Travel Day Blog

Four countries, three continents and all in less than two days; my “get there” day is done! After almost 26 hours in airports or planes, four train trips, and a long taxi ride later I am now residing in the Middle Eastern Technical University. I have to say, though I am tired and very much looking forward to bed, getting here was a lot of fun. I flew from Detroit Metro to Chicago O’Hare and was able to take a train into the city to sip tea in a café and then meet up with Aunt Martha to have a before departure lunch. The lunch was amazing and seeing my Aunt was a lot of fun. After this I boarded the plane and as fate would have it was seated two seat away from Avery, my travel partner for the next two months. A very nice Bishop from Uganda named Stevens was willing to trade spots and we were set for takeoff.

8 hours, 2 crappy meals, 3 games of Tetris and 1 movie later and we were in Belgium! We got our luggage, rechecked our bags and then decided to spend part of our 6 hour layover having an adventure. We bought train tickets to downtown Brussels and went to go explore a bit. Avery found this really old, really big, really amazing church which I took tons of pictures of and then we found a nice little gyro platter stand for lunch. While chomping on our Greek yummies we people watched in this awesome little square that had tours coming in and out of it and people posing with a couple of different statues that were in the area. Finished our food and went back to the station to catch a ride back. We arrived back at the airport at the time that we wanted to, maneuvered our way through security again, and then took a nap on the airport bench that was at the departure gate.

The next plane we got on (Brussels to Munich on Lufthansa) could have held more than 50 people or so and we were pleasantly surprised when they served these awesome little sandwich thingies along with a multigrain bar and a few drinks. After arriving in Munich we just kind of bummed around for a bit. I changed into a long skirt and black top in the case that there might be problems with my slightly tighter fitting jeans in the Ankara airport, also went and bought some toothpaste from a nice lady who only spoke French, and peopled watched at our gate for a while. Pleasant surprise before we boarded; the other part of our group missed their connection and so were re-booked for our flight. The last leg was a little bit turbulent but had some really good chicken pasta for dinner as well as this crazy little raspberry cake thing. Lufthansa for sure wins my vote for most awesome airline food, by the way.

Landed and then piled into a cab with our luggage and made the 30min drive to METU which is where I am now sitting. On a couch in the two person suite I am sharing with Alyssa. The view is awesome and the rooms are really nice. We have a kitchen and big sitting room and bed room with enough closet space to accommodate even me. I think it is going to be a nice home for the next two weeks and I am looking forward to exploring the city. Okay, time to brush my teeth and go to bed. Hope everyone is doing fabulously, I know I am.

~Claire