So this is one New Year's resolution I profoundly bombed. It was all going so well, a weekly post, feeling like I was getting it all down, feeling like I wouldn't forget a thing and then wham-bam-boom it blew up in my face. The end of January saw me leave on an 8 day trip with the exchange students over semester break, I got back with so many stories to tell and write only to move host families (no prior notice) and spent the next week out with them. By then I'm busy in the middle of February. Life was so different with a family. I talked, interacted, had things to do. I found I didn't have the same amount of time I used to and so suddenly over a month of not a single blog post. I was just so far behind I didn't know where to start, so here I am accepting defeat from life. But I have one more story to tell, the quick, and widely unheard of, tales of my last few months.
I left off right before my trip around western Turkey. The end of January had all of us exchange students a little restless, ready for an adventure I'm pretty sure we got it. We started in Pammukale where we got to see these hot springs in salt beds. Down to the south coast and Antalya where we rode camels, saw one of the best preserved Amphitheaters I've ever seen. Over to the church of St. Nicholas, with no mention of any of my holiday favorites like the reindeer, elves or Frosty. Continuing around the coast we hit Fetihye, Bodrum, and met another district of Rotary exchange students in Izmir, on the 8th and final day we finished at Troy and Gallipoli and drove back to Istanbul. It was 8 crazy days of 12 of us on a small bus with hours of travel time, hundreds if not thousands of pictures between us, and many sites and things seen, a trip to be remembered, no doubt.
I arrived home on the 6th of Feb in the late afternoon, only to go out and spend the night watching the Super Bowl start at 1 in the morning. Needless to say I needed to get my sleeping schedule back on track so I spent the next two days close to home. I then moved host families to another area of the city. While it was hard at first it accomplished what Rotary aims to do with changing host families. They want to show that not everyone lives the same, allow you to experience different lifestyles and while it is different I have jelled just fine. The remainder of my break was spending time with my new family. School started back up and the next two weeks were filled with family where we went to a concert and a to a play with their family friends who, as it turns out had a new exchange student too. None other then my school mate, crazy Brazilian, Amanda who I have spent more time with this year then I think anyone ever. Oh are families are best friends? Just more time to get on each others nerves, brother and sister most assuredly.
One Saturday the Inbound exchange students got to meet the outbounds from Istanbul for next year. It was amazing and very reflective to see them, their excitement, their nerves, their thoughts, and afterwords we as inbounds talked about how we could see ourselves a year ago in the same shoes. The following weeks were a trip or two to the Grand Bazaar, and my first trip to a Turkish Hamam, or a bath house. It was like a massage/bath all at once and was quite relaxing. That brings me to the middle of March where I went to my first soccer match. Besiktas has been my team for the year, and they've had little to no luck in their matches, almost making it an art to lose so heart breakingly. Well my host dad and brother took me to a match and glad to say they won! What a great experience and game, America, how can you not enjoy this sport? The following day was going to bring something different. My real family, brother, Dad, 2 Aunts and cousin were coming for a week. And that's where I'll finish this post.
Part 2 coming soon...
