In 2008 I studied and lived in Turkey for about 8 months. I was a participant of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), an exchange program that gives students the oppurtunity to study in a foreign country. I chose to do this in Eskisehir (Eski = Old, Sehir = city), Turkey.

In Eskisehir I studied at the Anadolu University at the Cinema & Television department. During my studies there I made several films and photography projects, learned a little bit of Turkish language and about it’s history and travelled the entire country and some of it’s middle eastern neighbours, many photo’s I have taken on this great journey can be found in my portfolio up till today (allthough I am currently making a new selection of pictures).

Apart from all that, during my study, me and some other Erasmus students were asked to be interviewed for a Turkish TV channel at the University about the Erasmus program and our experiences with it. ‘Why did I choose Turkey?’ ‘What are the biggest differences between the university in Turkey and the one I study in at Holland?’ And a whole lot more questions like that.

I was never able to actually (re)watch the interview myself either online or on TV, but my dad came across the following article from the ‘Anadolu Haber’ a Turkish newspaper from the Anadolu University.

Basically what the article says is that I had been in Istanbul a year earlier -  before I went there for Erasmus – and fell in love with the city and it’s people (this is true ).

It also says that I talked about two Turkish Students (Pinar and Fikeriye) who went for Erasmus in Holland at my faculty from Turkey and when I became friends with them. I decided to study in Turkey myself for a couple of months. The article goes on about how ‘special’ it was for me and then continues with the questions about our cultural diversities and stuff like, all very interesting!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you, I found it quite nice to see this article.

And for the ones who can read Turkish, enjoy

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So this is what happened; I was enjoying a coffee and reading a book in Rossio, a nice area of Lisbon  with the biggest shopping street and two nice squares with some very nice fountains on both ends. Sitting at the cafe next to one of the squares, a little girl and – I assume – her mother asked me to buy hankerchiefs. I had allready given a little money to someone else earlier that day, so it was enough for me. But they kept bothering me, more then usually. The little girl was on the left behind me at some point while the mother was on the right side behind me. I was holding my iPhone (I was texting). The little girl started tapping my shoulder annoyingly, so I turned to her and at the same time (soooo stupid!) I put my iPhone on the table. The little girl pushed the hankerchiefs in front of my face (so that I couldn’t see propperly anymore) and when I pushed the hankerchiefs away they finally went away. But off course when I looked down on the table the phone was allready gone! I had allready payed for my coffee so I went looking for them instantly. Obviously they were nowhere to be found. I suppose it really WAS the oldest trick in the book…

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Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (also known as Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam) was born on the 27th of october in 1466. He was a was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic Christian theologian (and much, much more..). And he was way ahead of his time when it came to opinions about war, women rights and for example Christianity. He is by far the most famous person of the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and during his studies he went all over Europe to gain more knowledge and to learn more about cultural diversities. He wanted more people to do the same because it was such a life changing situation for him.

And in 1987 the Erasmus Scholarship programme was born. In a way, as a legacy to Erasmus himself. The programme offers students within the European Union, but also some future EU canditates (such as Turkey and Switzerland) to go abroad and study in a different university than the one in their own country. It is now also possible to do an internship abroad.

I was an Erasmus student in Eskisehir, Turkey for one semester. I was there for 7 months in total. I studied Cinema & Television at the Anadolu University (one of the biggest campuses in the world) and my time in Turkey was simply unforgettable. You get to meet so many people from all over the world (not only Europe, because there are obviously more scholarship programmes) and you get to learn about their culture and visa versa.

The beauty of the Erasmus programme for me personally is that you will be Erasmus forever, even when you’ve gone home, you’ll always be Erasmus. The people you meet during your Erasmus time – both local and international – become your friends and some of those friends become best friends. In other words: you visit them and they visit you.

Basicly, that is what Desiderius Erasmus wanted to achieve and in the end he did! A very good friend of mine who I met during my Erasmus time once said that ‘Erasmus was the lesson of her life’. She didn’t mean the studying part on another university in particulair, but mostly she meant that getting to know so many new people and learning about each others cultural diversities and obviously about the country you are living in is just one big eye-opener. A life changer.  And once you have removed the prejudices you might have had about a certain country all the little pieces fall into place and you start to understand what Erasmus was talking about hundreds of years ago.

So for all future Erasmus students who read this and maybe even more for the ones who are not quite sure yet weather to go or not; GO! Go and meet with international and local people. Get to know the country you will live in and you will love it after some time, I’m sure. Go and have the time of your life.

I am now, fot the ones who don’t know this yet by the way, Erasmus for the second time. back in turkey I was studying and now I am doing an internship. It’s a new and different situation for me in which I will keep you posted within my upcoming blogs (and some previous ones). The video below is a short TV programme I directed at the university in Turkey. I allready posted it before, but I’d like to put it here again. It will give you at least a little bit of a feeling of it might be when you Erasmus. I hope you enjoy watching it and I hope, for the ones that aren’t sure yet of having their own Erasmus experience, might change their minds and simply go after watching it.

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