Host Family!

Great news! I received my host family information! They live in Istanbul (not in the suburbs, actually IN Istanbul) on the Asian side a short distance away from the Bosphorus! They like TV, music, and travel, which are all things I like to do. They also like playing sports and doing other athletic activities, which I don’t usually do but I would love to start doing. I started emailing my host father, and he seems nice. He also knows English, which is useful when I don’t know what I am talking about in Turkish J

I also sent out my visa information and what I am pretty sure is the last of my paperwork. It took a while to complete because my family can be very disoriented and we all work at different paces, but we finally got it done!

My Turkish has been improving, too. I have been using a program that helps me learn Turkish vocabulary, and with this program I have learned over 300 words (I do not remember all of them, but I know them better than I did before).

Back from DC

And I’m back!

I got back from my trip to DC a few days ago :) It was quite a good trip and my friend Maria tagged along (it was the furthest south she’s ever been and her first time on a commercial airplane). We toured George Washington University and American University and visited a few others, but GWU and AU were my favorites :) We also visited a few museums and the National Zoo, which were both nice.

For my trip to Turkey, I’ve sent in the rest of the money for my tuition! My donation jar has raised over $200 so far, and I have all of the spare spending money I am going to need for my trip. It is definitely a good feeling knowing that my financial situation for my exchange is all settled :)