I did say I'd update in the new year..

I didn't anticipate it would take me this long to get to my blog! What a shame.

Luckily for all of my reader friends, none of you have missed anything of note, excepting a 3-day snow storm and really cold weather. I'll give you all a brief run down of my time since December 18 anyway.

Christmas, aka Dec. 25: Kaan and I didn't do anything. I tried to encourage a gift exchange, but I don't think he quite understood the essence of gift giving. I got him some CDs and a new belt (which he sorely needed!). I then bought myself a beautiful scarf, hoping he wouldn't buy the same thing. He certainly didn't; instead, he bought a set of cute (but sort of silly) mugs with children and hearts on them. I won't lie, it was a little upsetting. No matter how secular you are, missing a holiday which is usually spent with your family is really a sad thing. I love Kaan, absolutely. However, it made me realize how much I enjoy holidays with my family, silly presents and all. It also made me realize how much removed from my culture I am; again, no matter how adjusted you feel, there are times even in the middle of your trip that you feel a bit of culture shock.

My friend Jessi would often stress the importance of sharing even the negative experiences on these blogs, in hopes that future study abroad-ers won't feel so alien when they have a bad day. This is my contribution to that wisdom. Holidays are the hardest time to be away from your home. I experienced a similar anxiety in 2006 on my high school trip. During that time though, my host family had asked me to leave their house. Due to this, I didn't attribute much of my melancholy to being away from my real family. Looking back, however, I think that home sickness did kick in right around the holidays, making the family turmoil that much harder.

So anyway, don't be surprised if the holidays start making you blue. It can be tough to be so far away from everything you know and love during the holidays. My advice is have a good cry (or whatever works for you), find solace in your friends, seek members of the ex-pat community to bond with, and remember that the trip won't last so much longer that you can't make it. I have days when I wake up, look at the calendar, and groan. Six months is a tremendously long time some days. But time--and your home sickness/melancholy--will pass.

During the end of 2009 and early 2010, many of my new friends returned to their homes. This made my holidays a little dull. Kaan spent much of his free time searching for a job, and I think I spent a lot of time watching TV. I only had one final exam, which went fairly well. So, really, I didn't have anything exciting going on in my life.

New Year's Eve was pretty boring too. Kaan and I bought a bunch of junk food and watched TV for the evening. I was hoping for something akin to the American NYE celebrations: the news channels send representatives to NYC to talk to people, watch concerts, and eventually do the countdown/ball drop. Often, we also get to see clips of other countries celebrating. Like I said, I was hoping for something like that. From what I can tell, the TV channels here put on a "NYE special", which is often a lot of singing and very little fireworking. I wasn't captivated or impressed. We did finally find something to watch (a sort of Turkish "Deal or No Deal") and passed the evening quite well. We saw some fireworks at midnight and went to bed shortly after. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to blissfully sleep into the new year. I woke up at 630am on January 1 with vomit and other unpleasant bodily functions. I spent most of the next three days being a sick lump at home. It was definitely not a fun way to bring in the new year.

Let's see. The other thing to talk about is school, I suppose. I did get my grades back from the four classes I took. I received 3 A's and one A-. I was pretty pleased with myself. Granted, I took classes taught in English--and only four of them. I'm going to try to take a heavier courseload this time around. I'm thinking of continuing with Russian and Turkish, taking a Turkey and the EU course, an intro to int'l human rights law course, and maybe a class in sociology. I haven't narrowed down my two elective slots yet, but I'm considering 6 or 7 classes to take. I don't have to register until 3 Feb, so I still have some time to decide. Classes will start again on 8 Feb.

My birthday is 1 Feb! I'll be turning 21, not something particularly exciting here in Turkey. I don't believe I have any plans, though I have been told one of Kaan's friends (who works in a cake store) wants to throw me a surprise party. Some surprise! I'll certainly eat cake whenever possible, and a birthday is a good excuse for cake.

Starbucks has become my new "spot" for internet. I hope to be more active online now that I don't have to rely on sketchy internet cafes. I have some projects brewing in my mind, one of which finally fulfills my video promises. Hopefully I can get the ball moving on those.

I hope the new year finds everyone in good health, both of body and mind. Again, I'll try to be more consistent with my updates from now on!