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!

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

Everything Keeps Getting Closer!

          Today marks 22 days until I leave Albuquerque, 23 days until I leave the USA, and 24 days until I land in Turkey. It seems like time just keeps speeding up and my departure keeps speeding towards me at a ridiculous fast pace. I have made a list of things I need to get before I leave and I've finally started cleaning out my room so that I can start thinking about packing (although I know I probably won't actually pack until right before I leave because I am a horrible procrastinator about things like packing).
          Today also marks the first day of school for all my friends, and for the first time in 6 years of going to school at Prep, I am not there. I am sitting at home writing this blog post while my friends see everyone again, go to their new classes for the first time, get the obligatory "This is what we will do in class this year" speech and give the obligatory "This is who I am and what I did this summer" speech, listen to announcements at assembly, and sit under the tree where we have eaten lunch almost everyday for years. And I am sitting at home with my sisters. Not that that is a bad thing, it is just very weird. It is such a strange feeling knowing that I am doing something so different than what I would normally be doing. Although I am not sad that I am not in school, I am sad that I can no longer spend the same amounts of time with my friends that I did this summer. It's an incredibly bittersweet time for me because I can't wait to begin my incredible adventure in Turkey, but at the same time seeing my "old" life beginning without me makes me sad. If there is one thing I have found while I've been getting ready to leave for Turkey, it is that I always have a mixed bag of emotions. I can be so excited to leave that I can barely stand it, but at the same time, I am so terrified to leave that all I want to do is say that I can't go. Thinking about my leaving scares me so much because I am about to leave everything I know here to go to a place where I don't know anyone and I can't speak the language, but at the same time, I can't believe how close I am to beginning an absolutely incredible adventure.

The Istanbul skyline. I can't wait to fly into this beautiful city in less than a month. I am so excited!

          And now for a story that somewhat relates to my preparations for leaving. When I had already applied to YES Abroad but before I had even found out that I was a semi-finalist, I would (and truthfully still do) stalk the 2013-2014 YES Abroad students blogs and I found a blog of a girl who was currently in Turkey. The post I was reading had a fairly obscure reference to food in New Mexico which I just thought was a really weird reference to make if you weren't from New Mexico, so I went back in her blog and discovered that she was from another town here in New Mexico. When I first found out that I was moved up to being a finalist for Turkey, I emailed her to ask what kind of classes she takes in school to help me figure out if I could get credit for my year from my school. And just recently, as I got my host family and began researching about my new home, I discovered that she lived in the same town I am placed in and attended the same school that I believe I will be attending. So, I emailed her and asked if she could meet with me so I could ask her more questions about Turkey and her experience. Last week, she came to my house and my family asked her lots of questions and hearing all her stories about what an amazing experience she had and how much she loved and missed Turkey got me so excited to leave. It was also just absolutely amazing to be able to talk to an alumni of the Turkey program who had lived in the same place as me because the culture varies greatly even just across the country. She also told me that Priya and Kyle (two of the other YES Abroad students) are also placed in Aydin with me which I am very excited about because it will be nice to have other YES Abroad students for me to meet with and talk about our experiences, especially in the beginning when I maybe don't have as many friends yet.
          Another exciting piece of news is that my bright yellow AFS luggage tags and my domestic flight ticket to get to New York for my gateway orientation arrived in the mail yesterday. Getting these luggage tags is a pretty big deal (at least for me and I think for most AFS students) and it really makes things more real for me. Every time some new piece of information about my exchange year comes to me, it makes things more real for me. When I first found out I was going to Turkey, everything was just a huge blank and with each new piece of information I receive, things become a little less vague for me. Unfortunately I still don't have any information about what our orientation once we arrive in Turkey will be like and I still don't know for sure what school I will be attending, but hopefully I will get that information soon. I also returned from a vacation to see my family in Illinois and Wisconsin and I had to say what I consider to be my first real goodbyes while I was there. I was surprised by how hard they were for me and it makes me very nervous for saying goodbye to my immediately family and my friends here. I guess I will just have to wait and see how those go for me.

          Also, I am steadily working my way through the Rosetta Stone for Turkish. I still feel completely unprepared for the language barriers I will encounter, at least I know something. I often compare myself to a Turkish toddler because that is about the level I think I am at with the language. I am very proud of myself because I have finally sort of begun to understand vowel harmony and how the different suffixes on words work. Teşekkür ederim! Hoşçakal!

My Host Family!

          Last Wednesday, I received an email from AFS about my host family. They seem absolutely wonderful and I am so incredibly excited.
          I will be living in Aydin, Turkey in a host family with a mother, a father, and three sisters. Two of the sisters are older than me and only one of them lives at home and the other sister is just a few months younger than me and we will be sharing a room. I have never shared a room so that will be very different for me, but the family itself is very similar to my natural family so that will be nice. On their application, it said that my family likes swimming, running, cooking, playing cards and board games, and travel, which makes them perfect for me because I love all of those things. This family has never hosted a student before, so I am very excited to be their first exchange student.
          Aydin is a very beautiful city of 180,000 very close to the Mediterranean Sea. I could not be more excited about getting to live close to the sea because I absolutely love the ocean and coming from the desert of New Mexico, I rarely get to see the ocean. It sounds like there are several options for activities I can do in Aydin and I am absolutely thrilled with both my placement and my family.
          Here are some of my favorite pictures I've found of Aydin so far.

I don't think that this is in the actual city of Aydin, but I believe this is the province of Aydin. Coming from a landlocked, desert state, things like this are not a common sight and I think this is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait for this to become normal to me in my new life.

This is the city of Aydin from above. I am so excited for the day when I drive into this city to start my new life.

The province of Aydin.

The city of Aydin.

I will probably post again soon because I got my wisdom teeth out this morning so I can't do much and I have a lot of ideas about posts I would like to write. Until then, thanks for reading!

Departure Date!!!!!!!!!

          As you can probably tell from the title, I got my departure date for Turkey today! I will have my Gateway Orientation in New York City on September 3, then leave for Turkey on September 4, connect through Paris, and arrive in Istanbul on September 5. I am really excited to finally know exactly when I am leaving and I'm really looking forward to actually being able to give a real answer to "When do you leave?" instead of just having to answer the beginning of September. I am also very excited that we are connecting through Paris because even though we aren't going to be able to go out and see anything, I just think it will be cool to connect through there. My leaving seems much more real now with an official departure date and I think it has made me even more excited. Two months from today, I will be in Turkey which is a really cool thought! That's all for now! Thanks for reading!

In less than 2 months, my plane will be landing in the beautiful city of Istanbul to bring me to my new life. I cannot wait!

National PDO

          Last week, I attended the National Pre-Departure Orientation in Washington, DC. On Tuesday, I left from Albuquerque on a 7:20 flight to Dallas and I then flew from there to DC. When I arrived in Dulles, I followed the confusing signs to the baggage claim where I was greeted by several YES Abroad volunteers and some fellow YES students heading to a variety of countries next year. We rode a shuttle on the crazy DC roads to the 4-H Center, which was very nostalgic being back at since that was where we had IPSE, where my airport group signed in, got our name tags, YES shirts, and YES bags (all of which I was very excited about), dropped our bags off in our rooms, and went to the main hanging out room in the center to pass the time until dinner. We had our first workshop that night where we talked about the program in general and how to be an effective ambassador while abroad. Despite the late hour that we finished, many of us hung out in the common areas until curfew and my roommates and I stayed up for several hours after that just talking.

The 4-H Center where we stayed for both the IPSE and the PDO. It was strange and wonderful being back because I had convinced myself I would never see the center again after IPSE.

          Wednesday was an extremely long day of workshops that were very informative and helpful, but staying at the same table in the same room for roughly 12 hours got exhausting. Our workshops covered many topics from Health and Safety to Discussions of Faith to Being a Digital Citizen. I felt I learned a lot from each of the workshops and they forced me to consider many things I had never even thought about before, but I was glad I thought about before I was in a situation where I might easily offend someone. It was also very nice to be able to ask many of the questions I had thought of to our wonderful group leader Hana and get answers from someone who had actually lived in Turkey and knew firsthand answers. It was also wonderful to get to know the Turkey group who will hopefully be my exchange family for the next year. Everyone in my group was very nice and I'm very excited that we will be experiencing Turkey together. After an incredibly long day, my roommates and I ignored our need for sleep and stayed up late into the night once again.
          Thursday was a very exciting day for me because we got to get out of the 4-H center for awhile and go around DC. We all got dressed up and it was very fun to see everyone in their nice clothes. We then split up by country with some groups going to their country's embassy while others went to a museum with art from their region. We were lucky enough to be able to go to the Turkish embassy which was very cool. There was some confusion with the buses to take us to our various destinations so the Turkey group ended up on a giant couch bus for the 7 of us, Hana, and another woman working at the orientation. We arrived at the embassy, which was absolutely beautiful, went through security and were taken to a room where we waited for awhile and demanded Kyle teach us some of the Turkish he knew. We then met the 2nd and 3rd secretary who gave us a presentation about Turkey in general and about Turkish foreign policy and answered lots of our questions. We also got tea and coffee as well as some cookies that were very delicious. It was very cool to talk to the people at the Embassy and they had a lot of information for us. I also thought it was very funny because when I told them I was from Albuquerque, one of the men giving us the presentation told me how much he liked Breaking Bad which is something I hear pretty often. I just thought it was hilarious that a Turkish man would have watched Breaking Bad and was later told that Breaking Bad is popular in Turkey which should lead to some interesting conversations for me.

The sign on the outside of the Turkish Embassy. There isn't a W in the Turkish language, so it says Vasington instead of our spelling.

There was another building like the one you can see here opposite this one and they were both very beautiful. It's not a great picture but it was all I had time to take.

          After our visit to the Embassy, we ate lunch in a park and walked to the US Department of State which was right up the street. We went through security and were escorted (and I do mean escorted. Some of us asked to go to the bathroom and the women who took us actually came into the bathroom with us. They weren't playing around!) to a meeting room. There, we were addressed by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary who told us about her experiences living and working abroad and gave us some insight into what the Department of State expects from us during our year abroad. After she spoke, we were able to ask questions to several other Officers in the Department of State and then we asked questions to someone who specialized in Turkey and that area of the world. It was very nice to talk to him and he was very informative about various subjects in Turkey.
          We then walked down to the Lincoln Memorial which was very fun since I hadn't been there since I was much younger. However, it was beastly hot and I was ready to get back to somewhere with air conditioning pretty quickly. We took some group pictures and then we headed back to the 4-H Center where everyone excitedly changed out of our fancy clothes and went to dinner. We then had another workshop during which we got some interesting diagrams drawn for us by Allen (including my favorite, the chart of exchange student happiness and sadness) and then hung out and talked as long as we could.

The view of the Washington Monument from the steps of  the Lincoln Memorial. It was a beautiful day despite the heat and humidity and I loved seeing the memorials. You can also see how incredibly crowded it was at the Lincoln Memorial. The huge masses of people weren't really helping out with the heat.

Lincoln sitting on his chair inside his memorial. I felt obligated to take the tourist photos while I was there since I didn't know when I would be back.

The Turkey Group. From Left to Right: Hana (our group leader), Priya, Elsa, Kyle, Me, Leah, Jake, and Rowan. 

           Friday morning, my roommates and I packed up and headed for breakfast. Everyone checked out and headed to a meeting about policies and a goodbye session after which we just hung out until we had to go to the airport. I was on the early flight and after clearing security, another YES student and I had lunch and waited for other YES kids to show up. Once we found some, we all hung out and accompanied people to their gates. I was one of the first people to leave and it was really sad for me. I hated not knowing how long it would be before I saw most of these people again and that in some cases, I might never see them again. Even if I wasn't close with them, they are the ones who truly understand what I am going through and they will be the most understanding during my time abroad. After my goodbyes, it was just a long journey home. All this week, I have really missed being in DC with all these people who just understand who I am and who can always make me laugh. I can't wait to see my group and hopefully the Ghana group again in 50-something days at our gateway orientation. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I will have more news about Turkey to update this with soon!

The YES Abroad Class of 2014-2015. I don't think there is a more qualified group of kids out there and I know that everyone is going to accomplish amazing things.

The Turkish flag in the Dulles airport. In the B terminal, the ceiling is lined with tons of international flags so naturally I had to track down the Turkish one.

P.S. The girls going to India arrived in their new homes a few days ago and I hope everything is going well and that they have an amazing year!