Izmir Waterfront

We made a new friend with one of our classmates for the CELTA course, a British woman named Yvonne. The three of us took a bus to the Konak and Alsancak areas of Izmir, in the city center along the waterfront. It was a very nice stroll. Pretty hot today out in the sun, though. But it was refreshing to see something of Izmir other than the university and the shopping areas nearby. I've added some pictures to our Izmir album:

Izmir

I have already noticed that my ability to understand spoken Turkish is improving. When I first got here, I could read some Turkish and could figure out what a lot of signs said, but couldn't make out much of anything anyone said to me. Now I am picking out a lot more.

We're feeling a lot more settled in now that we've met someone else from the course, and have gotten a little further afield in Izmir. Tomorrow our course starts, so we're anxious to meet the rest of the class and see how the course is going to go.