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

Catching up

Hey Everyone! 

Sorry I haven't written in a while, things have just gotten really busy lately. I still haven't found out any new information about my year abroad in Turkey (such as family, school, specific city, ect.) but I do know my district, which is 2420. Anyway, recently I went to a leadership camp called RYLA. A few of us involved with rotary went, but most if the kids there were nominated to attend by their schools. I had an awesome time! My group all got along really well and I honestly can't believe how we all got so close in just 3 days. It's unbelievable. 

Here is a picture of my entire group, we were the "Beach ball" group (all the other groups were other various summer-themed objects). I miss my group so much, I can't even put it into words. 

Also, in other news, two of the other Outbounds, Sophie and Kenzie, modeled for my school photography project! They were very fun to work with! 

Here is Kenzie, the Outbound going to Germany.

And here is Sophie, one of the Outbounds going to Denmark.

Well, that's about all, for now at least! Next weekend is the District Conference with all the Inbounds and Outbounds. 

Thanks for reading,

Maggie Blackwell

International Youth Exchange Expo

Earlier today was the IYE Expo at IPFW! I just wanted to thank everyone who put in all the effort planning the expo and also to those to helped set up and tear down. You guys are awesome. 

I had such a good time hanging out with the other Inbounds/Outbounds. 

Here in this picture is (from left to right) Zuzia from Poland, Bruno from Brazil & I. 

And here is a bigger group of us, (top row, left to right) Hannah who is going to Denmark, me, Kenzie who is going to Germany, & Por who is from Thailand. And in the bottom row is Bruno and Zuzia. 

But the best part of the day was after the Expo. Bruno, Zuzia, Kenzie, & I went to Jefferson Point (it's an outdoor outlet mall). We walked around and got some really good ice cream at Coldstone. I had such a great time with all of them today, and I can't wait to see Bruno and Juna (the Inbound from Belgium) over spring break down in Fort Myers Beach, Florida! 

--Maggie

Outbounds, Shopping and Countdowns!

Today I got together with some of my fellow Outbounds: Sydney (going to Australia), Sophie (going to Denmark), and Kenzie (going to Germany). 

Here is a lovely selfie that Sydney (left) and Sophie (right) took on my phone earlier when we were all out eating lunch. I love how I've gotten so close to all the other Outbounds. They are all such AMAZING women, and their host families will be so lucky to have them. I can't even express how much I am going to miss every one of them. It is so rare that I find people that I like and have such a great time with as I do with them. 

Also, I started using this countdown app to count the days until I leave for exchange. Here is the "current" time:

Isn't that crazy!? 175 DAYS! That just seems like right around the corner. I feel like before I know it, the count down clock will be at 2 days. 

Thanks for reading! 

--Maggie

Hayir Türkçe bilmiyorum

(The title is translated as: I don't speak Turkish.)

Merhaba Everyone! 

Benim adim Maggie. (In English, this is translated as: Hello Everyone! My name is Maggie.) Today, I "officially" started buying books and videos on how to speak Turkish, Turkey travel books, and books describing Turkey's past and how they are structured now. 

These are just two of the four books I have purchased (the other two still haven't arrived from Amazon). I am so excited to start learning more about Turkey!

Thank you for reading!

Maggie Blackwell