We had a 7:25 flight, so I was up by 4 and we were on the road just after 5.
Our first stop was Şanlı Urfa, a city of 1.5 million by the Syrian border.
We never made it off the tarmac the first time around. We sat for about an hour and a half in the plane before they let us off again. The weather at our destination was too terrible.
We ended up spending 15 hours at the Ataturk airport. I would make some jokes about it or go into more detail but it was pretty excruciating so I think I'll not do that.
We got an 8:50pm or so plane and landed around 10:30. The plane was rife with screaming babies.
Our guide met us at the other side. Sevim is a funny middle-aged woman who has been a tour guide for the Duke program for years. She brought us on a brand new Mercedes bus (it's got that new bus smell!) to a restaurant for dinner.
We ate in style, though not much at all, as we'd been eating all day at the airport. We sat on pillows on the floor and were served by a small army of waiters.
Our hotel, Hotel El-Ruha, is beautiful. But we got to it just after midnight and didn't have time to enjoy it. We were split into rooms (I was with Elliot and Ladd) and we all went to sleep.
Tomorrow we need to make up for lost time, so 7am wake up call.
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