I LOVE IZMIR!!!

*Note: When I say “we” I mean myself and the other Americans with the CLS program, or some of us*

After a pretty uneventful trip and very little sleep, we arrived in Izmir Sunday afternoon. As soon as we stepped out of the airport we felt the heat. Since we had been flying, most of us had on jeans and several layers. We piled ourselves and all of our luggage into a little bus in order to get into the city. It was a sweaty trip into the city, but I loved looking out the windows. It is fantastic being back in Turkey and I realized all of the little things I liked/missed about it. One girl that had never been to Turkey before noticed that there were several lamp stores next to each other on the road and many of us realized that this was something that doesn’t happen in the US. Stores that sell similar things are right next to each other, for example all of the lamp stores are all within a few blocks and all of the furniture stores are on the same road. We were all wondering how people choose which store to go to because there is no way that one store is significantly cheaper than another. This was something that I always found interesting.

We arrived at TÖMER, our language school and filed off the bus into the heat. We went to the cafeteria of the language school to meet our host families. I was placed with a single woman who is 55 years old and a typical Turkish mother. She and her husband divorced a few years ago, but he lives in Izmir too so they see each other frequently, and I have seen him every day since I got here. She has two sons, one of which picked me up from the language school. They are both very kind and I am glad to see them often. My host mom keeps the house very clean, speaks very close, serves lots of food, loves Ataturk, is Muslim, but very liberal about clothing. Izmir is a very liberal place and many girls wear t-shirts and shorts out of the house around the city.Tank tops and t-shirts are not a problem in most of Turkey, but shorts are off limits in most of the country because older men look at the women negatively.We have realized that Izmir is just too hot for that to be the case, so luckily I can wear dresses and shorts every day.

Monday morning I went to TÖMER for orientation and language placement. Monday was busy, fun, and very hot. In the morning we had safety/earthquake training,received our cell phones and took the language placement test. The we took the Language Pledge, which honestly felt as though we were signing our lives away.We signed a pledge that said we would only speak Turkish during the program. It has been a little difficult, but my Turkish has improved a lot because I am not allowed to speak English. After lunch we met our Language Buddies (From now on I am going to refer to them as our “buddies”) for a scavenger hunt around the city. We had to go to a post office, a hair salon, the bus station, the train station, a bookstore, a supermarket and a few other places that I can’t remember. Since we finished early, a bunch of us went to a cafe with our buddies to relax and chat. Our language buddies are supposed to hang out with us, show us around the city, and only speak English. It is great to meet people who are our age and are also university students. My buddy’s name is Melek and she is really sweet. I am really looking forward to hanging out with her more. 

For language class I am in the highest level for the group of us in Izmir, which is an intermediate/advanced level, with 4 other girls. We were split into 4classes because there are 4 teachers and we are at all different levels.Monday-Friday from 9-1 every morning we have class. 2 or 3 afternoons a week we have activities planned such as excursions, a dance class, and a cooking class.We have a few weekend trips to Ephesus, a picnic, and other places around the area, and an overnight trip to Antalya. Our buddies will come with us to the picnic and to Antalya and I am really excited to be with them for these activities.

The heat is incredible. It is over 95 degrees every day, and for someone who has spent the last month in Maine where it was normally 70 degrees, it is awful.The heat is just unbearable, especially because most places do not have air conditioning, including my host family’s apartment. Last night my host mom put a big fan in my room and it was the first night I actually slept through the night. I have been waking up because of the heat, so it was good to sleep through the night.

These past few days have been very exciting. We have explored the city, learned the public transportation system in order to get to language classes alone, eaten lots of delicious Turkish food, and spoken a lot of Turkish. I was worried that I would be a little bored the first week with not many planned activities, but my days have been packed and exciting. Now that I have a Turkish cell phone I can speak with my Turkish friends from Samsun, Istanbul, and Ankara, and I realize how much I miss them. I am excited for free weekends and upcoming trips. It is fantastic being back in Turkey speaking Turkish and I am happy that I have a significant amount of time left :)