Thirteen years ago, in the middle of Boston snow, I got on a plane, left behind my previous life, and moved to Istanbul.
This last year was the first one where I had permanent residency in Turkey, freeing my brain up from worrying about my visa to worrying about other things, like the economy. It was a year where I felt an immense amount of joy but also often felt like I was on a wild rollercoaster with no breaks, only getting a breath of relief before the car plummeted around a loop again. I loved it though; I loved all the new people who came into my life, I loved all the chances I took, I loved how much travel I was able to do during a year I expected to barely travel at all. Istanbul continues to be the source of so my surprise and delight, the light of my life. Even as things change, I can’t imagine leaving this place.
Best Of The Year
Reporting in Urla
In May I got to go on one of the best reporting trips I’ve ever experienced. The New York Times sent me and Bradley to report on wine tourism in Urla, a gorgeous town on the Aegean that was laden with jasmine and artichokes. It was work, but the best kind of work— drinking wine and visiting vineyards with a co-worker who also happens to be one of my dearest friends, in one of the most beautiful parts of Turkey during a perfect season. Truly a pinch-me sort of experience.
Reuniting with Sam in Prague
Two years ago, I met Samantha at a Prague wedding where, as two single girls, we clung to each other, got slowly drunker, and shared a lot of intimate secrets. Two years later, our friends hosted a wedding reunion in the exact same venue, and we sat at the same spot at the bar we’d colonized in 2023 and caught up on the last two years of our lives. It was so special and so perfect.
Cyprus with Jen
I went to Cyprus for a medical procedure that I’d been putting off, which went so well— but the best part was an excuse to wander around Lefkosa, Cyprus for a day with Jen, soaking up the mild Mediterranean air, eating delicious food, and marveling at the weirdness of a still-divided European capital.
A week on a boat with great late night discussions
This was our third year spending a week on a boat, and I was personally a little trepidatious about it. Somehow the lead up felt complicated and difficult, and I was dreading it. I was so wrong. It ended up being one of our best trips yet, both incredibly restful and also intimate, with beautiful discussions every evening between all of us. In fact, the main thing that marks this boat trip is that we always wanted to be together all the time, quietly enjoying each others’ proximity and friendship.
Finding our Nose in Paris
One of the days Hillary and I were in Paris was scheduled to be a rainy one. The day before, we sat in a park with my friend Lauren and asked her what we should do if the weather was bad. “Go to Nose,” she said.
Nose is a perfume shop that does complimentary scent diagnostics, helping noobs like us figure out the scent that best suits them. Usually, the diagnostic goes through two rounds, after which you have four options; after spritzing the four on your skin, you choose two and get some sample. But after two rounds, I was mostly dissatisfied with my perfume options. So the woman at Nose started to riff, pulling samples and improvising her own diagnostic until I found something I loved. It was maybe the best experience both Hillary and I had in Paris.
My best friend’s wedding in a cornfield in Indiana
It’s a special pleasure to see someone you love happy, and watching my best friend marry the love of her life in his parent’s cornfield in Indiana was such a joy. I’d never been to Indiana or really anywhere in the Midwest outside of Chicago, and it was lovely. (Also I learned that Indiana has two time zones! Who knew?) It rained through the ceremony, and everyone sat gleefully under umbrellas, unbothered by a little drizzle on such a happy day.
Sitting on the porch after a wedding in Boston
Spending time with my family is always a joy, but there was one moment in particular during our time together in Boston that I loved. The day after my cousin’s wedding, the four of us sat on the porch of the house Hillary and I were staying in and talked and talked and talked, and it was such a nice small moment that seemed to sum up all the big ways my family loved each other.
Our France wedding crew
I went to a wedding in the French countryside in the spring, and my marrying friends did something very clever: they started a WhatsApp group for the ten of us who were visiting, made us dinner reservations, and sent us off without them to become friends. And we did! We spent the whole glorious weekend together, going on adventures and drinking wine and dancing all night, and it felt like we were all good buds by the end. The chat kept going long after the wedding.
Reconnecting with friends and making new ones
One summer evening in a park, I ran into an old friend, spent the rest of the night on the seaside with his friends, and expanded my social circle to include some beautiful souls. It was so random and fortuitous and I’m so grateful for that unforeseen connection.
Camp Nadworny (cousin edition) goes to the beach
My whole extended family, all 14 of us, descended on the island of Il de Re on the west coast of France for a weeklong family reunion. And while the whole trip was splendid and full of small joys like drinking grapefruit spritzes by the pool and gorging ourselves on cheese, my favorite part was the day that five of us cousins hopped on our bicycles and pedaled to the beach. It was one of the few sunny, mild days during the week and we took full advantage, splashing in the ocean and sunning by the dunes and enjoying a little time away from the adults.
Weekend break with Karen
I had some Pegasus miles to use up, so Karen and I scheduled a March weekend in Antalya. I posit that March is the best time to go there; the weather is lovely, the crowds aren’t too rowdy, and it’s a perfect break from Istanbul. We spent our time visiting ancient ruins like Termessos and soaking up the early spring sunshine.
The train and Terminal
Coming back from a really bad trip (more on that below), I took the train from Konya to Istanbul for the first time, and it was such a joy— comfortable and easy. And then the train spit us out at Terminal, the new market and food court at Sogutlucesme, which I found just wonderful and wrote about on my Substack.
Introducing Mama to Athens
My mom came to Istanbul by herself this year, and we took a little side trip to Athens. 48 hours is perhaps the perfect amount of time for a trip like that, and we did all the highlights— hello, Acropolis!— and also ate well and met a couple of my friends. I love Athens and love hanging out there, so it was cool the share the city with my mom.
Worst Of The Year
The cat going missing
In the beginning of the year, during a brief snowstorm, our cat disappeared. He is a street cat (more or less) and often goes in and out of the building, but he’s always around. After four days, when no one had seen him, we started to worry. We mobilized, posting on Instagram and in Facebook groups, hanging fliers, asking the cafes on our street. I was horrifically depressed; I thought my sweet boy was dead, and we would never know what happened to him.
But two weeks after he went missing, my next door neighbor got a call from someone who’d seen the Facebook post— there was a stray cat in her building, could it be ours? And it was! He must have gotten turned around in the storm and wandering nearly a half a mile out of the way. But he was happy and healthy and so thrilled to be back home with all of us. And through this, I met more of my neighbors, who all started a WhatsApp chat to keep track of our shared cat.
Work woes
Work continues to be inconsistent, slow, and stressful, and in the beginning of this year I really fell into a doom loop over the situation. Let’s hope this year turns out to be better.
Family meltdown in Paris
I spent nearly a week in Paris with my sister, which was amazing, and then we met up with Camp Nadworny on Il de Re, which was amazing too. And then the four member of my nuclear family came back to Paris for a long weekend and all had a mutual meltdown. We were very tired.
Friendships fading or changing
Some friendships in my life have changed and grown weak this year, and it’s something that always makes me deeply sad, especially when there seems to be no one reason. Sorry for vague posting, by some pain needs to stay in my heart and not on the blog.
A very ill-advised trip to Konya
I went to Konya with someone I barely knew, and then he was awful to me the whole time. The train ride home was nice, though.
Flight cancellation in Chicago
I got to experience the meltdown of services in the US firsthand this summer, when my flight from Chicago to New York City was cancelled, and no one really gave a fuck what happened after that. I was mildly hungover and very tired from the wedding in Indiana the night before, and I know barely anyone in Chicago, and I was supposed to finally see my sister in NYC. With a little help from my family, I managed to get a flight for the next morning on the different airline and from a different airport. But before I could leave O’Hare, I had to wait two hours for the bag I’d checked to reemerge. Rumor in the airport was that they only had two people dealing with the bags for the whole airport. A nightmare. The whole experience was exhausting and unnecessary.
Heat wave in NYC
When I finally made it to NYC, the city was smack in the middle of a horrific heat wave. We did our best, but I felt a little bit like my soul was melting out of my body for three days.
Oyster ice cream
Il de Re is famous for its oysters, and one shop in particular is known for its oyster-flavored ice cream. If you are a sane human, you might think “oh god that sounds disgusting!” Unfortunately, in a moment of madness, I was not a sane person. I experienced the horror do you don’t have to. Still have nightmares.
Ghosting
Someone I’d been in touch with for a while ghosted me, and it is truly a terrible thing to do to someone! He reemerged but has continued to appear and disappear, and every time I’m reminded how we shouldn’t do that. Don’t do that!
The Best Book I Read This Year
My mother recommended The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt to me, and I just loved it. And I appreciated that it was a nice, long book, because I wanted to roll around in that world for a while. It was one of those books that made me perfectly happy to cancel plans, if only to read a little bit longer.
Best Podcast This Year
I’m not sure there was any one podcast I loved the best this year, but there were three I’d happily recommend: Scratch and Win, about the Massachusetts State Lottery (and because Boston is such a small town, I discovered my parents had met like half the people in this story); Groupies from the Lost Notes podcast about the young girls in 1970’s LA who were either taken advantage of by rockstars or having the time of their lives, depending on who’s telling the story; and Hit Parade, which is consistently the best podcast I listen to.
My Year of Earworms
I make little playlists almost every month, so here are some highlights from the music I listened to and loved throughout the year. Enjoy.
And that’s the best and brightest and direst of my lucky 13th year in Turkey. I can’t believe I’m still here, but Istanbul is like that… it gets its hooks in you and hangs on for dear life. I wouldn’t have it any other way, and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.
For a review of years past: A Year Abroad, Two Years Abroad, Three Years Abroad, Four Years Abroad, Five Years Abroad, Six Years Abroad, Seven Years Abroad, Eight Years Abroad, Nine Years Abroad, Ten Years Abroad, Eleven Years Abroad, Twelve Years Abroad.
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