Leave the Path

My last year of college is pulling to a close.  Tomorrow’s the last day of class and my exams should be a peice of cake.  Four whole years are over before I ever really felt like it had started properly.  I’m feeling lots of things today:  happy, slightly bored, nervous about challanges that lie ahead, excited to face those same challanges, and, above all, ready to reach out and see more of the world. 

Emre and I are going to Turkey in about two weeks!  (I will, in fact, be skipping my graduation, but I’ve heard that it’s extremely impersonal and dull, so I’m hardly upset.  Anyway, I should have another one in a few years *knock on wood.*) Emre and I bought our tickets for the 10th of May, and we started planning the route.  Fiona and Emre Gunes will be joining us for part of the trip.  I can’t wait to see them.  I’m also looking forward to just being in another country.  My understanding of Turkish language and culture is much better than it was when I visited Ankara for a week, about a year and a half ago.  My understanding of Emre’s personal history is better, too.  I look forward to seeing his family and immersing myself in a new language.  I particularly want to be able to understand some of the family banter, which is clearly clever and interesting, but so far has been unfortunately alien to me.  I am also pleasantly anticipating exploring the coast:  warm beaches and stone ruins of history that seem to litter so much of Europe, ancient hamams where the steam is thick and time is slow, as well as the delicious foods and intimate friendships that seem to be inherit in Turkish culture. 

With that said, I am, however, a little nervous.  Turkey has had a few terrorist attacks targeting tourists and public transportation, in recent years.  I’m also terrified of the roads.  Turkish drivers and I seem to have different definitions for “good driving” and we’ll be in the car much of the time.  I’ll also be with Emre’s family much of the trip.  While they certainly pose no physical danger, I like them very much and I’m always a little nervous that I might inadvertantly do something really stupid and offend them.  Logically, I don’t think I’ve got too much to worry about; they seem fairly open-minded and forgiving.  I’m still a touch concerned.  I think I have an anxious nature.

Despite the potential (though thankfully unlikely) danger and drama, I can’t wait to go.  I am thrilled to think I’ll be getting back on a plane, hearing another language, meeting new people.  I love travelling!  I love the sense of adventure, the wonder of the unknown.  And I love to go to places and feel an echo of people who have lived there before.  I started this website (thanks to Emre’s www.sa-za.com) to provide updates on our travels for everyone who will be with us in spirit.  I sincerely hope that I can fill these pages with interesting anecdotes and images of an adventure that is exciting and refreshingly exotic, yet also comforting in its familiarity (Emre will be going home, after all.)  But for now, I wait for that adventure to begin.

I want to start now.  I’ve started packing.  Given the chance, I think I’d leave tomorrow.