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!