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.