A Life

Selam! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Summer has flown by, and each day is another day closer to Turkey :D I just got back from two weeks as a counselor at camp, and my welcome home present was a load of emails from YES informing me of all the stuff I had to send to New York for my visa, by the 23rd... I got home the 21st! Let's just say yesterday was a VERY busy day. But I just got an email telling me they got it, so whew!! I'm all good. Now, what I didn't write about (what I should have written about) was the PDO! It was fantastic to say the least. The eight of us going to Turkey may be the coolest people I have ever met, but we also represent what the U.S. is, and why it is such a wonderful place. We all come from different states, backgrounds, classes, schools, families, etc., and each of us has something different to show to Turkey about our country. If any of the Turkey group is reading this, I just want to tell you how excited I am to spend the next year with you! Now, back to the PDO. The schedule was packed. Not at all like the IPSE (In Person Selection Event) where we had hours just to sit on the grass and sing songs like awesome hippies. We never stopped going, and the most free time we had was about thirty minutes before curfew to just sit and talk. But it was all for a good reason. We had about fifteen (give or take a few) workshops led by different people, dealing with different situations and problems we could have while abroad. I had mixed feelings throughout the weekend. I had never thought about how hard it would be, and this really opened up my eyes to how lonely my year will be at times. For any future exchange students: don't have any expectations or romantic ideas about what the year will be like, because the PDO will make it very clear that you are wrong. It helped greatly, however, and I feel much more prepared on how to communicate effectively with my friends, family, and community at large. We did have one day outside in the city though! We were supposed to go to the Turkish embassy, but they had never responded to our request, so instead we went to the American Councils office and spoke to two Turkish girls. Between them and Victor (our group leader who went to Turkey with NSLI-Y), an extremely large amount of my questions about how Turkey works and how I should act there were answered. A tip, don't be shy with your questions, because the group leader most likely will not care, and it will prevent many misunderstandings in the coming year. We then went to the State Department to speak to a panel of country specialists. Being completely honest here, this wasn't especially helpful or interesting, but it was exciting being at the State Department! The most exciting part of the day was the Lincoln Memorial. Christian decided to take a picture at pretty much every section of stairs leading down from the memorial, so we have probably fifteen or twenty pictures of just us. I will save ya'll from all of them! But there are a few below. There was an awesome band playing at the memorial, with an rockin lead singer. She looked kind of like the girl in Brave, with super red hair. Gosh, I love red hair!!!!!!!!!! So that was pretty much the PDO. It was great seeing everyone again, and wonderful hearing people's stories about when they got their acceptance emails. I would like to give my best and wish luck to the students in India, Thailand, and Malaysia. They are all there right now, and I hope ALL OF THEM are having an amazing start to their years!! Hugs and kisses from New Mexico!! The most exciting part of this week... WE GOT OUR TICKETS TO TURKEY!!!!!!!! I leave Santa Fe August 29 at 8:00 A.M. and fly to New Jersey to spend a week with my best friend. I will then hop on over to New York on September 4 for the gateway orientation, and will officially leave the U.S. on September 5 at 6:10 P.M. We go through Paris, then on to Istanbul (New York, Paris, Istanbul, what a combo!). Seeing the itinerary just made it that much more real that it is actually happening. In a little over a month. My next post will most likely be when I get my host family, so be ready for a lost of capital letters, and A LOT OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!! Because, you know, I don't already have a ton anyways. Hosca kalin!
P.S. I would like to let everybody reading this know that if you are considering applying for the YES Abroad program, or even the YES program (bringing people to the U.S.), I am open to answering questions or giving any help I can. Just comment on my post and I'll do what I can :)