My First Week of School (AKA What the Heck is Happening?)

          Merhaba! I hope that everyone has had a good week. A lot has happened since my last post. Last Thursday, the other exchange students here in Aydin and I went shopping at the Forums, which is basically our mall. It was a lot of fun to see everyone again and to talk with them about our experiences so far. We also went to Burger King and I got to eat some chicken nuggets that helped to make me crave American food a little less. I finally gave my host family the gifts I brought for them on Thursday night and it was wonderful to see how happy they made them. They loved looking at the pictures of Albuquerque in the book I brought and I loved telling them about my home. I also think I made my host father into the only Lobos fan in Turkey. Thursday night was also the first time that I really began to feel comfortable in my new home. We celebrated my oldest host sister's birthday and I felt very happy and comfortable as we sang and shared the cake. On Friday, I got to swim in the beautiful pool of our apartment complex. I went with one of my host sisters and really enjoyed it, although the pool itself was very cold so I mostly sat on the side. The rest of the day I worked on Turkish and hung out with my family until the evening when I called my parents for the first time since I got here. I started crying when I first saw them because it made me miss them more to be able to see them, but after I got over that, it was really nice to get to talk to them and I ended up talking with them for over an hour.
          Saturday and Sunday were very relaxed days for me and I just stayed home, studied some Turkish, and watching TV and hanging out with my sisters. On Saturday night, they made pizza and chicken nuggets for dinner as a surprise for me and it was such a wonderful surprise. Getting to eat American food was nice, but it also really made me appreciate them for doing something like that for me.
          Monday was the day that we were all hoping to start school, but they still didn't have our papers so I stayed home again. My sister and I went to the city center and shopped for awhile and I got my school uniform. After, we went to my school and I got the news that I would be starting school the next day. My host sister invited me to hang out with her and her friends so we walked around for awhile. We took the bus home and let me just tell you, Turkish buses are pretty terrifying. It was incredibly bumpy and we stopped very often, so if you aren't sitting, which I wasn't for part of the time, you are being thrown around and have to hold on very tight.

The street in front of my apartment when it rained one day last week. 

The mountains that make me feel so content when I look outside because it's just like at home. 

Ice cream from our shopping adventure to the Forum. This was strawberry ice cream and it was so unbelievably good. 

The fountains in the center of the Forum. 

The super pretty cups that my family serves Turkish coffee in. 

A super beautiful sunset last weekend. It reminds me of Albuquerque so much with the mountains and the beautiful colors and the clouds. 

          Tuesday was the big day for me. Now, I have never, ever been the new student. Every time I have started at a new school, everyone else has been new too. And then you added the fact that I can't speak Turkish and I look very different from everyone else in school and I was scared out of my mind. I put on my uniform and took the short walk to school with my host sister and walked up the stairs to my classroom. As soon as I walked in, everyone came over and said hello and was so excited to meet me. The rest of that day passed in a blur of people telling me their names, me immediately forgetting them, walking up and down the stairs more times than I can count, being hopelessly confused as teachers taught in rapid turkish, and feeling like I was going to melt in the beastly hot classroom with no air conditioning. The rest of the week passed in much the same way although it has finally started to cool off a little bit so I don't feel like I am melting all the time. I actually thought it was pretty hilarious because as soon as it got a little colder, everyone was wearing sweaters and jackets and saying how cold it was while I was just savoring not sweating for a little while. I think I have started to make some friends and all the kids in my class have been helping me to work on learning Turkish by teaching me words during class.

Me in my uniform before my first day. 

The view of the courtyard where we hang out during breaks from a window in my classroom. 

          Because I want this blog to be an honest representation of my year abroad, now I'll talk about the hard stuff. I was very homesick for most of this week, like to the point where I was barely keeping from crying and I really seriously though about how much I would like to go home. I was homesick because I couldn't understand anything that was happening here and I just felt completely alone here. Meanwhile, it was spirit week at home and so I knew that I was missing out on fun times at home and I kept seeing pictures while I was alone here. I got less and less homesick as the week went on, but there is still a little nagging sadness for me even now.
          This weekend, I have relaxed at home, hung out with my sisters and parents, and worked on Turkish. I think I am learning Turkish slowly but surely, but it is very frustrating for me to have so many thoughts in my head that I can not actually express because I don't know how.
           And now a list of other random things that happened that I haven't already written about and then some pictures:
1. I have fallen in love with pide, basically bread with meat and cheese baked onto it, which is good because it's eaten very often for lunch during school.
2. Breakfast is my favorite meal here because I get cheese, bread with honey, and some other delicious food like omeletes, pancakes, or French toast.
3. You can buy a full meal and drink for around 3 dollars here.
4. If you order kola at a restaurant, you can expect any soda, not necessarily a Coke.
5. Seedless grapes aren't a thing here and it scared me so bad the first time I ate a grape and their was something hard in it.
6. I have gotten so used to the call to prayer that it no longer wakes me up when it goes off in the mornings.
7. If the teacher doesn't care, students will sleep or have conversations while the teacher lectures.
8. My entertainment during lessons this week was watching people do double takes when they saw me as they walked by the classroom. One boy almost walked into the bathroom door because he was staring at me for so long.
9. It felt like fall yesterday for the first time because it was overcast and somewhat cold and it made me so happy.
10. My classmates are always so impressed when I use even super basic Turkish because they seem to think I know nothing. They were really surprised when I knew the word for 12.

A photo of me with my host sisters that was taken my first night here. 

It was Color Day at my school on Thursday so I wore this headband to support from afar. 

Some weirdly pink meat that was in a sandwich I had for lunch one day this week. 

That's all I can think of for now. I'm going to try to get into the habit of posting every Sunday but we will see how that goes. I don't know if I will be able to post next Sunday because it is Bayram next weekend and I am not sure what we will be doing. Also if you have any questions you'd like me to answer or specific things you'd like me to talk about in my next post, leave me a comment below. I also love any comment, so feel free to leave comments. Wish me luck for my next week of school! I hope you have a good week too! Görüşürüz!

The Beginning

          I have been in Turkey for 12 days now but I have only been with my host family since Sunday. So on September 3, I woke up much too early, got dressed, took one last look around my room and house, said goodbye to my dogs (the cat was nowhere to be found), and drove to the airport with my parents. I was forced to say my goodbyes outside of security and to be honest, they were really hard. It was very sad for me to know I wouldn't see my parents again for 10 months. I went through security, waved goodbye one last time, and went to my gate. The flights to New York were uneventful and I arrived in New York and was able to get my bags with no problem. I wandered the airport for awhile until I found the AFS volunteer and then we waited some more for more AFS kids to arrive. The AFS orientation itself wasn't very interesting because we have already done so many orientations, it wasn't any new information, but it was a lot of fun to talk to all the other kids. There were people at our orientation going to Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Ghana, Egypt, Croatia, and of course Turkey. There were 17 of us from the US going to Turkey and on Thursday we all headed to JFK. We were all decked out in our blue AFS shirts and a guy in the airport saw our shirts and stopped us to ask if we were from AFS and then told us that he had been an AFS student several years ago. We boarded our flight and I sat with Leah almost in the back of the plane. That flight was surprisingly fun (due to lots of talking with Leah, an extremely cute baby in front of us, good movies to watch, and the fact that I actually slept a lot). We then had to go to our next gate where we met 2 French AFS kids also going to Turkey. After what seemed like a very fast flight, we landed in Istanbul.

My bags all packed in my room the night before I left. I have now hauled them through 4 different airports and I am very attached to them.

The Turkey group getting ready to board our flight to Paris. Notice the super cute, matching blue T-shirts.

My first airplane meal. It was surprisingly good but I didn't really get to enjoy it because the flight attendant took it before I was done.

About to board our flight in Paris.

Our view of Paris (actually just the airport) out the window of the plane before we left for Istanbul.

As our plane touched down in Istanbul.

          After landing, we went through customs and got our bags. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, a man started talking to me in Turkish but I jus gave him a blank stare until he switched to English. We then had a long bus ride to our hotel which gave us our first glimpses of Istanbul. Once we got to the hotel, we checked into our rooms and went to meet the volunteers and other students. We played some games, ate dinner, and just hung out until we went to bed. The next day, the NSLIY and YES students had our first day of Turkish lessons. We had these lessons all week from 9-12 and again from 2-4. They were very helpful and greatly appreciated but they were always very hard and tedious. Then we had some free time so I hung out with the other exchange students and the volunteers. That night the regular AFS students had a talent show, so a few of the YES and NSLIY students went to watch. We ended up being asked to perform too so we tried to teach everyone the cha cha slide but it didn't work all that well. The evening quickly morphed into a dance party as we learned traditional Turkish dances and everyone played music from their country. Sunday was the day that all the regular AFS kids went to their host families so it was just the YES and NSLIY kids left at the hotel for the next week we had Turkish lessons followed by orientation stuff and then free time. Free time was always wonderful because I got to hang out with all the other exchange students and our awesome volunteers. Sunday was our big day as we all headed to the airport for our flights to our host families. My bag ended up being .2 kg under the limit which I was very thankful for and everything went smoothly as we boarded our flight to Izmir. Once we landed, all of the NSLIY kids who are staying in Izmir this year were met by their host families while us YES kids stood awkwardly by. We unfortunately missed the bus to Aydın so we took the train. It was very crowded and as more and more people got on, it got ridiculously hot. So we got to Aydın sweaty and disgusting but we finally got to meet our host families and it was great.

One of our views of Istanbul out the window of the bus as we drove to the hotel the first day.

The beautiful view of the Marmarus Sea off the balcony of our hotel room.

The sunset over the water our first night there.

The street in front of our hotel. I'm not sure why I like this photo so much but I do.

The view from the room where we hung out and drank tea all the time, and where we spent all of our breaks during Turkish class.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this was the absolutely gorgeous view out our classroom window.

          My host family has been absolutely incredible to me so far. They are very understanding of my lack of Turkish and they have been trying to teach me as much as they can. Their apartment is beautiful and the food is always delicious. My youngest host sister started school on Monday but I am not allowed to go to school yet so Monday I worked on Turkish and just hung out with my host family and yesterday I went to my fathers shop and spent the day looking around the city it is in and attempting to speak with people. Hopefully I will start school next week because I would really like to have a consistent routine.

Some things I have noticed or done and didn't already mention:
- people drive absolutely crazy here. Lanes are suggestions, stop lights are suggestions, and cars don't stop for pedestrians. You are taking your life in your hands if you choose to walk somewhere here.
- people will sell food and water in the middle of the highway. I was amazed to see that considering the driving here.
- you have to wear shoes inside all the time but you never wear the shoes you wore outside in the house.
- American music is played all the time here.
- I got to swim in the Marmarus Sea which was actually pretty gross but still a cool experience.
- Turkish coffee is super delicious even for someone who doesn't like coffee.
- I get stared at everywhere I go because I just look so different than everyone here.
- the call to prayer is very loud. The first morning it went off, it scared me so badly because it was so loud.
- Turkish people are incredibly nice and hospitable and do everything to make you feel comfortable and happy.

My very first Turkish coffee. I like it if it has a lot of sugar in it otherwise it is way too strong for me.

All of my Turkish books and notes spread out on my bed while I did homework one day.

Some really adorable puppies we saw.

Milk comes in a box here and isn't refrigerated so there is a whole shelf in the store full of boxes of milk.

Another beautiful sunset. The views we had in our hotel in Istanbul were really indescribable. 

The little plastic containers we drank water from in the hotel. They kind of reminded me of pudding cups because you peel back the lid and then you drank. They were so incredibly loud to open though, so drinking them in class was always a challenge.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading! Hoşçaklın!

"If we wait until we are ready, we will be waiting our whole lives."

           I know I said that I probably wouldn't post until I was in Turkey, but I've thought of more to say and I felt like blogging. Today is my last day in Albuquerque and it still doesn't seem real. I keep saying how I still don't believe that I am actually leaving for a year because I just cannot comprehend being gone for that long. I leave bright and early tomorrow morning ( 6 AM! Way too early!) and will be in New York with my fellow AFSers by this time tomorrow. I've spent the last few days running errands and picking up the last few things I need before I go. I picked out the clothes I want to bring and I have finally started putting them into my suitcases. I've come to realize just how hard keeping bags under strict weight limits is and I've really had to consider what I really want for the next year.
          Aside from the packing that has caused me enormous amounts of stress, I have had an awesome last few days in Albuquerque. I went for a run with one of my closest friends on Friday morning and she agreed to go with me to find the last of my host family gifts afterwards. We went to Old Town, the city center from hundreds of years ago even before New Mexico was a state which is now home to lots of tourists shops and cute traditional adobe buildings, to try and find a few more things and ended up staying for several hours wandering around the plaza and pretending to be tourists. We would race to see who could find Breaking Bad merchandise first in each store (literally the easiest game ever since it is everywhere). We walked through virtually every shop in the whole area looking at the beautiful Native American jewelry and laughing about the hilarious tourist gifts we found. We sat in the center of the plaza and talked and it made me realize just how much I love Albuquerque and New Mexico and how much I will miss my home while I am in Turkey. Later Friday night, my family went to the pool and enjoyed one last Friday night dinner there.

The San Felipe de Neri Church in Old Town. This church has been around for over 300 years and is absolutely beautiful.

I'm not really sure why this photo ended up so tilted but it's not actually like that. This is the center of Old Town where me and my friend sat and talked.

          I don't remember much from Saturday and Sunday except that I ran several errands and created quite the mess in my room trying to pack.

Part of my extremely messy room as I was starting to pack. Most of the worst parts aren't shown here but it is truly horrifying.

           Yesterday, almost all of my friends were able to come over and we were able to have a going away party by going to the pool and hanging out there for several hours. Saying my goodbyes to my friends was an incredibly difficult thing for me to do because they have supported me through everything and soon I will be over 6,000 miles from them, but I know they will still be here when I come home so I've managed to keep from getting too sad.
          This morning, we sent my oldest sister back to college and so I had to tell her goodbye until June too. It was incredibly hard but I know she supports me no matter where I am and I will see her soon.

Me and Lauren this morning.

          I am almost completely packed now and have somehow managed to keep all my bags under the weight limits so far. With my departure looming so close now, I constantly question whether I am ready for this. But I have realized that there is no way for me to ever be completely ready to leave my home when I am still a teenager, but that I am as ready as I am ever going to be. Part of the fun and challenge of an exchange is not being ready and doing it anyway. I found a quote sometime this summer that has kept me calm realizing that it's okay for me to not be ready. It says, "If we wait until we are ready, we will be waiting our whole lives." There is no way that I will ever be ready for this, so I might as well go now. Even though I am terrified, I've realized that that is okay. I know that this is going to be an amazing experience and I can't wait to get started. The next time I write, it will be from Turkey. Thank you for following this amazing journey of mine!