Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my new blog: the Turk-o-Log! (brass fanfare)

I’ll be going to Turkey for eight weeks this summer on a U.S. government-sponsored language learning program. Actually, maybe now is a good time to put up the disclaimer they asked us to include: the views represented on this weblog are solely my own and do not in any way represent the views of the U.S. Department of State. Or Georgetown University, or any other institution with which I may be affiliated. There.

This blog won’t be quite like my dearly-loved (by me, anyway) Russia blog; the difference lies mostly in the fact that I actually knew some things about Russia, while I know next to nothing about Turkey. The goal of this blog, then, besides reassuring my parents that I'm still alive and well in Ankara (hi Mom!), is to share my first explorations of contemporary Turkish language, culture and society. And share pictures. Since I'll only be in Turkey for a short time, I'll be writing a little bit before I leave; in my abundant free time (classes have finished for the semester), I'm making an effort to learn some things about Turkey to avoid being completely shell-shocked when I get there. Look for new posts soon!

-Yeliz (it's my "Turkish name" from class this year)