Bucket List and Updates!!!

          I leave Albuquerque 1 week from today and I arrive in Istanbul in 9 days. The closer I get to my departure date, the more excited I get. Ever since I got the email telling me I was going to Turkey, I have been looking up pictures and finding all kinds of things around the country that I want to do while I am there. So I have made a bucket list with all kinds of things I will hopefully be able to do on my exchange year. I know that I may not do all of these things and I do not feel like I need to do all of these things to have a good exchange year (obviously) but I thought it might be nice to have some goals for while I am there.

My Turkey Bucket List

1. Become fluent in Turkish

2. Become a part of my community in Turkey

3. Make close friends

4. Visit Pamukkale

5. Go to a Turkish bath

6. Learn to love Turkish coffee

7. Visit Cappadocia

8. Visit Istanbul ( especially the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque)

9. Become close friends with the other YES Abroad and AFS students

10. Get homesick

11. Get over it

12. Visit a mosque

13. Get used to hearing the call to prayer every day

14. Visit the other YES Abroad students in their host cities

15. Cook my host family American food

16. Try some crazy Turkish foods (and learn how to cook my favorites)

17. Visit the beach

18. Visit the Roman ruins at Ephesus

19. Join some sort of extra-curricular

20. Volunteer

21. Take lots of photos/videos

22. Keep up this blog

23. Send letters to family/friends at home and other YES Abroad students

24. Drink lots of Turkish tea

25. Buy some traditional Turkish clothes

That's all I have thought of so far, but I'm sure I will think of others as my year continues. Although I would love to get to do all of these, I don't know whether I will, but I am so excited to experience everything Turkey has to offer.

          In other news, we found out on Monday that our visas have been issued which guarantees that the Turkey group will be able to depart on time. I was very worried that our visas wouldn't be ready in time, so I was very relieved to find out that we have gotten ours. I have finally cleaned out my room which will hopefully make packing easier. I have also made a list of everything I need to bring with me and I am slowly working on getting all the remaining things I still need. Hopefully, I will start packing soon but it probably won't happen since I'm a terrible procrastinator on things like packing. 

          This will probably be my last post before I am in Turkey, although I may make another post if I think of something to write about. I may make a post at some point during the orientation process, but it will probably be a couple of weeks after I arrive in Aydin before I make a post so that I can try to start integrating into my new family and community. As always, thanks for reading! Hoşçakal!

Cappadocia

One of the roman ruins at Ephesus

Pamukkale