Hey you guys, it’s Laurel!

Traveling for the last seven months has been amazing. It is hard to believe all of the people I have met and situations I have been put in and gone through. The real crazy thing now is settling in a new country for a few months—Turkey. It’s great to be immersed in a different culture and try to discover who I am in this different culture.

I think it’s important to have these experiences because it really shows you who you are. Being put in a different environment, you can see all the things that have changed from who you were and some habits and patterns that are the same. This is horrifying and nice at the same time, because you come face to face with things you love about yourself and you have now dropped habits that were caused by your environment. But then, there are those habits that you dont like, that are still there, and unfortunately they’ll be harder to change.

Since traveling, we’ve been go-go-going and I haven’t stopped to look at who I am, which is what I plan on working on while I am here. I want to meditate, be introspective, eat healthy, learn more Turkish, be more involved in community and events and stop getting sick!

One hard part about being here has been the nightlife, because going out with friends can mean being up really late. But then there are responsibilities in the morning. Sometimes I feel like I am on vacation but at the same time, I have things to do and I’m settling down a bit…it’s weird. Either way, it’s great. I’m having an amazing time and I am happy I am able to do what I have done, to see what I have seen and to continue on this crazy journey we call life. I feel really lucky and everyday when I walk down the streets of Istanbul, I am reminded of that!