Monday, April 15, 2013

Bodrum

I went to Bodrum with all of the 2440 exchange students a few weeks ago, and I'm just now finally getting around to write about it!  
Bodrum... Greece is in the background!
Okay, so on Friday I took my normal bus ride to Izmir with Riad.  We counted that we've been along that long road stretching between Izmir and Bursa at least twenty times.  We were both staying at a friend's house, so we waited at the bus station for her host mom to come pick us up, then we were off to her house, where we hung out and watched How I Met Your Mother for a couple of hours, then had a nice, big Turkish dinner. We then hung out with her host family, then watched more HIMYM into the early hours of the morning, then we finally went to sleep for a few hours before we had to get up early to catch the bus to Bodrum. 

All of the exchange students took the bus together.  We were on a public bus, and we are eleven foreign teenagers, all speaking in English and laughing, so we were told multiple times to quiet down.  We have problems with indoor voices. Anyways, once we made it to Bodrum a few hours later, we went to a Rotary program called Bodrum Hugs the World (I think I'm remembering it correctly), where people from all over the world came and set up stands selling food from their countries, then all of the money they raised went to the Rotary club in Bodrum for Turkish students to go to university.  We got to meet a bunch of new people, from all over the world, and also eat some really delicious food! It was really nice.  I even got to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  I was really good at it. 

After our eating, all of the exchange students gathered again and went to the Underwater Museum in Bodrum.  We spent a few hours there, exploring the museum and a castle.  It was really beautiful, and I met this little Turkish girl who had a very curious fascination about all of us.  We talked with her for awhile, then we continued on with our tour where we saw a peacock! After the museum, we had free time until we had to meet up with our host families.  We walked around Bodrum for awhile, then we ended up just sitting in a cafe along the water.  It was too cold to swim, but a few kids went anyways.  We had a good time just hanging out together, then we were off to meet our host families for the night.

Riad and I were staying together with a couple who lived in Bodrum.  They took us out for dinner, then we just hung out in their house for the rest of the evening.  Right before bed we took a walk down to the rocky shore (not quite a beach) near their house, and they were shocked with I ripped my shoes off, rolled up my pants and decided to go for a walk in the Mediterranean.  (Okay, this is completely off topic, but I'm really happy that exchange had made it possible for me to be able to spell the word "Mediterranean" correctly on the first try.  Thanks Spain and Turkey!!  I'm proud of myself.)   I then went to bed, and had a really nice sleep (which had a lot to do with the AC in the room that I turned on and allowed me to sleep in the cold for the first time in FOREVER!). 

In the morning everyone gathered with their families and we had breakfast together.  On the drive to breakfast there were cows blocking the street. Anyways, after breakfast we walked around Bodrum some more for a few hours and we went to a boat museum.  After lunch together, we all got back on the bus to Izmir, and we sat on a bus for the next three-ish hours.  My bus buddy and I had a good time, except for the fact that he kept trying to steal my free sandwich. We laughed at the awkward videos taken during Pin the Tail on the Donkey and I got to learn some Spanish tongue twisters.  Tres tristes tigres... tigres tigres tigres tigres tigres tigres! (You got me... I only remember the first three words).

Bodrum was so beautiful, and the trip was so nice!  We met some really nice Rotarians and I was so happy to have some relaxing time with all of the exchange students.  THANK YOU, ROTARY!

Me at the Underwater Museum

Proud to be American


Bodrum

I saw a peacock. It was just walking around the Underwater Museum . No big deal. 


2 comments:

  1. Another wonderful experience for you. I guess Dad and I are going to have to step it up at home to keep up the excitement for you. xo

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