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