Language acquisition has been one of my number one priorities at Pitt. As I plan to pursue a PhD in political science and conduct field research in the Middle East, I know it is essential that I can conduct research in people’s native tongue to get the best results.

Learning Turkish has also opened me up to an entirely new culture. Pittsburgh has a vibrant Turkish community, and while I had never tried Turkish food before coming to Pittsburgh, it is now a weekly staple. It also pushed me to visit Istanbul this past summer for leisure and it was exceptionally rewarding to be able to communicate with taxi drivers and shop keepers with ease. This gives me confidence that I will be able to go to Turkey in the future to conduct research and surveys in the best way possible.

Learning Arabic has been similarly rewarding. I will be going to Amman, Jordan at the end of the year for an 8 month intensive Arabic program because I have fallen in love with the language and the culture.

The link below is a project I did on a city in Turkey. This project shows my language skills as well as how my professor structured Turkish so I would learn about the geography, culture, and history of the country.

Pamukkale Project