I'm sitting in the airport in Columbus, Ohio, about to board the plane to head back to Jackson. It's been quite a week, just what I needed.

On Monday morning I left Mississippi and headed up to Chicago for four days and spent time with a few friends that I grew up with in Turkey. We didn't really do anything exciting, but we enjoyed relaxing, running, playing Counter Strike, and riding on my friend's motorcycle. Good times. I have so many great memories with these guys, and it was nice to be able to speak Turkish again. These two guys are probably the most "Turkish" out of all of us American MKs that grew up over there. Hanging out with them is entertaining.

Friday morning we woke up early and drove six hours over here to Columbus for the wedding of a friend of ours who was also with us in Turkey. It was crazy and awesome to see him get married. I haven't stayed in touch with him nearly as much as I should have, but seeing each other took us back to the old days immediately. The rehearsal dinner was incredible. It was the old gang of 7 or 8 of us guys from Turkey sitting at one table, speaking Turkish, eating authentic Turkish food. After the meal we got all sweaty doing a traditional Turkish dance (Halay, tabii ki). It's funny, when I was in Turkey I didn't care much for a lot of the local things (music, dancing, etc.), but after having been in the States for these five years, I love them all. After the dinner we went out and got a few drinks for the bachelor party, and topped the night (or morning) off with a nice 4-mile run at 3:30 AM. Great times.

The wedding was sweet, with plenty of tears. Beautiful ceremony.

Now I'm heading back to Jackson. I don't feel ready to get back into the lab, but I know that if the vacation had been any longer, it would have even been more difficult. Three more weeks for me in the lab, then I start medical school! Craziness.