Saying Goodbye...

It is getting towards the end of this phase of my exchange, the phase of being the Outbound. I absolutely dread saying goodbye to those who meant so much to me and really impacted my life over this last year, those people being the Inbounds and my fellow Outbounds. Just the thought of being away from them for an entire year makes me feel sick to my stomach. It will be difficult for me not to communicate with my best friends on a daily basis. I mean, c'mon, I basically see Sophie, outbound to Denmark, and Bruno, inbound from Brazil, every other day if not everyday. And when we are apart, I'll still get text messages from them as if we aren't apart at all. But I know that this exchange is the best thing for all of us, and I don't doubt that we will pick up where we left off as soon as we meet again after the exchange.

A few days ago was Juna's, inbound from Belgium, goodbye party. Several of us went to the party to give her one last hug and say goodbye. Here is our whole group from the party:

{From Left to Right: Sydney, outbound to Australia, Sophie, outbound to Denmark, Me, Juna, inbound from Belgium, Zuzia, inbound from Poland, Austin, a friend of Juna and I's, and Bruno, inbound from Brazil.}

Now tomorrow is Zuzia's goodbye party, and I am already feeling sad about her leaving! I just really don't like goodbyes. I love this whole group of exchange students so much, I feel like I'm losing a part of my family when they leave. But I know that what is to come, meaning my year abroad in Turkey, is also going to be a life changing time for me too. 

I only have 50 days or so until I leave for the amazing city of Istanbul, Turkey! Where has the time gone? It feels just like yesterday I was filling out the mile long application and worrying about whether or not I turned all my documents in on time. Now I am more concerned with learning Turkish. The app that I've found to work the best is one called "Memrise". It associates pictures with words to help you learn the language. Here is a example from today:

 Thanks again for reading!

Maggie

Host Family: The Karaçizmelis

I CANT BELIEVE IT! I finally got my host family! I received an email from my host sister, Irem, and here is the email (It was too good to summarize) she sent me:

"Hi Maggie,

I'm your host sister :) It was very nice reading your letter and we are glad to be your host family :)   This is my mom's e-mail address. Actually she wanted to write this but her English is still not great :) Let me tell you about us a little. My mom is 50 years old. Her name is Zehra (but some people use her second name, Fatosh) She doesn't work. She spends her time trying to learn English, which is a great thing to do at that age. She is a great cook. You'll love her food if you like Middle Eastern cuisine. As to my father, his name is Rifki. He is a 59 year-old banker. Unfortunately he doesn't speak any English. He loves football (soccer) and politics. He can literally talk about these two the whole day if you want him to. He and my mother are married for 30 years. 

I also have an older sister. Her name is Enise. She is 30 years old and married. She went to Japan in 2002 as an exchange student. Right now she is a landscape architect. And her husband is an architect. They met at uni :) And me... My name is Irem. I am 24 years old. I work at a gaming company. I am the content editor of two websites: didigames.com and gamesforgirls.com. But I will quit soon and move to San Francisco to do MA in International Studies at USF on August 12. So if you come here around that time, I would love to meet you in person but if you can't, we can skype :) 

So that's us :) We have a big family. I have 4 aunts and 5 cousins and we all love hanging out with each other. We live in a massive city, Istanbul. It was the capital of two empires: ottoman and eastern roman, so it's historically quite rich. It is also the only city that connects two continents: Asia and Europe. Well, we live on the Asian side but you can go to the European side in half an hour with a ferry. I used to go there everyday because my uni was there. The city is exciting, it's hard to get bored, really. 15 million people live here. Sometimes it can be overwhelming but if you know how to handle the traffic you can always stay away from stress. We mostly use public transport. We do have a car but we generally use it to go to our summer house that is 90 minutes away from the city. Our house is pretty central. 

So we look forward to meeting you. When do you think you can come? 

Please send our regards to your family.

Best,
The Karaçizmelis"

The most challenging part about the exchange is that since I won't have any host siblings living at home, I'll basically be an only child! This will be quite the change, considering that I have three brothers. But I am absolutely BEYOND excited to meet my family and start this amazing adventure in an equally amazing city. 

Alkis (Turkish for "Cheers"), 

Maggie 

Departure Date!

I finally got some news from my host District over in Istanbul, Turkey. Here is what the email said: 

"We are expecting you at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, beginning fromAugust 20th, 2014. Your host-family and we will be there to pick you up from the airport.

We would require you to send us an e-mail along with your host-family regarding your flight details.

You will have your “Orientation Camp”in mid-September. Following the Orientation Camp; you will have two weeks of Turkish classes." 

How exciting! It's just awesome to have any information at all. Now all I have to wait for is my visa guarantee form and news regarding host families! 

Can't wait to start this amazing adventure. 

--Maggie Blackwell