Sweeter than caramel

I’m so overwhelmed and beginning to think I’m in over my head.

Countdown to Turkey: 8 days

Mood: extremely excited, but also anxious

It’s Tuesday of the last week of school, and finals are in the way of everything. Since I am leaving next Wednesday, it’s kind of neccessary that I get everything together immediately. That includes wrapping up my dedicated days at the gym, completing my shopping, stocking up on my drugstore neccessities, and packing it all up. Oh, wait. I can’t.  I have to go study for my exams.

Another thing: I have competition.

For years now, I underestimated the teenage girls in Turkey. From what I saw, they led the most boring lives with the most boring people. Neon-colored clothing, baggy jeans, crispy hair, heavy workbooks in hand. The please-and-thank-you mother’s dream. Of course I’ll help with dinner! You don’t have to ask me twice, I have been studying! Dull and dreary.

I’m not saying I was completely mistaken; such a “species” does exist, by the hundreds too. However, a little Facebook browsing with Cinna led to the discovery of a special “breed” of Turkish teens: ones that attend a specific Turkish-American private school with parents so rich they could buy out half of Izmir. Ones that I compared to the Gossip Girl cast before realizing that a specific, striking girl actually had a former profile picture with GG’s Ed Westwick.

Another album revealed that the same girl was an aspiring fashion designer that had recently launched a line of high fashion dresses with a legitimate runway show, her friends as her models, all decked out in thick black heels and smoky eyeliner. Not perfect, but beautiful, powerful. Near tens with exemplary tans.

And you can’t hate them either. They’re sincerely sweeter than caramel. Perhaps I had been too quick to belittle the teens in my previous visits. However, I’m not a big fan of feeling intimidated. I’ll show them.

{Note to self: purchase wine-colored nail polish, tanning oil, and lay out in the sun… repeatedly.}