My summer in Turkey has ended and it’s time for me to pack up and head back home to Miami for a while before I hit the road for my second adventure.

In Turkey, I learned…

1. Turkey is a country like any other developed nation with the same “first-world problems”. I can’t say I saw very many homeless people either. Some people were surprised to learn there was a metro system in Istanbul. Come on people, of course there’s a metro! I found that Turkish people love their malls which are some of the best I’ve seen in the world.

2.  So many patty-cake hand games and cutesy songs for kids. For some reason I never learned these when I was a kid so it filled in some gaps for me.

3. That children can be entertained for hours simply by playing tag. And, that although I love children, my energy is more productive when directed in other capacities without them.

5. A bit of Turkish

So there are a few things on my very short list, which could be added to indefinitely due to the amount of insight I gained from this trip. Will I be back? I would surely consider it.