LIFE IN TURKEY - THE THREAD 3

Oh wow where to begin, let’s see. I wanna do this politics-free because I for one try to keep politics from affecting my everyday life.

Life in Turkey isn’t very easy. Everything is so monotonous yet unorganized. I don’t know how this is possible. I really don’t. Your future is pretty much predicted by both yourself and people around you yet your way to your predicted future isn’t clear. When you wake up in the morning, you know how your day is going to be and where you’ll be when it ends but things rarely go as planned however things always end up the way they were planned. Idk if that’s good or bad, you decide.

Being a child/teenager in Turkey isn’t that hard. People are usually understanding and helpful because you’re very young. But 18 and after is a bit of a challenge. High school begins at the age of 14 and ends at 18. On the last year of high school, there’s this lovely exam that basically determines your future. The formation of that exam has changed a lot recently so even if I tell you what it’s like right now, that might not be correct information three months later. With the result of that exam you choose a university and a department. You can choose between universities that your grade is enough to get in. The exam is hard as hell. It requires you to study for a whole year and i mean like really study. And I’ll be taking that exam this year, wish me luck and sanity.

After you take the exam while you’re looking at universities to choose, you don’t have that many choices. Especially if you want a guaranteed future in Turkey. To have a guaranteed future people usually choose to study these; engineering, law, medicine, architecture, psychology and maybe one or two more i couldn’t think of. This situation may require adjusting yourself a bit. If you want to be an astronaut, Space and Aircraft Engineering should do just fine for you. But that doesn’t mean that people should give up on what they love doing. A friend of mine is passionate about physics and he wanted to study physics for the rest of his life but there aren’t too many good opportunities in physics in Turkey, he might’ve had to move to another country, so he decided to study in engineering while also studying physics. If you’re good at and okay with adjusting and have at least standard IQ you’ll do just fine and with a little bit of hard work, you’ll do even better than fine.

Let’s talk about social life now. There’s always something for everyone.

• If you like clubbing and over 18, you can easily find clubs for your taste.
• If you’re into arts you can find many exhibitions, art galleries and workshops.
• If you’re into music, there are a lot of concerts going on. If I remember correctly Shakira is coming to Istanbul tomorrow. Local bands are really active. And they’re good. Like reaally good.
• If you like drinking you can find various pubs with various themes and various kinds of drinks.
• If you enjoy coffee, yay. There are a lot of great coffee shops. Yes there is Starbucks on every corner but local coffee shops are way better. Their interior design, the music playing there, the atmosphere are all so great.
• If you like reading books, there are so many awesome bookshops. I don’t know if anyone’s interested but there’s a bookshop in Ankara, Kızılay called Dost (Friend) and I just love there. Very nice staff, so many choices of books, albums, records. I’ve been buying nearly all of my books/albums from there since i was little.
• If you’re into working out, you can easily find a gym that suits your needs.

Basically, there’s always something for everyone.

One of my favourite things about Turkey; its natural beauty. So much to see, so much to explore and experience. The country is rounded by seas. Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea. Each has something different to offer you. You can experience different weather conditions in the same season in different cities. You can experience all four seasons in one year. My point is; you have so many vacation options! You never say something like “ugh i don’t know where to go this summer without leaving the country” because there’s always somewhere that you didn’t see.

Last but not least, Turkish people. Turkish people are nice. We’re warm, kind, caring. We’re kind of known for our hospitality which i recommend everyone to come and see themselves. This makes life easier. Just today, an old man in subway patted me on the shoulder and said my shoelaces were untied and that i might trip and fall so i should tie them. If this isn’t the nicest thing ever, i don’t know what is. Oh and just fyi when you’re a tourist here, you’ll be welcomed really sincerely. It makes Turkish people happy to see people from other countries are curious about Turkey or just wants to see Turkey. You might not get fluent English speakers everywhere tho, English is pretty different from Turkish so it’s hard to speak English, for many people.

To summarize, life in Turkey is an adventure with checkpoints and boosters and all. For example you can never make sure if the car in front of you is going to decide on stopping when the red light flashes, or you never know if a dollar will cost cheaper in Turkish Lira or not, or if the examination system’s gonna change or not. It’s full of unexpected series of events yet in the end, everything works out the way it should.

P.S: If anyone’s interested in Turkish music, I like recommending music, please contact me somehow.

Turkish cuisine is probably one of the broadest cuisines in the world. Every region’s (there are 7 regions) even every city’s local dish or beverage or even dessert is different. In East Anatolia, there’s a lot of meaty stuff going on, in Aegean (south west of Turkey) you can find many veggie dishes with olive oil. But it’s possible to eat a region’s food without actually being there, you can find every region’s food wherever you are, just as not as good as you’d find in the region. This makes travelling and life itself better. Good food means happy people.