Don't be a chicken; go to Turkey

Welcome to my blog! I'll be updating this periodically to chronicle my adventures in Turkey where I'm teaching English at a local university. After months of planning and anticipation, I'm finally here in Izmir, Turkey.

After over 20 hours of traveling, I made it to my new home on Monday of this week. As far as international travel goes, I really had the best possible experience. On the last flight, however, I was hit with the reality that: I was entering a country where I basically had zero language skills, didn't know a single person that I had ever physically met, and was leaving behind amazing family and friends. All of a sudden, a year felt like an extremely long time, and I was ready to simply book a return flight home once I arrived at the airport. Fortunately, I was provided with wonderful friends and helpful people right from the moment I stepped off the plane. My present roommates have been absolutely amazing and I don't know if I could have survived my first few days without them.

Lessons learned thus far in Turkey:

1) I need to live by the sea someday. It's absolutely amazing to have such beautiful scenery.
2) Mumbling is very underrated. When you don't quite know how to pronounce a word, knowing at least the first syllable and using wild hand gestures can usually get the point across.
3) Living in a foreign country is a very humbling experience. It usually necessitates making a fool out of yourself on almost a daily basis.
4) Starbucks and McDonalds truly are everywhere (although I would have to say Burger King is more popular here than the golden arches).
5) There is no 'right -of-way' as a pedestrian or driver- a speeding car trumps the little green signal telling you it's safe to cross.
6) Never be too proud to carry a map. You never know when you will take the metro unnecessarily and then walk for 35 minutes when you were really 5 minutes from you're apartment all along.
7) Waiters in Turkey tend to clear of tables right away, even if you're in the middle of eating what's on your plate. Eat fast or go hungry. Or learn the words for "I'm not finished yet." They really should add that to the Turkish essential phrases list.

I miss all of you in the States bunches and hope to talk with you soon!