Firsts SOLC2013#16

Life is full of firsts.  When we're little, our parents record our first words, steps, and days of school.  As we grow up, our firsts don't occur as frequently, and sometimes they can be a little scary.  First time driving a car, first time failing a test, and first time interviewing for a job.  Now that I'm in Turkey, I've come across a lot of firsts.  This is my first time in Asia, my first time leaving my family for an extended period of time, and I've had like a gazillion other firsts here it feels like.  Today I got to watch a few of my friends have a first.

Today, as we were driving (all of the exchange students together in a mini bus) we came across some rain.  Rain is rain.  Later, as we were driving higher up the mountain, the rain turned into sleet.  We continue driving, talking to the Brazilian kids about how they'll be able to come to Bursa and see snow on Uludag, where there is two meters of snow.  Then, all of a sudden, the sleet turned to snow.  Everyone was so excited, only Riad and I have seen snow this year, and all of the North Americans were excited to be seeing snow again, then the Brazilians were excited to be seeing snow for the first time.  I realized how strange it is that these kids are 17 and 18 years old, and they're just now seeing snow for the first time.  I've been seeing snow my whole life, and at this point, it's just cold and wet, but luckily it sometimes gets us out of school. This experience just opened my eyes once again to the world around me, and showed me that even though my fellow exchangers and I are great friends, we come from different parts of the world, with completely different cultures, but when we're together we can forget our differences, and just learn more about the world together.