Merhaba!

Hi guys!   

   If you just found yourself here and don't really know what's going on, my name is Marina and this is where I'll be chronicling my adventures this summer! I have a 3-phase trip planned out that I occasionally feel bad about describing just because it happens to be next level incredible! But hey if you're still reading this, I'm guessing you're interested, so here it goes.

Phase one, Turkish Internship: Starting tomorrow (what?) hop on a plane from DTW to AMS (Amsterdam), then from AMS to IST (Atatürk International Airport, Istanbul). Then I think I have to take three separate types of public transportation in order to reach the university where I'll be interning, Koç. From there, 6 incredible weeks interning with a business professor and traveling around Turkey on the weekends!


Phase two, Eurotrip: This part is kind of really up in the air (read, not planned). But that's exactly how we want it! I'll be traveling around Europe with one of my oldest friends, hopping trains to wherever the wind takes us for two weeks! I don't really know what to expect, but it's the two of us so it's bound to be a blast. We're both very travel-savvy and have a decent amount of common sense between us, so there's no need to put on your worrying hats. 

Who'd have thought we'd be traveling Europe together. Also when did we stop being adorable?

Phase three, London Olympics: Heading over to jolly old England, I'll meet up with my family (immediate and extended) to experience the summer games! I can't really put into words how lucky/privileged I feel to be able to go; on the entire trip yes, but especially the Olympics. The tickets were bloody hard to get and bloody expensive. 

What a summer it will be! Right now it doesn't quite seem real, but that also might be the fact that there has been an embarrassing lack of packing today....

A few things I'm looking forward to:
 - Stepping out of my American skin for a bit. I mean, I'm writing this to 50 Cent's 'Disco Inferno'. Typing that out felt reallllly white. Going abroad alone always feels like I'm a slightly different me.
 - Getting an Akbil! I know they're being phased out, but I would really love to use one of these, and I'm totally the type of hoarder that will keep it forever. 
 - Discovering more new countries, thinking about all sorts of new cultures while I'm swallowed up by them, and having the opportunity to look back at the memories I'll make and learn from them. 

The culture thing reminds me, I am definitely going to go on a rant about the cultural value and identity of the Turkish evil eye at one point. How it's managed to become so throughly Turkish without any country even attempting to rip it off baffles me. Shoutout to Professor Wherry for getting my brain to think like this. 

Just checked in for my flight online, holy crap. I guess my bags aren't going to pack themselves after all. 

Güle Güle, 
Marina