Pictures Please !

Some pictures, and their story in short :

We visited the best places in Adana, with Melek and Metin and we had tons of fun! We went to a very nice restaurant next to the river of Adana :) It was really windy, so we had to do our best to keep ourselves warm, to stay there as long as we can. :D

One of Meleks really good friend, my dear classmate Eda, invited us to her home for lunch she and her mother cooked. It was all traditional turkish food. After we had an exquisite dessert made by Eda! After the meal they asked my opinion on Turkish food in general, and I said, for me it's very strange that the foods here are really spicy, but not salty and also some things go together in turkish food naturally, that for us is a really weird combo and might not benefit the wellbeing of our stomach, like for example putting mint into creamsoup, or pouring lemon on everything they eat. So I like the Turkish kitchen, but it will not overtake my no. 1 fave, the Italian and ofc my Moms cooking. :) 
BUT ! When it comes to desserts, Turkish is brilliant! Incredibly sweet, full of honey and pasta together, just perfect for my taste. So for the desserts, the winner is Turkey (and Edas talent specifically)! :)

Hayal Kahvesi "our second home" with Melek! :D A little(Turkish)party never killed nobody.......

A trip with Melek's friends from Hatay ! :) We stopped to enjoy the view and played a little tag game out of nowhere, like small children ! ^^

After Mersin Catholic Church, it was about time to visit the one in Adana too ! :) There was a "maquette" of Saint Peter's Basilica near the entrance with a very small Pope Francis inside of it! SO CUTE! :)

Jelentés, avagy interjú az itteni élményekről, meglátásokról :)

Az interjút készítette : Kádár Melinda

Az Erasmus ösztöndíjprogram lehetősége nagyon sok diákot csábít Európa különböző országaiba. Karunk hallgatója, Pásztor Noémi, aki másodéves Társadalmi tanulmányok szakos hallgató, szintén élt ezzel a lehetőséggel és jelenleg Törökországban, Mersinben folytatja tanulmányait. A következő élménybeszámolóval szeretnénk kicsit közelebb hozni, hogy milyen is átélni egy Erasmus-os félévet.

K. M.: - Miért pont ezt a helyet választottad, milyen elhatározásból mentél oda?

P. N. : - Eredetileg Mersin van az egyetem által kijelölve a beérkező Erasmus diákok elszállásolására, itt bérelnek ki számunkra lakást, és itt laktam másfél hónapig, de sajnos mivel a lakás ahová a második szemeszterben érkező diákokat szállásolták volna, nem állt készen a beköltözésünkre (pontosabban nem volt víz), ezért az első szemeszterben érkezőkkel laktunk együtt heten, ami nem volt kicsit sem kényelmes egyikünknek sem, noha így mindig együtt volt a csapat, de ez sem tudta egy idő után tűrhetővé tenni a helyzetet. Voltam olyan szerencsés, hogy egyik órámon megismertem egy nagyon kedves és közvetlen török lányt, akivel összebarátkoztunk és pár hét múlva beköltöztem hozzá lakótársnak, viszont ő Adanában lakik, ami 2 órára van Mersintől, az egyetemtől viszont fél órára, ami sokkal kedvezőbb, mint Mersin másfél óra úttal. Tehát most Adanában lakom. A két város hihetetlen egyforma, annyi a különbség, hogy Mersin a tengerparton van, Adana pedig egy hatalmas folyóval rendelkezik. 

Mindenképpen olyan helyre szerettem volna menni, ami eltér az ismerttől, az általam megszokottól amennyire csak lehet. Ha már kihívás, akkor legyen rendes!  Emellett persze az is sokat nyomott a latba, hogy az egyetem állja a lakbért, az iskolabuszért nem kell fizetnünk és minden hétköznap egy ebédet kapunk, ugyan akkor a szegedi ösztöndíjprogram Törökországba kínálja a legmagasabb összegű ösztöndíjakat. Tehát mint kaland, mint anyagiak szempontjából Törökország bizonyult a legjobb választásnak.

K. M.: - Milyen egyetemen tanulsz jelenleg és milyen kurzusaid, tantárgyaid vannak? 

P. M.: - Most a yenicei Çağ Üniversitesi egyetem Nemzetközi kapcsolatok szakán vagyok, itt a Társadalmi tanulmányok ennek felel meg. 6 kurzusom van, elsőtől negyedéves tantárgyak egyaránt. Angolul folyik a tanítás, de nem csak nekünk, Erasmus diákoknak, hanem egyébként, egy két kurzust kivéve, az összes. Egy óra 3 óra hosszáig tart, ezért naponta csak két óránk van, egy órás ebédszünettel. Természetesen a 3 órát nem kell végigülni, minden órában kapunk egy kis szünetet, tanárfüggő, hogy mennyit, néha 5 perc, néha 15 perc. 

Kurzusaim pl. bevezetés a nemzetközi kapcsolatokba (1. éves), a Közép Kelet politikai történelme (3. éves), a politikai gondolkodás történelme (2. éves). Talán egy kettőn kívül az összes kurzusomról őszintén elmondhatom, hogy szeretek részt venni rajtuk, élvezhetőek. A tanáraink a világ minden pontjáról érkeznek, nagyon képzettek, sokat lehet tanulni tőlük, volt szerencsém néhánnyal órán kívül is beszélgetni.
Mivel Szegeden felvettem minor szakként a Szerb minort és ezt itt nem tudom teljesíteni, ezért ha hazaértem lesz pár vizsgám, de mivel a tanárok odahaza segítőkészek, kérésemre rendszeresen küldik az anyagot, ezért nem izgulok, hogy lemaradok.

K. M.: - Ajánlanád másoknak is, hogy éljenek a lehetőséggel?

P.N.: - Aki úgy érzi, hogy tudna angolul tanulni, órákat lehallgatni, és meg van benne a kalandvágy, kipróbálná magát messze az otthonától, annak mindenképpen az Erasmus programban a helye. Törökországot azoknak tudom ajánlani, akik kíváncsiak a keleti vallásra, gondolkodásra, tehát egy teljesen más világra, másmilyen emberekre.

K. M.: - Mesélj még egy kicsi arról, hogy milyenek az ottani emberek, környezet, és hogy milyenek a szórakozási lehetőségek? Na és a török fiúk?

P. N.: - Az emberek nagyon különbözően viszonyulnak a külföldiekhez itt. Ez betudható annak, hogy mostanában rengeteg szír és arab menekült települt le Törökországban, és ez társadalmi feszültséget okoz. Szinte minden helyen ahol megfordulok, legyen az egy üzlet, vagy étterem, megkérdezik honnan jöttem, vagy csak egyszerűen: "Suriye?" (Szíria?), amikor közlöm velük, hogy "Hayır, Sırbistan" (Nem, Szerbia), meglepődnek és megváltozik a megközelítésük. Nem bocsátkozom azt állítani, hogy a törökök nem kedvelik a szíreket, de érezhető, hogy nem ujjongnak a rengeteg váratlan vendégtől. Miután letudják honnan jöttem, kedvesek és segítőkészek, igaz, nem angolul, az angolul beszélők aránya itt nagyon kevés, sokkal inkább kedvelt első idegen nyelv az arab vagy az orosz, így egy alap beszélgetést még ugyan fent tudok tartani, de ha gyorsan és sokat beszélnek egyszerre hozzám, kénytelen vagyok a török barátaimtól fordítói segítséget kérni, amit természetesen nagyon szívesen nyújtanak. Nagyon fontos, hogy azért egy külföldi, legyen nő vagy férfi, turista, Erasmus diák, stb. ne mászkáljon egyedül szinte sehová, legyen vele egy török ismerős/barát, ugyan is amellett, hogy nagyon kedvesek, a törökök szeretik variálni az árakat, ha külföldivel van dolguk. Erről nyilván sokan hallottak már, de tanúsíthatom, hogy tényleg így van. Kedvesen, de óvatosan, én azt mondom. 

Az egyetemen kicsit más a helyzet, megoszlik a viszonyulás az Erasmus diákokhoz. Néhányan nagyon érdeklődőek és barátkozni akarnak, de vannak, akik irigykedve tekintenek ránk és nem kedvelnek bennünket. Az utóbbiból sokkal kevesebbel sikerült találkoznom, mint a barátságosból, sok ismerőst szereztem, közülük a hónapok során párat ma már a barátomnak hívhatok. Velük töltöm napjaimat, a hosszú tanítási órákat stb. 

Ha átfogóan tekintek a társadalomra, három hónap után arra a következtetésre jutottam, hogy Törökország hatalmas változáson megy keresztül jelenleg, ami a gondolkodást és a kultúrát illeti. A hatalmon lévő kormány próbál ragaszkodni a tradíciók megőrzéséhez, a valláshoz, ugyan is talán érzik, hogy a "mindent elsöprő nyugat" mint egy nagy hullám hozza magával a változásokat, a nyugatias trendeket. Hogy egy példával éljek, az egyetemen nap mint nap találkozok egy szélsőséges jelenséggel, korombeli fiatal lányok, akik ugyan azon a helyen nevelkedtek, egyik a valláshoz hű kritériumoknak megfelelően van felöltözve, kendővel eltakart haj/nyak, bokáig érő bő ruha, még egy másikon apró szoknya, tűsarkú és pántos blúz. Itt nem csak arról van szó, hogy vagy az egyik, vagy a másik csoporthoz tartozol, értem ezalatt azt, hogy vagy vallásos vagy, vagy sem, ugyanis rengetek diákkal beszélgettem, és aki nagyon vallásosnak tűnik, némelyik csak azért ruházkodik annak megfelelően, hogy a családja elégedett legyen, míg akiről azt hinnénk nem érdekelt a vallásban, kiderül, hogy kívülről fújja a Koránt, mindössze visszamaradottnak tartja a nők "takargatását". Még rengeteg példát tudnék felhozni és ecsetelni a véleményem, de mind ugyan oda vezet vissza: Törökországnak, az embereknek, a kormánynak idő kell, idő, hogy kialakuljon az új, vagy, hogy megőrizze a régit.
 

A szórakozási lehetőségek természetesen sokkal korlátozottabbnak és visszafogottabbnak tűnnek egy európai szemével. Kevés a tényleges szórakozóhely, a szórakozóhelyeken pedig nem igazán "divat" a táncolás. Divat viszont az élő zene, ahol túlnyomó részt török, de angol zenéket is játszanak. Az alkoholfogyasztás mérsékeltebb mennyiségben történik, mint otthon, de nem riadnak vissza a fogyasztásától itt sem. Amit különösen érdekesnek találtam az az, hogy férfiakat nők társasága nélkül nem engednek be a szórakozóhelyekre. Kérdésemre, hogy ezt miért van így, azt válaszolták a barátaim, hogy azért, mert az "egyedül érkező férfiak nagyobb eséllyel zaklatják az egyedül érkező nőket". 

Ami a női-férfi kapcsolatokat illeti, a korosztályom török lányai akikkel ez szóba jött, panaszkodva mesélték, hogy a török fiúk túl dominánsak, túlságosan szeretnek irányítani, és nagyon féltékenyek. Mindenről tudni akarnak amit a barátnőjük tesz, nem igazán szeretik ha van férfi barátja, és sokakra az is jellemző, hogy bele akarnak szólni abba, hogyan öltözködik. Elmondták, hogy eszük ágában sincs török férfival házasságot kötni, hacsak nem különböznek nagy részben honfitársaiktól. Ami még felháborítja őket, hogy mind ez fordított esetben elképzelhetetlen, egy férfi szinte bármit megtehet és a nőnek meg kell értenie. Itt is érezhető a kettősség, hiszen beszéltem olyan török fiúval aki az ilyen bánásmódot a nőkkel erős elnyomásnak nevezi és egyáltalán nem ért vele egyet, ugyanakkor beszéltem olyan lánnyal akit egyáltalán nem zavar, ha a férfi "irányítja" és meg kell felelnie bizonyos követelményeknek, ugyan is szerinte ezzel csak óvják, meg akarják őrizni a nők értékét.

Szerencsére Noémi nagyon lelkes és segítőkész, ha szeretnétek még többet olvasni arról, hogy milyen is Törökországban Erasmus-os hallgatónak lenni, akkor mindenképp kövessétek a blogját (http://iamerasmusinturkey.blogspot.hu/ ), ahol az élménybeszámolók mellett sok-sok képet is találhatunk.

A trip to HATAY!

So finally exams are almost over, last week was a "midterm disaster"...but we can breathe again and enjoy freetime. :)
Those who heard of Erasmus, or seen Erasmus students might think "Oh but you don't have to study so much, you're an Erasmus student, all is holiday for you!". Well...lets just say like in almost everything in life, also in this case it's pretty useless to try to generalize. How you spend your Erasmus time actually depends on a looot of things. For example, how much tuition you get, or what does the country you're in allow you to do, or just simply...what type of a person you are. Of course for sure as a foreigner, you can have a lot looser attitude then home, because you're in the good graces of strangers, and normally they will want to help you and will find you interesting (normally) for just you know...being different, which you actually have no other choice but to enjoy, because you depend on them, as they know themselves around pretty well in the world you just stumbled up on.
Like I wrote before, if you're a closed personality, meaning not open to changes and new people, Erasmus is not for you. Of course, you can try it out, because if you feel like you want to learn how to be more open and see the world from another point of view, have the will/ attitude for it, you can change yourself in this perspective. So all in all it's totally up to you, what will you make out of your Erasmus time. You can travel all the time, or use every possibility to learn the language, culture of the nation, study, wonder, whatever you like, no pressure. Turkey, as you may know, is not quite the No.1 place for wild parties with lots of alcohol and dancefloors. It depends on the city you go for sure, there are some more religious and some less religious regions, but be prepared that the culture has just started to go through some changes coming from the "West", so you can't expect the same experience of outgoing as you have in a de facto European country. But then again, if you expect the same things as you experience back home, then what's the use of applying. :P
So Turkey is a place for people who like challenges, meaning, if you want to see a LOT of changes, a place that is a LOT different, with a culture and peoples way of thinking being a LOT different then what you are used to, then Turkey is your country. Be sure that even if you don't move an inch from the place you will study in, you will experience dozens of new things and will have what to think about, especially if you are an observer type of person. But if you want even more adventure, Turkey is also definitely a good country for the ones who like to non-stop travel. Again...all depending on the above mentioned.
Personally, I like where I'm staying and the people I'm sorruonded with. Adana is a great place, not too religious and has everything you need, meaning you can have the same things as you're used to home, except for Orbit gums...no Orbit gums here. Miss it though.....

So yesterday we went to Hatay, a region 200 KM-s away from Adana, and very near Syria with my lovely flatmate Melek and her kind friend Metin.

Ofcourse in life everywhere you go, you're bound to face some level of difficulties. I've been asked to write about the "harder" times I've had here, since many are interested in either becoming an Erasmus student, or interested in how is it living far away from home for the first time, or just how's Turkey.
First of all I advise a lot of patience, tolerance when it comes to paperwork. It takes time, effort, and nerves to get them all right, to find the matching courses on both sides, all in all to just collect all needed documents, like visa, insurance, tuition...ect. Then many may tell you to do some research on the place you will go to, well most of those researches are pretty useless, and also people who already experienced what you will just start trying to advise you is also somewhat a waste of time, because I'm almost 100% sure, that what you will be told and how you will live the experience will be very very different. Maybe better, maybe worse, it mainly depends on your positive thinking, but definitely different then what you expected. So do some basic research about the culture, habits of the society, food, hygiene, but don't try to dig in too deep. Ofc you are curious, can't wait to finally see, but as I said rule No. 1. patience. In the comfort of your home, you might not realise or value enough the simple things everyday life offers you, (especially if you are living with your parents and don't know how to cook like me), like a full fridge, warm meal 3 times a day, or let's say, your mother tongue. As I wrote in one of my first posts, I woke up the first day and thought "So...what can I eat? Well not pork, that's for sure...". Also one of the most interesting and maybe a little annoying things you will experience is that everything around you will be writen, spoken and asked from you in a language you either not speak at all, speak a little, or speak fluently, but not call yours. For me, as a Hungarian living in Serbia, this was not so difficult to get used to, but if you're not a minority and never lived as a minority anywhere, this might be too much at times. In very small details these are some basic difficulties you might face. As for everything else, you just have to be open, if you're not an open personality, meaning, you're not really social, friendly at first, too closed, assuming the worst of people, then this experience is definitely not for you, because you will meet many people from all around Europe, and also local people will find you very very interesting and will want to talk to you and be friends with you. The most common questions other then "Where're you from?" I get is "Can you tell more about your country and yourself?" , "Can we meet sometimes?", "Can I help you with anything here?", "Can you help me practice my english?" ... and you have to be open if you want to have a good time, and just let things happen, let new people in, be kind, and let them help you. When you arrive, from the first second you need to have an attitude you can't really afford to have back home the exact same way, because responsibilities are more strict and there you are not a foreigner, but one of the majority, and that attitude is openness, and being loose and saying yes to new ideas, advantures, change and new people, for all of these teach you something you can add to your list of wisdom. In the beginning of my Erasmus, I had some flat issues, then out of nowhere in my course of "History of political thought" I met a girl named Melek, whom I very quickly became good friends with. After a week or two the flat issue was still on menu, so she offered me to move to her flat, where I can have my room and comfort until my stay. So simple as that I moved from Mersin to Adana and I can honestly say, I didn't regret it. And last advice, as a foreigner always be much much more careful everywhere you go, if possible, always go with someone, never alone, not just if you're a girl. It depends on the country, but you can be sure that there're always people everywhere around the world who dislike foreigners, or think they're stupid and for example will try to ask for more money here and there from you for something that costs less.
So all in all so far I had the opportunity to yes, face difficulties, but to along the way meet many new wonderful people and situations. Midterms are coming very soon, so wish me luck, as lets not forget, one of the most important things I'm here for is to successfully complete a semester of uni! :D

#openness #kindness #courage #love

https://instagram.com/p/z-lel2Qw6L/?modal=true

:)

School days. :)

Rest In Peace.

 
#caguniversity #ozgecanaslan #women #rights #change

I 'm very well aware of the fact that life isn't all about laughter and happiness, that cruelty and people with bad intentions exist, but the level of insanity of a person never fails to amaze me in a very bad way. Women, no matter where they may live ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE the right to go out on the street after dark WITHOUT having to feel FEAR or INSECURITY. The news about the girl who was only a year younger than me, was raped and brutally murdered, made me angry, I felt deep sorrow, and a rage, that things like theese SHOULD STOP HAPPENING FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL. I can't and refuse to accept that this could happen to any of, that this keeps happening daily. That women are in danger in their own neighbourhood, on a for example bus. That I'm afraid to go anywhere alone, just because it's dark outside, because mad people are around us, "dressed" as normal human beings...I'm scared for my mother, for my girlfriends, for myself, for every woman around the world. This girl deserved a life, a degree, family, to grow old...and we all deserve SAFETY. Her death will not be forgotten and the man will pay for what he's done. But nobody can give back the life of Özgecan. How many more bullets will we take before action will be born? I don't want my daughter to grow up in a world where she has to fear mad men killing her. I don't know my destiny, but I will do everything possible as an individual woman to help society deal and stop actions like this forever. Rest In Peace #özgecanaslan 

A beautiful sunny day!
It's still very hard (in a good way) to get used to the fact that I'm only a few steps away from the amazing seaside. A walk there , and all your troubles are off your shoulders! :)

Our flat is a little crowded now that we are 7 people, but it's for the better. We're all together, Erasmus students who are here since September of last year and us.
We were here for 2 days when a French girl also arrived, so a French majority is present in the multicultural flat we live in. :)
The first question I had to myself when I woke up in my first morning here was, "so...what will I eat?", since ofcourse I didn't bring any food with me, needless to say that without food in my suitcase I barely fitted into 20kg-s. So I went downstairs to a small shop that is right next to our flat, and with an unsure voice I said "Merhaba" and quickly started to look for the things I need. Bread, milk, salami, buttercream, coffee...I put my stuff on the counter, and the seller man, who's always in an unusual good mood started to talk to me in rapid speed. I stared at him, like I never learned turkish in my life, and he quickly realised, I'm not understanding him. So he asked "Nerelisin?" which means 'where are you from?', I answered "Macaristan", he greeted my answer with a huge smile, saying "Turkey and Hungary are brothers! Turkish and Hungarian people are friends!". I was really surprised, before I came here I had no idea about what Turkish people could possibly think about us Hungarians. Many Turkish followed this type of a response to my origin, which I'm very happy to hear.
Some who know me might ask, why don't you say you are from Serbia? Yes, I live there, and in a somewhat deeper conversation with someone who understands English (not many in Mersin), I gladly and proudly say, I'm a Serbian Hungarian, but I feel like for some this is a difficult state to understand, and it takes a history lesson to explain someone why am I a Hungarian who's living in Serbia, so because of the lack of my Turkish language knowledge, for now, I'm from Hungary. :) 

We faced many smaller everyday life problems along the way, like this one, considering I came here with nothing but a suitcase and a good friend. But luckily, our new 'Erasmus family' never turns us down when we ask for help. Hours and days here go by really fast, because we always do something or go somewhere that is still new for us. We went to visit our new University, for a couple of hours, and it wasn't an official welcome, but we got to sneak peek into what's waiting for us when the semester will start. We went to the seaside and rented small electric motorbikes and we were riding for half an hour alongside the most incredible view I've seen in a long while. Another day we went bowling (I'm really bad at it, considering the winner had 90 something points total while I was still at 42...), we went to several reastaurants, tried out fish, 'kebap', the last one I really like and will have many more times during my stay, but also we cook for each other many times.
The other day we visited the Grand Mosque of Mersin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersin_Grand_Mosque ). I got to learn many new interesting things about the religion and the way muslims pray. Before I entered the Mosque I covered my hair with my scarf, it was a really odd feeling, I imagined that most women of this religion live their whole life covering up their hair, sometimes their whole body to the point where all you can see is their eyes. When I left the Mosque, I deliberately didn't take off the scarf. By this I wanted to experience 1% of what it feels like to be a Muslim. It might sound crazy, since I have 0 intentions of becoming one, but I do have intentions of learning about this type of life and the beliefs that are making it. I might not agree with everything about it, but I didn't come here to judge, I came here to learn and by learning, grow.
Today while the others went fishing and diving at a madly early hour (considering we usually never go to sleep before 2pm) me and my Hungarian friend went to explore the Catholic church of Mersin. I was so excited to see it, I didn't care that it was 3,5 km-s away from our flat, we marched towards it like there's no tomorrow. I wanted to see if it's different then the one that's built and nurtured in a Catholic environment. I wanted to know how many Catholics live in Mersin ect. So the closer we got the more curious I became. We saw the big cross on top of the small bell tower and we entered. The small garden infront of the church was beautiful and we could see that it was well kept. A kind man, I think he is the priest there told us some informations, like there are 400 Catholics in Mersin, and the grand prayer is at 11 every Sunday, and he'd gladly see us if we feel like coming. For the first time since I arrived in Mersin, I found something that looks, feels exactly like something from back home and I am really happy that I decided to find this church.




 It's a nice feeling to never be alone, to go together everywhere, to always have people around me that are my age and just as dedicated to having fun and discovering new things in life.

HOLA

Hola fans de Noemi, por aqui todo bien . Noemi está aprendiendo a cocinar , ayer hizo un plato tipico Serbio con queso y estaba bastante bueno pero los huevos fritos de hoy han sido un desastre...pero lo está intentando.

Os seguire informando.


un beso

HEAVEN!!!

This city is also the city of cats for sure ! Perfect place for a cat lover like me ! Kediler aaww

...finally we arrived to Mersin, all I could think of was "THE SEASIDE ! I want to see the seaside!". I didn't care if I had to carry my 20kg suitcase with me along the way, I wanted to see it, smell the salt in the air, I just love the sea and couldn't wait to finally live next to it. But before we were introduced to the Mediterranean sea, we were introduced to our fellow Erasmus students who led us to the flat where we'll be living together before we'll get our own flat. The multicultural flat contained 2 French and 2 Spanish students, now richer with 2 Hungarians. I was really happy to meet them, before we came, they already offered their kind help by writing messages to us, asking if we had any questions, and encouraged us that everything will be okay, and we'll have a memorable semester. I was a little afraid that we wont fit in, because they already knew each other since September, but to my surprise we felt nothing like that, not even for a second. I can honestly say we met good, fun people. We put our stuff down, and went to eat our first meal together. I can't remember the name of the place, since I could only remember my name at that point. Everything was still so new, so unbelieveable, I only ordered turkish tea or 'çay' in it's more famous name. I couldn't eat, maybe from the excitement, maybe because I was so tired from traveling, I only had strenght to finally walk alonside the sea, and all I could think of was "I'm here...I'm really here". suso still nice

...the very first thing I noticed was that the weather is not even close to being as cold as back home, in Serbia. While at this second in Subotica (Serbia) it's 2 degree Celsius in Mersin it's 16, but people here dress like it's 2 degrees, because this weather is the winter weather for them, so they feel it more cold than we do. The second thing I noticed, is the way they drive...Fast and Furious movie makers could learn a thing or two from some middle aged bus/car drivers. Also in the bus the radio was screaming turkish music above my head, which I, to be honest, really like. Certain rhythms and sounds remind me of serbian music, so it's not so foreign for me, also many words, habits and behaviors reveal that once the two nations lived together... suso is nice.

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Proud to finally say :

Cheers to the new adventure!

I'm in MERSIN, TURKEY !!! After months of waiting for this day to come...
What I felt when the plane touched down? I can only explain it with an example :

You sit in a restaurant, already ordered your meal, a meal you never had before, but just know it's going to taste awesome, so you order and wait, wait for the waiter to finally show up with your food in their hands. And you get more curious and hungrier in every minute that passes without you getting your order...and then ! They show up and put the long-awaited meal right infront of you. You can smell it, touch it, it's aaall yours. That's how it felt, finally being where I only imagined myself being. A place I was only talking about going to for months to friends and family members who were looking at me with curious and worried eyes.
Picked up my luggage and the doors of the airport opened. A familiar face with a smile greeted me and my friends not so fresh but full of curiosity expression. My friend is also my classfellow from Szeged University, so I'm not the only one who decided to take a step towards this unknown world from my environment.
A kind turkish student from the university where we'll study picked us up, and showed the way to the bus that will take us to Mersin, where we'll live for the next 4 months as Erasmus students.
From Adana airport to Mersin there's a one hour bus drive, and while traveling I forgot how tired I actually was. Looking out of the window of the bus like a child and inhaling everything I saw, like I saw it for the first time...I was thinking : "Everything here is the same, yet everything is so different."

To be continued...

Perfectly said. :)