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One more random trip thought. The last night we were in Istanbul we were invited to an exclusive lecture at a private university to hear the former prime minister of Sweeden speak about the current political situation (i.e. concerning, Europe (esp. Turkey), and Iraq. It was a really interesting lecture (although we were not invited to the following reception, aparantly it was only for the men in suits who made up the other 2/3rds of the audience), but like so much of the trip it seemed odd and somewhat surreal to go to Turkey and hear the former prime minister of Sweeden talk about Iraq. Sort of like our trip to the technology museum with rooms full of antique cars (mostly US ones) and New England naval history memorabilia, that was based on the Henry Ford museum. Or our trip the private Koc university that was just recently built and looked and felt just like a private US institution (Dartmouth was even a source of the design) right down to the fact that all the classes were in English. (No grade inflation though, we saw the grades posted on bulletin boards, classes had just gotten out). It was strange.
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