i had to write something for the study abroad office...
so this is what i wrote. i liked it...so happy LJ.
When I am asked to write about my experiences here, I never know where to begin. Do you want to hear about how easy my english literature classes are? About how we ride the bus and ferry to get around? About how people in Istanbul are different from home? Do you care that when I saw Haghia Sophia I cried because it was so beautiful? My new found apericiation for America and how I've met influential Turkish Lawyers who have told me the effects America has on the world? Do you care that I made turkish friends and they have us over for dinner and are teaching me how to cook? And what about my international friends, whom I'm going to miss so much that we are already planning trips to visit each other? Or do you want to know that it's difficult to be without anything familiar, or that I have totally changed through this? Does it matter that now, I feel like I can conquer anything and live anywhere, because I have been successful in Istanbul?
When people ask me why I came to Istanbul, I never know what to say. I came here for a lot of reasons, to change who I was, to get away from the Western mindset, to explore the world by taking a giant leap, to challenge myself. The way I see the world and humanity has changed so drastically in the past month that I'm not sure if I knew what compassion and humanity was before I came. I've made great friends and seen so many breathtaking sights that I e-mail my mother almost every night and thank her for giving me life to experience this. I feel like, for the first time in my life, I have my priorities straight and I've grown up a lot. Choosing someplace that was so far from everything I've known was difficult, but I feel that it has really enriched my life. Once you live in a city for a month, it becomes YOUR city and you can make the switch from "tourist" to "resident". We've learned how to bargain with men in the Bazaars and have adapted to the social norms of Istanbul. It has been one of the most terrifying, exciting, beautiful, rewarding and enriching experiences of my life.
When I am asked to write about my experiences here, I never know where to begin. Do you want to hear about how easy my english literature classes are? About how we ride the bus and ferry to get around? About how people in Istanbul are different from home? Do you care that when I saw Haghia Sophia I cried because it was so beautiful? My new found apericiation for America and how I've met influential Turkish Lawyers who have told me the effects America has on the world? Do you care that I made turkish friends and they have us over for dinner and are teaching me how to cook? And what about my international friends, whom I'm going to miss so much that we are already planning trips to visit each other? Or do you want to know that it's difficult to be without anything familiar, or that I have totally changed through this? Does it matter that now, I feel like I can conquer anything and live anywhere, because I have been successful in Istanbul?
When people ask me why I came to Istanbul, I never know what to say. I came here for a lot of reasons, to change who I was, to get away from the Western mindset, to explore the world by taking a giant leap, to challenge myself. The way I see the world and humanity has changed so drastically in the past month that I'm not sure if I knew what compassion and humanity was before I came. I've made great friends and seen so many breathtaking sights that I e-mail my mother almost every night and thank her for giving me life to experience this. I feel like, for the first time in my life, I have my priorities straight and I've grown up a lot. Choosing someplace that was so far from everything I've known was difficult, but I feel that it has really enriched my life. Once you live in a city for a month, it becomes YOUR city and you can make the switch from "tourist" to "resident". We've learned how to bargain with men in the Bazaars and have adapted to the social norms of Istanbul. It has been one of the most terrifying, exciting, beautiful, rewarding and enriching experiences of my life.