T minus 36 hours

All right. So, Turkey. To be completely honest, the only time I have had many thoughts about Turkey is around Thanksgiving (Is that joke too cliché? Yes? …I’ll just stop.) and when I was in Germany when they played Turkey at soccer. At that time, I was obligated to cheer for Germany, because I was in a go-cart track/dive bar with many rowdy Germans who took soccer very, very seriously. Should I say “football?” I have a feeling “soccer” won’t fly in Turkey. Anyway, the point is that Turkey doesn’t turn up in my World News feed all that often, and I haven’t had a reason to really give Turkey that much thought. That is, until about a month ago. I was ready to take a trip to India and learn to dance and do that head-wiggle thing when, unfortunately, the program was cancelled. My advisor told me about a trip to Turkey. Why not? I thought. They’re both in Asia; that’s the same continent or something. Well, my fellow readers, I was not prepared.

Turkey is more than just “that country that shares a name with America’s favorite Thanksgiving fowl.” As I read more about Turkey, I discover there’s, like, this other world out there. Sure, I’ve been to Germany, but considering that I came from a town with more than half the last names were “Pfannenstiel” or “Dreiling,” there wasn’t that much that surprised me. But just from reading about Turkey, I have been surprised already. I already knew Turkey had Troy, where Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, and Eric Bana fought over the lovely Diane Kruger. It was also the place where St. Paul established churches and St. Nicholas of Myra inadvertently inspired the commercialization of Christmas. I also had a mental image of a bazaar with desert dust hanging in the air, and mustached men wearing fezzes shouting “This is no ordinary lamp! It once changed the course of a young man’s life. A young man, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed—” If you’re thinking Aladdin, that’s what I thought. However, after reading the books and articles recommended to me, I realize all my preconceptions are, of course, quite wrong. Even taking the time to look at pictures of Istanbul shows me that it is as modern of a place as any, and not the stereotypical Muslim nation most people think of. However, books and the always accurate Wikipedia will never give me a proper look at Istanbul and Turkey until I get there. Until then, I will nervously wait and avoid packing.

Then it’s Turkey Time.