Such a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays Everyone!

By far, I'd say that this Christmas was my absolute favorite so far. But first, I'll start with Christmas Eve...

On Christmas Eve, I met Daffne for breakfast at Bambi Cafe in Kadiköy around 10:30am ((For all of you wondering, my school was still in session over Christmas, but our holiday break is end of Janurary/beginning of February. So Daffne and I asked for the permission of our school and host families to not attend school December 24 & 25)). After breakfast, we took a short metro ride to a nearby mall because Daffne needed to finish up some shopping still.

Christmas Tree we found at the mall

Beautiful decorations!

It looked like a winter wonderland! 

Later we returned to Kadiköy and went to Seyhan Cafe (which is my favorite cafe of all time because it's hidden on the third floor of a bookstore!) for a late lunch.

She got some pasta and I got a "Mexican Burger" solely because we both wanted to see what made it "Mexican". It was just spicy... Daffne got a good laugh though!

 By the time we finished lunch, all the other exchange girls had joined us because we were attending a Christmas Eve dinner that was put on by Daffne's host parents!

The group! L to R: Argentina, USA, USA, Mexico, France, USA (me), USA, and Brazil

The table pre-turkey

The Turkey has arrived! 

Daffne and I

Hana, Daffne, and I

Such a great night! 

CHRISTMAS DAY!!

So we all went back to Daffne's house around 10am the next morning to bake cookies & Apple bread, hang around in our pj's, and watch Christmas movies! 

Gabi (from Brazil) was mixing the apple bread dough with her hands and when she was finished, Daffne, Julia, and Hana literally ate the dough off her hands! 

Gabi and Hana

The two kinds of cookies we made were chocolate chip and snow balls! So delicious :)

After we finished the cookies, we all sat down to watch some TV while Laura (from Brazil) ate 15+ Snowballs! I can't blame her, those were so good :)

After we all finished cleaning the kitchen and living room, we left for Kadiköy to meet the boy inbounds. We met them around 5:30pm and from there we sat by the seaside on these huge rocks. The view was spectacular! We could see the European side all lit up, plus all the lit up boats passing through. After about an hour and a half, the ones living on European side had to start heading back home. But I went with Daffne, Gabi, Arthur, and Laura to get some dinner. We ate Monte at the same Monte place Daffne and I always go to. It was delicious. I couldn't imagine a better Christmas dinner than one spent with friends :) 

I hope you all had a happy and healthy holiday season!

Maggie

My weekend and such

Hey guys!

So recently, I've been so so busy that I've barely had time to sleep (and I got the worst cold because of it)! But here are some of the random things I've done over the last weekend. 

First, Turkish class and the struggle to eat real food during the break (usually we eat prepackaged stuff since the only place around to buy food is a Migros grocery store). Daffne is trying to eat cereal out of the bag (with milk inside...)

After Turkish class, a few of us went to Metrocity Mall to look around for a while.

Charlène and Camila

Such a huge mall! 

They even have a Krispy Kreme in the mall! I was so shocked when I found this since the one that was in Fort Wayne has been closed for years. Next time I'll be sure to stop in :) 

--

After the mall, we all took 2 mini buses (about 40 minutes each) to our Turkish friend, Hüseyin's birthday party. Here was the gorgeous view: 

 

Luis "posing" for his picture...

Charlène 

Later, Daffne and I left the party to head back to Kadiköy so we could meet our friend from school, Hazal. But the bus ride to the Besiktas ferry station was 2 hours long. By the time we arrived in Kadiköy (after the 30 minute ferry ride) Hazal told us it was too late to meet her. So since it was only 8:30pm, Daffne and I decided to hangout anyway. We ate fried Mante (pictured below) and talked. We were even joined by a stray cat! The cat just jumped up into the extra seat we had at our table, and stayed there for about 20 minutes or so. It was so adorable :) 

 

Anyway, I hope to be sending out my postcards and a special package this week sometime! This weekend is our Christmas Party and I can't wait. Also, my host sister, İrem (said like: E rem), who's been studying abroad in California (for University) comes home tomorrow for a one month New Years break. I can't wait to meet her! 

I hope you all are finding yourselves happy and healthy this holiday season :)

Love, Mags

Ps- Julia and I had our Rotary lunch today! I couldn't get food pictures because some Rotarians sat with us and so our phones were off. But the speaker was really good. He is a theatre scout from NYC, but he moved to Istanbul 2 years ago and is now running the hugest theatre we have in the city! I really enjoyed his speech. 

Eyüboğlu during Christmas!

Happy Holidays everyone!

So my school has been decorating the entire campus for Christmas and I absolutely love it! ((The only thing I didn't appreciate that much was the unexpected Christmas music that's played between classes and on break times. It just caught me off guard the first day and I found myself getting a little emotional...)) So, here are the pictures of my school all ready for Christmas:

This is the stairway I take everyday to my classroom on the 4th floor (Also, right past the garland is our Library. Yeah, it's a little weird that it's on the second floor, I know haha).

More bows and garlands outside of my French class

Really interesting decorations hanging between the levels

One of the many Christmas trees they have around school

Cute window stickers in the Kindergarden building 

The tree in the Kindergarden. Notice the Turkish flag and our school flag on either side of the tree!

Okay, I know this isn't decorated, but this the view from my classroom window of a small part of campus 

"E Hall"; where all the presentations happen

A cute tree made of books in the Library 

Daffne wasn't happy that I made her stand with the tree for a picture... She told me it reminded her of when she was little and she didn't want to smile for her family Christmas card picture! Haha 

Anyway, now you've seen my school. I feel so lucky to have gotten such a modern school (only 50 years old) and what makes it even better is that I get to spend everyday with my best friend and un-biological sister, Daffne :) 

Happy Holidays everyone! 

XOXO Maggie

Busy Weekend

So another busy weekend has flown by! Obviously, it started with my Turkish course. Here are some pictures from the course:

Charlène loves Nutella...

...and Doritos! 

After course on Saturday, Rotary threw a birthday party for all of us! We went to Olivia's Pizzeria in Levent on European side for dinner, cake, and presents! 

What's an exchange event without selfies?

Annalise and Hailey feat. a pizza

The beautiful, and delicious, birthday cake :) 

Some of our group with the cake

After the party, Annalise rode the ferry with me to Kadıköy (Asia side/where I live) and we hung out for a few hours. She is actually being sent home early, so I wanted to hangout one last time with her before she goes home next week. I took her to my favorite café of all time, Seyhan Café! She got a coffee and I got çay. 

The çay even came in a French press! 

I got "Christmas" flavored çay. It was so delicious and tasted exactly how I remember Christmas to be like :) 

Annalise and her Irish Cream coffee

My finished cup :(

That's all for now.

Xoxo

Maggie

Turkish: what you're up against

Hey again, 

So recently I came across this article on Facebook called "Learning Turkish: What you're up against" and I found it very interesting. It's reassuring to see that Turkish is rated a medium on the language scale. Also, it says that in order to become proficient in Turkish it will take you 44 weeks or 1110 class hours... Wow. İnşhallah. From the article, it says that Turkish, "Isn't as easy as Portuguese, but not a difficult as Chinese". It also gives helpful tips for learning/speaking Turkish. 

So if you're interested, here's the link! 

http://yabangee.com/2014/09/learning-turkish-easier-than-you-think/ 

Sağol,

Maggie 

Months 1/2/3 Top 10

As many of you may know, I have been making a list at the end of every month following the topic of: "Top ten life lessons I've learned this month". I've never posted them here on my blog, only on my Facebook page. But I realized that many of you might not follow me on Facebook, so I thought it'd be a good idea to also post the lists here as well. So, as promised, here are lists 1,2,& 3:

Month 1:

Month 2:

Month 3:

1) As a poor exchange student you will eat any food that is free, even if it means eating cow brain. 

2) It's so awkward when you are messaging friends (who don't know Turkish) and you accidentally throw in phrases you've been learning and using regularly and they get really confused. Even little ones like "Evet" and "Tamam".

3) The best yogurt is the kind made for toddlers because it tastes good and is super cheap too (only 1.50TL for a two pack). Strawberry yogurt and little chocolate candies with Cinderella on the wrapper? Who cares if you look like a baby as long as you're eating delicious yogurt.

4) When it comes to cultural differences, there won't be a point of agreement, right/wrong way, or even both sides fully understanding why the other culture is the way they are. The best thing to say is "Okay, we've realized that we have many differences but that doesn't mean we can't be friends".

5) When important holidays from your home country come up and you start to get homesick, you have to remember that even though you don't have your family, you have your new exchange family to spend your time with. You only have this one year to spend with them so you better make the most of the time you have together. 

6) When you waste time judging people, you have even less time to love them.

7) Your attitude is everything. 

8) Just because you are mad at someone doesn't mean you stop loving them. 

9) Be thankful when you are lucky enough to have people in your life that aren't afraid to tell it like it is. They take all the pressure off of you to wonder if what you do annoys people. Trust me, if what you're doing is annoying, they'll have no problem telling you. 

10) Friends are the family you choose for yourself. 

Can't wait for Month 4!

XOXO, Maggie