The Roller Coaster

I came back from Turkey on Thursday, had the internet connection back yesterday, but didn't have the time or the energy to post.

Our trip to Turkey has been so enjoyable, so tiring and sometimes even nerve racking. Some moments were so great I didn't want them to end, other times I just wanted to give up and come back home.

The Turkey tourism company that was in charge of our trip assigned another Syrian company to do the job, the latter turned out to be quite a newbie and we like to call it Tulip Company for torturing tourists.

Turkey was great, a piece of heaven, so dreamy and unreal.. but the bus that transferred our group had a habit of breaking down every now and then that we spent about an hour of waiting for every quarter an hour of fun. Out of the 15 days in Turkey at least 5 were spent on the road all in all. The schedule was very busy and we spent so much time on the road that we barely had time to walk in the cities we visited.. I really needed more time in Ankara for example, I loved its streets looking very GREAT and foreign. Oh I really really wanted to walk on them and feel them, but I had to settle for watching them from the window.

I met so many nice people, made friends with some really great girls from our group..

We were 185 persons with the medical association, four buses, anywhere we went it became crowded, rows of people waiting for food, rows of people waiting in front of the WC, rows of people waiting for their turn in whatever.. waiting all the time.

We had so many problems with and because of the tourism company it's unbelievable, I don't think any other group had to call the police for their tourism company like we did; they were about to run away and leave us alone on day 10! Twice we checked into the hotels past 6 AM while we should arrive at noon the day before! Once it was because our bus broke and they didn't call another bus to transfer us until they lost all hope in getting the first one fixed (trying to cut the expenses of transfer), even then they brought a small bus and most of the men in our group had to spend 6 hours in another of the four buses with no seats, either standing or sitting on the floor. I had to sit in a very crowded place that I soon became nauseous and was quite happy to spend the rest of the road sitting on the floor with the luggage that didn't fit in the luggage area of the small truck. I spent the night talking with another unfortunate girl and though it wasn't very bad my back wasn't happy with the situation at all.
The other time our bus broke, we've just had called the police on the company for trying to run away, the governor of the city saw the crowds of Iraqis frustrated and he called two small buses for us.. By the time we arrived the company has canceled the reservation and we had to wait in the street with the luggage for over six hours.. That was an unforgettable night.

It was like an Indian movie, so many unfortunate surprises it was unbelievable. However, as I said, there were some great moments, and amazing sights to see.. Crossing the amazing Bosphorous bridge to the European side felt incredible. Seeing the night and the city lights for the first time was also great.. Watching Ankara from Ankara tower, walking in the beautiful gardens of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, the sea trip along the shores of Istanbul, the green amazing road from Ankara to Istanbul, going up Uludag mountain at night with our crappy bus (I lost breath from laughing at the jokes then, dad ended up sitting beside me and didn't let me take a look at the road!), those were all moments to remember.. It all passed so quickly, like a roller coaster ride with so many ups and downs. Reaching Iraq we could see the drastic difference in everything. Mosul has become so unbearable, the streets are destroyed and there's a heart-breaking sight in every direction you look, but that's just our life. Now we're left with the friends we've made, the photos and videos we've taken, and the many memories and pictures in my head.

There's so much more to say but I've grown tired from talking about the trip. I may write more about the program and the places we visited soon.

Here are some photos I have taken.