Oh, Turks' capital. Beautiful place to visit, but not so nice to live in. As I had said, going to a country you have no idea about it is not a good idea. If you are relocating for laboral reasons, it's fine, but if it's not, if it's just because, you should think it twice. Ankara, the Turkish capital would be my destination. I was surprised of the huge amount of people who think that Istanbul is the capital of Turkey, but it is not. Ankara it the actual Turkish capital, a gray and artificial city in the middle of a steep. One if the main reasons I wanted to leave my home town back in the Americas was because of the tininness of it compared to major cities. When I first arrived to Istanbul, I was amazed by the hugeness of the city, the Bosphorous. Sadly, that was not the place where I was staying. Immediately after arriving I took another plane and went to Ankara. The moment we were flying over [I don't know how to say it more poetically, like surcando los cielos] the city I thought: What have I done? And I was right. I literally was depressed during my stay in the city, and not exactly because I was missing my family or whatever, it was the mere location, the place where I was now supposed to live for the next 5 years. From a still small but colorful, vibrant, tropical city I was moving to a, still peninsular, but gray, sad, Anatolian city. It felt unnatural for me. Just a week and a half later I went to China, travelled [initially wrote "traveled", whoops] from north to south for almost 3 weeks (and for free!). One of the most marvelous [is this correct in Californian English or should it be "marvellous"?] experiences I've ever had. There I didn't feel out of place, I felt closer to the culture, I felt like that was the right place for me. There, I didn't feel depressed, I didn't feel sad at any moment. I sometime wonder if I was self-gaslighting [initially wrote "gaslighthing"] me, but I think I wasn't. For the first time, I visited the country I had always longed to visit, the Asian Dragon. Every time I recall the time I was in there I can't stop thinking of the moment I will be back to study there. I have to go back to China.

After those three weeks I went back to Ankara. I immediately felt the difference. No more color, no more massive amount of people, no more vibrant cities. I felt sad, again, out of place. I thought of staying there for "the experience", but I felt truly bad. The main reason of leaving my home town was for living in a better place, not a worse one! The place I was staying in was full of bedbugs, sometimes there was no hot water, the food was not so nice (except for baklavas, döners, of course, and a few more other amazing dishes). Maybe I'm complaining to much, but again, the reason of leaving was for better prospects! Not worse ones! But there's one thing I will always miss: toilets. Turkish toilets are equipped with a pressured-water [I don't know how to say "chorro"] artifact for cleaning you "down there" and, oh God, I was amazing. Besides, it's ecological since you'd only have to use toilet paper for drying your skin after getting cleaned.

To be continued [initially wrote "continue"]...