Across the Alps to the Sea

 

Wow I cannot believe I am here in Turkey!! It has been a crazy and packed 2 days here and I am in love with this country.

My flights were crazy and long! It was so hard to say goodbye to my family, but at the same time I was ready to head off. Thankfully when I got into the security line, the really nice guy in front of my started talking to me about where I was going so I didn't have a chance to think about leaving. I sat at the gate to my plane for 2.5 hours because we had gotten to the airport 4 hours early! Okay...flying is not as terrifying as I had thought because I'm still alive. When we got to Chicago, I got off the one plane and about 5 minutes later I got on the flight to Munich. That plane was huge and nice, but the entire 8 hour flight, I could only sleep for about 1 hour. It was very hard to get comfortable in the small sitting space. We got to Munich about an hour ahead of schedule, leaving me with a 3 hour layover. Thankfully, Torvald(an exchange student from Portland) and Samantha(a very nice and helpful lady from Chicago) were with me so we had fun walking through the airport and bemoning how expensive everything was. Samantha had a lot of information about Turkey, because she had been there before so she helped calm all the nerves that had started to surface. I was exhaused at that point though because I had only had about 3 hours of sleep, including the sleep from the night before I left. The flight to Izmir was very bumpy and they had very good food. We flew over the Alps and it was clear enough that you could see them through the little wispy clouds. Those mountians are the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen, and they went on for hundreds of miles!!
We landed in Izmir and it was so hot and humid. I was not expecting that! I met my host mom and sister and then Rotary sat us(Torvald and I and our host families) down and went over some courtisies and important things. Then my host family took me to my new home. I love it!! There is a balcony that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. I can look at the sea when ever I want and it's simply crazy!! I am so blessed to be here but right now it's almost like I am in a trance and none of this is real. I am so tired though and hope that my sleep will even itself out soon.
I'll catch up on my first couple of days later but school starts tomorrow, and I need my sleep. :)