Nobody Said İt Was Easy

Hello again everybody, İ've decided it's time for another post to write about the past couple weeks here.

I was out of school for 3 weeks, mostly travelling; what a lovely break from school. :) İt started early in May with our exchange student trip to the Black Sea. The Black Sea is really a beautiful place, and it actually reminds me a lot of home. Not the sea part, obviously, but the trees and rivers and lakes are a lot like Wisconsin. There are more mountains there, though. This trip was, how can I say... Different from the other trips we've taken. Looking back we had a lot of fun, but at the time we are all a little (a lot) stressed and on edge. The best thing we saw there was the Sümela Monastery-- it was quite amazing and worth the walk to get there. I'm not going to hash over everything that happened in our five days out of İzmir, but I will relay one memorable memory of the trip, which is when we checked into our final night's lodging in an elementary school dormitory in a tiny town called Hayrat (yes, smaller than Baraboo.) Let's just say we checked out a few hours later after some some tears, some blood, and some hysterical laughter.

I came back to İzmir early early Monday morning, and left for Bodrum with my friend Abby (from Kanada) on Tuesday morning. I had a nice time with her meeting her host family and her friends, attending a Rotary meeting, going dancing, and of course, swimming. Bodrum is definitely a great place for a vacation.

Abby's host dad is the president of his Rotary Club, so he drove us a day early, on Thursday, to Kuşadası for our District 2440 year-end Rotary conference. That was the beginning of our stay in a 5-star all-inclusive resort. Our district must have one of the best conferences ever for exchange students, we really had a lot of fun. Swimming, eating, dancing, typical activities for exchangers. We also got to preform our much-anticipated Turkish folk dance, and we didn't screw it up too badly, if I do say so myself. We all felt pretty emotional at our conference, because although we all have at least a month left here we aren't 100% sure that we will ever all be together again. I'm lucky to stay in İzmir because I'll see my friends up until the very end, but the kids staying in different cities might be hard to see again.

Returning Sunday from Kuşadası, I flew to Istanbul with my host family Tuesday night. We had a good time there visiting their family, and I got to see some more of the beautiful Istanbul such as the Basilica Cistern and the Harem of Topkapı Palace. We spent one night at my host aunt's summer home in Kilyos, but it rained the next day, so we returned to the city. We came back Sunday from that trip, and thus my three week vacation ended.

I know I write this in every post, but really I can't beieve the time. It's already the end of May! Meaning I only have about a month left. Not long ago I thought I could stay here for months, years longer and I would be fine, but as this crazy experience starts to dwindle to a close I am getting more and more excited to get back to my life in Baraboo. I have so much to look forward to there: family and friends and being able to do things like homework and clubs and sports, and looking at and applying to universities.

I have had a really fantastic experience that I will remember fondly for a lifetime, but I guess the whole time it's been in the back of my mind that my life here is only temporary, and eventually I'll have to say my good-byes. I am so afraid to start to say farewell to everyone I've met here, because unlike when I left Baraboo, I don't know how soon I'll be back, or when I'll see them again. You can probably imagine that my emotional state is already not good, haha. My last days here will be tough to say the least.

Casper

Hi again everybody.

Since I have a minute (or a lot of minutes, I'm at school you know) I thought I would write again.

The holiday weekend was a good one, it passed too quickly. I took an interesting daytrip on Satuday with my host family to a city called Ödemiş, we had lunch there and continued on to the historical town of Birgi, which is one of the best preserved villages in this area of Turkey. It has a lot of old houses, the most interesting we visited was the Çakırağa Mansion, built in the 18th century in a different architechtural style than I've seen. The house's rooms are all open-air save for the bedrooms, and there are also very elaborate paintings covering all the interior walls. Next we visited an old mosque in this city, and from there we continued to Gölçük, a little lake up in the mountains/hills where we took a walk and hung out.

(The Mansion)

After school today we exchange students have our first (brace yourself) folk-dancing class to learn the dance we'll be preforming for our district conference. We are actually pretty excited for this. İt's not a Rotary conference if there's not some sort of group dance/ song. And speaking of the conference, it won't the 16th-19th as I previously wrote, it will be the 14th-16th May.

So that's all! I'll write again. Take care.

Lydia

Floating On

Hey everybody, here's the plan for the next few weeks!
Today is the last day of school before tomorrow's holiday, 23 Nisan, National Children's and Sovereignty Day. As I write to you I hear the sounds of our school march playing while the elementary kids disembark to go on a parade. I look forward to the upcoming three day weekend of sleeping in and enjoying the nice weather with my host family, and my host family's family who are visiting from İstanbul.
Next week is unfortunately a full week of school, but I intend to make the most of the afternoons... I am looking forward to Tuesday in particular, some of the other exchangers and I are going to try to go to the clothing bazaar which is supposed to have tons of good stuff for really cheap!
The week after next we leave for our Black Sea trip on Wednesday! The nine of us going are veryyy excited. Exchangers, hotels, airplanes, some fresh air... İt should be great!
The following week we will be having our district conference in Kuşadası, May 16th through the 19th, Sunday-Wednesday, which will be great because again it will mean exchangers, hotels, and missing school! As I understand the 19th and 20th of May are also public holidays here, and since the 21st is a Friday no one will go to school that day, meaning I can have that whole week off. İf you can't tell... I'm about done with school here! İt's really boring, and so long, and the weather is so nice... I just want to be outside all the time!
So that's what's coming up on my agenda, I'm awfully excited for everything. Everybody was right, the last part of your exchange is the best and passes the fastest!
İ'd better run now, but I will keep you posted! I wish you well. :)
Lydia

İlkbahar (Spring)

--A Summary of the Past Few Weeks--

Bursa trip: Was so great! We got there Friday evening, met our host families (Turkish people are really great hosts; every exchange student always gets such a welcoming family when we go away for the weekend), slept, got up and took a city tour Saturday (Bursa has a lot of history), and then, the highlight of the trip for everybody, went to Uludağ! The skiing was so fantastic! We were all so sad when dusk came and they closed the lift, we all could've continued for a few more hours I think. The weather was perfect for both touring the city and skiing-- not too hot, not to cold. Monday we had a brunch with the Rotarians and returned to İzmir.

Denizli trip: Also amazing! We left Saturday morning, arrived in Denizli 3.5 hours later, took a tour of a rug factory (handmade rugs; it's quite impressive to watch the women who weave them) and then went to a village for a bit, and had dinner. The next day we drove the 25km. or so to Pamukkale where we saw the "cotton falls" and ancient city. We saw a 3,000 year old ampitheater and swam in this really neat pool-- the water was crystal clear, warm, and bubbly (like club soda, really!) and oh, it had ancient ruins submerged in it. After swimming we hiked down the white terraces. The weather was again perfect for this trip-- I even got a little sunburned!
This trip was also good because my friend Savannah, who lives in Bursa, got to spend the night at my house Friday and Sunday night. I also recently found out we will be on the same flight from İstanbul to Chicago returning home (we plan to dry each other's tears, and eat our first American meals together, haha.) Really though, it will be nice to have someone to pass the time with on the 11 hour flight back to the USA.

Easter: As you may have guessed, is not widely celebrated in Turkey. On Saturday I dyed eggs with my host sisters, and on Sunday we went to a family brunch where the mothers hid the eggs for us "kids" to find. My host mom said, "Okay Lydia, you can explain the tradition, why people color the eggs and hide them."
"Well actually... I have no idea." I decided it was better to not even bring the Easter bunny into this. Honestly, how do you explain such a thing? So I had a good Easter, probably better than a lot I've had in American, considering I haven't dyed eggs in about 5 years!

School: İs becoming more and more impossible as the weather gets nicer. I officially don't need a coat in the daytime.

Karadeniz: I am quite excited for the last "big" Rotary trip to the Black Sea, May 5th--9th. We are flying to Trabzon on the Northeastern-ish coast. I think it wii be a great trip.

Other: Time is just passing really fast. So fast. I go to school, hang out with my host sisters and host family, see the other exchange students, try to be outside whenever I can-- things are really good here. But there is something about, again, the weather here, that makes me think of home a lot. Yesterday sitting outside at the brunch I closed my eyes and with the sun on my face and the quietness in the "countryside" it felt just like home, home in Wisconsin. I am so used to being away now. I don't miss it. But I do miss it. Going home is going to be really bizarre. I look forward to it and I dread it; it's like the reverse of what I felt when I came here.
Well, I'm not overly concerned with it yet. I've still got months left here.
I will try to write soon and put up a photo or too!
Until then, take care!
Lydia

Six Months

So as of three days ago... I have been in Turkey for six months! It's pretty crazy. The time has gone so fast, and I know it will only go faster from here on out. It really doesn't feel like I have been here for half of an entire year!
My return to America is scheduled to be sometime between July 1st and 7th, but I am guessing it will be on July 2nd.
I don't like to think about going home! At first I thought about home so much because I just couldn't help it, but now I am so used to living here and I am so happy to be here that thinking about leaving makes me so nervous! I feel like I still have so much to do. Fortunately I still have four months left, but I am finding myself wishing for more time. If I didn't have a big exchange student conference to go to July 9th in Michigan I would probably try to extend my time here, but I think (I know!) the conference will be a lot of fun, too.
I have started to work really hard at learning Turkish. I feel like I was being extremely lazy about it before and I am kicking myself. Now I am making flashcards, studying them during school, and having my little host sister quiz me on them (she's also very helpful to me in that she points out random objects and tells me their Turkish name.) Just today I started reading "Alacakaranlık" ("Twilight") to try an improve myself. It's pretty slow going so far, but with the help of my dictionary and what I remember from reading it in English I think I'll get through it in time.
The weather here has been unusually warm for February. It's quite nice, but a little stormy today.
Well, that's a basic update. I will try to put up more photos soon, now that I have figured out how (or rather, now that I know I can use the school's computer to do it.)
I hope you are all well at home! Take care,
<3 Lydia

-A Creative Title-

Merhaba again everybody,
Look at me, blogging multiple times in one month!
I am here at school; my class is taking a 3 period exam so I decided it would be a good time for me to burn the photos from my trip to CDs, and figured I would try to post some photos (not ripped from my friends' Facebook pages!) from Istanbul. I think I got a picture up of every big attraction we saw.
As you may or may not know, I switched host families last Saturday, not because I had problems with the last one, but just to experience Turkish life from a new perspective. My new family is great! I have a host mom and dad, and two host sisters ages 16 & 10 who are really nice. It was so hard for me to leave my last host family, though, since I had gotten so used to living with them in the past five months. Fortunately I only moved to an apartment building four or five blocks away, so I will still be able to see them frequently. (Actually, I bumped into my host parents jogging last night!)
The next Rotary trip on the horizon is one to Bursa, a city about 5 hours north of here, in March. My exchange friend Savannah lives there, and we all look forward to visiting her! Bursa is well-known for it's mountain, Uludağ, which is well-known for skiing. I hope we will get to do some of that while we're there, but who knows what the weather will be like.
Well, I will keep this post short and write again soon, and hopefully put up some more photos.
Until I write again, take care!
XOXOXO
Lydia

Istanbul Pictures

Group Amish photo on Pierre Loti Hill

The three columns at the Hippodrome

Emma and I make friends wherever we go

Savannah and I at Topkapı Palace overlooking the Strait

Jeffy and I in the Rahmi Koç Museum

Europe (left) and Asia (right) as seen from the Maiden's Tower

Exchangers outside Aya Sofya

Interior of the Blue Mosque

Shopping! -Please note the Timberlands keeping my feet nice and dry :)-

Some colorful lamps in the Grand Bazaar

A gate leading to the Bosphorous at Dolmabahçe Palace

Alex and Jeff in Miniatürk

Boat ride on the Bosphorous

Topkapı Palace

The sunset outside the Spice Market

My buddy Emma and I outside the Blue Mosque

Me! in the Aya Sofya

The Spice Market

Istanbul!

Hello again family & friends,

Well, after a lovely two week semester break, things are back to normal and I am back in school. The highlight of my holiday was the Rotary trip to Istanbul. It was orignially supposed to to be the first week of the break, but because of the bad weather in Istanbul (snow and ice) we pushed it back a week.

We left Tuesday night from the bus terminal in İzmir. 20 minutes outside the city, and it started to snow! I felt just like I was in Wisconsin. It was pretty slow-going the whole way, but we didn't arrive any later than we should have. The bus ride took roughly... 8 hours? Without any sleep. Not as bad as the Kapadokya bus ride, and I had a lot more energy the next day. We took a ferry in the middle of the night and had fun being in the snow, but we were glad when it had stopped by Wednesday afternoon. (We were cold!)

Our first day in the city, we checked into our hotel and then we went to the famous Grand Bazaar (in the words of our tour guide, "The Grand Bazaar: it's very grand.") and the Spice Market. The Grand Bazaar has thousands of shops, and it's definitely a fun place to see, although it's a little (a lot! Haha) touristy. You get to haggle with the shopkeepers there, which is a fun time. The spice market was enjoyable, too; all the vendors give you samples and let you smell their spices and teas. (Thanks to exchange student Abby for this picture; I took it from her Facebook page.)

The next day, Thursday, we went to see many more of the famous city sights: Topkapı Palace, the Aya Sofya, The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Mosque), and the Hippodrome. This was one of my favorite days of the trip. Istanbul has so much history, it's definitely a place I think everyone should see at least once in their life. (Again, thanks to Abby for the Blue Mosque photo.)

On our third day we saw Dolmabahçe Palace, which is the palace built after Topkapı Palace, it looks more like a typical European palace. If you know what the palace of Versailles looks like, it looks similar to that inside. The palace is gorgeous, and has a great view-- it's located right on the Bosphorous. After the palace we went to the Maiden's Tower, a tower located on a tiny island in the Bosphorous. (Again, Abby.)

On Saturday we went to Miniatürk, a very odd little museum! It's like a mini-golf course without the golf-- all the famous sights of Turkey are built in miniature and diplayed in a park. Next we went to the Rahmi Koç Museum, a huge technology with all kinds of different displays-- from old cars, to trains, to boats, to computers, to washing machines. Rahmi Koç is one of the richest men in Turkey, and this museum is a huge display of his collections.

Our final day in Istanbul we took a boat tour of the Bosphorous. We had hoped to go on a longer boat tour that would take us all the way to the Black Sea, but the rainy weather didn't allow us to, so we took the shorter tour instead. We were still able to see all the famous sights from the Strait though, and it was an enjoyable ride. Afterwards, we had some time to kill before boarding our bus, so we went to Cevahir Mall, the 2nd largest mall in Europe (or so our guide told us.)

We boarded the bus to go back to İzmir around 10PM and arrived home at 6 the next morning, exhausted. It was a great trip, and I really hope I am able to visit Istanbul again someday! Although I am happy I'm not spending my year there-- it's too huge, the traffic is bad, and just seeing all the buses makes me afraid I would get lost.

Well that's a summary of the trip! I started to add pictures to this post, but it won't let me anymore. Check out my Facebook page if you want to see more photos. (Thanks Alex, for this Aya Sofya picture.)

Like I said, things are back to normal. I am supposed to be switching host families tomorrow (just for a change, to see Turkey from a different perspective), so wish me luck with that! The next trip coming up is one to Bursa/Uludağ in March, but I will try to write before then. :)

Until next time, take care,

Lydia

Lydia Lydia How Come You Understand?

Okay, so as I promised here is another post to update, since I haven't written in a month.
But first-- an explanation for the title of this post: well my blog titles are always really boring, so I decided to try a little harder, except I didn't try very hard, I only had the song "Lydia" by Dean Friedman in my head, which, if you are unaware, is the song I am named after (Dean Friedman has a very high, nasal-ly type voice, as well) and so I borrowed from that song.
Moving right along,
Well it is the middle of January already! The first month of the year always goes so fast.
We had a lovely time in Bodrum (was it really so long ago that I wrote?!) and I stayed with a nice couple of orthodonists as my host family for the night. They invited me back in warmed weather (Bodrum is pretty quiet in the winter!) and I hope I can take them up on that offer.
Christmas and New Years were quite nice, you can read the post below this one for more details about my December holidays.
Two things coming up to look forward to this month: semester break, and Istanbul trip!
This is the last week of school before we break up for semester holiday (I'm looking forward to some sleeping in, of course) for two weeks, and there is a Rotary trip to Istanbul from the 26th until the 31st this month that I am very excited for! We will be hitting a lot of the main sites in Istanbul then.
Life continues to be very normal here. The weather is nice, but a little chilly (50s) and cloudy today. They say it will be very cold during semester holiday, although being from Wisconsin I'm not sure how seriously I should take that threat. I could use some snow, though. :)
The time has really just flown here... In a few days I wıll be exactly halfway through my exchange!
So that's a brief update... I don't know what else to say! I guess I will just finish this now and I will write more (hopefully) soon and try and be better at blogging...
I really miss everyone from home! It's so hard to be away sometimes. But I know I don't have too much longer here, so I will enjoy the time I do have.
Until then, I send my best to everyone, and thanks for reading ((what little I have to offer you here!))
Happy January
XOXOXO
Lydia

Baraboo News Republic Q&A

Hey everyone... Sorry I haven't been writing like I promised I would!
I will make two posts to make up for it, first this one, with my answers to the questions asked by the Baraboo News Republic and another post just to... Update you/ramble some more. Hope you are all well!
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What has been your most memorable single experience so far in Turkey?
To pıck one thing from my exchange year so far to call the "most memorable" is a very difficult thing to do, but I have to say that my last moments in America to my first moments here inTurkey are where I find my most vivid memories.I will never forget looking out the window of the airplane as it started moving down the runway in Madison. I took one last look at my parents waving from inside the airport and broke into sobs, to the alarm of the businessman sitting next to me.
Fast forward through many hours of navigating through confusing airports and many more hours trapped on airplane doing nothing but staring at the seat in front of me, and I remember looking out the window as the plane finally started its descent into İzmir, my new home. It was evening, I saw the curvy coastline, the sea, and the city lıghts, and I thought, "Is this really happening?" And then something along the lines of, "What am İ doing here?"
I was so nervous to meet my host family! The other exchange students and I rushed to baggage claim, grabbed our luggage, and dashed to meet our new families. As soon as I was with my family I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief: I had made it through the airports, I had all my luggage, and my host family hadn't forget to pick me up at the airport (my biggest worries.) I was exhausted, but so excited, and I was ready to start my new life.

Is there anything you miss about Baraboo, Wisconsin, the United States? What?
I was so excited by everything that was different when I first got here that I didn't have time to miss things in the beginning. But like I started to miss my family as time went on, I started to miss other things, too. Some are predictable-- friends, of course, and my pets, and my bed.
Others are things that surprised me-- things I didn't think I would miss, or things I didn't think I would have to miss. I miss living in a house and having a yard. I miss the food at home-- certainly not typical American fast/junk food (they have that here!) but I miss ethnic food. I love Turkish food; it's really delicious! But it's all Turkish food. This city has four million people, and I know of just two Chinese restaurants, and I've never seen anythıng like Mexican or Indian-- how can this be?! I even miss Baraboo High School, which was a surprise to me. I was a little tired with high school in America, but since coming here I've started to think of BHS with fondness, and I miss going to a school where I had a lot of fun and still learned a lot.

How is it being away from your family? Have there been days or times that were harder than others?
Before coming here I didn't think I would miss my family very much this year. I figured that as long as I could send them e-mails and talk to them on the phone every once in awhile I would be okay. A year really isn't such a long time, I'd think, and my family annoys me sometimes anyways!
All that said, at times it has been difficult for me to be away from my family. Before coming here I was so excited about my exchange that I didn't have time to woorry about if I would miss my family, but once I got here and setttled in and the excitement wore off, I started to miss my family. I am used to being away from them now, but the worst time was around Thanksgiving. As I ate dinner with my host family that night (a very non-traditional Thanksgiving feast, I will say!) I couldn't help but think of how the day "should have been"-- a big meal, all my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, watching football and playing card games. Obviously it just wasn't the same.
After Thanksgiving passed I felt much better for some reason, though. I still think of my family a lot, but I know we will be together so soon that I don't need to miss them.
I don't think that anything could make me appreciate my family more than being away from them in a foreign country for a year. I realize now how much time I used to spend with them, how close we are, and how much they mean to me, and I so thankful to have such a loving, supportive family. There is no way I would be here in Turkey at all if it weren't for my family; I owe this whole experience to them.

What kinds of things were strange when you first arrived, and how long did it take you to get used to them?
So many things are different for me this year. I suppose the biggest thing to adjust to, though, how just been living with a new family. They have been so welcoming to me, but still, to adjust to all their habits and routines is not an easy thing.
Another thing that took me awhile to adjust to is the weather-- it was scorching hot in the summer! I guess now I've accustomed to the climate-- I'll complain aout the cold if it falls below 60°F!
I've gotten used to not going anywhere by car; since there's nowhere to park you have to get everywhere either on foot, or by bus/fery/taxi.

Any negative experiences so far?
İ'm racking my brain, and I really can't think of anything really bad that's happened to me in my time here. Everybody has been so welcoming, friendly, and helpful to me. I just know that if I ever have a problem there are many, many people around who would be willing to help.

What about the fact that Izmir is such a big city? Does that add to the difference? Do you think you like how big it is? Why or why not?
I think that a lot of the differences I notice in living here don't come from the fact that I'm livingg in Turkey, but from that I'm living in a big city. Since I was born and raised in Baraboo I have never spent a great deal of time in a large city, so to move to this place with four million people has been quite a change. Turkish people compare İzmir to Istanbul, and they say it's a small, quiet city. "Well," I say, "not for me!"
Sometimes I love the energy of the city: the lights and noise and having lots of other people around. I like that it's easy to use public transportation (a bus or ferry) to go places. Even though it's big city, I feel very safe here. It's a beautiful city, too; lit-up palm trees lining the seaside and great hills surrounding it.
Sometimes the city drives me crazy, though: feeling crowded into apartments, the horrible traffic, the constant honking horns. I live in a wealthier part of the city, but I still see the poverty that is here; the homeless, the beggars, the stray cats and dogs.Many Turkish people tell me I am lucky to spend the year in İzmir, because it's not as crowded and enormous as Istanbul, but it's not a tiny village, either. They say it's the most liberal city in Turkey.
I am very happy to get to spend my year here, because it is such a different experience to live in a city than in little Baraboo. I'm also relieved to see that I can survive in a city. It's nice to know that when it comes time to go to university I will be prepared to live in a place that has more than 10.000 people.

I've been following your blog, and I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit more on what languages you speak at home, at school, and in different settings. Do you use French a lot, for example?
Turkish is such a difficult language! It's so different from Engish. I'm doing my best with learning it, and while I understand a great deal of what is said to me, conveying what I want to say is still difficult.
My host parents and all my classmates have great English, so I fear I'm not learning as fast as I would if I had no one to explain things to me in English.
I never realized how lucky I was to have English be my native tongue. My classmates work so hard to learn it! And everyone is so proud to be able to say anything in English-- even the man selling food from a cart on the street tries to say something!
I do have French class here in school, but that's really the only time I use French here. Unfortunately it's a very basic level of French, and I have fogotten a great deal of the French I learned at BHS (hopefully I can pick it up again once I get back!)

What is the school environment like? What are the biggest differences?
A great deal of my time here is spent in school. It's very different from school in America, and I must say I prefer Baraboo High School to my school here. There a quite a few differences between the two. One of the most noticeable is the school uniform, which some days I love (it cuts down on the time it takes to get ready for school!) and somedays I hate ( it's rather unflattering!) The kids get tons of homework, take lots of exams, and many go to courses on the weekends. There is a difficult enterance exam they must pass to get into university.
The teachers are all strict, and nearly all the lessons are taught the same way: the teacher lectures from the book, the kids listen and take notes. It seems so much more serious compared to what I'm used to.
I was nervous about going to a new school, but all the kids here are so friendly and curious about foreigners. The kids don't swtitch classrooms, only the teachers do, so you stay with the same group of people all day. The whole class gets to be good friends.
There aren't any afterschool clubs, and no school sports. I think it's rather sad-- most of my classmates will tell me they would like to play sports or have other hobbies, but between homework and studying they don't have much time during the school year. Like I said before, I really have a new appreciation for my school in Baraboo, and I don't think I will complain about being bored there again!

What was most surprising to you?
Right now the only thing I can think of that surprises me is how America is viewed by the people here. I don't think I've spoken to anyone who has flat out told me they don't like the United States. It's nearly all positive. It's not unusual for me to hear how lucky I am to live in America, or hear about a classmate's dream of going to America. So many of them would like to study in the United States, but ıt's such a difficult dream for them to accomplish, and certainly not because they aren't clever enough.
My English class did a project a few months ago where they had to make a list of who they thought are "the top five men & women in the world." So many people listed Obama as one of their "top five men."
I have so much more pride in my country since coming here, but I still remind people that every country has it's problems-- even mine.

What did you do for Christmas and New Year's? Are you celebrating any new holidays?
Turkey's population is 99% Muslim, so Christmas is not really a holiday here. Some families put up trees and exchange presents for New Years, but other than that Christmas does not receive much recognition. I worried that the holidays would be a really hard time for me because of that, and in the beginning they were. I thought a lot about how the Christmas season is "supposed to be", with family, baked goods, and WOLX carols, and how nothing would be the same.
Once December started rolling it didn,t stop, though, and Christmas passed without me having much time to worry about things. And I did get a chance to celebrate Christmas Eve. All the exchange students got together in the day, and in the evening Rotary took us to a bar for our "Christmas Party." Needless to say it was an unconventional Christmas: eating a Turkish feast, watching the bartender juggle flaming bottles, and dancing to pop mucic. When we were first informed that we would be having Christmas at a place called "Lime Bar" I was pretty skeptıcal about the idea, but once I stopped obsessing over how Christmas is "suppsed to be" I warmed up to it. I figured, I'll have so many more Christmases, that having this one non-traditional one won't matter. And really, so much is different this year, so why not Christmas, too? In retrospect, I had a lovely holiday surrounded by friends (the other exchange students), and there was no way to feel homesick with that. This past Christmas was atypical, but I've come to realize that there are many things more important to Christmas spirit than traditions. (That said, I'm not going to lie to you-- I'm already planning Christmas 2010!)
New Years was a little different for me as well, but still fun. I spend the night at a classmate's house who was throwing a party. At midnight we all went on the balcony and cheered along with everybody else and watched the fireworks. I went back in the house and glanced at the news on tv-- they were showing live footage of İzmir's crowded main square, and I was so surprised because I live so near to there. The holidays weren't as bad as I thought they would be, but I'm still glad they've passed. Everyone says the best part of exchange starts after you get through the holidays.

Is there anything that's "just like home" that you weren't expecting?
I wouldn't say anything is exactly the same as home, but life goes on the same way here, you know? People work or go to school, they go grocery shopping, they go to the cinema. It's the same but it's different, and it's hard for me to explain!

Have you yourself changed since leaving Baraboo? How?
Even though I'm only halfway through my exchange I feel like I have changed so much in my time here. It's hard to even put into words. I think I've grown a great deal as person, and I really feel like I will be able to handle any problems that I might face upon my return home. I feel so much more independent-- I know I can do things on my own and nothing bad will happen. I've learned how to worry about myself, instead of worrying about worrying other people all the time, which is something I know I used to do. This year has helped me learn not to take things so seriously, and it's helped me see what really matters to me in my life.
When you're on exchange you get so much time just to think. It's really helps you clear your mind, and you can realy what type of person you are, figure out what kind of person you want to be, and then work to become that person.Being an exchange student has given me such a great sense of appreciation for everything. I don't know if I ever would have realized what a loving family, what fantastic friends, and what a beautiful life I have if I had never had this experience.

How do you think you will be feeling when you come back in June?
Just about a week ago I got an e-mail from my travel agent saying it's time to book my ticket home. I was so surprised, because it makes me feel like I will be leaving so soon, and it makes me realize how fast my time here has gone. Sometimes it feels like I've been here years, sometimes like I just got off the plane last week.
Of course I've thought a lot about what going home will be like. I love the thought of embracing my parents in the airport after not seeing them for ten months, and I can't wait to see my dog and cats, and I'm certainly looking forward to catching up with my friends. But when I imagine packing my bags, saying good-bye to everyone here, and spending my first night back in my own bed, I feel so sad.
Going home will be really bitterweet. I'm so curious what it will be like to have everything be "normal" again, since I feel lıke I have changed so much these past few months. Other exchange students say it can be hard to go back to high school after going abroad, but I am looking forward to a really fun senior year, even if I have tons of catching up to do with classes. I'm excited to think about college, and at the same time I am happy to have one more year in Baraboo before leaving for university. Turkey is just one short chapter in my life. I will enjoy the rest of my time here, and come summer I think I wıll be able to return to Baraboo feeling prepared to start the next chapter.

Finally, anything else you want to say about your time in Turkey that I haven't covered?
If I can take a few more minutes of your time, there are just a few more things I'd like to say that don't necessarily relate to my time here, but are important nonetheless.
I feel so grateful and just want to thank everyone who helped make exchange possible for April and I: Our parents, for helping us through every moment, other relatives and friends for also lending their support, Al Steevens and the Baraboo Rotary Club for sponsoring us, and the other Rotarians in Wisconsin, the Czech Republic, and Turkey who help make the Rotary Youth Exchange program possible.
This is truly an amazing experience and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I would encourage any young person who is considering spending a year abroad to go without hesitation-- you will learn so much and you won't reget it, I can promise that. And I would also encourage any family who is able to consider hosting an exchange student. You will gain new perspective on a culture so different from your own, and you will be helping to make a young person's dream come true.
And finally, I want to thank you, Ms. Taylor, for reading through all my ramblings and writing this article about April and I.
:)