Day #1 of Travel Blog...WOOT!

Place: Chicago, IL
Date: 5/27/ 09
Time: 11:42am local time

MADE IT THROUGH THE FIRST LEG...WOOT! I know it might only be a 50min plane ride but it means something to me. I got all my stuff packed up (no small feat mind you) and got into the car with my parents this morning to drive to the airport. I must say I don't think I have been this freaked out about a new experience since I started college. It is not so much that I am scared it is just that I don't think I have ever been this far out of my element. All other places I have ever gone to before I have been able to speak the language or have been moving around with someone who does. I don't speak Turkish, and I am also not all that familiar with the cultural customs of Islam and the Muslim religion. I am excited all the same though, it will be an adventure and as long as I am not too stupid about anything I don't think I will get into too much trouble.

As I was sitting in my room downloading as much music as I could onto the big iPod my brother loaned me I couldn't help but think about how amazingly lucky I am to be able to have this opportunity. I am 20 years old and I have been to so many places and met so many people and had experiences most people will never have the chance to have. This will be my 4th continent (because I looked it up and the vast majority of Turkey is in Asia because the most commonly used division between Europe and Asia is the Dardanelles and Bosporus rivers and I will be to the east of these) and I am not even old enough to drink in my home country. WHO DOES THIS? WHO DO I THINK I AM? The opportunities I have been afforded have created for me a sense of citizenship to the world that I am not sure most of my peers have. Yes it is scary to go some place I know nothing about, yes it freaks me out that I will be thrown into a Turkish prison for some language misunderstanding, yes I have pondered how many goats my hand in marriage might go for, but all of this has made me more curious to go to Turkey and not the other way around.

As much calming down and back rubs and hugs my mother and father had to give me to get me out of the door, I am ready for this. I am excited and I am going to keep my eyes open. This is going to be my first big adventure and I can't wait. I hope the world is ready for me. :) More the next time I have a moment.

~Claire