It’s a time when students have the chance to meet interesting people and have new adventures. Sometimes the experience can be overwhelming and for others, well, it’s a piece of cake! For all, it can be life changing.
Two important tools to help you remember your experience later are a travel journal and camera. You and all your friends and family back home will enjoy your experience abroad more if you start using your journal and camera from day one.
The adventures and mishaps that you experience abroad can reveal things about yourself you did not know. Most students I have talked with about their study and work time abroad usually say that they discovered new aspects of their personality when traveling. A few of them have even said they found in themselves a fun or free-spirited self they had not known or recognized they had an adventuresome and mischievous side.
Of course, in this day of technology with smartphones you can keep your travel journal on your notepad on the phone or do it the good ol’ fashioned way and jot your notes on your computer. There are some who may write their experiences with pen and paper. To start, I always recommend that you write down a few expectations and intentions you have before you set off. If you are planning to study or work abroad I would love to hear from you your hopes and desires. It could be as simple as: “I hope for sunny weather and to see the places I studied about in history class,” or “I intend to learn to play a Turkish musical instrument.” Another could be “I hope to learn a basic level of Turkish and make some friends.”
Madeleine is a 19-year-old German woman who has been in Turkey for four months. Madeleine is here on a study abroad program and has seven weeks left. She comes from a German village situated between Frankfurt and Cologne. She told me that her village has only one main street. Can you imagine how she felt when she got off the plane in İstanbul?
In this piece and Monday’s piece, I will share some of Madeline’s insights. Below are some of her comments to key points I raised with her about her time in İstanbul. These points can help you in your journal writing, especially if you have not been one to keep a journal before. I have found in my own journal notes on such points it has helped bring my travels to life in a myriad of ways.
Overviews/thumbnail sketches of your current location: “I am staying in a part of the city on the Asian side called İdealtepe, not far from the Sea of Marmara. İdealtepe only has a few foreigners in the area. It is a beautiful area and very quiet and safe. I love the sunsets and park, where I can do sports.”
Dates, times and weather observations: “When I arrived in late September the weather was really hot. I had to get used to it at first but now in the winter it’s great because it is not too cold. İstanbul is like a magic winter wonderland in the snow.”
Where you’re staying: “I’m staying in a flat with one Korean and one Austrian. It is nice to stay with other people who are different nationalities. Even though we are different in some ways we get along and care for each other. Sometimes it is also a bit difficult though because the cultures are so different. I am learning to adapt to other people and to make compromises.”
The names of other interesting travelers or locals you meet: “I met a professor who is Turkish and teaches at Marmara University. Her name is Ayşe and she speaks really good German. I also met a woman named Juliet who is an Armenian and she lived in Germany for about 10 years. They are both so hospitable.”
In my next piece we share some more points such as: Madeline’s favorite works of art; what she ate and places and things she likes or dislikes in İstanbul, plus much more.
Travel is not just about a place but the people and their perceptions. Including these points in your journal helps you remember and later share those memories with your loved ones and friends.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” -- Henry Miller
