Final Moments in Turkey

June 13^th

As I write this, I’m sitting in Ataturk Airport in Istanbul right, waiting for my 6:30 am flight to Rome and then back to Boston. Surprisingly, I haven't broken down and cried yet, though I’m sure if the immigration officer in Boston says anything along the lines of, “Welcome home,” I probably will bawl my eyes out. Istanbul honestly feels like home at this point. The past few days have been spent visiting a few remaining unvisited sites, saying goodbye to the Hagia Sophia, gift shopping, and saying goodbye to friends. It is hard to believe that it has been four months since I arrived in Istanbul. I can remember clearly waiting for hours for our pickup in the Starbucks in the far right hand side of the airport, seeing people selling bananas in the middle of the highway, and hearing the very strange song “Barbara Sreisand” playing over the bus radio.

That day I remember thinking, “What exactly have I gotten myself into.” Now I know and it has been the best experience so far in my life. I love Istanbul, I love Turkey, and I love the Turkish people. I had a chance to see historical sites that I had read about since I was ten but never dreamed I would actually get to see. I made friends with people from across the world who I would never otherwise have met. For every time somebody tried to rip me off, there were five other times that a random Turk welcomed me to their country, helped me find something that I had lost, or gave me food or drink and then refused to accept my money.

I have grown so comfortable in this country that it feels like home. It is going to be weird going back to small-town suburbia, to actually understand what the person sitting next to me on the T is saying, and to actually have choices of what to eat besides Turkish food. I’m still not sure how smooth the transition is going to be; we’ll have to wait and see.

This is not the end of this blog. I’ve still got plenty more to post on Istanbul and Turkey, including travel tips, must see sites, and districts of Istanbul. Depending on how much free time I have, this may take a week or months. Once I’ve said everything that I can about Turkey, I’m going to keep up blogging periodically, about life, travels, politics, and whatever else I feel like. I’ve found this process to be very therapeutic and it’s a great way to capture memories. Whether anyone besides me actually reads these posts is unimportant (but thank you for reading if you do!).