Reflections...part 2

...We pull up to my dorm and i climb out wearily and the Fatih quickly pulls out my bags and gives me a warm smile before leaving and waving as he drove off...

I was very sorry to see him go because the security guards at the dorm entrance spoke no english and flipped through my entrance papers a few times with skeptical looks and then escorted me to the dorm manager.....

As i walked through the dorm i realized it was still a work in progress...there were construction workers working on pipes and the kitchen was still being set up and the cleaning people were working like bees all over the place....

and it was empty....
by the time i got to my room i noticed htat every single room in every single floor was as empty as the hotel in the Shining....

The emptiness was the last straw on an incredibly stressful situation...i had flown 14 hours on a plane...away from anything i was familiar with....my first trip outside of north America...didn't speak the language and was very unfamiliar with the customs...and i didn't know anyone at all....
at that point i was already feeling alone...
but to arrive to an empty dorm just compounded the loneliness and i sat down and tried to swallow my fears...

Before i knew it i could feel teardrops pressing at my eyes and i gave myself 15 seconds...enought time for about two sniffles and one pitiful whine with about 8 tears total...and i kid you not i pretty much counted.

then i wiped my eyes and told myself aloud, "this is what you came here for...you wanted this, now stop being a baby and go explore."

I trudged up the stairs to the dorm terrace where i found one girl, my first true friend in Turkey: Karin....and within moments i met another friend this time a Turkish one: Hasan.

I was abnormally friendly because i wanted to make friends to explore Istanbul with....and we sat outside in the hot sun and talked and drank water for about an hour

then Karin invited me to go have lunch and then go exploring with her...and from that moment it seriously seemed like Istanbul was a bright shining city just waiting to be explored...and it was....and i did....

i just want everyone who has traveled before or who has yet to travel to know...it didn't start out all happily ever after...its always scary at first to make a big change...and its definatly okay to cry a little or call your parents...although i didn't call mine...mostly because my mother is the best mom every but she has a way of being very unsympathetic to tears...and my dad is the exact opposite....once he asks..."aww baby, whats wrong" the waterworks start and i turn into a sniffling whining 4 year old who's skinned her knee and between sobs tells a horrific story of how the sky is falling. therefore they could only make things worse....

It got better, exponentially, once i forced myself to realize that you have to try....you have to really really try hard...and it will be uncomfy...and akward and downright miserable at times...but you have to try....
i know i'm glad i did!

ciao
jessi