Sabancı University/CNN Türk

Today was another early day; we were at Sabancı University by 10 a.m., and it was a long drive to Asia. Seeing a Turkish university was quite an eye-opening experience. We sat in on an organizational management class, which was really similar to BADM 310 at Illinois. One of the most striking thinkgs about the university was that all of the classes were in English, not just business classes. We learned that admission to a Turkish university is based almost exclusively on an entrance exam, which is very different from the US. One of the students I met actually studied at the Wirschaftsuniversität Wien, which is where I plan to study abroad next spring. Small world, eh?

After lunch with the Turkish students, we drove back to Europe to CNN Türk, which was very similar to the CNN studio in Atlanta. It was cool to see how the studio functions, especially regarding foreign news in multiple languages. We also saw a live taping of a talk show, as well as many empty studios.

After CNN Türk, we had all planned to see the inside of the Haghia Sophia, but it ended up being closed when we got there. Instead, a few of us went to dinner at the Green Market, which was a very nice outdoor restaurant right near the Sultanahmet train stop (and it was cheap, too!). We stayed there for a while and talked, and then walked around the alleyways near the Blue Mosque, where we found another small restaurant owned by a guy named Friday. There we had a drink and listened to his stories of serving in the military and flying to Chicago for a while. After riding the tram and the funicular back to the hotel, we were all dead tired, so we went to bed.

Today was a good example of how relationships are just as important (if not more) than the exchange; makes you wonder if we shouldn't change our own idea of business in the states.