exchange Student Hanukkah/Christmas/insert-holiday-here party which should be really fun.

Happy Friday and happy last night of Hanukkah to all my Jewish readers!

Yesterday I came back from my trip to Ankara. I stayed in a part of the city called Emek, with my cousin Özge and her flat mate Elif.
On Sunday, Özge and I went to Anıtkabir, which is Atatürk's Mausoleum. However, the sarcophagus that everyone sees in this mausoleum is symbolic; Atatürk's actual sarcophagus is kept underground in another building where visitors are not allowed. There is also a large museum about Turkey's Independence War and, of course, about Ataürk. I learned that one important battle of the war was fought in Afyon. There is a large mural (it takes up one entire room), depicting the war and half of one wall is dedicated to the battle in Afyon. The museum is fascinating and Anıtkabir is probably the most important landmark in Ankara.

Another place that I visited was Kızılay, which is this immensely popular shopping center. I also went to Or-An and spent a day with the exchange students who live in Ankara, which was really fun.
Amy (an exchanger from Michigan) and I went to Ulus to see the Anatolian Culture Museum, but it was closed by the time we got there. Then, we decided to visit the Ankara Citadel, but that turned out to be closed as well. So, we decided to go back to Kızılay and do some shopping. We walked from Ulus to Kızılay, which turned out to be a really long walk (about an hour), but Amy and I did get an interesting walking tour of the city that way.

Have a good Friday and a great weekend everyone!