It’s hard to believe that Turkey — with our “miserable” tour guide Nazim, our crazy bus driver, our forgetful teacher, my amazing new friends, the sites, the smells, the tastes, the sounds, the cats, the dogs, the everything — was not a dream. I miss it, and while the papers were difficult (and I did not work at hard as I could have on them), all of it was part of my overall abroad experience.
While I love the USA and want to travel it, I have had my taste of another part of the world, and all I want to do is go back. I hope next summer to be doing a dig somewhere in the Mediterranean, and perhaps doing that internship with the Nautical Archaeology institute. But in my reflection, I would really like to focus on my tour guide.

Nazim went to almost as many new places as we did. In his 11 or so years as a tour guide he has learned English, traveled over most of Turkey, and had a beautiful daughter with his wife. Since tourism is so huge in Turkey, tour guides have to be licensed and must be the only people to give tours at sites. He took us to old sites as well as out into Fetiye our last night for hookah and karaoke. I just found him on Facebook and hope to keep in contact with him in the future. Who knows — maybe I will be a professor with a group of students that has him as our tour guide in the future.

Location: Woodward, Pennsylvania