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!
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