Paradise on The Sea

İzmir, one of the oldest cities in the world, is still a bustling, exciting, and fun coastal town. There is a bustling nightlife around Alsanjak, historical ruins across town, and winding, crowded neighborhoods in Konak, where my family's house is. Though İ've only spent a week here, I already feel right at home. My family, though we are missing my host brother and father for the time being, is one of The nicest groups of people İve known. Most importantly, they make amazing food.
First of all, portions here are big, And İ mean supersize big. The picture below was something My mom made For me when İ was a little hungry one night.
Secondly, The food here is some of the best food you can have. Everything is fresh, And İve yet to have a bad meal in this country. İzmir is famous for its olives, And although İ was not a fan of 'em before İ came here, İ now cherish them as much as The yoğurt, which is present at every meal!
Anothet great part of this city is the people, who are all friendly And warm. Many people speak english, And if they dont they just smile at you And ask simple questions. İ wish i could blog more, but i need to sleep! People here go to bed after midnight every night, And İve been joining them!! So il leave you with this inadequate And badly Shelley (Turkish autocorrect!!) sample of İzmir, And i promise to blog again soon!

From Ankara to izmir....

And so my journey continues. As I write this, I spend my full first day in izmir. This city is amazing!! It doesn't feel so much turkish as Mediterranean, and I could seriously picture myself spending 6 weeks in paradise over here.
Just a recap on what you missed since the last post. Our group finished touring Ankara, visiting atarurk's tomb and the ottoman citadel of the city, which provided spectacular views. Ankara has a big city vibe, and it wears you out just walking around. One of the most ratified buildings was the city mosque which in English is called Large Hill Mosque. It made of white marble and gold, and the reflection of the sun actually hurts your eyes. At the end of the day, we trudged back to the AFS office in the city so the Ankara students could meet their families. Watching them meet made me a. Little jealous, but mostly nervous. Would
My host family like me that much?? Would I be able to stark speaking to them as easily as some others did? After all the Ankara students left, The Izmir kids had to board a plane, at 9:15 pm, to their    New cities. Finally getting to my neighborhood, the shuttle dropped me off as I waited for my host family to pick me up(they were a tad late). The suspense inside me built up as I waited with
Another student's family. A few minutes later, safak, my brother, came down the street. I didn't even talk to him yet, but I truly
Felt relieved. We exchanged merhaba's and begs the trek up the hill to his family's apartment. On the way over, he gave me two new pieces of information: his family was still hosting a Thai exchange student and he was leaving that night for 10 full days. Besides Pem, the Thai student's, basic knowledge, he was the only one who knew English! I figure this is a blessing and a curse, because it will definitely force me to learn turkish fast!! The rest of the family is extremely nice, with a fun sister and a funnier mom (dad is out of the city for work.)I got to their floor and I was met by a spectacular view of the city bay. I could definetly get used to this! We stayed up late that night talking, and of course, eating. When safak asked if I was hungry, and when I hesitated before I answered, he immediately said "you are" and began to
Prepare something with his mom. When I came
Out next, he had a huge plate of bread, green beans, and pasta made with  a yogurt sauce and crushed sun dried tomatoes. It was out of this world!! Today, we went for a walk trough the city center, and I have to admit izmir is
Much more modern them I anticipated. The restraint we ate at had fajitas and played one direction, the mall had pictures of girls in bikinis, and I only saw one woman wearing a headscarf. That is how much we've completed today, but  sure more fun adventures are in the horizon. I think I'll begin updating this blog about once a week from here on out, unless something special happens! So, I'll leave you by saying that, so far, everything has beat my expectations, and I couldn't be happier. Gerusherush!!

Arrival in Ankara

GOOD MORNING ANKARA!! After more than 15 hours of traveling (which felt closer to 25), my group sleepily arrived in Ankara's airport. Luckily for me, the two flights over here were some of the easiest international flights I've had. I took a sleeping pillfor the first plane, which worked like a charm! The only downside was I worried the entire airplane that I had died because I wouldn't wake up during dinner. One of my friends started to shake me to try to wake me up...to no avail. So apparently I had an interesting flight and I didn't know it! Next up was an extremely long wait in the Istanbul airport, which was only made fun by playing hide and seek with Ali, a Turkish boy waiting to get on our flight. The flight to Ankara was a lot less eventful. We waited on the Tarmac for half an hour without air conditioning, and I fell asleep right after the plane took off. When I woke up, and saw the ground right 

below us, I thought I had dozed off for just a few minutes. But it turns out I was out for the entire flight. Ankara was a bit strange; the airport and suburbs were spotless and brand new, with colorful cookie cutter apartments, and marble walls. Deep inside the city, however, is more of the turkey I expected. The streets are jumbled with bike and car stors overflowing into the street. It also has a lot of shady storefronts and street food that point out we're definitely in Asia. I'm not sure of the schedule for the next 

two days; although I think it's going to be pretty busy in the second largest city in turkey. I'll get back to you sometime after leaving the capital!! To all my readers: gule gule!! 

Half Way There!

OK loyal fans (whoever you are), I've reached New York and am hard at work in orientation!! Hard at work basically means having fun with the other scholarship recipients while we're not in safety and language briefings. I'm the baby of this group; most of the other students are going into college next year, and good ones at that (Yale, Dartmouth, you get the idea). Though most of the people here are older (and far smarter),  its really been nothing but fun! We're staying at Long Island University, which has a huge and beautiful campus for a place I've never heard of. When not staying in a dorm room (a first for me), we're eating long meals and learning are rudimentary Turkish. After the language lesson I learned just how little Turkish I actually know (hello and goodbye, before the lesson). Nevertheless, if I can learn as fast as I did in that hour during my six week stay, I think I'll be fine. We've also been learning a lot about Turkish culture, for instance regional variations and the basic do's and don't's. Do use the independent buses (Dramas) that swarm around Turkish cities because they are reliable and easy! Don't make the OK symbol with your fingers, or you'll publicly question someone's sexuality!
The flight from Phoenix to New York was pretty bad, so yesterday (my first day here) was mostly spent trying to stay awake; my flight left Phoenix at midnight. Today has been a little more exciting: playing games, taking pictures, and, of course, eating even more food while talking about funny YouTube videos. The highlight of today was a visit from a Foreign Service officer who showcased all the other scholarships/internships you can do after today, which was pretty exciting.  We'll finish today with a few more briefings, and then we take off tomorrow. First we fly from Istanbul, then to Ankara to spend a few nights, and finally to my (new) home, Izmir. I'll update the blog next hopefully when I arrive in Ankara. Sorry I don't go into more detail we don't have a lot of internet time here! So I'll end for today here and finish by saying see you in Turkey!!

Getting Ready....

OK, 2 days to go until I arrive in NYC for my orientation!!! I'm getting pretty pumped now! All my bags are packed and I'm pretty much ready to go, so everything is coming together perfectly.
I finally learned my host family too! The Basnak family lives right in the center of Izmir, and sound like a perfect fit for me. They have one son, Safak, who is my age and an older daughter. I've already started messaging Safak over Facebook and I've found out he likes the TV shows Seinfeld and Whose Line is it Anyway?, So its pretty much like I'll never leave home. I've also checked out the neighborhood they live in, and it seems full of historical buildings and seaside cafes. Suffice to say, it sounds like this trip will be in paradise. Their form said they like to run, swim, play basketball, and go to the beach and movie theaters as well. I'll update again when I get to New York. As Rick Steves would say, "Happy Travels!"

Meet Me

Merhaba! In about 2 weeks, I'll be living in Turkey. My name is Grant Laufer, and this summer I was awarded an NSLI-Y scholarship to study Turkish for 6 weeks in Izmir, Turkey. The scholarship, provided by the US State Department, pays for all the costs of the trip and even includes a stipend to spend on local transportation and necessities. The scholarship opens the door to future internships and immense knowledge of another culture. For about five hours every day, I'll spend my time studying Turkish. After that, I'll go to my host family's home and practice with them. The program also includes cultural programs, excursions, and service projects.
This week, I'm focused on preparing. I'm going to spend six weeks over there, so I need a lot of stuff. So far I've focused on buying my host family Arizona-themed gifts. I'll fill you in on those later just in case my family finds this blog before I get there! Right now, I don't even know who my host family is, so I'm pretty anxious to find that tiny bit of information out.
I'm extremely excited right now, it almost seems unreal! My passion has always been international politics and economics, and Turkey is a hot spot in both of those fields right now. The huge protests going on right now are a little worrying, but I don't think an American teenager will face police brutality anytime soon. I can't wait to get there, and I'll keep everyone updated as soon as some new information, (*cough* host family*cough*) comes in! Elveda!