One Year Later

          One year ago today was my first full day in Turkey. That was back when I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. I had no idea how hard it would be and no idea how amazing it would be. I was standing at the start line with 10 months stretching out in front of me and no idea what to expect. 

          My year in Turkey exceeded every one of my expectations and taught me some of the most important lessons I've learned to date. And it was by far the greatest experience of my life so far. 

          I can't believe that my journey started a year ago and that I have been home for almost two months. I must say that my trip through readjustment has been much harder than I ever expected. I never knew how much I could miss a place that I only discovered a year ago and the life that I built myself there. I adopted a lot of very Turkish habits while I was gone and those haven't always meshed well with an American life. School is so much harder than I imagined it would be, but there is a lot that has been really great since I've returned home. 

          I've reunited with all my friends and family. I've visited a few colleges and got some ideas of what I may want for the next 4 years of my life. I've started my senior year and gotten to partake in some of our senior traditions. I've restarted cross country running and even had my first meet yesterday. I've volunteered at the arrival orientation for AFS students coming to my area. 

          So even though it has been a major struggle to readjust to American life, it's also been a joy. I will forever remember my time abroad but now it's time for the next chapter of my life. I think I will keep blogging occasionally but I don't know how often. So thank you to everyone who use reading this and who followed along the whole time I was gone! Görüşürüz!

To Live Will Be an Awfully Big Adventure - Peter Pan

          Ten months ago today, I left the only home I had ever known and started on the crazy adventure that was this year. And tomorrow, I will leave my new home here. I've always known deep down that eventually this year would end and I would go home. But when you are experiencing your first days in your new country and you have ten months left, it seems like you have forever. But then, somehow, you find yourself sitting where I am, with ten months behind you and just days left. 

          Physically, I am ready to go. My bags are packed, presents have been bought, goodbyes have been said. But I know that I will never truly be ready to leave this place. Just as I wasn't ready to leave home ten months ago, I'm not ready to leave my new home. But I don't think anyone is every really ready to do anything. If we stayed waiting around to be ready, we would never do anything. And so, the time has come for me to go. I know that my time in Turkey isn't over. This part of my life in Turkey is ending; the part where I go to school and live with a family and get to live a real life here. But Turkey will always be home to me, just as much as the U.S. is. I know I will come back here, and I can't wait for the day when I do. 

          This year has been the absolute hardest thing I have ever done. But it has also been the most amazing thing I have ever gotten to experience. I will miss so much about this year, from the food to speaking Turkish to the skyline filled with mosques to the buses to my family to the organized chaos that is my daily life here. I will miss it all. But these things will always be a part of me. This year and this experience will remain a huge part of who I am for the rest of my life because this time has changed who I am and how I see the world. 

          For so long, my return has been so hyphothetical to me that I haven't put much thought into what it will be like to go back to the life I had before this year. But as it's gotten closer and closer, I've started to think more and more about it. And I am honestly so scared. I'm scared that the space I left will no longer fit the person I have become. But I think that going home will be the next big adventure.

          With every goodbye comes the start of the next adventure. When I said goodbye to everything I have ever known in the U.S. I started this wild ride. And I know another great adventure awaits me back at home. Because life truly is an awfully big adventure. 

          And so, I say goodbye. This will be the last time I post from Turkey. It won't be the end of this blog, but I don't know when I will next sit down to write. Thank you to everyone who read this during this past year and saw me through the twists and turns of the roller coaster that was this year. Goodbye for now! Thank you!

My Turkey Bucket List Revisited

          Before I came to Turkey, I created a bucket list of all the things I'd like to do while I was in Turkey. My year was made up of much more than these items, but these things created some very wonderful memories from this year. So here is my bucket list revisited. 

1. Become fluent in Turkish. - I wouldn't say I am fluent but I am more than conversational. I am also so proud of how far I have come in this language so I count this one as a success. 

2. Become a part of my community in Turkey. - Between volunteering at the old folks home, the preschool, going to school, and just living life, I have definetely created a spot for myself in this community. 

3. Make close friends. - I will truly miss my friends from here so much because they have become such an important part of my life. They were the ones who helped me all through this year and I count them as some of closest friends. 

4. Visit Pamukkale. - I went last weekend. A very cool experience. 

5. Go to a Turkish bath. - I've never felt so clean as I did after I went. 

6. Visit Cappadocia. - A truly amazing experience and truly incredible views. 

7. Visit Istanbul (especially the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque). - Visited the city twice and got to go to both of those places. 

8. Become close friends with the other YES Abroad and AFS students. - The other YES Abroad students are basically family now. 

9. Learn to love Turkish coffee. - I love it so much. 

10. Get homesick. - Many times. 

11. Get over it. - Just as many times. 

12. Visit a mosque. - Several times. 

13. Get used to hearing the call to prayer every day. - I actually can no longer remember what not hearing the call to prayer everyday is like. 

14. Visit the other YES Abroad students in their host cities. - I visited the others in Samsun. 

15. Cook my host family American food. - I didn't cook for my host family but I did cook American Thanksgiving and Christmas cookies so I will count this one. 

16. Try some crazy Turkish foods. - Brain, liver, stomach, intestine. I didn't like them, but I tried them. 

17. Visit the beach. - On several occasions. 

18. Visit the roman ruins at Ephesus. - Another truly amazing experience. 

19. Join some sort of extra-curricular. - Sadly, there's not much in the way of extra-curriculars here so this didn't happen. 

20. Volunteer. - As much as I could. 

21. Take lots of photos/videos. - Ive taken more than 2000 photos to date. 

22. Keep up this blog. - I think I posted pretty regularly. 

23. Send letters to family/friends and other YES Abroad students. - I always meant to do this but I just never got around to it. 

24. Drink lots of Turkish tea. - Considering I can't think of a single day these past 10 months when I didn't drink a few cups of tea, I'm going to say yes for this one. 

25. Buy some traditional Turkish clothes. - I've bought many Turkish scarves and a dress that brides to be wear for their henna nights. 

It's been a crazy 10 months and as they come to an end, it's crazy to look back on all the things I did. I did 23 out of the 25 things I had on this list and I did so many other things I had never even thought of before I came here. Thanks for reading!

My YES Abroad Capstone Project

          One of the requirements for the YES Abroad program is to complete a capstone project. This project is pretty much completely open-ended and we were giving great freedom in choosing what we wanted to do our project about. The main goal is to pick a part of our host country's culture that was interesting to us or some part of our experience here that was important to us and explore it more fully. I decided to compare preschools in the US and here in Turkey and discuss how culture effects education. It is kind of long, but I thought I would share it here in case anyone would like to read it.

Children Learn What They Live

How Culture Influences Preschool Education

Early childhood education is one of the most important stages of education, as it is the first formal education a child receives and sets them on the path towards future success, both in education and in life. This remains true throughout various cultures. However, the education itself will inevitably vary in different cultures, as cultural standards vary. Behavioral ideals for children often differ greatly based on the culture and these differences can be seen easily in a classroom setting. The goals for the child’s education and style in which classrooms are conducted show many similarities, although contrasts can be found as well. One of the most obvious demonstrations of a cultural difference can be found in the amount of responsibility children are given for their own education, versus how much of that responsibility is put on the adults in the child’s life. Cultural differences manifest themselves in every part of life, however, the attitudes and ideas surrounding education and children is one of the most obvious places to see them.

            Standards of behavior for children vary greatly by culture and these variations can be easily seen in schools. From the beginning of my time in Turkey, it was quite obvious to me that the expectations for Turkish children’s behavior is very different than that for American children. In Turkish culture, it is rare to punish children and they are generally allowed to do most anything they want and the parents will not see a problem with it. Coming from American culture, I felt that the children I saw were incredibly badly behaved. As time has passed, I’ve come to understand how this is related to the culture here, and while it still often catches me off guard, I understand why they behave the way they do. These behavioral differences were especially clear to me after I started helping out at a local preschool. It seemed to me that the behavioral problems I saw there were greater than most that I could remember seeing in the US, but that the “punishments” usually only amounted to them being told not to do it again. At most, they would be told to sit a little apart from the rest of the group. When I asked a teacher, they told me that they don’t believe in punishing their children. The separations seemed to only last for a few minutes until a teacher stopped telling them to go back to their chair and they wandered back to the main group. In my mother’s classroom, punishments, usually being isolated from others for some amount of time appropriate to what the child did were given out if a child was hurting or disturbing other children or if they were damaging property. The same idea was used in the Turkish classroom, with children being put apart from the rest of the group if they were disrupting the class, but the punishment was less strictly enforced and therefore less effective. This was probably the most obvious difference between these two systems of education to me, while the goals of the education itself remained fairly similar.

            Education is either helped or hindered by the environment in which the learning occurs, and, while the classrooms in Turkey and the ones in America had some differences, they both were effective learning environments. There are many different aspects that create a good environment for learning in which children will better be able to accomplish their learning goals. I found many similarities between the classrooms I have worked in in the US and in Turkey. In both countries, the classrooms are decorated with projects the children have done and various other posters and pictures that further the children’s learning. As playing is just as important to a young child’s learning as structured class activities, there are also games to be played at appropriate times. Games had to be shared between children to teach them the value of sharing and there were many different ways to use the different objects around the classroom. However, children were rarely allowed to bring toys from home in the classroom in America, while it was common practice in the classroom in Turkey. Field trips are also common in both countries as a learning tool in which the children can very actively participate in their own learning. Encouraging physical activity on a regular basis was another similarity between the two countries. In the American classroom, the children went to PE several times a week and had recesses every day to play outside, while the Turkish children had dance classes and were also given several opportunities each day to play outside. The biggest difference I observed was in the use of technology as a teaching and learning tool. In the Turkish classroom, technology was used a considerable amount, whereas it was used very conservatively in the classroom in America. In Turkey, they often play songs and various learning videos as a way to entertain the children as well as one way of teaching the lessons. In the classroom in America, technology was used very sparingly as a teaching tool because it was believed that the children would learn better by doing an activity related to the subject matter rather than just seeing someone else do the activity on a screen. Technology was especially widely used in the children’s English classes in Turkey, which start at 3 years old. Preschool English lessons and songs mainly made up their English classes, an interesting change from the American classroom, where children rarely begin to learn a foreign language so early in life. The classroom environments in both countries were very effective and while they had a few differences in teaching styles, the main parts remained the same.

            American culture places great emphasis on children growing up and accepting more and more responsibility while they are still quite young and continuing to take even more as they get older. Turkish culture views remaining dependent on parents longer as the best way of staying close to your family, which is very important to the Turkish people. This means most children stay home with their families for much longer than an American child would. These differences in the expectations for the children’s future clearly affected the goals of their education, even at this age. In the American classroom, children were already being taught how to be responsible for their own things, including homework, and being given a wide range of choices in their days, from choosing their own library book to what activity they wanted to do. This is so they could begin to learn how making certain choices affects them and teaching them to have the responsibility for their own belongings, and in the future, their own education. For example, if they forgot to bring their library book to return, they would sit at a separate table while their classmates were able to pick out new books. Children often did better remembering to bring their books when they knew they wouldn’t get to participate in the same activities as their classmates if they didn’t. By giving these types of responsibilities to children beginning at such a young age, the goal of them becoming independent at an earlier age in is more easily accomplished. In Turkey, family is the most important thing, and children often remain living at home much longer than children in the US do. Responsibility and independence are not as important to the Turks, and are therefore not pushed as much in early education. The children I interacted with tended to have fewer choices when it came to their activities and were given fewer responsibilities in the classroom and in their education. While the main goals of the education in both countries was to start the children on their path to continued learning and the desire to seek out their own education, the amount of responsibility and independence taught was very different between the two countries.

            Parental involvement in a child’s education is viewed as being vitally important in both countries. A child’s parents are their first teachers and they are the ones who continue educating their children outside of school so their level of participation is very high in both countries. While parental involvement was more obvious to me in the American classroom where parents would regularly come into the class and work with the students, there was still a high level of contribution from parents in the Turkish classroom. Many came and spent time with the students in their child’s class and were expected to continue the learning with their child at home, through reading and other educational activities, much as parents are in the US. Parents are also highly involved in the classroom during field trips and time spent as a class away from the regular classroom in both countries. Teachers in both Turkey and the US felt that parents need to be highly involved in helping their child with their learning, both at home and in the classroom.

            While differences abounded between the styles of teaching and the methods of keeping order in American classrooms and in Turkish ones, the most important things remained the same. Teachers in both countries want to teach their children a love of learning and a desire to learn for themselves without the pushing of others. Turkey takes a more relaxed-seeming approach when it comes to their early childhood education, but with a far greater emphasis on learning foreign languages and interacting with the other students. The American classroom tended to place more importance on the learning of proper behavior and self-control, while also becoming more independent in one’s choices and education. Most of the differences between the two classrooms seemed to manifest themselves because of the significant cultural differences, especially those surrounding young children. The learning that young children do is some of the most important that will happen in their lives, and while teachers in Turkey and teachers in America had different approaches when it came to how their children would be educated, the goals of life-long learning and growth were the same in both countries.

My Last Day of School

          This last Friday was my last day of school here in Turkey. It was my last day of junior year and my last day of school as a student at Adnan Menderes. I spent so much time at school during this last year that the idea that tomorrow I'm not going to get up and walk there with my host sister and have another normal school day still has not registered with me. School was where I made my wonderful friends, where I learned Turkish, where I laughed and where I smiled. I am very, very sad that my time at Adnan Menderes has ended but I am so thankful for everything going to school there provided me, and as far as last days go, I had a pretty great one. 

          Me and some of my friends spent the first half of the day sitting in the school gardens and talking as all the students eagerly awaited receiving their report cards after lunch. After lunch, our class president said goodbye and we took a class picture for me to have. Everyone was standing on the tables in our classroom and we were all laughing as we took the picture and it reminded why I loved my class. There was always laughter and smiles from my classmates and I will miss that so much. By that point, I was crying and had to start saying goodbye to my classmates. After lots of hugs, many tears, and promises to come back one day soon, we went outside for our last flag ceremony of the year. 

         At the beginning of our year, Priya and I got up in front of the school and introduced ourselves during the ceremony. On Friday, we got up in front of everyone once again and said goodbye. We were marveling over how far we have come since that day at the beginning of the year as we waited to give our speeches. On that day back in September, we were so scared and our shaking voices were barely able to stumble through a basic introduction. But this time, we were able to thank our school for everything they had done for us and we weren't scared at all. It was a really wonderful moment for me and helped me to realize just how far I have come in these last 9 1/2 months. 

          After school ended, the goodbyes continued and we had a little meeting with our principal and some of our teachers where we talked and ate a cake that they had bought for us. It was really nice to talk with them and thank them for everything this year. It was a very nice ending to a sad but wonderful day. 

With two of my best friends at school. 

11-A. The best class I ever could have asked for. 

Me and Priya with our celebratory cake. 

          With the end of school, it really sunk in that my exchange year is coming to an end. I have three weeks left in Turkey and I can't comprehend how little time remains. But I have every intention of thoroughly enjoying the time I have left and I will certainly keep you all up to date on my last few weeks. As always thanks for reading! 

You Know You're An Exchange Student in Turkey When . . . .

          After so long living here, I have thought of a few ways to know you are an exchange student in Turkey. So in honor of my 9 month anniversary here in Turkey which passed last Friday, here is my list.

1. You speak fluent Turklizce and sentences like "We are just going to gez around" and "Let's kaç!" make total sense to you.
2. You feel weird if you haven't had at least a few cups of tea on any given day.
3. Same goes for pieces of bread.
4. You have developed a bit of an obsession with buying the silk scarves they sell at the bazaar. (I've already bought 6 and have no intention of stopping.)
5. You justify every purchase you make with, "Well, it's only $7 so it's ok." (The exchange rate is amazing for us right now)
6. You have realized that class is a completely acceptable time to do pretty much anything, including naps, gossiping, and catching up on the latest episodes of your favorite TV show.
7. You have accepted the fact that your host mom is never going to allow you to sleep with your hair wet. (Turkish people think you will get sick)
8. It's not weird to you to wear shoes around the house, but you never wear the ones you wore outside.
9. As soon as you get home, you change into sweatpants and t-shirts and you love it.
10. Yogurt on literally everything is normal to you.
11. You never go to the bathroom when you are out because you are too cheap to pay for them.
12. You have accepted that you will never get a drink with ice in it, but it still always makes you a little sad to pour your lukewarm water into a glass without ice.
13. You have mastered the art of crossing the street and not getting run over.
14. You never go more than a week without eating döner or pide.
15. It no longer weirds you out to see pictures and statues of Atatürk literally everywhere.
16. Going to the bazaar is one of your favorite ways to spend an afternoon.
17. You no longer get offended when the first thing people comment on is how much weight you've gained.
18. Your arms are way tanner than your legs because you are always wearing long pants.
19. You get really angry when English words don't follow vowel harmony.

20. You still have no idea what most of the food you are eating is because you don't know the English words for all the ingredients. 

21. You are a master of your city's bus system. 

22. Your social media is more in Turkish than it is in English
23. You can tell what time it is based on how many calls to prayer you have heard that day.
24. You are an expert at mentally converting between kilos and pounds, kilometers and miles, and Celsius and Fahrenheit.
25. You have found at least one little Turkish village that you are seriously considering running away to.
26. You can no longer remember what a city without mosques and minarets sticking up everywhere looks like.
27. The thought of leaving Turkey makes you want to cry.
28. But you know you will be back again soon because Turkey is your home now too!

May

          The month of May was my busiest month yet and was so wonderful for so many reasons. 

          I visited the ancient city of Ephesus with one of the other YES Abroad students. Seeing the ruins was absolutely amazing and I couldn't believe I was finally getting to see it in real life instead of just in pictures. I also had a really exciting moment when I met a few exchange students from Poland and was able to help them talk with another girl on the train by translating from English into Turkish. It was a truly wonderful moment to be able to help others make connections in the language I have been trying so hard to learn. 

Me and Elsa in front of one of the most famous ruins at Ephesus.  

          My host family celebrated Mother's Day with a trip to the beach town of Kuşadası to spend the day with the whole family. My host dad made mangal, Turkish barbecue, and we all laughed and ate and enjoyed our time together. 

          I was able to visit Istanbul with my classmates to tour colleges and see the city. It was interesting to visit some different colleges and see what some of the differences between American colleges and the colleges here were. We also got to see some of the most famous sites of Turkey including the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. I also got to spend some quality time with my classmates which I am so glad for as my departure date draws ever closer.

With friends at our restaurant on the Bosphorus Strait. 

Experiencing the wonder of the Blue Mosque. 

With all my wonderful classmates. 

          I have gotten into a routine of volunteering at a local preschool. It is always such a joy to be able to help out the teachers there and to get to talk with the different children. 

          Most recently, I was able to go to my school's graduation ceremony. With the exception of the performance of my city's traditional dance, it was very similar to American graduations. I loved seeing the new class of graduates celebrate and to join in the excitement of my class as they became seniors. 

The Turkish Language

          My main goal of the last almost 9 months has been to learn Turkish. This seems like such an easy pursuit when I say that way, but it has been anything but. Perhaps a better way to say it would be that the Turkish language has been the bane of my existence here. 

          Turkish is both a very difficult and very simple language. The grammar is very complex seeming but once you have learned it, it is hypothetically relatively easy to use. So today, I will attempt to give you all an insight into the beautiful language that I have devoted this year to learning. 

The first thing to know about Turkish grammar is that the word order is opposite from English, although this is flexible and you can usually be understood as long as the verb is always last in the sentence. 

Ex) Bir kitap okuyorum. - I am reading a book. 

However, translated directly from Turkish this sentence says a book reading am I. 

Which leads to verbs. Turkish verbs are wonderful because there are no irregular verbs and you can tell the subject of the sentence based on the conjugation of the verb, which means you are often able to not put any subject word into the sentence and everyone still knows what you are talking about. 

Ex) Koşuyorum. - I am running. 

      Koşuyorsun. - You are running. 

      Koşuyor. - He/She is running. 

      Koşuyoruz. - We are running.  

      Koşuyorsunuz. - You (plural/formal) are running.  

      Koşuyor(lar). - They are running. 

The subjects in Turkish are Ben (I), Sen (you), O (he/she/it), Biz (we), Siz (you formal/plural), and Onlar (they). However, as I said above, these often aren't used in sentences and are just assumed from the ending on the verb. 

Ex) Okula gidiyoruz. - We are going to school. 

Using biz is not necessary because it is implied by the ending on the verb. 

Turkish is an agglutinative language meaning that there are many endings that you add on to words to change their meaning. Because of that, it is possible to make an entire English sentence with one word in Turkish. 

Ex) Ev - house

      Evim - my house

      Evimde - in my house

      Evimdeyim - I am in my house. 

Another interesting part of Turkish grammar is their use of vowel harmony. There are 8 vowels and whenever you add endings onto words, you have to make sure that the vowels "match". If the word has a, ı, o, or u, the ending you add will also have those vowels. If the word has e, i, ö, or ü, the ending you add will also have those vowels. Seems confusing but really just takes practice. 

The last thing I will mention because I'm guessing most of you don't really care that much about Turkish grammar is that there is no gender on nouns. It is truly a language lovers dream because every noun is used with either bir which means one or with nothing before it. 

Ex) Araba kullanıyorum. - I am driving a car. But directly translated as car driving am I. 

This is such a tiny part of the enormity of Turkish grammar but it may give you some idea of what this language is like and maybe it was at least a little bit interesting. 

Now I will list some of my favorite words and things you are most likely to hear if you were to come to Turkey. 

Merhaba - Hello

Nasılsın(ız)? - How are you? (Casual and formal) 

Hoşgeldin(iz) - Welcome

Hoşbulduk - The response to welcome

Buyurun - There is really no English equivalent of this but is said when you enter shops or houses usually and kind of means look or here you go. It's ised all the time. 

Teşekkürler/Sağol - Thank you (formal and casual)

Inşallah - used as hopefully. 

Maşallah - a pretty general exclamation but used as great or wow mostly. 

Some of my favorite/most used words:

Ahududu - raspberry. I have actually never seen a raspberry in Turkey but I still like the word. 

Keçi - goat. This was the first Turkish word I learned and it has stuck with me although I don't use it much. 

Karpuz - This was pretty much the only word my friend Jake knew when we arrived and he told it to us so much, it became one of the only words I knew for awhile. It means watermelon. 

Çay - it means tea. Now whenever I hear chai tea I laugh because it sounds like they are saying tea tea. 

Susar mısın? - I just think this phrase is really funny because it's the polite way of asking someone to shut up. Basically "Could you please shut up?) 

I hope I didn't bore you all too much with this post and I hope it gave you a little glimpse into what I've been studying these past months. Turkish is an incredibly difficult language to learn but it is truly very fun to speak and is really beautiful when spoken by people with not my accent. I get frustrated by this language very regularly but I am so glad that I decided to learn it and I can't wait to continue my learning. 

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week! 

Istanbul: Take 2

          This past weekend, I went back to Istanbul, this time with my classmates to visit colleges. We visited four colleges but  also had plenty of time for sightseeing while we were there. This post is mainly going to be pictures with descriptions of all the places we went.

          Our trip began on Thursday night as we drive overnight to arrive bright and early in Istanbul. 

Yeditepe University. The first university we visited and where we stayed in the dorms during our trip. 

Boğaziçi University. An absolutely beautiful campus and a school that many American universities have exchange programs with. There was some kind of fair going on the day we were there. 

The view from the Boğaziçi campus. 

We also visited Istanbul Technical University on Friday but I didn't take any pictures. Although I am going to college in the U.S. it was still interesting to see some colleges and hear what some of the current students had to say. 

We also visited Koç University on Saturday which was my favorite of the school's we visited and had a beautiful campus. A lot of American schools also have exchange programs here, so maybe I will be studying there in a few years. 

On Friday night, we had a nice dinner at a restaurant right on the Bosphorus. Everyone got dressed up and we took lots of pictures before eating and dancing. It was so much fun and me and Priya decided that it was our make up prom and that we were each other's dates. 

We visited a place that had a view of the whole city and took pictures there. 

We visited Taksim Square and got to wander and see the famous trolley car go up and down the Main Street. 

Saturday night, we went to a mall where my oldest host sister met me and my other host sister for tea and birthday cake for my birthday that day. 

Dolmabahçe Palace. This was the center of administration for the Ottoman Empire for many years and was the home of many sultans over the years. Atatürk also used it as his presidential palace much of the time and spent the last days of his life there. The interior is absolutely gorgeous but pictures weren't allowed so I don't have any for you all. 

The Blue Mosque. I was far more excited about seeing this than any of my classmates but it just blew my mind to be in a place with so much history. The interior was gorgeous although it was incredibly crowded, so it was a little hard to enjoy. 

The Hagia Sophia. Another truly incredible thing to see. You can clearly see what parts of it are from when it was a church and which were added when it became a mosque. It is still being restored but there is a lot of very cool stuff to see inside. 

The Basilica Cistern. I don't know a lot about the history but it was very cool and eerily beautiful. I was surprised to discover that the cistern is actually full of water; I had always assumed the floor was just made of very shiny rock and that was what caused the reflections. 

Topkapı Palace. Another home of the Ottoman rulers. I was not allowed to go in with the ticket I had because it was apparently only for Turkish citizens (although they let Priya in because she looks so Turkish), so I ended up having to go get another ticket and missing half of our tour. The part I did see was very cool though!

Our last activity of our trip was a ferry boat ride on the Bosphorus. We played loud music, sang, danced, and enjoyed the beautiful views of an absolutely amazing city. 

          I had such a wonderful time on this trip, spending time with my classmates and falling ever more in love with the country that is home now. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to see so many amazing things during this trip and to have celebrated my 17th birthday in such an amazing city with such great people. 

           As always, thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week wherever you are! 

My Trip to Samsun

          A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to get to go visit the three other YES Abroad students in their host city of Samsun. Samsun is a city of over 600,000 people on the coast of the Black Sea.

          I left from Aydin in the morning of Thursday, the 23rd of April and began what turned into a bit of an adventurous day of travel. Between the train ride, a layover and delay in Istanbul, and a mix up getting picked up in Samsun, my day got very long, but it all turned out just fine. 

The sky was so pretty on my flight into Samsun. 

          On Friday, I got to see a lot of the city and meet a few Rotary exchange students who are also living in Samsun this year. We went to the city center, walked by the coast, went bowling at the biggest mall in the city, and walked around the biggest shopping street. That night, all 4 of us exchange students stayed at my friend Elsa's house and we helped her to make a traditional Jewish Shabbat meal. I really enjoyed seeing a little bit of an important cultural event for her and the food was absolutely delicious. 

The Black Sea. 

The view from Elsa's house. So beautiful!

Me and Elsa! (And our Jewish meal but you can't see it)

           On Saturday, we all went out to breakfast together and then headed back to the city center. Our plan was to go to a hamam but it was closed, so instead we went to a park right on the water that also has a monument to the Amazin warriors, who lived where Samsun now is some say. It was beautiful by the water and cool to see the park. 

Me and Elsa!

Me and Rowan and the sea

With the statue in honor of the Amazon warriors

They change the flower pots at this park everyday to show the date. This was the one year anniversary of becoming a YES finalist!

The sunset by the sea was gorgeous

          On Sunday, we went to a wedding in the morning and went back to the city center for the afternoon. I had not brought any nice clothes with me, so we had a bit of an adventure figuring out what to wear but it worked out and I had a really lovely time at the wedding and talking with some of Elsa's host mom's friends who were there. After that, we went to the bazaar and then to an amusement park where we all hung out and talked. That night, we went out to dinner at a delicious restaurant that overlooked the whole city. We were there as the sun set and watching the lights come on in the city was absolutely gorgeous.

Elsa and I for the wedding

With Samsun in the background

With a famous statue in another park. 

          Monday morning, we went to a nearby town and explored a little there. A very nice old man showed us how he makes baskets and then gave us one and we got to go to an extremely old mosque that is said to have been made completely without nails. After that, I had to go to the airport to head home. I ended up meeting several Americans in the airport who were heading to Ephesus and really enjoyed being able to help them out. 

The man showing us how he makes his baskets 

In the really old mosque. 

          I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Samsun and wish I could have stayed longer. Seeing my friends was amazing and I loved getting to see a different part of Turkey. 

           Thanks for reading! Have a good week! 

How Lucky I Am to Be an American

          Before I came to Turkey, I was certainly aware of how lucky I was to be American but I didn't really have any context for that knowledge. But since I came to Turkey, I've come to understand it so much more. 

           For me, and for many other Americans, we didn't choose to be American; we were just born into it. I could have been born in so many other countries, but by some stroke of luck, I was born and got to grow up in America. I got to grow up in what so many consider to be the best country in the world and I got to grow up speaking the language that people struggle for years trying to learn because it's become "the world language". Before I came to Turkey, I knew I was lucky, but now that I have watched my classmates struggle to learn English because they think they have to to go anywhere in life and heard person after person tell me that they wish they could go to America and why would I ever leave such a perfect country, I appreciate what I had so much more. 

          Don't get me wrong; I know how many problems the U.S. has. I come from one of the poorest states in the U.S.  I've seen plenty of bad things happening in the state that I love and I know that it is not limited to New Mexico. Every country has problems, and America is certainly not an exception. But we are working on fixing those things and we have a lot of freedoms to be incredibly thankful for. 

          When it really comes down to it, no matter how many problems the U.S. has, I was really lucky to grow up there. I was given so many incredible opportunities, including the one to come here, because of where I was born. And that's pretty special. 

          This is just my opinion but as I start to think about my return to the U.S. And reflect on the time I've spent here, this idea always pops into my mind. I know not everyone shares the same opinion as I do, but I wanted to share mine. 

          As always, thank you for reading!

April!!!!

           I would first like to apologize for my somewhat extended absence from posting. I got somewhat busy these last weeks and never could quite find the time or motivation to write one. I hope to start posting regularly again from now on. This post will be an update on this past month for me. 

         In early April, my oldest host sister returned from Istanbul to spend a weekend here. I always love getting to have my whole family here and it's wonderful to see her. While she was here, we spent a lot of time around my city with her and her friends and I got to meet many new people. We also went to a nearby village and enjoyed an amazing dinner in a historical restaurant built in the 1900s. 

          We were given the opportunity to meet and ask questions to one of the head members of one of the political parties here who also runs a program giving grants to people invlages to build their businesses. It was very interesting to hear about the program she implements and all the wonderful effects it has had for people in the villages. 

Visiting the woman in charge of a program to give grants to village people. 

          I got to tour around my school's science fair and learn about everyone's projects. I was so impressed with all of my classmates and how well done their projects were. I even got to try the traditional water art called Ebru!

          I started volunteering at a preschool and have enjoyed making friends with and getting to know all the little kids there. I have also continued to volunteer at a nursing home, which always brings me so much joy and teaches me so much. 

          I also got the opportunity to visit the other YES Abroad students in their host city of Samsun. The city was absolutely beautiful and I loved traveling around it, getting to know a new host family for the weekend, and getting to spend time with my amazing friends, as well as meet some new ones. I will make a longer post about my trip soon, but for now, I am waiting for some picture on my friend's camera. 

 

          I had a lovely past month here and I can't wait to see all that May will bring. As always thanks for reading!

Turkish Time

          Sometimes when I'm talking with my friends here, I'll mention something about how busy I always was in the U.S. and I'll end up describing a normal day in the life of an average American teenager, or something like it. And as I go through my list -school, sports, dinner, homework, sleep- I realize just how structured my time always was and how little variety there was in my life. Monday through Friday, my days looked exactly the same and every weekend, I did basically the same thing. 

          But that is just how American culture is. So much emphasis is placed on doing tons of activities and always keeping busy, that my repetitive life suited me just fine. And I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I was perfectly content with my schedule, with always being able to count on what was going to happen and when. 

          But when I came to Turkey, my whole scheduled life went up in flames. Suddenly I was faced with days and days of free, empty space for me to do whatever I wanted with. I could go home after school and sleep. I could go to a cafe and spend a few hours there. I could go walk around my neighborhood for a few hours and take in the sunshine. I was given all this time to do whatever I wanted with. And sometimes I miss my schedules so much, because I had structure whereas now I often find myself just floating with no real purpose. 

          But I also think that's really beautiful. That I can go out and wander with no destination or time frame in mind. That I can sit a cafe for hours talking and not have to rush out to make it to the next place I need to be. I can just relax. And that's how Turkish time works. It says you don't need to plan out every minute of your day. You can just let life take you where it will with no time limits and no stress. 

          And my favorite part of Turkish time is the spontaneity in it. My plans were made days and weeks in advance at home but here they are made twenty minutes ahead and that's totally normal. My family can say, "Do you want to go the beach for the day?" and we will be on the road within minutes. It feels so nice to just go and do something without planning out every little detail. 

          While Turkish time can be a bit stressful as plans are made ten minutes ahead of time and I am left to fill hours of my time every day, it also gives me the ability to relax so much more than when I was in the U.S. And I truly love it. I wish we could be a little more spontaneous and a little less stressed in our daily lives at home. 

          Who knows if I will be able to retain some of my carefree attitude surrounding time after my return, but I hope it doesn't disappear completely. I have been able to relax so much because of this and I have figured out some of the things that make me truly happy when I was able to slow down and just look around. 

           I think we could all use a little more Turkish time in our lives. Try it sometime. I bet you will enjoy it. 

          

My New Normal

          I came to Turkey 7 months ago today. I have been living in this amazing place for 212 days. And at some point in these past 7 months, "life in Turkey" became "life", plain and simple. The things that made me feel like I was impossibly far from home when I first got here are now just the everyday occurrences of life in my new home. And that makes me wonder, when and how did it all become normal? 

          I got to skype with my family earlier this week. While we were talking, the call to prayer started in the background. The call to prayer has become the soundtrack to my life here and I barely even register it anymore. But that wasn't something my family was used to hearing and they asked me about it. And I realized that I hadn't even registered that it had started until it was pointed out to me. My first morning with my host family, I literally jumped out of my bed when the call to prayer went off at 5:45 in the morning. And so I began to wonder, When did I get so used to that part of life?

          I was talking to a friend recently and she asked me what are some different things in the culture here. And I spent all day thinking about it before I replied, "If you came here, I'm sure you would think everything was so different but it's all so normal to me now." And I started to wonder, when did that happen?

          When did the houses I see everyday go from being run down and dirty to absolutely beautiful to me? When did the public buses go from being death traps on wheels to my favorite form of transportation? When did Turkish food go from being something I ate when it was put in front of me to something I crave? When did I start being able to sing the Turkish pop music and having favorite Turkish TV shows? When did speaking Turkish go from being a chore to being something I love to do?

          I guess I can't really say exactly when this all became normal to me. There wasn't one day when I woke up and suddenly everything was normal and I never got the "What the heck!" look on my face anymore. I still get that sometimes; I didn't suddenly become Turkish and completely understand their culture. But at some point in these last months, this life became my new normal. 

          I have 3 more months here. Less than half of the time I have already spent here until I go home. And that's really not very long. I've begun to realize just how much I will miss it here. Everytime I think of leaving, I start to get a little emotional because this country has claimed my heart. 

          But for now, I plan to thoroughly enjoy the time I have left here. I can't wait to enjoy the next 3 months of my new normal and my new life. Happy Easter everyone!