Why Turkey!?

There are only 12 days before my departure for Ankara, Turkey! I am so excited! I can’t wait to be immersed in a culture that is almost completely different from my own. However, when I tell people that I am going to Turkey I have gotten some interesting responses. A few people become extremely animated and tell me that they or someone they know has been to Turkey and absolutely loved it! But the majority of the people that find out I am going to Turkey have a quizzical look on their face and say something along the lines of… “Turkey! Oh! Hmm… that’s interesting. Why did you choose Turkey?”

The answer to this question is not as easy as you might think… there were a lot of factors that went into my decision along with the nudging of my heavenly Father. I should probably start at the beginning. When I was eleven years old my father did a pastoral exchange just outside of York, England for seven weeks. I was fortunate to travel with him and family to England and caught the travel bug. Ever since then I knew if it was possible I had to study abroad while I was in college. At first I wanted to study in Australia. I even talked with a few of my friends who had gone there and loved it!

But then, the summer after my freshman year of college, my family and I traveled to China to visit my brother who had been studying there for a semester. After returning from that trip I realized that I did not have to be afraid of studying in a country where English was not the primary language. Then, during my sophomore year of college I was in the study abroad office and a brochure for Turkey caught my eye. I had never considered Turkey before but I knew that my parents had traveled there when they were in the Middle East. I called my parents and asked them about their time in Turkey. They both said that it was a beautiful country and they had an amazing experience. A few days later I was reading a book where one of the main characters travels to Turkey for the summer on an excavation. The next few weeks I thought and prayed a lot about it and I just couldn’t get the idea of traveling to Turkey out of my head. The final deciding factor was when I looked in the booklet describing the program and I saw they offered Psychology classes. I was hooked on Turkey! It has been a crazy and exciting journey ever since and I haven’t even set foot in the country yet!

I hope you find this blog informative and at least a little entertaining and I will try to keep it updated. May God bless you all and keep you safe! =)