Headed to Istanbul

Istanbul Map

Six days from now I will be on a flight with 24 students and two colleagues headed to Turkey, where we will meet our faculty lead and spend six full days in Istanbul. Like last year when I went to Costa Rica, I am helping to facilitate a Global Business Immersion class for the Kelley School of Business. The topic of this course is Turkey's Risk of a 'Sudden Stop,' a finance course in which we have been studying foreign currency markets, exchange rates, the function of Central Banks, and factors that lead to a currency crisis. However, that's only been about 1/3 of the course content, as we've also been studying Byzantine, Ottoman, and Turkish history and related cultural and political topics.

While in Istanbul, unlike many of the other Global Business Immersion courses, we won't be making visits to corporate offices or NGOs, nor will we be hosting guest speakers on finance topics. The students will be making their final presentations on site, but most of our time will be spent on cultural visits. We will also have the opportunity to connect with Turkish people to learn more about how they view their country and its place in the world.

I hope you will follow my blog (which I have learned is such an outdated concept). You can also follow our class on Twitter: @F272Turkey, or @KSBStudyAbroad, with hashtags #X272 or #KelleyPassport. There is also an @KSBStudyAbroad Instagram account, but I don't know nothin' 'bout no Instagram.