presentation

We are not here for making holidays!

Between tourism and real life:
Living and studying in Turkey is a very interesting experience for us. We
wanted to explore Turkey. But when we arrived we couldn’t see the real
Turkey. Today we consider it as ayip that we focused so much on tourist
activities. We feel a little ashamed about it because it kept us off
exploring the “real Turkish life”. It prevented us from going on contact
with Turkish people and from experiencing the Turkish way of life.

Part 1:
Surrounded by city map and travel guide
When we arrived in Turkey, we did a lot of activities that are typical for
tourist. We drank apple tea and tried Turkish delight. We visited famous
sights such as Grand Bazaar, Hagia Sophia, Pamukkale and many
more and were fascinated by the beauty of these places. Furthermore we
learned o lot about Turkish history.

Pamukkale the “cotton castle” where millions of tourist go every year. It
is a really amazing place.

Ephesus the old and historic city with the famous theatre and thousands
of old stones.

Blue mosque: one of the most famous mosques in Istanbul. In summer
you have to queue for hours to get in.

Hagia Sophia: Our favorite mosque in Istanbul with amazing contrasts.

The Galatta Tower: A Symbol of Istanbul offers a nice view over the
city.

Kiz Kulesi by night: A very place nice to watch the illuminated sights
around the Bosporus and the passing ships.

Part 2
What activities are we doing today? We are not depending of city map
and travel guide anymore. Our every day life is now closer connected to
the Turkish way of life. We have Turkish friends and flatemates, we try
to get in contact with Turkish citizens, we do our shopping on nontouristical
Turkish bazaars. We spent a lot of time drinking tea or
Turkish coffee, we eat and cook Turkish food. Furthermore we play
Tavla and attend serval events with Turkish people.

One of our teachers at our home university reminded us before going to
Turkey: “ You will not be there for making holidys!”. Here you see uns
studying with friends.

Eating Turkish food is a part of our every day meals. Our common
choices are corba or bulgur pilav. Easy and chic to cook!

Shopping on the Sali Pazar. Hugh offers and small prices and people
grubbing in hills of clothes and food for the best pieces. Buy thing you do
not need!

Turkish Hospitality: At the living room of a friend. Her mother cooked
for us. Now we are full and can’t move anymore.

Cay and rummy with people we just met. A jovial afternoon and makes
us feel really Turkish!?

At a Turkish reggea concert. Dancing and celebrating with friends and
strangers.

Our Conclusion
We are living between at least 2 worlds. On the one hand there is the
tourist world: we visit the beautiful sights. But the more time we spent in
Turkey the wore we learned about the second world: the real life in
Turkey. Although we do not focus on the typical tourist activities
anymore and have a lot of contact with Turkish people, we have the
impression that we are still unfortunately not fully experiencing the
“real” Turkish life.