Turkey!

Merhaba!

This time, it is hello from Istanbul! I landed a few days ago and so far it has been really nice :) My flight was 10 hours long, which I didn’t care too much for. However, I got to know the other kids heading to Turkey (we had a camp in NYC before we left) so I had something to do. Me and some of the other students even got up from our seats and took walks around the plane.

The first day in Turkey was VERY tiring. I couldn’t fall asleep on the plane, so I was tired the whole day. We arrived in the morning and I was ready to fall asleep. When we got to our rooms, we were allowed to rest for a bit, so I slept on the room’s porch (it was so great outside). Our camp was a “Turkey Survival Camp”, where we learned things about Turkish culture, got to know each other, and learned some Turkish.

A few days after we landed, the students were sent off to their corresponding cities. The other Istanbul student (and some other students) and I took a one hour bus ride to the AFS offices in Istanbul to meet up with our families. The bus ride was great because we got to see a lot of the city :)

When I arrived at the AFS offices, my host family was right there :) After some greetings and introductions, we drove back to their apartment. There, I met my grandmother, uncle, and aunt and we had lunch.

On Wednesday, my counselor Ece and I visited my school and it was nice, but I didn’t see much of it. Apparently, my school did not know that I was going there this year, so we didn’t get much done. On the way back to my house, we got lost and finally got back a couple hours later.

Finally on Friday, the other AFS students in Istanbul and I went to pass in some paperwork for our residence permits. I however, forgot the paperwork and the money, so we had to make new copies and photos and I have to pay back the AFS volunteers 200 TL.

Overall, it has been a nice stay so far. I have been enjoying my family, the culture, and most other things. I am also excited for school to start on Monday and see what that is like :)