a Letter to Myself

Dear Prep Ela,

Firstly, I would like to relieve you by telling you that you will have wonderful English at the end of the 5 years. There is no need to stress about your English competency and writing skills. So, relax :) During the prep year, you will read lots of Achieve3000 articles and ( no surprise!) you will become the Achieve3000 queen of your class. This will allow you to not only elevate your reading skills but also improve your intellectual capacity. Apart from your academic endeavors, you will also develop new friendships and get to know different personalities. Something special about your prep year is that you will be spontaneous and adventurous, which may sound risky, but please don’t be prejudiced, otherwise, you will miss the instant sushi dates with your friends and the following screams in the Bostancı Lunaparkı! I also have a piece of bad news :( You will get injured and you won’t be able to play volleyball for 4 months. Even though it may seem difficult at the beginning, this experience will teach you resilience and emotional strength. A good piece of advice for the upcoming high school years is “Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because you are wise and prudent enough to use the lessons you learn in the future!”

The biggest challenge you will face will be the covid-19 period, but interestingly you will develop a love-hate relationship with it. During the 9th grade, you will be very overwhelmed whilst staying at home because you will miss your friends and your family will be extremely strict with covid regulations and rules. However, you will get the most out of the online education period and improve your grades impressively during the first year of the IB. Make sure to grasp the necessities of your IB courses, so that you will be prepared for the 11th grade, which will be a lot harder than the first year of the IB. On the other hand, the pandemic period will be really important for you in terms of your self-improvement. You will not only build a strong foundation for sports but also start a healthy diet. Since you will eat all the time at home, you will increase your organic food uptake and pay attention to the nutritional value of your meals.

Even though the online education period will be quite a good foundation for your healthy lifestyle, it will be challenged by your decision to live alone during the 11th grade. Your lifestyle and responsibilities will change dramatically, both in a way that is entertaining and overwhelming. You will have to deal with the house chores and spend more time with yourself, but you will not give up on living alone and adjust yourself to your new environment. You will learn how to cook and prepare wonderful dishes. (Let’s not mention your burned rice periods and raw meat experiences :) ) All of your struggles will teach you how to manage difficult situations and get out of your comfort zone once needed. These life lessons will accompany your academic accomplishments. As you might guess, you will complete the IB diploma program with a really good grade. Don’t expect me to tell you your grade, haha! If I were to tell you, it would have taken all of your curiosity. Just try to enjoy the process and adopt a positive lens because your senior year will be amazing!

I want to skip the beginning of your senior year because it is boring with difficult IB exam study periods and essay writing. The latter is WUHU! Firstly, your father will start living in Warshaw and you will have the chance to visit a country in Europe whenever you want. You will build strong memories with your friends during your various holidays: Uludağ, Alaçatı, Altınoluk, and many more! In short, you will be relaxed and you will have the time to feel like a teenager. But, no surprise again, you will still push to your best and try to be the valedictorian of the school since you have the chance. Upps, I gave a big spoiler, but with all of this advice, you will have a wonderful high school experience!

Yours Ela Sincerely