Adventures In Türkiye!: August 2010

Well, this is it! My (rather long) journey begins! FINALLY! Tomorrow I leave my house at about 7:30am to the Bangor Airport...from there I'll be flying into Laguardia, New York. It's going to be SOOO exciting, but very sad at the same time. My mother is planning to sit with me in the waiting area until I board the plane. I know she's going to break-down, and how hard this will be for her and my dad. I keep telling them that it will go by so fast, and they'll have to get used to it anyway when I go to college. Anyway, I'm not looking forward to that part at all. Once I'm on the plane I'll be able to take a deep breath, listen to my iPod, and relax. I just have to make sure I get on the right shuttle once I land and meet up with the AFS people. Luckily I won't be alone again in the rest of my travels, which is quite a relief. From the airport I'll be heading to our hotel for our 2 1/2 days of orientation. I'm quite excited to meet the rest of the Turkey participants who I've been connecting with through Facebook and whatnot. I can't say I'm too thrilled about the orientation aspect, as a lot of it I'm sure I've already covered. I understand its an important part of making sure I'm a well-informed AFS/NSLI participant, so I'll just have to hold my excitement for Turkey a little longer..ughhh. Thursday evening I'm off to Turkey! I'll probably be flipping out..eeeeeeeeek! The flight will probably be super fun, but long. I've been abroad before so I know how the overseas flights work - I'll try to sleep through a lot of it. Early Friday morning I'll land in Istanbul. I'll think to myself "I'M IN TURKIYEEE! OH GOODNESS!". I'll need to be pinched I think. Or slapped..haha. Orientation in Istanbul for a couple days should be SUPER DUPER fun! I'm so anxious for that! On Sunday I'll be flying to Trabzon to meet my host family and get settled. That will be the most exciting thing :) On september 9th, Ecren, Ecmel, and my host mother are taking me on a tour to Cappadocia!
---> Kapadokya Turu!
http://www.gundonumutour.com.tr/mainlistdetay.asp?id=735
I'm hoping we'll get to go in a hot air balloon to get a better view of the land. It's in Ankara - Turkey's capital. It's going to be SO MUCH FUN! School doesn't start until September 20th so I'll have some time to get adjusted before the heavy workload. Well, I apologize for this post being so long. It will be the last time I post for awhile. I'm planning to keep internet usage at a minimum so that I can put more into this experience. I'll still be in touch, but if you're curious about my experience here is the place to look - there will also be many pictures on Facebook I'm assuming. Okay, well enough rambling. Thanks again everyone and sorry for all the hype it's been for the past few months. I've been waiting for this since last July - and now it's finally here. Veda herkes! Seni özleyeceğim! :)

I will change..and I'm okay with that.

Yesterday I had my going away party. It was a lot of fun and I was really glad to spend time with my friends one last time for awhile. We played ping-pong, swam in a cold pool, lounged in the hot tub, ate lots of food, and just chilled in general. Also, two other kids on the NSLI-Y program going to Turkey for the year came to the party even though they lived much farther away which was so awesome! I'm glad I got to meet/bond with them even though we'll see each other again in about a week :) So I meant to keep this short only because I hate dealing with good-byes and whatnot. I'm slightly..okay no, I'm a REALLY emotional person in general. I know I'll be back before long enough (if I come back, that is). So basically I'm just glad everything is working out for the best right now. I'm beyond ready for this adventure, and I have been waiting for too long. I plan to post one last time before I leave, but for now I just want to thank everyone again (for the millionth time!) for being so supportive towards my upcoming experience. I truly appreciate it and I'm so thankful to know that people care - it means a lot to me. Anyway, I don't like this sensitive stuff anymore...soooooo HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! Here are some pics!