Updates and Advise

Hey again! 

So recently I cooked dinner, for the first time, for my host parents and my host grandma! I made White Chicken Chili and Apple Bread. They loved it :) 

Also, last Friday was Charléne's birthday (She's the inbound from France). She turned 18! So on Saturday after Turkish lessons we all went out to celebrate with her. Julia even made her a cake! 

Hana and I

Almost all of the Imbound girls 

Such a fun night! 

Then on Sunday, we all walked the bridge connecting Europe to Asia! ((There was a marathon happening too, but you could walk the bridge for free during the time set aside for the public so we decided that would probably be better))

 Here is the bridge! We walked a few miles on either side of the bridge too, so we were walking for, roughly, 3 hours. Not a bad walk! Here are pictures:

Representing Rotary!

View of the European side from the bridge

Daffne and her Mexican flag! 

Such a great day to walk from one continent to another. 

Tuesday

Julia and I had our Rotary meeting today! Here are some pictures as usual:

Julia at our table 

Salad and Roll

Main course: Fish and Potatoes 

Dessert: Creamy, cold, rice pudding

And to finish off the meal, Çay of course!

Also, the speaker was a man from the Netherlands talking about the economy of Turkey from the perspective of a Dutch person. It was very interesting, but the best part was that it was presented in English! I love Rotary days. 

Afterwards, Julia came back to my house, we ate junk food and watched "Bridesmaids"! 

And in honor of the newest batch of Outbounds being selected from my home district, D6540, I thought I'd leave a little advice for them or anyone aspiring to be an exchange student:

1) I know starting a new school in your host countries might scare you, but really, it's the best place to make friends and learn the language of your host country. But don't worry. You'll get over the initial shock and somedays, while you are zoning out during Maths class, you'll be really bored and you might think the same things I think while at school... 😂 (example below!). 

2) Exchange will change everything. And the only people who will truly understand what you're experiencing are your fellow Inbounds (and/or Outbounds from your home district). They are awesome people and will most likely become your best friends. 

3) Always stay on your host family's good side. They are your caretakers and family as long as your in their country. They are the ones who allow you to hangout with friends, explore the city, and all the while they are accepting you into their hearts and homes. I am fortunate enough to have the same awesome family for the whole year! Here is a selfie feat. my host mom. (Ignore the caption..)

4) Be flexible. Seriously, even from the very beginning of my application process to become an exchange student I ran into issues that I didn't plan for. The hugest example: my country assignment. I was planning on France, but I ended up getting my 7th choice which was Turkey. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely in love with Istanbul and all the people I've met so far but it was just so unexpected. As an exchange student, many details are out of our hands and we just have no choice but to "Roll with the punches".

5) Don't be afraid to choose a host country with a foreign language you've never studied. Trust me, I didn't know any Turkish before I arrived 71 days ago and now I'm making phrases and I'm able to talk to store people! Sure, it's embarrassing at first, and you'll make so many mistakes, but in the end the reward is great! 

Thanks for reading!

Maggie