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.

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! :)

...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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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...