Good Bye and Hello

July 2, 2007
The days since my last blog post have been real big ones for me, both inside and outside of work. The U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson came to my office to give a big speech in a sea of reporters and businessmen. I was lucky enough to be in attendance as I did some work organizing the event and was happy to very briefly meet him and see the event go well.

Outside of work, I had to say goodbye to my first roommate who was also interning. Omar, from Morocco, and I became real good friends in the three weeks we knew each other. I actually found myself pretty sad the night he left. Fortunately, I'll be staying with him in Istanbul for a couple nights when I leave Turkey to travel Europe in August. He said I was the only American he'd ever met and it made me realize what an amazing opportunity I am in the middle of right now. To most everyone I meet here and especially those I live with, I'm the only (or one of the few) Americans they will ever know. Same goes for all my roommates who have never known an American, nor have I known someone from their countries. This is real influential because they are all from different countries and different areas around the world.

Recognizing this made me realize that I am in one of the rare moments in my life where I feel like I am doing something great that few people have or will ever be able to accomplish. Even though I'll show tons of pictures and tell tons of stories, no one I know at home will ever be able to truly understand the amazing things I'm experiencing and learning without doing it for themselves. Everyday when I go home from work I cook/eat dinner with someone from Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Europe, and the Middle East...when's the last time you've heard someone say they do that every single day, or ever in their life at all?

Despite all of this excitement, I finally missed home for the first time today when looking at 4th of July stuff online. Although my roommates are going to try and throw something for me in Izmir, I know it won’t quite be the same. Especially because the 4th of July is among my favorite holidays back home, but I cant complain when experiencing so many amazing things that I am here.