Introduction

Introductions should be short but sweet, so here goes: this morning I said goodbye to Eszter on the Sabiha Gokcen airport, which means that my two weeks of lonely farewell have started. I would like to use the next fourteen days to:

1. Listen to all the yet undiscovered jazz concerts on Youtube

2. Open my eyes again for the peculiarities of daily life in Istanbul

3. Learn French

And of course there are many more places to visit, friends to meet, books to read and arrangements to make before I leave. But the main part is this: I will take my camera and notebook, walk around town and rediscover the magic of Istanbul, this wonderful city in which its seventeen million inhabitants don't stop me from running into friends on the tram. I would like to share and compare my experiences with those of my newly made friends who have either gone through the same process of learning how to love and live in Istanbul, or those who have lived in Turkey their whole lives and to whom I am the stranger. Therefore, I decided to write at least parts of this blog in English. Sharing thoughts is always easier when sharing a language, too. However, this does not imply that my English is flawless, so I would like to apologize in advance for the mistakes that I will make, whether they be in spelling, style or grammar.

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my Istanbul adventures. Thank you for welcoming me here and I'll keep you posted!

Imme