3 Month Anniversary

Yesterday marked being in Turkey for 3 months! In one more month I will finish out the semester here at Bilkent and in 5 weeks my family will be arriving for our adventure in Turkey! I am very excited to finish school. I am in that final stretch. It is hard, but school is always hard. I am learning and growing immensely.

I would like to report that the weather is actually nice, but, unfortunately, it is still very cold. In fact, on Wednesday night it snowed a little bit! I really want to break out my shorts as it is the end of April, but it's just too cold. There are hints of spring with leaves beginning to form. And the flowers are so beautiful! While walking in Ankara, you get this lovely aroma of the flowers on the trees. Turkey has a lot of pink flowered trees. I will try to get a picture, as they are a very pretty color. Hopefully May will bring the wonderful nice weather.

I have seen many beautiful sunsets over the past few weeks, which is always a calm reminder of God's Love.

Thursday was a national holiday in Turkey, the National Sovereignty and Children's Day. It is a day celebrating the founding of the Turkish Parliament and to celebrate the children of Turkey and of the world. So Bilkent decorated every building with at least one Turkish flag. Here is my dorm and the flag hanging outside of the music building. They were very large flags! All classes were cancelled for the National holiday, but I had to be here for class on Friday, so I did not travel. I just had a relaxing day, which is nice once in a while.

 I was able to attend two concerts this week in the Bilkent Concert Hall. The first was a piano trio (violin, cello, piano) performing a Tchaikovsky piece. This evening I attended the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra performance that commemorated National Children's Day. They performed The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Carnival of the Animals, and a Disney Medley with the choir students from grades 5-10 who attend the music conservatory. There were so many singers! It was a lovely concert with a reminder that music is fun and brings so much joy to life.

That's all to report for this week. Have a blessed week!