Very early in the morning of Friday September 21, all the second-year students from the Graduate School of Education met at Esenboğa. Their parents, husbands, and teachers were there also, to wave them off. Twenty-four education students were on their way to USA. Following the tragic events of September 11, there were several days of consultation with the US Embassy, the Fulbright Commission in Ankara, and the US State Department in Washington before it was agreed that the US visit should go ahead as planned.
   The group is travelling to Iowa State University as part of their 2-year teacher education program. The US visit is generously funded by the Fulbright Program of the US State Department. It gives the Bilkent University students the opportunity to work in American schools with American teachers. Students will become part of an American school for six weeks, and be integrated into the whole life of the school community. For their classroom activities, they will be attached to a leading teacher in their subject, who will be their mentor. They will observe and try new teaching methods as they work with American teenage high school students. During their visit they will spend some time in the homes of their mentor or other American families. 
   Iowa State University is organizing their visit. The students will work in a high tech university, which has won plaudits from all over the States for its research into technology and its approach to teaching. Recently, for example, it received an award from the main teacher education association in the US for the best technology-using teacher education program in the country. 
   Many schools are anxious to host the group for a day. Some of these have been selected for the first week's orientation to show a cross section of US schools. A weekend visit to Chicago is planned, and the group will leave the States by spending four days in Washington DC.