Merhaba!

Merhaba means hello on Turkish. I've been very busy in the last day and a half since I arrived in Izmir. Today Seval (my hostess) arranged for me to be a guest speaker at a local university - Celal Bayar. I talked for an hour or so in a freshman English literature class about my education, my work, and my art. The professors asked me to talk about books I've read since it's a literature class, so I summarized the plot of Cyrano de Bergerac, much to the amusement of the students.

The classroom. I am in the middle with Sibel, an English literature professor

The view from the campus - olive groves and other farms.

I definitely didn't expect to be a guest speaker at a university on my first full day in Turkey! I've done a lot more, but it's very late and I need to rest up for tomorrow!

Packed!

I'm done packing! Here are my possessions for the next 73 days:

• Clothing: 6 shirts, 3 skirts, 1 pair of capri pants
• Electronics: iPod charger, converters, camera battery charger
• Phrase books: Turkish and French/German/Italian combo
• Other books: tiny Bible, tiny Tale of Two Cities, travel guides
• Cool stuff: GorillaPod, microfiber towel
• and other stuff

The GorillaPod and towel are my favorite gadgets for this trip. The GorillaPod will let me take photos in all sorts of crazy places by grabbing onto surfaces. The towel is like a ShamWow - it folds up tiny, but holds up to 4X its weight in water. How cool is that?

Flying Tree

One of my friends made this observation:

The only question left about your blog is whether you consider yourself a plant or a baby bird.

I'd say I'm a flying tree, pictured here:

Not quite practical, I guess, but rather fun :-)

On another note, I received an email today from my French exchange student, Emilie! Ten years ago I visited her family in the small town of Saint-Maur, north of Paris. My fifteen-year-old self wasn't so excited about visiting France (since I didn't speak any French and I was extremely shy), but I ended up having a great time with Emilie's sweet family in their beautiful farmhouse. I'm hoping to meet up with Emilie while I'm on her side of the world this summer.

Me in France in 2000

What's worse than wearing a fanny pack?

Wearing one under your clothes...

Leaving in Two Weeks!

I can't believe I'll be flying to Turkey in only two weeks! Things have come together really well as I've planned for this trip. I'm feeling ready to go now!


I've called this blog Roots and Wings because this trip is my opportunity to go back to my roots as well as spread out into new experiences. I've always wanted to visit the countries my great-grandparents are from. My mom's grandparents immigrated from Friesland, a province of the Netherlands. My Dad's grandparents are from the town of Carrickmacross, Ireland. I'm hoping to visit my great-grandfather's farm while I'm in Ireland.

My friend Nicole suggested I could create a list of goals while I travel. Here are a few to get me started:

• See my family's origins
• Expand my ability to speak Spanish.
• Get a haircut in a foreign country
• Visit the shop where my guitar was made (in Rome) and where it was sold (in Paris)
• Learn some Spanish flamenco guitar
• See a Friesian horse in Friesland

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting on here while I'm gone, but I thought it'd be nice to have a place to collect my thoughts when I have the chance. I hope you enjoy traveling with me!