What I've been up to lately

Hey guys!!! It's been a minute once again.
Sorry for the continuous hiatuses, but I think once I get into detail about what's been happening recently, it will be clear why I've continued to take them.
With no further ado, I will immediately do what I promised in my last post: give a brief and simplified summary of some of the highlights of 2015 so far.

Since the start of this year, I have...

1. Traveled to Mexico:
   From February 14th to the 21st, I went on vacation with my family to Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico for the second time. This proved to be a wonderful and freeing escape from the frigid Michigan winter (and I say this as someone whose favorite season is winter), with a week of fun frolicking in the beautiful beaches and colorful town of Isla Mujeres. This time was different from the last in several ways - firstly, the weather was a little cooler for most of the week we were there; in fact, I don't remember swimming much at all in the last few days. This time we also seemed to get a bit more of the local scene - we found a locally owned restaurant near the town square where we treated ourselves several times to the delicious cooking of a kindly older Mexican woman (the quote of the trip was, "I want her to be my grandmother!" xD). My sister and I in particular got into a local cafe named Rooster, which had some of the best smoothies and homemade granola I've ever had. This year, instead of taking a golf cart to the other side of the island, we biked all the way, and after a delicious seafood lunch in a restaurant at the halfway point with an insane terrace view of the sea, hunkered down on the cliffs overlooking the sea and Cancun in the distance all together, as a great bonding moment. :) And, of course, I got great opportunities to practice my Spanish skills with locals. Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip, and I made a very relevant comment towards the end of it: "I haven't felt this relaxed in a long, long time." (Spoken like a true IB student…) 

   

   From the plane. 

   
   

   

   I took a selfie. 

   
   

   

   The view from our balcony. 

   
   

   

   Sunset version. 

   
   
   
   
   

   

   One of the teams that was practicing for Carneval performances in the plaza. 

   
   

   

   The bridge that connects our hotel to the main island. 

   
   
   
   
   

   

   MIA, our hotel. 

   
   
   
   
   

   

   The cliffs on the other side of the island from when we biked there. 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   About halfway through the island you come across its little military airport. 

   
   

   

   It's like they knew I was there. 

   
   

   

   One of the more colorful buildings. 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Too many beautiful sunset pictures to count. 

   
   

   

   From when we were about to board our ferry back to Cancun to catch our flight home. 

2. Selected a college:
   I'm happy to say that I officially will be attending Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin starting in the fall!!! I did an overnight visit at Beloit in March, in which I got to meet members of my prospective faculty, stay in a dorm with hosts, experience a bit of typical campus life in the form of an improv show, eat in the dining hall, and then audit several classes (big surprise, I audited three language classes - Elementary Russian, Second-Year Japanese, and Elementary Hungarian). It had just the sort of dynamic, international, small-liberal arts school feel that I was looking for, and I could definitely see myself happily succeeding there. A few days after returning home, once I'd heard back from all my other colleges I'd applied to (Beloit also gave me a stellar scholarship deal, which was another main motivation), I sent in that enrollment deposit, and committed, sealing the deal for the next four years of my education and life, and I could not be more excited to start there on August 17. :D 

   

   A colorful path I found.

   
   

   

   Beloit's only a cappella group, Bits and Pieces, performed for the prospective students' event, which was a delight for me, as I have been involved in my high school's a cappella group, Octavate, for the duration of my senior year, and fully intend to audition for Bits and Pieces in the fall. 

   
   

   

   In the dining hall. 

   
   

   

   It snowed overnight while I was on campus. 

   
   

   

   The World Affairs Center was sporting some international bling. 

   
   

   

   It was so cold, but so beautiful.

   

   This has nothing to do with Beloit or Italy, but the NOH8 Campaign was doing an ongoing photoshoot sort of thing at my school, and I participated with my best friend Donny. :) 

3. Traveled to Italy: 
   From March 31 to April 12, I traveled to Italy alone for my spring break to visit my family and friends in my mother's home town of Viadana, Mantova, located about three hours to the south of Milan. It was a great trip during which I had the pleasure of being able to visit my second home, be with many family, friends, and loved ones, give my Italian some much needed full-immersion practice, and even see a few new places along the way, namely Florence, which I had never been to before. All in all, it was a fantastic trip, and a great way to spend my spring break. 

   

   From the plane to Milan.

   
   

   

   In the countryside around Viadana.

   
   

   

   A street in Viadana.

   
   

   

   Parma.

   
   

   

   Taken in my friend Alberto's yard during a cookout.

   
   

   

   In the piazza.

   
   

   

   The rolling countryside by Castel'arquato, a little town I visited with my uncle.

   
   

   

   From the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. 

   
   

   

   Again.

   
   

   

   A great view of the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi.

   
   

   

   From the Borgo, the older part of Viadana. 

   
   

   

   More wicked views of snowcapped mountains from the flight back to New York from Milan.

   
   

   

   Sounds like my kind of place. 

4. Finished high school:
   As of April 24, which was the last day of classes for seniors at my school, I AM DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL. It still seems kind of surreal to think/type those words. Until very recently, it seemed incredibly unreal that this was truly permanent, as for several weeks, there continued to be a string of events that kept bringing my senior class back together as a group. The last day was a pretty emotional experience - at the end of the day, my whole senior class gathered together, and heard speeches from each of our teachers, followed by announcements which included speeches from several underclassmen, all of whom had an older sibling in our senior class. Many started to break down halfway through the teachers' speeches, but what really did me in was watching each senior whose underclassmen sibling had come on air with a deep, heartfelt speech burst into tears. Afterwards, we got led around the school for a "walkout," which featured lots of hugs, and then actually got ambushed by our teachers, who were all armed with silly string and shaving cream, as a more aggressive rebuttal to our senior prank (which was just going into the hallway together and pretending to sleep instead of going to class one day). In any case, the last day of class, though, as you'll soon see, it was by no means "the end," proved to be an emotional but wonderful last day of my four years at Washtenaw International High School. 

   

   We made a little portrait of one of our favorite history/lit/theory of knowledge (a unique IB course) teachers, Mr. Eric Wynn, who is also incidentally our IB coordinator. 

   
   

   

   He posed with it. XD 

   

   My selfie with my lit teacher and dear friend, Mr. William Garcia.  

   

   This was taken later on at my friend Brenna's graduation party, but in keeping with the theme of selfies with teachers, here's another of me with my bio teacher, Ms. Alyson Thompson, and her young daughter Zoey. :) 

5. Been to prom: The day after the last day of school, my school had its first ever (since I'm part of the inaugural graduating class) prom, which I mention because I feel like it's a particularly important American high school tradition for a lot of people. The theme for our prom was "starry night," and it looked great. Mad props to the student government and spirit committee at our school for pulling off a kickass event. I went with my friend Chathu as my platonic date, and we spent most of the night hanging out with our other main group of friend (the "Nerd Herd," as we've taken to calling ourselves. :D). Everyone went all out for the event and looked absolutely gorgeous - my quote of the night would later prove to be, "it feels good to be around pretty people." xD Apparently unlike a lot of other proms, dinner was actually provided as part of the event, and it was quite good. Afterwards, the actual dance too was great fun - lots of great music was played, the energy was awesome; it was just a fun, fun night, one of the best memories of my high school experience. 

   

   A good portion of the Nerd Herd: from left to right, me, Chathu, Cate, Aria, Imad, Riley.

   

   Me and Chathu. ^_^

6. CONQUERED THE IB: Due to all the exams in my life, May was definitely a killer - over the course of the month, I faced a total of 13 IB exams, plus an AP Italian test that I was supposed to take last year but got moved to this year because of paperwork that got goofed up. It definitely was immensely stressful, having to contend with so many cumulative exams for two-year classes, but at least with regular high school classes over and grades finalized, I only really had to worry about studying for the exams themselves. And due to my greater ease with humanistic subjects (HL Spanish, history, and lit ftw), once I got my math exams out of the way, I felt more or less home free. Due to the fact that the results are not available for another month, I won't know if I actually did get the IB diploma until July 6 (FINGERS CROSSED). But for now, I'm not all that concerned with it, as I try to relax as much as I can after four arduous years of work, and appreciating the sheer accomplishment of finishing the program. :)
7. Graduated: My very last exam was IB music, and I walked out of there to five free days to marvel at my newfound freedom prior to my graduation. The day before my graduation, my class embarked on our senior trip, which was nothing more than a simple little day trip to Kensington Metropark, a large state park near Brighton, Michigan, just about forty minutes from where I live.  It was pretty simple and low-key, consisting mainly of games of Cards Against Humanity on picnic blankets with my friends, a barbecue lunch, and kayaking. But it was a fun day nonetheless. The next day, we graduated - the day was kicked off with a senior breakfast at school, in which the teachers cooked us all breakfast, and presented a slideshow of pictures from the last four years, along with a more recent surprise production of a YouTube video in honor of our inaugural class, set to our senior song, "See You Again." Our graduation ceremony was held at Rackham Auditorium in downtown Ann Arbor. It felt quite surreal, to don those big blue gowns and caps, walk across the stage, shaking hands with our principal and several superintendents, and walk away with our diplomas, those miniature testaments to all the numerous efforts and struggles from the past four years which culminated in that ceremony. Several of my friends and teachers gave exceedingly articulate and heartfelt speeches, and although it didn't get me quite as teary as the last day of school, it still was a pretty emotional and momentous occasion, particularly in the simple yet exhilarating moment when seventy (yes, my graduating class really is that small) caps were gracefully jettisoned skyward. Immediately following graduation, I was treated to a delicious meal at one of my family's favorite Indian restaurants, and then headed right to school for our senior all-night party. For this fun event, we essentially had a lock-in at our school the entire night after graduation, which was complete with food, a slushie machine, a photo booth, bouncy castles, a bonfire in one of our school's courtyards, games of Cards Against Humanity in the library, and, of course, plenty of time set aside for yearbook signing. It was another fun night that proved to be a wonderful way to officially end my entire class's time together as a group. It still didn't feel entirely permanent at the time, and in many ways it wasn't, with choir and band concerts and a slew of grad parties to follow. But in any case it was a fun time. Our class created a name, a legacy, and a culture from nothing where before there were only overgrown courtyards and shady-mirrored bathrooms, bringing to life a formidable powerhouse of intellectual prowess and achievement in the process, and I will always be immensely proud to have been a part of that. The friendships I made and the things I learned made even the darkest times when I was drowning in feelings of intense stress, existential turmoil, and intellectual inadequacy more than worthwhile, and in spite of all the difficulties and struggles, I will look back on my high school career as a happy time in my life, a time of accomplishment and growth. WiHi class of 2015. go forth and conquer. <3 

   

   Playing some Cards Against Humanity on colorful picnic blankets - from left to right: Me, Chathu, Cate, Riley, Brenna, Jaylen, Mr. Garcia.

   
   

   

   A view of the lake. 

   
   

   

   The clouds looked pretty over the water. 

   

   From left to right: Me, Jaylen, Riley, Chathu.

   
   

   

   Enjoying the fruits of my labor at last - my diploma, my IB medallion, and Spanish National Honors Society chords.

   
   

   

   From left to right: Brenna, Donny, me.

   
   

   

   Photoboth fun from the senior all night party.

8. Been accepted to the AFS Returnee Leadership Summit!!!!: Back in April, right after the end of classes, with my calendar more open that it has been for the past few years, I decided to try and take advantage of an opportunity I was first exposed to through my a good friend of mine, Raihan, a fellow AFS returnee who went two years ago while I was just about to come home from Egypt: the AFS Returnee Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. Nothing more or less than just under a week of international fun and development of the AFS returnee network. Followed, additionally, by a few days volunteering at the YES Abroad end-of-stay orientation for all the hosted students from this past year who hail from all over the Islamic world. I'm particularly stoked that there will be both the Egyptian and Turkish YES students present at that orientation, so I'll get to meet kids from both of my host countries. :) But in any case, that amazing opportunity is coming up quite soon - two days, to be exact! (Incidentally, I should probably pack…) I leave on the 11th and get back home to Michigan on the 17th, and I am so excited and honored to have been selected for this incredible summit. 

And now, a brief preview of my two main upcoming attractions for this summer: 

1. California: From the 21st to the 30th of this month, I will be traveling to the San Francisco Bay area, mainly to meet up with my dear friends Gianna, Salma, and Ruth from my NSLI-Y program in Turkey last summer (or, as we've fashioned ourselves, the GRNSquad! :D). San Francisco is undoubtedly one of my favorite places in the entire world, and I'm SO excited to see it again, and to be spending my time there with such amazing friends of mine. We're also bound to do and see amazing things while we're there - if it's any indication, we've already planned to go and see a talk given by THE Malala Youssefzai, hosted by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner. There is much to be excited for and look forward to, obviously. But I think the most prominent is also one of the simplest: the sheer excitement of seeing three friends that have become like sisters to me, to whom I've only grown closer in spite of the distance, after nearly exactly a year since we first met. :) 
2. Spain & France trip: As I mentioned a while back, my next major foreign escapade is going to be a twelve-day tour with Explorica Educational Travel to Spain and France in July. In Spain we'll be visiting Madrid and Barcelona, followed by Paris and Normandy in France, with a few additional stops along the way in between these main destinations. Most of my core group of close friends from my school are going on the trip, and I look forward to spending time with people I love and care for a great deal while also doing something I love and care for a great deal (traveling :)). I know that it will be a fun and informative way to truly bring my high school experience to a close, and I'm, for lack of better terminology, stoked. :) 

Again, I apologize for my long absence. Now that I'm free for much of the summer, I can finally confidently promise that I will provide much more frequent updates, though I cannot promise, however, that they'll be all that interesting aside from the three trips I have lined up. ;) 

In any case, know that there will be more of my blathering to look forward to in the near future (if that is indeed something anyone looks forward to reading)! 

Thank you all for reading as usual!

Until next time,

Nico 

2k15 update

Hey, guys! It's been a minute.

Sorry I've been pretty absent from the blogosphere for the most part these last couple of months. It's been a pretty crazy time in many different ways. It's not that I haven't had much to share, but for a while, for various reasons, I've lacked the necessary motivation or time to actually sit down and blog about my life. :p

So allow me to briefly stall again, and let this be a promise that in the coming days, in which I will have much more time than I have had lately, there will be a nice little comprehensive post on the interesting stuff I've been up to so far this year and how I've been doing.

Looking forward to sharing with you all! I'll be back soon, promise.

Love as always,
-Nico :)

Grandpop

Hey, everybody.

Today, I've decided to share some thoughts with you all about a topic that I've mentioned briefly before in a post I made last year, but have never cared to elaborate too deeply on:
the passing of my grandfather, which happened a year ago today.

In exchange-and/or-travel-related contexts and others, I generally tend to keep things fairly cheery and upbeat on this blog, trying to embrace the best, most positive aspects of life both in what I share with you all, and what I personally focus on in my own thoughts and reflections offline.
But today, I thought it only fitting to pay a humble homage to my grandfather, a man very close to my own heart, to whom I am immensely proud to be related, and dearly miss.

A year ago today, I found myself taking advantage of an impromptu "snow day" off from school (of which we had many last winter) in a way that is fairly characteristic for me - browsing in a Barnes and Nobles bookstore located a mere five minute walk from my house (thank goodness).
It's something of a safe space for me, somewhere I can go if I have nowhere else to go, but just want to be out of the house or do something, where I can meander aimlessly for hours, hopping from world to world among all the different books I find.
On this particular visit, I spent most of my time in the international travel and foreign language sections, as I typically do. At the time, I had yet to start amassing the extensive collection of Lonely Planet phrasebooks I've since gathered for the various languages I am interested in, and among them is a Hungarian phrasebook. In posts I've made before concerning the various languages I want to learn, I've mentioned my grandfather, whose parents both emigrated from Hungary as teenagers, who spoke Hungarian, and shared bits and pieces of Hungarian heritage with my father's side of our extended family, as my main inspirations for wanting to learn Hungarian. As I looked at that Lonely Planet Hungarian phrasebook, I immediately thought of him, and decided to buy it and start using it, in the hopes that I could eventually hope to have an uncomplicated conversation with him in a phone call, or a future visit to my grandparents' home in New Jersey.
Little did I know how ironic that decision would soon prove to be.

As I walked back home, I fought my way through the gusting winds, soft but ample snow, and bitter cold that characterized most of last winter for us residents of southeastern Michigan. Once I finally reached my house, I arrived to a palpably shocked and distraught atmosphere that immediately led me to believe something was very, very wrong.
I wondered what it could be. There was the one thing that I feared it could be, that I hoped it wouldn't be, that was proven with my father's words along the lines of "Grandpop is gone."
As gentle as those words were meant to be, they sliced through the air like knives, landing in my chest and diffusing a feeling of cold, numb shock throughout my body.
It took me several minutes to fully process the news. The shock was particularly visceral due to the fact that I'd just bought the Hungarian phrasebook mere minutes earlier because I'd thought of him, and because I was hoping I'd put it to good use and wish him a "boldog születésnapot" (happy birthday) just four days later.

In the days that followed, I tried my best to go through life as normally as possible, and at times, the frenetic, fast-paced life I was living as an IB-eleventh grader did a good job of keeping my mind grounded. But the cold, numb feeling in my chest did not go away, and every time I thought of the situation, or of him, and I was reminded of what had happened, it got stronger, and spread further.

Just around a month and a half after my grandfather passed, there was a memorial service held in his honor in his (and my father's) hometown of New Brunswick, New Jersey, which was attended by a huge number of my extended family (and I mean huge - my father is the youngest of ten children, nearly all of whom have their own spouses and families. Needless to say, I come from a biiiiig family.)
The gathering itself was not actually that mournful in nature, for the most part. We enjoyed being together as a large group, as we hadn't for quite a while. We all live in different parts of the country across many different states, and when I was growing up we'd meet up every summer in Topsail Beach, North Carolina, for about two weeks. This was an annual ritual that was part of growing up for me, and a source of many memories I treasure deeply to this day. Unfortunately, partly because my grandparents weren't feeling up to the trip anymore, and partly because of various logistical complications that arose, we made the trip out there for the last time in the summer of 2012, just weeks before I left for my year in Egypt, and it hasn't taken place again since then. Therefore, we took full advantage of this now rarer chance to spend time together. We spent whole days just sitting around the house together, watching movies and the Oscars on TV, sharing stories about my grandfather, about each other, about our lives and hobbies and beliefs, and just generally enjoying each other's company as much as we could, supporting each other through the difficult time.
This sedentary stint of ours lasted a few days, aside from a visit to my grandmother that I made with my parents and sister. While we were very happy to see my grandmother, the whole visit was weird. In every possible sense of the word.
As I wrote in my journal afterwards, "...the house felt incomplete in every sense of the word, like half of its energy was missing. It felt as though any moment, Grandpop would pop out from behind one of the doors and come over to say hello, smiling his wide smile and laughing his throaty laugh.
But of course, he didn't.
It just didn't feel right."
I hardly could some up the experience any better than I did with those words.

Then came the actual service.
This for me was probably the most emotional part of the whole visit.
There were some readings, one of which was read by my father, and there were many kind and heartfelt words spoken. I remember little else of it, as the whole experience inspired some pretty tumultuous feelings.
The one image that continues to haunt me and pretty much did me (and, by the look of it, many others) in was that of my grandmother being led down the aisle alone at the end of the service.
She and my grandfather had what is certainly the longest marriage of which I have ever known. They celebrated their seventieth anniversary the month before he died, and had been high school sweethearts for a few years prior to boot.
I'd always known them as each other's companion and better half, their partner in life in every way imaginable, always looking out for the other, as a partnership that was a true force of nature, that I'd always looked up to as the kind I, as a self-proclaimed romantic idealist, would hope to one day find myself.
Seeing my grandmother alone like that really forced me to confront the reality and full implications of my grandfather's passing, and the emotion that came with that realization slammed into me like a ton of bricks.

I barely even had time to process those feelings - that very evening, after a reception following the service, we flew back home to Michigan, and I jumped right back into the crunch of my life at school, into three straight days of standardized testing.

Many things have happened in the meantime, and sometimes I have to be reminded of the whole situation - between the frenetic pace of my school life, spending most of the summer in Turkey, applying to colleges, and so on, it's been a very busy year since that fateful day I came home from Barnes and Nobles with the Hungarian phrasebook. With my grandparents living in New Jersey, I didn't see them very often, and often could only regularly keep in touch with them on the phone, or through my grandfather's admirably active Facebook presence.
But every time I see a picture of him, or think of one of my many memories in which he features prominently, or call their house and only my grandmother picks up, that cold, numb feeling comes back to stay a while.
By now, I would say that at this point, I've reached a fairly good place mentally with regards to my grandfather's passing.
In spite of the fact that the same cold, numb feeling returns at times, I've come to a point where I can look back and feel more happiness and pride in his life and many achievements, in all that he gave me, and in my personal pride that I am related to him, than sadness and misery at the fact that he no longer is here.
And today, in the spirit of this happiness and pride, I wanted to take a moment to honor the man himself, his wisdom, his kindness, his wry humor and gentle spirit and the unconditional love he felt for all his family and friends, and all that he's given me to be proud of as his grandson.

Suffice it to say, Grandpop, I love you, and I miss you.

All my love,
Nico <3

My grandfather used to say "go with the flow," so I learned the Hungarian translation of the phrase and wrote it on my wrist (thinking about getting a tattoo of it someday). 

Happy 2015, a cool holiday themed video, and AFS Project Change!

Hey guys!

Sorry that it's been several months since my last post. Things have continued to be a bit busy with my senior year and all, especially last month with the insufferable stress of midterm exams.
Now, I've just gotten off of two weeks of vacation, I've finished all my college applications (more about that in a future post, hopefully), and am feeling quite rested and calm for the most part as I dive back into the last three weeks of my semester. :)

Since I took a temporary hiatus of complete and total relaxation over the holidays, happy belated holidays/2015 to everyone! :D
As a little belated holiday treat, I wanted to share something holiday-related that I found with you all that I think is really, really wonderful.
I'm a big fan of the pretty well-known a cappella group Pentatonix, and one of my favorite songs of theirs is a cover of the song "White Winter Hymnal" that they performed on their latest album, "That's Christmas to Me." (Sidenote - I own both their Christmas albums, and was blasting them pretty much every time I got behind the wheel of a car the entire month leading up to Christmas, starting the day after Thanksgiving - I really love the Christmas season, in case you couldn't tell. xP)

A few weeks ago, I found a video on YouTube on the channel of a Korean a cappella group called DIA (Do It A cappella) that they made covering the Pentatonix version of "White Winter Hymnal," but rewritten with Korean lyrics based on a traditional Korean folktale.
I thought that it was beautifully executed, that was an ingenious way to showcase some interesting bits of Korean culture, and that it was just all-around awesome, so I figured I'd share it with you all. ^_^

Also, before I go, an important little public service announcement:
In my last post, where I discussed various exchange programs and scholarships in detail, I mentioned the AFS Project Change scholarship, in which 8th-12th graders were invited to create ideas for volunteer projects to implement on AFS programs.
Well, the deadline was December 7, and now the twenty finalists that have made it this far need your help! Check out the link that I posted above, view all their projects, and vote for your favorite by this Friday, January 9, to help give these incredible young leaders opportunities to travel abroad, live their dreams, implement their amazing projects, and make a real difference in the world.
Honestly, I was completely blown away by these projects, and I'm sure you all will be too. I will be incredibly happy for and proud of any of these kids if they get to go and implement their projects.
I also think it's neat to mention that one of them is from my hometown, and actually goes to my sister's high school! Small world, isn't it?

Thanks as always for reading, everyone.
Be back soon (hopefully),
Nico

AFS and NSLI-Y 101

Hey guys!

Sorry I've been more than a bit silent lately,  as I plow on through my so far very enjoyable but also immensely busy senior year, battling with the intense curriculum of my all-IB high school, scores of extracurricular activities, college apps, and trying to maintain some sanity in the process.

However, I wanted to get back to you all to share a bit of knowledge of mine on the two exchange programs with which I have traveled, AFS and NSLI-Y. Given that it's "application season," as I like to call it, that one of my best friends is applying to NSLI-Y, and that the deadline for preliminary applications (October 30) very recently passed, I thought it wise to get my two cents on this topic out in the blogosphere quickly, so here we go!

I'll start with NSLI-Y, since it's got a lot of structural things I can talk about.
Essentially, NSLI-Y, as I've stated before, is a government-sponsored scholarship that sends American high schoolers abroad to learn critical languages. The ones that they offer are Arabic, for which they send to Jordan, Morocco, and Oman, Mandarin Chinese, for which they send to China, Hindi, for which they send to India, Korean, for which they send to South Korea, Persian, for which they send to Tajikistan, Russian, for which they send to Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Moldova, and Turkish, for which they send to Turkey.
There are a few key components to every NSLI-Y program - since NSLI-Y is essentially just a scholarship, every program is run by what's called an "implementing organization" that helps with the logistics of transporting NSLI-Yers overseas and overseeing their programs. My program's implementing organization, for example, was American Cultural Exchange Service (ACES). Implementing organizations often vary even within programs that travel to the same countries or teach the same languages.
There is also the overseas educational institution. As all NSLI-Y programs are centered around language courses in the country, each program has an educational institution in which these courses take place. What these are often varies program by program - sometimes they can be universities. Others are rather like TÖMER, the overseas educational institution for all of the Turkish programs, which is a cultural institution created by the Turkish government to promote both the teaching of Turkish to foreigners, and of foreign languages to Turks. It is certainly the largest of its kind in Turkey, so all of NSLI-Y's Turkish programs use TÖMER as their educational institution. Each program also has its residential director, or RD for short. This is a person who travels with the participants to and from their program destination and remains there with them for the duration of the program. They will be fluent in both the target language and English, and help to oversee the implementation of the program, language classes, and cultural activities and excursions.
That's about all I can think of for NSLI-Y programs.

AFS is generally structured very differently from NSLI-Y programs. AFS exists in a whole host of countries around the world, and sends between all of them, so whereas program participants in NSLI-Y programs are all just American high schoolers, an AFS program will have participants from all over the world. Every student who embarks on an AFS program will be placed in a host family (that could be located anywhere in the host country), and, once a specific family is secured, they will be placed in a local host school, which, in most programs, will mean a public school in which they will be immersed in their host country's language. The specifics on activities other than that vary widely in AFS from country to country, and even chapter to chapter. But, generally, it can be assumed that chapters will organize some sort of activities or excursions from time to time. For example, those in my Alexandria AFS chapter had weekly calligraphy lessons with a professional, and we were treated to a number of excursions to other cities arranged by our local chapter. A chapter usually has around 10-20 hosted students that could be from anywhere in the world.
In general, these activities are not quite as rigidly scheduled or regular as they are in an NSLI-Y program.
Oh, also: an essential component of every AFS program is that of several orientations held throughout the program, with a typical year program usually consisting of a welcome orientation (immediately after arrival in-country), a post-arrival orientation (usually 6ish weeks in), a midstay orientation (halfway through the program), a pre-departure orientation (6ish weeks before leaving), and a farewell orientation (right before leaving). These often are held in the capital or largest city of the host country, with ALL the participants in the country being present. This makes for very fun, dynamic gatherings at which crazy, amazing memories ensue.
Finally, aside from the shorter-term day trips or excursions like I mentioned before, oftentimes AFS will organize larger trips in-country for the participants to embark on. A good example would be the Aswan and Luxor trip that I went on during my exchange in Egypt. Others include the Camino de Santiago trip my friend who was in Spain with AFS went on, and the Lapland trip my friend who was in Finland with AFS went on. Those too are great fun, for obvious reasons - there is much to be learned, seen, discovered, and doing so with other exchange students makes everything SO much more fun. :)
That's about all I can think of for AFS.

Now, a few final notes. First up, deadlines. Unfortunately, the preliminary application deadline for NSLI-Y just recently passed, it was October 30. To all those who applied and are now waiting for semifinalist notifications, GOOD LUCK!! I'm so proud of and happy for all of you, and I'm sending virtual hugs and good vibes your way. :')
AFS applications seem to have a much larger time frame; I took a look at a couple of programs - both year/semester and summer - on the AFS website and it seems like most of them have deadlines from early to mid-March 2015. So obviously there's still quite some time for those if you're interested. But I would advise you to look at the deadlines for whatever specific programs interest you, and to keep a close eye on them/get your application done as soon as possible to secure your spot.
If you're interested in trying out for the YES Abroad (Youth Exchange and Study - full-ride scholarships for year programs to study abroad in majority-Muslim countries) or CBYX (Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange - full-ride scholarships for year programs in Germany), those are also potential options. CBYX is implemented by different exchange programs in different regions of the USA, and the application deadline varies by implementing program (so if you're interested, be sure to check out the deadline for the implementing program of your region!), but those all are between December of this year and February 2015, according to the CBYX website. The YES deadline is a bit more straightforward - January 7, 2015.
A few final scholarship opportunity I'd like to publicize a little include AFS's Project Change initiative. This is essentially a contest in which 8th-12th graders are invited to create and submit an idea for a volunteer project that would have a meaningful impact abroad, with the potential to be awarded a full-ride scholarship to travel to China, Columbia, Egypt, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Panama, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, or Turkey to implement their project on an AFS program. The deadline for that is December 10.
Another would be the Cultural Explorer Scholarship, which I had when I traveled to Egypt (thought it was called the Global Leaders Scholarship back then), which provides $3,000 scholarships for students traveling from the US to "out of the ordinary" destinations (Bosnia, China, Ghana, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, or Turkey) on unsponsored AFS programs.
Another is the Vaya a América Latina scholarship, which provides $3,000 scholarships for students traveling to Latin American destinations (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, or Peru) for a year or semester program starting in the spring.
There is also the Viaggio Italiano scholarship, providing $2,000 scholarships for programs to Italy, as well as two different ones for programs to Japan, the Yoshi Hattori Memorial Scholarship, and the Sakura Scholarship, which are full and 50% scholarships respectively.
Finally, a variety of local scholarships are offered by state and chapter, both merit and need-based.
Suffice it to say, there are a great many opportunities to potentially take advantage of. :)

Here are links to all of the programs and scholarship opportunities I've talked about in this post:

• AFS
• NSLI-Y
• YES Abroad
• CBYX
• AFS Project Change
• Cultural Explorer Scholarship
• Vaya a América Latina Scholarship
• Viaggio Italiano Scholarship
• Japan Scholarships
• Need and merit-based scholarships by state
• And here's the master list on the main scholarship section on the AFS USA website's study abroad page, with even more opportunities! Also includes fundraising ideas and other helpful stuff

And here's a video from an AFSer who was in Italy last year covering similar topics discussed in this post, as well as an overview of the AFS application process. 

Thanks so much for reading this far, everyone. I sincerely hope that this post and the information in it is helpful to anyone who is applying to any of these programs, considering studying abroad in general, both, and/or anything in between. If I've helped even one person advance their dreams, even just a little, it honestly will mean the world to me. :)

I myself wish that I could be among you right now. It's no secret that I'd be reapplying for AFS, NSLI-Y, and YES gap year programs for sure if I could. Heck, I've got a whole line-up in my travel journal of what programs I'd apply for and in what order that I wrote one day (while feeling particularly nostalgic and salty…xP). Unfortunately, due to the fact that I'm a little old in my grade, I cannot reapply for any of these high school programs. Since I will be over 18 by the time all of these programs start, I'm ineligible to reapply. :(
My feelings about this are two-fold, in many ways. On one hand, I concede it would be a little strange and frustrating to have to continue abiding by some of the rules and regulations set by high school programs as a legal adult, as well as being surrounded by younger fellow exchange students.
On the other, I feel like a whole myriad of amazing and priceless opportunities has been denied to me by my inability to reapply for these wonderful programs, which is, for obvious reasons, quite frustrating.
In any case, regardless of how I feel about the given situation, I've accepted it at this point, as what's impossible is impossible, after all. I've taken it in stride, for I have no doubts that, even in spite of my inability to reapply for these programs, I will make sure to line up plenty of opportunities to venture abroad in my future, and to continue helping and supporting people aspiring to apply to these programs in my position as an AFS and NSLI-Y returnee and volunteer. :)

For now it seems my next major foreign escapade will be a trip to Spain and France on a tour with my school next July. I recently signed up for that trip, which a number of my close friends are going on as well, and will take us to Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and Paris and Normandy in France as main stops, with a few others along the way in between these main destinations. I'm looking quite forward to it, as it promises to be a very fun and informative way to end my high school experience with some of the people whose friendships have defined it as a positive experience for me.

In the meantime, again, I hope that you all enjoyed and/or benefited from this post somehow! I will be back soon with any relevant experiences or updates in my life.

Goodbye for now, guys! ^_^
-Nico

A cool video

Hey guys!

Sorry I've been inactive for a little while; my senior year has been pretty fun and informative so far, but crazy busy too.
I've got a new post in the works that I'll try to have up soon (no promises as to how fast, though).

Anyway, I'm here today to share a cool video with you all: My friend Emily from Washington, D.C., one of the thirteen lovely NSLI-Yers with whom I traveled to Bursa, has been featured in a video on the NSLI-Y YouTube channel, and I thought it only fitting that I should share it with you all. :)

Here it is:

Actually, speaking of which, this is a good opportunity for me to do a bit of advertising, as it is application season for NSLI-Y!
I'll share the blurb I've been posting on my Facebook, Tumblr, and such:

Are you a high school student? Are you an American citizen? Does learning Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Tajiki Persian, Russian, or Turkish in-country for a year or summer ON A FULL RIDE SCHOLARSHIP sound like your jam? If so, you may want to apply for NSLI-Y!

550 lucky finalists receive full scholarships to study critical languages abroad in Jordan, Oman, Morocco (for Arabic), China, Taiwan (for Chinese), India (for Hindi), South Korea (for Korean), Tajikistan (for Persian), Russia, Moldova, Estonia (for Russian), or Turkey (for Turkish).

Anyone who is interested in applying or has any questions is more than welcome to hit me up! ^_^

I'll hopefully make a post soon about the programs, explaining in a bit more detail how they work and such. But for now, know that you should most definitely apply if you're interested, and that the deadline for the preliminary application is October 30.

That's all for now, I'll be back soon with more good stuff.
Bye guys!
-Nico 

Back in the ABD

(Amerika Birleşik Devletleri = United States of America; ABD = USA).

Hey everyone! 

Sorry I have yet to elaborate on much of anything that has been going on for a while now; I have (unfortunately) been back in the USA for exactly three weeks now.

I suppose that first I will give you all a brief overview of what took place during our last week in Turkey, and then a rundown of our return, the three weeks that have passed since, as well as some thoughts and reflections of mine which I've had in the meantime. 

Başka şeyler son haftada (the rest of the last week):
On the 5th after classes, with little else planned to do that day, Salma, Maddy, and I made a spontaneous and impromptu decision to accompany Gianna and Sena in their search for a little Protestant church. We took Bursa's adorable little above-ground red tram which is often affectionately nicknamed "the Silkworm" to get there. There was a bit of trouble with Google directions and stuff, as this church was tucked away deep within a neighborhood that none of us (including Sena) had ever been to before, but eventually we were able to find it - it was a little peach-colored building built back in the nineteenth century, I believe. We unfortunately were unable to go inside (as it was closed and only opens on Sundays to begin with, I believe), but it was cool to get a glimpse of a little French Protestant church, not something I ever thought I would encounter in Turkey. And as usual, it was nice to just go on a little adventure in good company. :)

The 6th was by far one of the craziest and most amazing days of the whole experience, if not my life so far. It was the day of one of the things we all agreed we'd been anxiously awaiting our whole exchange - going up on Uludağ (the tallest peak among the mountains which surround Bursa).
First, after classes that day, we went back to the music center at Merinos for our final musical practice, in which we practiced our traditional dance for the last time in preparation for the farewell party later in the week, and in the process, Salma, Sophia, Brendan, and I all got to try on some pretty snazzy traditional costumes (pictures coming later). It made me feel like Aladdin. xD
We also got to record our performances of the songs we'd been practicing - first, the two pairs that were doing duets (Salma and me, Sophia and Brendan) got to record our renditions in one of the musical center's professional recording studios, complete with stellar headphones in which we could all hear each other and the staff helping us in the next room. After that, we also went in two separate groups to record the song we sang all together as a big group. All of these were compiled into a CD that was given to us later on. All in all, it was a neat experience - but that's not even getting into the Uludağ part of that day.
We were running a little late due to getting all that done at the music studio, but we were bused over to the Teleferik, the cable-car system which has been newly constructed within the past year and goes up to the top of the mountain. The way up was a bit scary at first - my stomach dropped to my feet - but my fear quickly gave way to awe and astonishment, as we rapidly arose, and the unmistakable sweep of clustered red-roofed buildings that is Bursa grew smaller and smaller, gradually giving way to fantastically unspoiled nature - the lush emerald forests which cloaked the mountainside. The weather seemed to be taking a bit of a turn though - it was a cloudy day, and on the way up we caught sight of lightning in the distance, resulting in a rather spontaneous outburst of "I was promised a barbecue, I do not want to BE the barbecue!" from me, which both Gianna and Madeleine thought was rather funny (we were about to have a barbecue picnic on the mountaintop, as will soon be discussed, so that's the joke. xD). Gianna even captured that golden moment on video! :D
Once we reached the top, it was distinctly drizzling, but not particularly hard, and so it was actually quite refreshing. I realized once we reached the top that I had not thought of the temperatures we might encounter - I was quite unprepared for the fairly chilly weather we first encountered in my ISE T-shirt and jeans. We walked to our picnic site, which was located on wooden picnic tables in a little clearing, and were treated to a fantastic meal with a lovely selection of freshly barbecued meat, as well as some homemade food courtesy of Şeyma and Şebnem, Salma and Ruth's host sisters. Although it was a bit chilly, the gentle rain and crisp mountain air offered welcome relief from the murderous heat we'd been experiencing in the weeks passed, and the tea we were served during the meal helped a bit. Afterwards, Gianna, Salma, Ruth, and I went for a brief run through the inviting forest in the surrounding area to do some Bridge to Terabithia-like exploring, even finding an adorable stream at one point, and promising ourselves that when we go back to Turkey in the future, we'll camp out on Uludağ.
Immediately afterwards, we picked up some trash in and around the campsite for a while, which was our actual "volunteer activity" for the day, and then we went for a little hike. It was beautiful in every sense of the word, wild, and savage - endless grassy open spaces, eventually giving way to thick and impenetrable pine forests, with a large, wide, and unobstructed open feeling to it. We stopped at a modest but grand outcrop of rocks, and climbed up to take in the view. As we took it all in, I was reminded of the moment of the book "Remains of the Day" in which the main character James Stevens speaks of a sprawling view of the English countryside which he is looking at, that I was in the middle of reading when I received my semifinalist notification last December. It was humbling and awe-inspiring, to say the least, to think about how far I had come from that moment - from having to restrain my desire to scream out (as I was with my carpool) as I imagined all that potentially awaited me, adrenaline coursing through every inch of me at top speed, awash with joy, to standing on an outcrop of rocks on one of the tallest mountains in Turkey, surrounded by both Turks and Americans that had become some of my closest and most treasured friends.
After stopping there, we made our way back to the Teleferik to head back down to the city. Rose, Maddy, and I chatted contentedly while gazing at the crimson sunset, exchanging grandparent stories, discussing how much we'd loved that day and the chance to be back in nature, and marveling at how such wild and untouched and perfect natural space existed so close to a city of 2.5 million.
The Teleferik ride back down was a highlight of the entire experience, to put it lightly. I was with Salma, Şeyma, Gianna, Sena, Ruth, Şebnem, Rose, and Maddy (aka all my favorite people :3) in the same cable-car. As we made the journey back down, this time watching the wide expanse of Bursa light up the darkening twilight like fireflies in a summer night sky, Şeyma at one point started spontaneously playing the 2013 "Pop Danthology" (which, if you don't know it, is basically this guy who makes big mashups of popular songs of a given year) from her phone. We all gradually began to sing along and add little dances here and there as well. Once we started we didn't stop - we sang all the way through, laughing, smiling, and just feeling happy. A quote that comes to mind is "and I swear, in that moment, we were infinite..." from the book "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." It wasn't just like that quote, as far as I was concerned - it was that quote. I wrote in my journal that: "I remember writing around a year ago about how I wanted to feel infinite like that. I got my wish. It was a moment so unexpected, so spontaneous, but fun and free in the purest way, it was blissful, and one of the most fun moments of my life. I'll never forget how I felt in those moments; none of us wanted that teleferik ride to end. It's a memory from this experience which I'll cherish as long as I live." 

^Pop Danthology 2013, which we listened to on the way back down. 

On the way up 

The little stream

From the hike 

The rocks we climbed 

Up on the rocks with Seyma (far left) and Gianna (middle)

With (left to right) Gianna, Ruth, and Ayca. 

From the way down 

The next day was less amazing, but nice. After our last Peer Language Partners meeting, our friend Ayça, who had been coming to the meetings, gave me a small but beautiful gift in the form of a gorgeous little çini fridge magnet with a colorful and artsy design of a whirling dervish on it. It was a gift I much appreciated and still treasure, and by the look of it, she gave similarly amazing little gifts to the others as well (I must say, the girl has good taste :P). After that, I took refuge from a torrential downpour which followed by hanging out for a while with my host brother Erinç, my friend Miles from New York, and his host brother Batuhan in the Kent Meydanı mall.

Friday the 8th was our last day of language classes, and to celebrate, we had a little in-classroom potluck of sorts. Each of us brought food - I brought some leftover cold (and vegetarian!) dolma, as well as some fresh biscuits called kurabiye that my host mom had made the night before, just for us. :) We all LOVED it. Our last day was fun and interesting - we talked, had fun, played music, showed each other pictures of family members and friends from back home, and chatted in Turkish with our teacher, Yeliz Hoca. A few of us had also made thank you cards and stuff for her, which we gave to her at the same time, towards the end of the day. I'm glad that she was our teacher - although we may not see her for a long time or again, she was really sweet, funny, and relatable, and just a good teacher in general; I'm happy to have had her as our öğretmen. That day was a fun and pleasant end to the most integral and central part of the program - our classes.
After the lessons were over, we spent some time practicing and finalizing our culminating projects, and then after that, we presented in front of all the participants of our program, and the presentations were filmed to be sent to the Department of State back in DC.
After finishing up with that, we headed home for a few hours to get ready for our farewell party. It was held (interestingly enough) at a horse farm, which may seem a bit random, but was actually very nice. We had a few hours to ride horses, talk, and just hang out freely before dinner. After dinner, we got two things which I had seriously been hoping to receive prior to our departure - the çini we made in Iznik, and the CDs which the musical center at Merinos had made for us with the recordings of our songs on them. After that, we also had a dance party - it started with music being played after we performed our traditional dance, and a few people started to dance, gradually convincing more and more to come up and join them. We had another moment of feeling infinite as we learned to dance another popular and traditional Turkish dance, the halay, which was immensely fun, and followed by some songs more familiar to us Americans ("Best Day of My Life," "Pon de Replay," "Single Ladies," various Shakira songs, etc). It was a little awkward dancing with an audience of tired Turkish host families, but we had great fun all the same. An enjoyable end to the party, marking the end of our program. :)

Me with our teacher, Yeliz Hoca, on the last day of classes. 

Then the 9th was our last day in Bursa. I spent most of it with my host mom in Kozahan (the Silk Bazaar), and we walked around together, meeting a friend of hers who owns a shop there, bought a few last-minute gifts, ran into both Gianna and Nate, had some lunch together, and just chatted and enjoyed each other's company. :) Once we got home in the middle of the afternoon, I spent some more time packing, and once I was done after dinner, journaled about how I was feeling in those final hours, as the experience was truly beginning to come to an end.
I wrote, "I've packed everything solid away into a bag of some kind or another. But what can't be packed away are the memories I've made, the feelings I've felt, the Turkish I've learned, and the friendships I've gained during this incredible and irreplaceable experience." 

Seyahat Amerika'ya (the trip back to America):
The next morning, I ate one last breakfast together with my host family, and the four of us took a taxi together down to the TÖMER Center, where we would be boarding the bus to Mudanya, the nearby seaside town from which we would take our ferry back to Istanbul. We were able to wait a few minutes, all hanging out together as a group one last time, as we waited for everyone to arrive. Once everyone had arrived, as well as the bus, things got sentimental pretty fast. The whole thing turned into a super emotional cry-fest. I definitely joined in myself, tearing up significantly. I was very happy that I got to say goodbye to Sena, Şeyma, and Şebnem, my three favorite host siblings from all those in our group (aside from my own host brother). As we all tearily waved goodbye from the bus, we finally got moving, and the true end of our experience was officially underway.
After a pretty uneventful and actually fairly fun bus ride full of funny conversations to Mudanya, we arrived a few hours early for our ferry, and got that time free to roam around the inviting little seaside town before continuing on our way. I spent most of my time fascinatedly exploring with Gianna, Salma, and Ruth, checking out some questionable play structures and old wooden houses, stepping out on a pebbly beach and attempting to skip stones while gazing at the clear turquoise water, and having our very last dondurma (ice cream) and eating it on benches in a little park, before heading back to the cafe where we were keeping our stuff.
After getting a sunburn on the back of my neck from standing in line under the sun too long, and having to undergo a rather chaotic line and insufferably sullen employees, I was lucky enough to sit next to Gianna on the ferry ride to Istanbul, which passed pretty uneventfully. We talked, looked at all the places in Turkey we want to come back and visit in my Lonely Planet guidebook, and had a cool conversation with the young Turkish man sitting next to us. And after a tauntingly beautiful view of both the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque on our way into the harbor, we headed straight to the Ibis Hotel by bus. Sadly, the program had us stay at the hotel all day, as that was the day of the presidential election and they feared the possibility of riots (though there really was no trouble to speak of). In any case, we made the best of it. After eating a fairly early dinner, I tried two different times to get some sleep, went down to the lobby to play cards with the others, and managed to journal about how I was feeling so close to the departure. I was in a room alone, which allowed me a chance to really relax, be at ease, and reflect inwardly, although I missed my friends. I wrote, "Honestly, my emotions have been all over the place the past few days. One moment I feel ready. The next I panic and feel like I can't do this, even though I know I have no choice in the matter. Others I feel a resigned acceptance. Generally, leaving Turkey has been something I've been seriously dreading, to be honest. I'm not ready to leave behind an amazing and fascinating place, an experience I've worked so hard to achieve and have enjoyed so thoroughly, very strong friendships and connections that I've made, and a language I've only just become comfortable using. I'm just not ready to leave all these things behind and go home to a mere week to gather my wits before starting school. I'm not ready." and, "I have no clue where my next adventures will take me. But I know with unmistakable certainty that I have fallen in love with Turkey. As many things as there are that I'm excited to be going back to in America - cooler weather, world cuisines, my city, my family, my cat (don't judge me), etc - I will miss this place dearly, and I will do everything in my power to come back here as soon as I can, for this country now occupies a very special place in my heart."
Around 3 am, after another failed attempt to fall asleep, I gathered up all my things, took one last look at my empty hotel room, and headed down to the lobby to await the others, and eventually, the bus that would take us to the airport. I was the first down, and spent a few minutes just trying to stay awake until the others began to gradually trickle downstairs. Once we were all present and accounted for, we ate breakfast, which the hotel had generously prepared that early just for our sake. As we purposefully and slowly savored every morsel of our last Türkçe kahvaltı (Turkish breakfast), we made our final rounds and reluctantly ambled outside to catch the bus to the havalimanı (airport).

Me and my host brother at TOMER before we left.

Me and my host parents. :) 

Exploring the center of Mudanya.

The water.

At dinner.

An elevator shot with my favorite crazies. <3

I spent the bus ride to the airport chatting with Rose and Cat, and offering everyone kurabiye (my host mom made a whole box for us to eat during the journey and gave it to me the morning we left Bursa!). We eventually discovered that even our program-dictated arrival at the airport three hours prior was not enough. After a few brief scares making it through security, once we were on the other side, a few of us, including myself, sprinted towards our departing gate to get them to wait for the rest of our group, as we were dangerously close to boarding and nowhere near the gate. Seeing how I nearly missed my connecting flight in Istanbul en route to Cairo, I now have come to the conclusion that every time I'm flying somewhere from the Istanbul Airport, I end up sprinting.
In any case, the few of us who did sprint to stall for the rest of the group seemed to do the trick; they waited for the rest of us to get there, and we boarded the bus to the plane. At this point, the all nighter that we had essentially pulled that night began to really get to us, and many nodded off while the sun discreetly rose, casting crimson hues across the sky, as we waited for the bus to take us to the plane.
The rest is a bit of a blur, honestly. The next thing I can concretely remember was falling asleep as the plane took off, and I didn't wake up for a while thereafter. I woke up to breakfast being served, and chatted for a while with Cat and Gianna, who I was seated next to. I remember little else of that flight, to be honest.
After about four hours, we arrived in Paris. Our connection was not quite as long as it had been on the over to Turkey, but still comfortably long. We planted ourselves at our connecting gate, and did some wandering around the airport, just as we had on our outbound journey back in June. We even managed to hold our return orientation, sitting on the ground next to our gate.
After that, we boarded our flight to DC. At that point, most of us were getting severely tired. I was with Gianna and Cat again, and I spent most of my time napping, talking to them, watching movies, or writing notes to people. Towards the end, with our jetlag spiraling increasingly out of control, resulting in us getting more and more out of our headspace, some very sweet and hilarious exchanges took place. xD
As another result, the time ran together and that flight was a bit of a blur as well. We landed (quite roughly, as I remember) in DC more or less right on time - a moment we had all been dreading, as after landing following an already pretty grueling transatlantic trip, in that airport we would begin to go our separate ways after nearly seven weeks together as a group.
It was a bit weird, being back in that space where we'd last been to fly to Turkey, so full of excitement, hope, and a little bit of fear, all those weeks before, under such different circumstances. Nonetheless, many of us had very long connections to sit through (mine was 5 hours, but still one of the shortest!), and so we had prepared for a chance to spend more time together, do more things together (I had prepared a whole file of pictures on my computer to show people!), and say the long, sentimental goodbyes which we had been dreading for weeks.
However, it seems reality had other plans in store for us. Although we arrived on time, after having to clear customs, retrieve our bags, and recheck them, the several of us who were all leaving just after 5 pm were left with little more than 90 minutes to reach our gates and board our flights, and on top of that, we were going to have to split up, as some of us were flying with different airlines and therefore headed to different terminals. We stood in the face of our final passage to separation, the security line, very sad and slightly panic-stricken, thinking of what to do. Finally, we went through, and said our goodbyes by the interterminal train.
In spite of the tight, long hugs that were shared, and the thoughtful, heartfelt words that were spoken, those goodbyes still felt painfully sudden and rushed compared to what we'd all been hoping and planning for. I couldn't help but feel not only heartbroken that I was saying goodbye to people that had become some of my closest friends, but also that those had to be our goodbyes as they were.
Luckily, Gianna was headed in the same direction as me, and we took the train over to the United terminal together. After a brief mixup finding the gate which I was leaving from, we stood together for a little while, talking, exchanging promises to visit each other and keep in touch, all the while trying our best (and failing a little) to hold back tears.
After a biiiiig hug and many moments of looking back and waving to my dear friend as I walked down the jetway, I found myself on my connecting plane, completely alone (at least in terms of friends from the group) and with the adventure I'd been living for seven weeks finally at a tangible and undeniable end. To which my response was to take out my Turkish notebook that I'd been having friends sign (and saving the notes for the plane to Detroit once we'd all said goodbye to each other), and read the notes while listening to the two saddest, most depressing Rascal Flatts songs on my iPod set on repeat, crying my eyes out all the while.
I remember little of the flight itself. I tried to sleep a bit, cried some more, and read the notes and my journal entries from the trip over and over again, and that took up most of the brief flight. I landed in Detroit in the midst of some pretty intense downpours of rain, and after a brief and heartwarming call from Cat making sure that I had landed safely, I made my way out, reclaimed my bags, got in touch with my dad, who was picking me up, and we headed for home.
I opened the door to my house, with the odd feeling like I was floating on a cloud. I've felt it before for sure, coming back home, to all that is familiar and everyday, after an adventure in the complete unknown. I didn't feel particularly positive or negative about it - I was still missing Turkey and all my friends big time - but my God, I must say, after such a grueling trip home, it was heavenly to hunker down in my room (which I love to bits) and find a super sweet setup of Christmas lights draped over my bunkbed, see my cat's surprised reaction to seeing me again (and snuggle with her :D), and sit down to a meal of delicious Thai takeout with my parents and sister.
I went to bed that night feeling more exhausted than I have in a long time, too tired to process my own feelings.

Ve Türkiye'den döndükten sonra (and after coming back from Turkey): 
Then, I've been back for exactly three weeks now. At times it seems like mere days, at most it seems like it's been much longer. I didn't do much in the week after I got back before starting school (yuck). I did some wandering in downtown Ann Arbor, which was very nice. Went to the pool. Ran into a few friends along the way. Not much other than that. I started school on August 18th, exactly one week after my return from Turkey, which was less than ideal, to put it politely.
Overall, I've had a pretty okay transition. The first two days back were pretty hard - I still found myself crying every now and then, thinking of Turkey, my host family, my NSLI-Yer friends, and such. Although I've readjusted just fine and without any major problems, I still miss those things and those people a lot. Part of this is definitely due to school - with only a week to gather my wits before starting right back up again, and then jumping right back into the thick of things, I was really not able to have a post-return transition. It hasn't been all bad, though - as stressful as my school can be (and is), and as many deadlines as there may be hovering all around, it's been very nice to see everyone I'd missed again - close friends (many of whom I hadn't seen all summer!), teachers, acquaintances, and so on.
As crazy as this year has already been so far, I can daresay I've been happy. And I have a feeling things will work out.

I've gotten to do some pretty neat things since I returned to boot: I ran a color run with several good friends of mine, I've been to some pretty fun gatherings/parties at friends' houses, I've been going out a lot, I've swum quite a bit at my neighborhood pool, I hung out with Krista (who went to Turkey with the AFS-NSLI-Y group in Ankara) twice, I've been to a NSLI-Y alumni event already, I've been reading good books, and I even just went to the Detroit Jazz Festival today. :)
So I'm definitely still readjusting, and I miss Turkey and all the people I was there with immensely. But being back has been nice nonetheless.

Thank you guys as usual for putting up with my endless rambling, I hope I at least procrastinated on my homework for a reason tonight ;)
Herkese hoşçakal! (Bye everybody!)
-Nico

PS: I'm going to give this blog's format another little touch-up, of sorts, pretty soon. While I definitely like the name very much, I think this blog's temporary Turkish stint as "Good Dil" has sadly come to an end.

For now.