Mobility in Turkey

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Mobility in Turkey

 Impressions on the experience.

I think we can all agree that Turkey has been really underrated, the food, the culture, and the environment are something that one person cannot handle to experience in one day. We’ve been immersed into the local culture and environment, we’ve tasted a lot of what this country had to offer and now feel VERY nostalgic about leaving. We’ve made a lot of strong and intimate connections between the locals and our hosts, we kinda established ourselves there and it had been very hard to leave all that we’d built there. 

Turkey kinda became our second home, it was heartbreaking having to leave everyone and everything behind us, but we now have to go on with our lives. It was for sure a very touching experience connecting with the local communities and country. Leaving was for all of us the hardest part of this experience. We had the opportunity to participate in local celebrations, traditions, and events. We came across a few weddings, took pictures with a bride, and even got to know her relatives and mother. We participated in Turkey’s national holiday, the centenary of their republic, it was amazing.

We saw many traditional dances and it was a party every day, therefore, we were getting closer to the centenary.  We spent our days going to school learning about their culture, their strong sense of belonging to their country, and their food culture. We shared our cultural similarities and differences and celebrated everything that connected us as one big tribe and family. We’ve often been mistaken for their kind, so it was really interesting explaining why we look alike and even have some similarities between our cultures. Turkish people were always surprised to know that we actually were from Italy because they couldn’t conceive our resemblance to their own people. I think that was a lesson and opportunity to know that we all share one heart and that we’re all humans, so a great way to get two cultures together and closer beyond prejudices and opinions. So a reminder for everyone to always share brotherhood and a sense of humanity amongst people we haven’t got the opportunity to get to know. The food was amazing even though some people experienced tourist sickness, something pretty normal and common among tourists who visit countries with completely different lifestyles. (Me in particular😂). The good thing is that we got visited by a doctor, so this made it also an educational experience for what matters. We visited many different cities and beaches, some of us even went swimming. We visited the old center of Adana and tasted many Turkish delights, mostly sweets, some of them we even took home with us with other souvenirs, like Turkish tea for example. One of my absolute favs. On the last day when we had to get back home, we missed our plane due to external forces that didn’t allow us to transfer to the plane that should have brought us home. So we had to find another way to cope with this. However, our learning experience got extended and we got to participate in this Turkish historical and national holiday directly from Istanbul, a very special city, rich in history and architecture that connects the whole world with its strategic position and allows exchanges between Asia and Europe.

We got to see a lot of cats everywhere in Turkey, especially in Istanbul, cats were kinda the keepers of the city. We talked to many locals and got to see the other aspect of Turkey, the aspect in which Turkey is crawling its way to becoming a stable country with an equal economy for everyone. We saw a lot of social differences amongst the Turkish people, there were wealthy people who got to live comfortably and other Turks who didn’t even have the opportunity to afford a modest life and living conditions, some people even slept on the streets, children had to work in the trash to get some money and people who shared their house with their shop. So some people didn’t even have a house because their house was their shop. I remember when we visited Mersin some kind lady allowed me to try on a burkini (modest swimsuit) in her room. That room was their whole house, they had the bathroom, kitchen, and bed in there. I really felt humbled and pitied for them because sometimes we don’t realize our privileges in relation to what they have. This cultural exchange and experience really helped me grow and understand my purpose in life. I want to help others and do good for the world. I understood that I wanted to amplify my thirst for knowing and exploring every angle of the world to gain knowledge and experience.

In conclusion, I would like to work as a tourist leader. I also really appreciated our Turkish professor’s learning methods based on stimulating the kids’ imagination in order to make studying easier and really allow them to be passionate about school and their subjects of interest. Obviously there are also many difficulties in their learning method, very strict and traditional, but his is kinda like a light at the end of a tunnel for students, making school a little easier for them.

 

                                                                                                         Giunta Maria Grazia - 4T1