Languages

Hey everyone!

It is quite self evident, I would think, to many people that I am indeed a language nerd. Anyone who has talked to me for more than five minutes will likely know that languages and language study are high on the list of my greatest passions in life, and hugely important to me. As I'm greatly passionate about a number of different ones and have been blessed with opportunities and experiences to expand my linguistic horizons. I figured that I'd share the ones I've had thus far in my life, and what my linguistic background is currently composed of, for anyone interested. This is going to get pretty technical; as a disclaimer, I'm at very different levels in all of these languages, and in some cases have been exposed to them to varying extents, but would definitely not say I actually know them or know them well.

English: 
As a half-Italian-half-American, I was raised in a bilingual English and Italian speaking household. Although Italian was the first language in which I spoke, and I didn't lose my fractured, accented English completely as a child until I started elementary school, over the years thereafter I went through a shift of usage, and English became my dominant language as a product of being raised in the US and educated in American schools. I've retained my bilingualism throughout my life, but English is by far my best language, in which I'm able to most effectively, eloquently, and comprehensively express myself. I tend to define native and first language differently, as the first language one speaks in life, versus the language in which one is best able to speak and express oneself in the overall course of their life, respectively.
It's interesting for me to think about linguistic proficiency and ability in my first language. Throughout much of my teenage years, being so ardently focused on perfecting my Italian and beginning to study other languages, and didn't really think much of my relationship to English until I went to Egypt as a high school exchange student. That was my first time being in a place where I had no knowledge of the local language, and being stripped of any ability to communicate all at once upon arrival, though certainly scary, instilled an appreciation within me of what I am able to do with the English language in writing, prose, and speech that I have never lost to this day.

Italiano - Italian:
As I mentioned above, Italian was the first language in which I learned to speak as a child, and remained my main language until around the age of five or six. Even though English took over as my dominant language after that, I continued hearing it at home, and using it in annual visits to my relatives and family friends in Italy over the summers. Around the age of twelve, I realized that my Italian skills were stuffering as a result of growing up in an area that lacked extensive immersive Italian spaces, particularly educational ones, and so I went to live with my grandmother and uncle in my mother's hometown of Viadana in northern Italy and attend a local middle school for five months. Since I used only Italian at home, at school, and with the friends my own age I made, only using English on the phone with my family back home or sometimes in conversation with the English teacher at my middle school, my skills improved tremendously, and I gained the Italian fluency I have today.
Italian is a language that has huge sentimental value for me, and is an irreplaceable part of my background, heritage, and identity. Speaking it has always been enjoyable and a point of pride, and it was through perfecting my hollistic knowledge of my own native language that I confirmed I wanted learning languages to be a part of my life.

Lumbard - Lombard:
Being a country that was greatly divided for much of its history, Italy is a country that is full of fascinatingly divergent dialects (which are called as such, but in reality are oftentimes quite sufficiently distinct enough among themselves to qualify as different languages). The standard language is an adapted version of the Tuscan which Dante Alighieri used to write some of his most widely known works, selected for its beauty and literary legacy. The dialect that is spoken in the Viadana area is a variant of the Lombard language, called so after the region of Lombardia, and is referred to as "viadanes." I've heard it, mainly in the form of little smatterings and expressions woven into the Italian I hear at home or visiting Viadana, my whole life. But it wasn't until I lived in Italy for five months as a teenager that I started to pick up more of it. Because my relatives, especially my grandmother, use it quite a lot at home amongst themselves and out on the town with their friends, over the course of those five months I found myself increasingly able to understand this unique marker of local life. Nowadays, when I go back to visit I can usually understand most of what people are talking about in the dialect, but aside from a few expressions or phrases I know by heart, there's no way I'd know enough to partake in a fluent conversation. In much of the north, certainly there, local languages are used less, and most people under around fifty, though they'll probably understand it, won't use it in any kind of serious conversation, reserving it for caustic humor or profane expressions. At times I wish I could speak it or even just understand it better, as it's a unique and important part of local culture, and many local languages in Italy are dying out. I do cherish the phrases and bits of understanding I have, thanks to my family, and intend to try and pick up more during future visits.

Latina - Latin:
I took about a year and a half worth of Latin when I was in middle school, which mainly centered around building vocabulary the first year, with an introduction to more grammar the second year, and always very centered on units about ancient Roman history, culture, and mythology. I enjoyed taking Latin quite thoroughly, particularly for the cultural component that allowed me to learn about my ancestors, and how much it helped me to understand Latin roots of many words commonly used in English. But I basically stopped studying it when I was fourteen, because aside from the fact that my high school lacked Latin, I was feeling very desirous of studying a language with more opportunities for practical use in a modern context especially in terms of speaking, as the skill set for Latin education is typically much more focused on translation and reading than anything else. As it's now been eight years since I studied it at all, I remember next to nothing.

Español - Spanish:
My first real foray into studying a language was Spanish, which I took for the five months I was at school in Italy. Though initially nervous about entering a class where people had been studying it for two years already and I knew none at the time, I found it quite easy due to its proximity to Italian. I studied Spanish through all of high school as well (except for my second year when I was abroad), and because the International Baccalaureate (IB) program I did placed a huge emphasis on language study and acquisition, I was able to learn a great amount throughout high school. I also took a third-year level Hispanic literature class, which was entirely conducted in Spanish, in my second year of college. Though I've not had any immersive experiences studying in Spanish-speaking countries, I have traveled to both Spain and Mexico twice, and got to use my Spanish with locals on both trips. At this point I have been learning Spanish for nearly eight years, and because of personal interest in Spanish history, culture, and minority languages, I have been making a conscious effort over the past two years to shift my pronunciation and accent towards the norm in Spain, which at this point is nearly second-nature.

عربى - Arabic:
I started to learn Arabic when I was fifteen, in preparation for my academic year program in Alexandria, Egypt, as an exchange student with AFS International Programs (AFS). The year before I left, I started out with about six months of lessons with a Palestinian American graduate student who had been trained in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), who taught me to read and write the Arabic alphabet, as well as some basic MSA vocabulary, and a few lessons of Egyptian dialect. I then took three more months of lessons prior to departure with a naturalized American citizen hailing from Iraq, continuing to pick up MSA and Egyptian dialect side-by-side, with an ever stronger emphasis on the latter. After I got to Egypt, I basically only advanced with Egyptian dialect, as I was in an international, largely English-speaking school, and therefore not learning Arabic in any academic environments where MSA would have been the register of instruction. I picked up Egyptian Arabic pretty effectively over the course of the year by immersion at home with my host family, particularly my non-English-speaking host parents, hearing my classmates speak it around me at school, and using it to get around the city, feeling pretty comfortable in conversation by the end of the year. I also learned to read and write pretty effectively by observing signage around me and taking Arabic calligraphy lessons with a professional. Unfortunately, in the nearly six years that have followed, my Arabic has largely fallen by the wayside. Due to a lack of Arabic instruction in the academic spaces I've been a part of, loss of contact with most of the people who I was close to during my exchange year, and personal aversion due to difficulties I faced during the experience, I have lost most of what I learned due to a lack of practice. Though there are some things I'm sure I'll never fully forget, I don't feel comfortable expressing myself in Arabic anymore, and therefore usually don't count it among the languages I comfortably speak.

Français - French: 
I had a very brief introduction into the French language during my year in Egypt, as it was the only foreign language available in my school, and I took it for about nine months. In that time, I did well in the class, as between Italian and Spanish I didn't find it particularly difficult to grasp from a grammatical and syntactical standpoint. Also, it has to be said that the instruction was very shallow and consisted mainly of copying sentences written on the board, so I unfortunately learned little (for instance, I only learned the two days of the week we had French class, as the teacher would write them on the board every time she entered the room). For this reason, I don't usually count French among my languages, certainly the ones I know well. Because of whatever base I gained from taking it during my exchange, its proximity to Italian and Spanish, and my trip to France in 2015, I can sometimes understand it to varying extents, but would likely be highly challenged in conversation at best if I ever had to speak it.

Türkçe - Turkish:I started learning Turkish when I was eighteen on my summer exchange in Bursa, Turkey through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship. NSLI-Y was a goal I had had in mind for a time when I applied, but had never been sure of which language to put as my top choice - I wound up picking Turkish as my top choice practically on a whim, as I'd been interested in Turkish history and culture for a time, but it wasn't super high on my list. When I got picked as a finalist, I was selected for a six-week 2014 summer program in Bursa, Turkey. It wound up being one of the most incredible and formative experiences of my entire life so far. I met friends that still remain among the closest and most important in my life, fell deeply in love with Turkish language and culture in a way I never imagined I would, and just came to feel very at home. The language classes that were the centerpiece of the program were fairly well organized and informative, and thus I was able to reach an intermediate low level on the OPI scale.
I came back to Turkey for an eighteen-day trip about a year and a half after my program, and was able to rekindle my language skills by chatting with Turkish friends and host family and navigating around the country as I traveled by myself, but didn't advance much further.
In the summer of 2017, I was accepted for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), essentially a university version of NSLI-Y, to continue studying Turkish for two months in Baku, Azerbaijan (studying in Turkey was sadly impossible, due to the program being sponsored by the US State Department, which had a travel warning out for Turkey at the time). Though living in Azerbaijan was a highly challenging experience culturally and logistically, and Turkish is frankly not spoken there, the program was still well organized and rewarding, and thanks to the immersive environment they were at least able to create on campus at the Azerbaijan University of Languages in our classes, my Turkish still improved tremendously over the course of the summer. It remains one of my very favorite languages, one that is tremedously important to me in both a personal and academic sense.

Русский - Russian:
When I started college, I knew I wanted to start a new language (because I'm me). Out of the several languages that were offered at Beloit College, Russian was the one that interested me the most - another that wasn't extremely high on my list at the time, but which I'd had a bit of interest in for some years. I decided to go ahead and try elementary Russian, and I enjoyed it enough to continue and eventually declare a Russian major (in addition to an international relations one).
I perfected my Russian by participating in Beloit's direct exchange program with the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, Russia, where I lived for just over three months last fall. Although the experience was tremendously challenging in a variety of ways, due to the quality of the Russian classes I was taking on campus at RSUH, limited English knowledge among locals leading to near-total off-campus immersion, and Russian's status as the main language of communication even among international students on campus enabled me to improve my Russian immensely, even in just three months. I certainly wouldn't consider myself completely fluent, but I was able to reach a pretty comfortable and confident conversational level in a language which has become an important part of my collegiate studies, and an unexpectedly useful bridge among the highly diverse regions and language families I'm passionate about (due to Russia's immense size, outreach, and influence). 

Magyar - Hungarian:
My Hungarian heritage has always been a source of interest for me in terms of connecting more closely with the culture, and of course the language. When I started college at Beloit, one of the things I was most excited about was the fact that I had a chance to take elementary Hungarian - though it's not part of the main modern languages and literatures department of the college, until a few years ago we had an elementary Hungarian class every spring term, taught by a history professor from Hungary, mainly as a way to prepare anyone soon to study abroad at our partner universities in Budapest for their experiences. When I came to Beloit as a prospective student, I was intrigued by this possibility, and became determined to take advantage of it when I started my studies.
I did get to take the class in the second semester of my freshman year, and in all honesty it was a pretty disappointing experience. I still appreciated the chance to learn some words, vocabulary, and culture that were relevant to my ancestry, and because grammatically Hungarian functions in ways quite akin to Turkish, I didn't find it drastically difficult at an elementary level. But the way the class was taught was extremely old fashioned and surface level, nothing beyond reading dialogues out loud from our textbook and listening to grammatical lecturing, so I unfortunately learned very little; far less, even, than I'd learned in my first semester of Russian. After a few years, I dug out my old textbook on a whim and have begun working further through it a bit independently, hoping to make more progress as time goes on. But I remember little of what I learned beyond basic pleasantries I'd already known when I started the class, so I definitely don't count Hungarian among the languages I know to any significant extent.

Íslenska - Icelandic:
Although I've been interested in Nordic languages and cultures in general for quite some time due to my American grandmother's Swedish heritage, I first started being interested in Icelandic specifically when I watched videos by an AFS alumna from the United States who was hosted in Seyðisfjörður in the Eastfjords, and researched the unique history of the language after hearing a bit about it there. Fascinated by its preservation of Norse heritage and poetic construction of words, it became one of my languages of greatest interest.
When I was accepted to Beloit College, I was informed that I had been selected to receive a Field Experience Grant, with which I could organize an academic or professional summer project of my choosing. Having just recently heard about the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies' summer program, I decided to apply, and also search for other backup Icelandic programs, in order to put the opportunity to use by gaining a base in Icelandic. Rejected by the Árni Magnússon program, I did a three-week A1/A2 level program at the University Center of the Westfjords in the far north of the country, hosted at Núpur, about a thirty-minute drive from the town of Ísafjörður. It wound up being another of my life's most incredible and formative experiences, as we lived in an insanely beautiful place, were able to participate in a great many cultural activities, lived among an unlikely but highly cohesive group of really lovely, open-minded, and friendly people, and just had a great time. Even in just three weeks, thanks to the wonderful organization and high-quality teaching of the program, I was able to pick up a good base level of Icelandic.
After reapplying and being admitted this time, I returned this past summer for a month to do the Árni Magnússon program at the University of Reykjavik for a month. It was honestly such a wonderful experience as well. Having already experienced many touristic things the first time, I focused on making this a trip of linguistic and cultural immersion in Reykjavik city life. Incidentally, the teacher for the top level class of the course I was taking was one of the teachers on my program two years ago, and he did all he could to foster a dynamic, effective, and immersive Icelandic environment in our classroom. By the end of the program, I met up with an Icelandic friend of my friend she'd put me in contact with a while ago, and we were able to have a conversation of almost an hour and a half in Icelandic, which was shocking and empowering, helping me to feel like I've come full circle in a way: on the day which marked exactly two years since I'd arrived in Iceland the first time, there I was, having just finished the program I'd dreamed of doing since high school, having reached a high intermediate level in this language which is one of those I love most in all the world. 

Suomi - Finnish:
Finnish has been one of my greatest linguistic dreams and focal points of interest in life. I've wanted to learn it since I was eleven years old, partly just as a facet of my general interest in Nordic countries, but something about Finnish specifically has always enchanted me above many other languages. Its sheer difference from anything else I'm familiar with, and so much else in the world. Its rhythms and cadences. And something in the culture has always spoken to me, attracted me, made me want to connect with it.
So when I knew that there was a chance to apply for study abroad semesters through a host organization that would allow me to go to Finland, I had to take advantage of that chance.
As you guys know from my past posts, though there certainly were challenges, getting to go to Finland and form a base in Finnish was absolutely worthwhile in pretty much every sense.
I took beginner Finnish for foreigners, and although I liked the way it was structured, I was unfortunately pretty disappointed with the simplicity of what we learned, the rather slow pacing, and the feeling that too little was expected of us. To counteract this, I made sure to work ahead in the book and learn more grammar and vocabulary individually (and the success I had in this strategy has made me much more confident in my abilities to self-study languages), seek out more spaces for practice like the Finnish language circle, and use Finnish interacting with locals while traveling and such. By the end, my level was still quite basic, but I'd learned enough grammar and vocabulary to be able to have simple conversations with people, and even that was worth it to me. I look forward to hopefully going back at some point in the near future for another more immersive, fully language-focused experience.

Svenska - Swedish:
Swedish is another language that I first became interested in because of my heritage - my American grandmother is mainly of Swedish descent, her ancestors on one side of her family having emigrated to New Brunswick, New Jersey from the Stockholm area in the late 1800s. Knowledge of Swedish hasn't been present among our family for a few generations as a result of assimilation, but my fascination with Nordic lands and languages as a result of my grandmother's heritage inspired me to do my best to study my ancestors' language.
When I was seventeen, I did a month-long "Teen Polyglot Challenge" initiated by well-known 22-year-old polyglot, New York native, and Harvard student Tim Doner, alongside my good friend Donny, who shared my committed interest to the Swedish language. The idea of the challenge was to post a short video showcasing your development over the month (which I will not share due to personal embarrassment!). After that, I didn't study Swedish actively again for more than three years, with no deliberate stimulation or practice beyond passively listening to Swedish Disney music and my favorite Veronica Maggio songs.
One of my motivations for studying abroad in Finland was that Swedish too holds official status there. Although I wasn't able to dual-enroll in a Swedish class in the Swedish-speaking university in Turku, Åbo Akademi, I enrolled in a Swedish night class at the Swedish Adult Education Institute in Turku, also known as Arbis. For four months, I participated in 90-minute-long, weekly Swedish classes alongside classmates from a surprising number of countries, all taught by a friendly and precise Swedish-speaking Finn named Kim. By the end of the course, I was tremendously happy with the level I'd advanced to in just four months, going from barely being able to string a sentence together to being able to give a ten-minute presentation on my background and diversity in the United States.
One unexpected element of learning Swedish in Finland is that Finland Swedish has a distinct accent I previously was not aware of which is quite different from "rikssvenska" (literally "kingdom Swedish") spoken in Sweden - it's pronounced with phonetics and cadences nearly identical to those of Finnish, losing all of the stereotypically sing-songy bounciness associated with the language. I began to pick up the accent about halfway through the semester, and now speak with a slight finlandssvensk accent. I'm currently in the process of consciously trying to shift my speach patterns and pronunciation back towards rikssvenska, but I'm happy all the same to have been able to pick up a bit of this language that is special in helping me connect with my heritage. 

Thanks for bearing with me! Hope that you all can find your linguistic passions also and run with them. All the best! 

Türkiye Ocak 2016 - Turkey January 2016

Hey guys!
So now that I'm off for the summer, I'll start catching up this blog with an account of my amazing trip to Turkey back in January.

Istanbul: December 31-January 4:                                                        
On the 30th of December, my family accompanied me to Chicago, where we spent a few hours exploring the brightly lit city, still alive with Christmas lights and other such festive decorations, and eventually said our goodbyes as I hopped on a metro to O'Hare.
From the Turkish Airlines checkin all the way to the Istanbul, I was overcome by this overwhelming sense of surreal excitement, as I began to fully internalize and realize that this adventure, this return to my beloved host country which I had dreamed of since August 11, 2014 - the day I'd left the first time - was finally coming to life before my eyes.
Towards the end of the flight, as we entered the Turkish airspace, I admired the view from the window with this little spiel in my travel journal: "Hovering over a seemingly desolate, rocky brown landscape, we seem to be nearing our descent here on Turkish Airlines Flight 6…I'm hyped up [in spite of the jetlag]; these views of the Earth from the sky, the gentle rumble of the engines as background noise, this is the stuff I live for."
I was immediately struck by the seasonal change - there was plentiful snow on the ground, more, in fact, by far than there had been when I left the American Midwest! Not a problem for me, in any case - I'm a big fan of snowy weather, and as far as I was concerned, it made my favorite city on Earth even prettier. :)
In spite of the fact that I arrived on New Year's Eve, I did little to celebrate the new year. I made my way straight to the #bunk hostel where I was staying, near Taksim Square, checked in, showered, and just about collapsed into bed.
I awoke the next morning bright and early, tanked up on breakfast at the hotel, where it was served on the top floor, with a beautiful terrace overlooking the city on which people can sit outside in warm weather, and made my way straight to Sultanahmet, where many of the touristy attractions are located, on the metro.
I visited the Basilica Cistern, a hauntingly wonderful underground complex of ancient columns and two famous Medusa busts, and then headed from there to what I'd been most upset about not being able to see my first time in Turkey, and therefore made darn well sure it was one of the first things I saw this time: the Hagia Sophia.
And my God, it was worth it.
I found myself mesmerized and enveloped by the many layers of inter-religious history - the sweeping golden letters of Arabic calligraphy spelling "Allah" and "Muhammad," the Byzantine mosaics of Biblical scenes, and the warm, lovely colors that they all shared between them. I explored all the floors, stayed for over three hours, and still could barely stand to leave.
From there, I headed to the Archeological Museum, where I was treated to a rich and never-ending spectacle of artifacts and relics from all ages of the city's monumental history, as well as a little bonding moment with a pack of friendly cats in the garden outside, and then I ended my incredible first day with  a visit to the Topkapı Palace, the ancient home of the sultans. Unfortunately, I came just late enough that the harem, which I'm told is a main point of attraction, had just closed. But I was still able to draw plentiful enjoyment from the exquisite colors and architectural mastery of the site, imagining the lives of the powerful monarchs who had once ruled one of the world's mightiest empires from it.
My second day started off with a visit with a friend - I went to hang out with my good friend Demi, who I met at the YES end-of-stay orientation in DC last June, in a district called Eminönü. We first checked out the New Mosque, one of the defining landmarks in the area, and then walked and talked as she did a bit of shopping in a nearby bazaar in preparation for a visit to her host family in California the very next week. We finished our time together with a quintessentially Istanbullu lunch near the water's edge - balık ekmek (literally "fish bread," a delectable fish sandwich) and turşu suyu (pickle juice). It was lovely to spend time in one of my favorite cities with such a good friend. :)
From there I headed to a different mosque in another neighborhood called Süleimaniye. There I meditated peacefully, as I enjoyed feeling small inside this amazingly large and tranquil spiritual space.
I finished the day's adventures with a visit to the Galata Tower, which is not especially remarkable in and of itself save for its impressive size and presence, but offered some magnificent views of the sprawling, snow-covered city.

The next morning, I headed up to the Dolmabahçe Palace, which is in many ways the antithesis of Topkapı- as much as Topkapı is a monument to oriental Ottoman opulence, Dolmabahçe is a stronghold of European royal envy, a Versailles on the banks of the Bosphorus. Certainly more familiar-looking, but no less impressive. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any photos on the inside, as it was prohibited. I wandered down the street afterwards and took a quick peek inside Dolmabahce Camii down the street, which was lovely to look at, but not especially distinctive compared to Yeni or Suleimaniye Camii. After that, I headed back to Taksim to meet up with Gökçem, another Istanbullu friend of mine from the YES end of stay orientation, who had been an exchange student in upstate New York. We walked up and down Istiklal Caddesi together, had some sweets and tea, and also stepped inside the rather impressive Church of St Antony of Padua.

The last day was sadly my last in this favorite city in the world of mine, the only one which quite literally straddles two continents. But I made sure to make the most of it.
Checking out of the hostel early in the morning, I stored my stuff and went off on a last stream of exploration. First up was the Kariye Muzesi (Chora Church in English), a beautiful old Byzantine church full of golden walls and Biblical mosaics. I experienced a crazy moment of spine-tingling interfaith glory as the ezan echoed from outside through the mosaic-clad walls of this old church.
After a quick cay in a nearby cafe, I made my final stop of the day at the AFS Turkey headquarters in Nisantasi, where I payed a quick visit to my friend Cemre, who works at AFS Turkey and made a visit to my local AFS Washtenaw chapter in Michigan in the spring of 2015, at her office. After a while chatting with her and her colleagues, I headed back to #bunk, caught my feribot (ferry boat) to Bursa, and shed a few tears as I left behind this city I love so.

How snowy it was when I got there.

The Basilica Cistern.

Hagia Sophia.

Topkapı Palace.

Me and Demi.

View from the Galata Tower.

Dolmabahçe Palace.

Me and  Gökçem. 

Chora Church. 

Bursa - January 4-January 11:
Once ferry, one bus, and a metro ride into my host family's neighborhood, and I was back and Bursa, where it all started - the city in which I fell madly and irrevocably in love with Turkey.
This weeklong portion of my trip was different from the days I spent in Istanbul in many ways. It was the first time I've returned to either of my host countries, and in some ways I was unprepared for just how it would feel. During the first hours and days of the trip, as I stepped down into the metro, heard the names of the stops on the intercom which I could almost remember, walked off into my host family's neighborhood and up into their house, I was beset with a sensation of intense deja vu peppered with crazy nostalgia. For the first three days I was in Bursa, I could go nowhere and do nothing without  memories of things I had done or experienced on program the first time rushing unexpectedly back to my senses, things I hadn't thought of in a long time.
I remember one of the first things I did after getting back to my host family's apartment was retrieve my Turkish language textbooks, which were waiting for me on the bookshelf in the room I always stay in there, and looked over exercises I remembered, compositions I'd written, and little notes that reminded me of things we'd done or said in class together. It was bizarre, surreal, and somehow beautiful.
The first few days I just sort of chilled out a lot at my host family's house. It was nice to have the chance to rest up a bit and regain my energy after four straight days of constant sightseeing and meeting friends in Istanbul. I grew closer to everyone in my host family this time, and also was able to get in some good Turkish practice with my host parents (I'm glad I had a couple of days in Istanbul to get warmed up before being thrown into that immersive situation).
One day I went out with my host mom to buy my bus ticket to Izmir and then meet a few of her friends that work in the center of the city. The day after I went out by myself to do some shopping for souvenirs in Kozahan, the Silk Bazaar in the center of town, as well as a bit of sightseeing - I went back to Ulu Cami, the Grand Mosque of Bursa, which still holds the humble honor of being my favorite mosque in all of Turkey. Another day I hung out with Sena and Şeyma, the Turkish host sisters of Gianna and Salma respectively, with whom I journeyed to Hünkar Köşkü, a lovely property up in a mountaintop in the outskirts of Bursa which belonged to the famed and well-loved founding president of the modern Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. We enjoyed the incredible sprawling views of the city, the two of them graciously translated the tour we got of the small but dainty and well-kept house on the property, and I enjoyed some great company catching up with two good friends. :)
Overall, my time in Bursa was fantastic. Istanbul is my favorite city in the entire world, but Bursa is my Turkish home, the place where I fell in love with what has become one of my favorite countries, and it will always be special to me for that.
On January 11th, I said goodbye to my Turkish host family and home, and headed off to catch my bus to the city which would be my last stop for this trip. And as incredible as what came previously had been, it wouldn't be a lie to say the best was saved for last…

The Silk Bazaar sold silk, surprisingly enough.

The breathtakingly peaceful beauty of Ulu Camii.

The view of the city from Tophane - had this directly to my left as I sipped tea at an outdoor cafe. It was a pretty rad moment of zen. 

A mosaic of the teleferik (cable car) in a metro station. 

The view from Hünkar Köşkü. 

Sunset near my host family's apartment complex.

Izmir - January 11-January 17:
I'm glad that I was able to enjoy my five-hour or so bus ride from Bursa to Izmir - aside from the fact that it was quite comfortable, complete with entertainment systems and a snack cart, it was wonderful to watch such a large and varied chunk of the country unfold before me as I passed by. The nondescript minarets of quaint little country villages, towering mountain ranges, sprawling forests, and all in between.
Once I arrived in Izmir, I got settled in my clean and comfortable hotel in the Alsancak neighborhood near the water, and spent most of the days I was there dedicated to spending time with Gianna and Krista (as well as their three fellow NSLI-Yers on Izmir's year program, Kendall, Lars, and Mary-Eleanor, or ME). I found in the Izmir portion of my trip a sort of happy medium between the constant and unending slew of activity I engaged in while in Istanbul, and the much more subdued and relaxed time I spent in Bursa. I found that, though Izmir is most definitely a beautiful city and 100% worth seeing, there's not a whole lot of specific monuments one should visit, like Istanbul. It's more a city to be enjoyed in aimless wandering along the Kordon (the main street along the water's edge), taking a ferry ride to the other side of the city just for the sake of it to watch the sunset, and the maze of the Kemeraltı Bazaar.
Even so, I did manage to see some fantastic specific sights which I most definitely would recommend - one is Kadifekale, an old castle located on a hilltop just outside the city, with absolutely breathtaking views. Another would be Ephesus (or Efes, in Turkish), which is a large and spectacularly preserved complex of Greco-Roman ruins which I took a morning off to go visit by myself, and had a great little adventure doing so. Aside from being delighted that I got a chance to see such a magnificent place, standing in the midst of these old marble buildings that had stood for thousands of years, I was also immensely proud of myself for navigating the three different forms of public transportation to get there completely by myself, using only Turkish (#smalllinguisticvictories). Another place I'll mention would definitely be the Agora, another complex of Greco-Roman ruins which is located well within the heart of the city itself. Not nearly as grandiose as Ephesus, but still impressive for sure. There was an unaltered, functional fountain inside this complex that was working after having been left untouched for thousands of years. As an Italian, I have a marked fascination with Roman ruins as being part of my own cultural heritage, and this discovery left me with my spine tingling. My ancestors may have been pillaging warmongers, but no one can deny that they sure could build.

The afternoons and evenings I spent with Gianna, Krista, and their friends were truly some of the best in a long, long time. Sitting at cafes on the Kordon, practicing our Turkish together while also indulging in some swift and slangy English that an Anglophone exchange student inevitably comes to crave after long periods without it, laughing and talking about anything and everything - those moments were incredible, and already halfway through the week I was dreading leaving them behind.
We also met three other AFSers who were in Izmir on unsponsored programs, Soraya and Joshua from Germany, and Mint from Thailand.
On my own time, I also met up with two more friends I made at the YES end-of-stay orientation: first, my good friend Damla, who I hung out with near the Clock Tower for a few hours before meeting up with Gianna and Krista on the first morning, and in so doing, got to see the incredible views of the city from Tarihi Asansör, a lovely historical tower in the Konak district not too far from my hotel. And a few days later, my friend Cavit, who I managed to squeeze in a quick hangout with in the afternoon after I got back from Ephesus.
There were a number of friends I made at that orientation who I really wanted to meet up with, but unfortunately didn't get a chance to, as most of them were high school seniors in the midst of horridly intense studying for the infamous high-pressure end-of-high-school exams that play (in my opinion, certainly) an unfairly huge role in determining the college opportunities, and by extension, the general futures, of Turkish students. Next time.
Another thing that was beautiful in Izmir was the weather - in the low 60s Fahrenheit the entire time I was there. In many ways, the city reminded me a lot of Alexandria - similar geography and climate, and a similarly cosmopolitan Mediterranean heritage. As I've mentioned before, there is a hugely distinct polarization in contemporary Turkish politics between the secularist and Islamist factions of society, and though there is certainly overlap everywhere, for the most part the western and eastern regions of the country are dominated by the former and latter respectively. Even so, Izmir is westernized, indeed almost European, in a way that is atypical for much of Turkey, and it was interesting to see that element to the local culture. All in all, Izmir was the first place I saw on this trip that I had truly never been to before, and I'm glad for it. It's a lovely place that I enjoyed in some of the best company there is anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, as most good things, I suppose, my six days in Izmir (and eighteen in Turkey) came to an end on January 17. I took the metro to a stop where I changed onto the IZBAN, a larger train line for the Izmir Metropolitan Area, which I took all the way to the airport. As I gazed out on the lush green foothills in the distance and the foreboding grey clouds that began to let forth a gentle drizzle, I quietly cried on the train as I approached the end of a voyage in one of my favorite countries that enriched my soul and invigorated my love of life in a way only it and my loved ones therein can do.
My trip back to the States passed uneventfully enough - I only had a brief connection in Istanbul to contend with, and landed in Chicago to find its -2 degree temperatures a far cry from the balmy Izmir winter I'd left behind. I took the Van Galder bus straight back to campus at Beloit, and collapsed almost immediately into a deep, jetlag-induced sleep, with only that standing between me and the second semester of my freshman year starting the very next morning.

On the bus ride.

Tarihi Asansör.

Me and Damla.

Rainbow and peace-sign decorated staircase.

At the Agora.

Hisar Camii.

Kadifekale.

Me there.

One of the innumerable spectacular views.

Izmir's iconic Clock Tower (Saat Kulesi).

Took a ferry ride across the city for the heck of it while I waited for my friends to get out of their Turkish classes.

Ephesus!

I think this was a temple?

The entrance to a library, I believe.

Theater.

The Kordon at night.

Me and Cavit (pronounced "JAH-veet.")

Saat Kulesi at night.

Me and Gianna.

A synagogue I found which was sadly closed.

On the descent into Istanbul on the way back.

An additional note: 
On a darker and more sobering note, I do wish to pay a bit of homage to the victims of the many savage and deplorable terrorist attacks which my beloved host country has suffered lately. October 10, 2015 and February 17 and March 13, 2016 in Ankara. January 12, March 19, and June 7 and 28 in Istanbul. And April 27 in Bursa, right outside of Ulu Camii, no less.
Various groups trying to heinously perpetuate their evil agendas by targeting areas in which countless innocent civilians have lost their lives in these attacks of hateful violence. Many Turkish, others not.
It makes my heart heavy to have to address such matters, and that such matters even exist to be addressed in the first place. But we must remember and honor these people, lest they be lost in vain.

Firstly, I would like to extend my deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the entire nation of Turkey, in particular the families and loved ones of those lost or affected by these tragedies. None of you are alone. The world sees to and mourns with you, and sends you nothing but love, good vibes, and wishes for eventual peace.
Secondly, I would like to reiterate something that I discussed at great length in the post I wrote while in Izmir, about the Turkey that I would like the rest of the world to know. In that post, I talked about how Turkey is a safe country, and how I never feared for my safety for a single second either of the two times I've visited thus far. As much as it breaks my heart to say it, it's certainly not as safe as I said at that time anymore. But even so, regardless, to anyone considering going: PLEASE DO. When you think of Turkey, think of iftars in front of the Blue Mosque, of hijabis marching in Istanbul Pride, of imams sheltering cats in their mosques from the winter cold, of people of diverse beliefs and interests coexisting, of priceless antiquities and monuments of every age, and of hospitality, love, and warmth unmatched by those of any other land. Don't be afraid to experience all of these things and more in a country that is one of the world's greatest lands. This is the true Turkey, the one that the world should know. Don't be afraid to experience it. Don't let them win.
I have greatly mourned every one of these attacks and the hardships they represent for the country that is my third home, and have taken every opportunity possible to keep in mind the country and the victims of these attacks in thoughts, prayers, and actions to fight for peace. I heartily encourage anyone who reads this to do the same, and pass on such sentiments.
Things look tough at the moment. But, with will and some luck, inşallah, we will see peace again some day soon.

Thank you all for reading this account of a wonderful trip back to a country that I consider my third home. I have already been missing it dearly these past few months, and hope more than anything to go back and visit just as soon as I can manage it.
Stay safe and be well, dear readers. Kendinize iyi bakın.
-Nico

P.S.: Enjoy my favorite Turkish tunes!

(A little throw-in: Turkey's rousing national anthem, the March of Independence.)