The Netherlands program has finished but I am not ready to go back the United States. There is still much more to explore and I am now on route to Turkey- The destination of my second program. In Turkey, I will study Concentrated Solar Powered Systems. This summer is continually getting more and more energetic!
However, the trip would not be complete without a few problems and road bumps. Flying from Amsterdam to Istanbul my flight was delayed for about two hours. The odds of me making my connection to Ankara were slim and I would have to sprint from one Terminal to the next in less than ten minutes. It shouldn’t be a problem. To my surprise or Turkish Airlines does not try to make up for lost travel time sometimes even prolongs the flight time. We arrived at the gate three minutes before my next flight would take off. There, I realized how big of a problem and headache this would be. I didn’t speak the Language, my phone wasn’t working, and Turkish airport officials are the worst. They are not organized.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only one who had missed his flight. A group of 15 from the UK were traveling to Anatolia and had also missed their flight. No one knew what to do and nothing got resolved for about another 2 hours. In the group we at least had someone who spoke fluent Turkish and absolutely solved all of our problems. She managed to arrange a hotel and a flight for the next day. All was resolved. I had only a slight setback.
I fly to Ankara and get picked up by Professor Baker. I arrive at the dorm and receive some amazing Turkish hospitality. I think I might like it here.