Since 3 Months...

"It’s been a long time since I came around
Been a long time but I’m back in town"

Yeah, i still can't believe it but it's been hugely 3 months. My life has dramatically changed in these 3 months. If i had stuck in place where i always belonged, I wouldn't have experienced the things which i don't appreciate that much right now but i'm sure i'll be so grateful by the end of the year :)
I've had so many amazing memories that would take my 15 days to write.. But today is one of the special days so i'll do whatever it takes :) It's been like 1 day since i came here, literally..  Let the journey begin ;)


I left Turkey 24 hours ago.. All of my fellow travelers and I were looking around us for the last time. We were about to start a long journey of which we had just known a little. I hugged my whole family with tears inside of my heart, trying to hide them. I said to myself "Farewell Turkey and my dears.."


Two hours later i already met the others, they were such an amazing people that we had so much fun together. I just had lots of friends from lots of countries in a short time. I wouldn't even think of getting that much multicultural friends!




21 hours ago, I got my sweet host family. We had our first lunch and started to get used to each other. Since then i've never felt myself as if i'm trying to adopt myself or push myself. It has just happened and now i totally feel myself as a part of the family :)




I still remember the first day we went to school to check how was it before it opened. It was a strange feeling that you would go to a new school whose education was totally different, the people in there were totally strange to you and mostly... a new environment which you had no idea. But i got used to it as well, now it's likely that i don't want to leave it :) Being in a strange place but with my fellow traveler helped me a lot, we learned things together; we shared everything to each other. Luckily Emre was there for me ;)

Then i had a rest, afterwards i just woke up and found myself in a lake with my sweet German friend Svenja! I had never swam in lake before that. It was kind of strange because some places were so deep and some were so shallow. But it was recorded as a memory too :)



Yeah around 16 hours ago, i was in Budapest. The gorgeous historical bridge, which i've been several times and i'm sure i'll be there for lots of times too. I love Budapest, it's an amazing city. I just wish we didn't have so many troubles to travel.




Then i went to Balaton Lake which is really famous in Hungary. Most of the German tourists visit here and it's such a beautiful holiday resort. And i was the first time in my life that i had ever seen an alive swan! They were so beautiful and so exquisite.




I feel like it's been just 10 hours since i celebrated my birthday! You can find more details in previous posts ;) it was the first birthday that i was away from my family but so close to my new family :) That was the birthday that i'll never be able to forget *.*

Yeah, i've been in Austria once too, you can find it in here! Vienna is really close to place where i live. It's even closer than Budapest! It takes me approximately 1.5 hours to get there or less :) I hope i can spend more than there :)




Picking up grape was another thing that i had never intended to do. Anyway it was a nice experience and i think i'll never do it again :D You can find my 'Szüret' Blog in here!






Then... Partying! It's the best way to celebrate after-suffering-school-weekdays. If you ever come Hungary, that means.. you'll drink a lot :D It was my first party and i had lots of fun! Actually, it's enough to be with friends. They will eventually cheer you up :)




About 5 hours ago we had an IDD (Intercultural Dialogue Day) in another city near to mine. We all prepared presentations about our countries and brought lots of special things. We just knew our cultures but not that deeply. We all got the chance to learn more about our cultures :)

I went to Budapest again.. It was annual Turkish Republic Day. I haven't seen my fellow travelers for 15 hours. I've missed them yaay! It was good to spend time altogether again :) check it out what we've done in here!




Oh, my love! Budapest at night! The most beautiful view that i've ever gotten so far. It's just amazing. When i'm there i feel like my heart is hanging in my stomach. I have a total stroke!




And just couple of hours ago the last thing i did was to give Free Hugs! It was a lot of fun to do because most people didn't initially hug us, we just jumped and hugged them :D So now the whole city knows us as 'Hugging Freaks' :P

So i just turned many pages in my novel but i have lots of pages to write :) I'll keep on writing them and when i look back at this time i'm sure that i'll have lots of things to remember by. If i can't turn the page i'll just lose it and throw it out but accept the loss. Life is short, live the way you like it :)

Republic Day of Turkish Republic & Budapest ♥

I love this city so much, darn! It's the perfect combination of history and modernism, it's indescribable :) Turkish Embassy in Hungary sent me an invitation for Republic Day of Turkey last month. When i got the mail i felt so special because my own country's embassy sent me an exclusive invitation in my name written! I immediately sent a message to my other turkish exchange friends about the occasion and arranged everything altogether.

Then we met yesterday, early in the morning. We were all hungry and we knew that there was a turkish restaurant, so we started to look for it. After walking half an hour finally we found it! We all directly ordered our food then sat down. I missed most of the turkish foods and was so excited to taste them again. It was perfect! I remembered how i miss İstanbul :( Anyway it was still amazing :) And we listened turkish music after 2.5 months! I felt like i was in Istanbul for a moment :P

After having a perfect lunch we went for sightseeing. We saw the monumental Parliament. We went to a coffee shop to have drinks near the Europe's second longest river and most gorgeous one Danube. As you can see we had lots of fun! Living one day as a total turkish guy in abroad made me feel like a bomb which is waiting for activation heheh :)
Then... It's time for getting ready :) After dressing up we went to the Museum of Fine Arts where the reception held.

We talked all night long, we've missed each other so much. We drank Rakı ,our national drink, ate lots of turkish food during day and at night, talked turkish after months... In a word, we lived one day as if we were in Turkey :) I really needed that motivation and it was perfect!

And here are my sweet Turkish Exchange Friends! 

As i don't live in Budapest i had to sleepover at someone's house. Thanks to sweet volunteer Niki Buda from AFS orientation camp i had a place to sleep :) And after all in the morning i've met our angel Eszti and my mexican friend Monica to have breakfast then go back to Győr. They were in a concert which Mexican embassy sent an invitation to Mony Pony :) Look at us! We were all so tired that our dark circles wouldn't be more annoying in the picture :D

I love Budapest! It's a really nice place to live, shop, wander around, spend time with friends... I mean everything! I hope that I'll see you soon Budapest! :)

I Am An Exchange Student!

–How are you going to know what a dream is, if you never fulfilled one?
–How are you going to know what an adventure is if you never took one?
–How are you going to know what anguish is, if you never said “goodbye” to your friends and family with your eyes full of tears?
–How are you going to know what desperation is, if you never arrived to a place alone, and without understanding what people was saying?
–How are you going to know what missing is, if you were never far away from home?
–How are you going to know what diversity is, if you never shared the same roof with people from all over the world?
–How are you going to know what tolerance is, if you never had to get used to something different, even if you didn’t like it?
–How are you going to know what autonomy is, if you never had to take decisions for yourself?
–How are you going to know what growing up is, if you never stopped being a child for starting a new way?
–How are you going to know what impotence is, if you never felt like hugging somebody, but a screen was stopping you?
–How are you going to know what distance is, if looking on a map you never said “How far away I am!”
–How are you going to know what a language is, if you never had to learn one to make new friends?
–How are you going to know what patriotism is, if you never screamed “I love my country!” holding a flag in your hands?
–How are you going to know what a party is, if you never travelled hours to get to one?
-How are you going to know what reality is, if you never had the chance to see many different ones, to form a new one?
–How are you going to know what a chance is, if you never took one?
–How are you going to know what pride is, if you never felt it for yourself when realizing what you have achieved?
–How are you going to know what enjoy your time is, if you never saw it going away very fast?
–How are you going to know what a friend is, if circumstances never taught you who are the real ones?
-How are you going to know what family is, if you never had one that supported you unconditionally?
–How are you going to know what a frontier is, if you never had to cross yours, to see what is beyond?
–How are you going to know what money is, if you never had to administrate yours to make it last?
–How are you going to know what imagination is, if you never thought about the moment of going back home?
–How are you going to know what the World is, if you have never been to abroad as an AFSer ?

Szüret*

*Picking up grapes is really hard thing to do if you're not used to it. Last sunday all AFS'ers in Győr and Sopron gathered in Sopron to go to the Szüret. Because of living Győr we had to wake up so early that we could catch the bus to Sopron, which took us 1.5 hour to go. It was the first time that i had ever woken up so early, i woke up at 4 a.m! It was really exhausting :D In addition, Hungary is really cold at nights and early mornings. It's like 10 degrees in the morning and then 25 degrees in the afternoon!

After all, when we arrived in Sopron it was 9 a.m and we started to work immediately. It was a really laborious job. We were like a crew separated in 2 groups :)

And this is how a Hungarian grape looks like. It's smaller than the Turkish grape but it tastes really good :)

And... At the end we picked up lots of grapes! There were like a zillion grapes! :D

Then we went to a special place to make wine. Finally, at the end of the process we drank must (click on it!) which means young wine. It was really delicious!

I know it's kind of cliché but frankly I had really nice experiences that i'll never forget :)

It's Britney, Bitch!

"Britneeeey, Britneey!!!!" Most of the people going to the concert was shouting crazily in Budapest streets! Britney Spears means Pop Culture! And that pop culture was in Hungary a week ago! She rocked the whole city! :P And as for me it was an unforgettable memory because unfortunately i don't think that she'll come to Turkey in the next years :( So... I'm super glad that i've got the chance to see childhood pop diva :)

She sang mostly all of her popular songs. Mostly from 'Femme Fatale' album and her previous songs which are "...Baby, One More Time; Toxic; Oops!... I Did It Again" etc... Then she made the final with "Till The World Ends" it was super cool!


And here's the ending, if you want to watch just click on it :)

Welcome To Vienna

I had my first abroad trip during my AFS year 3 days ago! We went to Vienna, also called Bécs in Hungarian and Wien in German. That was one of the most beautiful places that i had ever been! It was full of historical places and you can totally feel History in Vienna.

I took lots of pictures, so... instead of telling everything i'd like to show the pictures :)
It's Schönbrunn Palace! It's one of the palace that belongs to Royalty.

It's enormously huge, it's impossible to see everywhere in one day! The thing that i'm fascinated by is GARDEN! I really can't explain how big it is but it's really really BIG! :D

And in the garden i  saw a squirrel for the first time! It was really cute :)

Afterwards we went to the Fun Fair which was the most enjoyable part of my day! We pushed the boundaries and the adrenaline :P Thanks to my class-mates i got the chance to see everything! 

And here is my sweet class-mates :)

After all of this we got 3 free hours to spend in the city. When we arrived to the city, actually it was the first time that i felt i was in Istanbul. There were less people than Istanbul but there were even much more people than in Győr or in Budapest :P

Oh, I can't explain how much i loved this city! <3

So... I love Austria! I hope I'll get another chance to visit again :)

17 Éves Vagyok! *

*I'm 17 years old! Yaay it was my birthday and my sweet sweet host family made me a great surprise! I'm totally feeling home right now, no homesickness! :)

For the 3 days i knew that they were hiding something from me but i couldn't manage to find what was that. I think it's better because it wouldn't be a great surprise for me if i had known what was the surprise :P

And.. Here's our moment! I'm Hungary for Turkey !!! I was really amazed when i first saw the cake because i've been joking about being 'Hungry and Turkey' since i came here :D So then they gave me a perfect birthday present :)

And here is my sweet sweet family! I love you guys, thank you so much! <3 :)

A Month Ago...

It's been a month since I came this small lovely country. I feel like i've been here for a month and next week i'll return to my home country from my sweet holiday. But i also feel like i've been here for a month and i have 10 more months. But these 10 months seem like 10 days! Beginning a new life and re-building everything in your life is hard to leave. The feeling of leaving is even hard to think. But they say "Even if something's going to end that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride" Well yeah, tomorrow is my birthday and i'm so happy to have participated in AFS intercultural programmes. The Kadir, a month ago was a totally different person. This exchange year tought me what does life really look like...  I <3 AFS, Happy 1st Month! :)

Precious Lessons

Being an exchange student makes me feel like I'm a baby :) Because exchange year means: growing up, learning, experiencing, self confidence and independence.

Today it's my second day at school and so far i've learned so many precious lessons.

Number 1: If you're new at your school you should always observe everything, everyone.. i mean anything! Because you're new there and you have to learn the rules. They're not gonna change their rules if you're there. You're the one who should get used to it.

Number 2: At first you will feel strange because in everyway you're different from them. Your time-table, your dressing way, your hair colour... indeed everything! But it'll take your 2 days to get used to it :)

Number 3: If you don't know the language don't be afraid of trying! They'll laugh when you try but it's not because you can't speak, it's because you'll be cute when you're trying.

Number 4 and the last one: Smile to anyone even if you haven't been introduced! It'll show your kindness and hostility to new people.

I'm glad that AFS told me these lessons before i came here but now i got the chance to try them! And i can say that they're %100 true :)

Foods, Drinks and Palinka!

If you ever visit Hungary, for sure you'll gain at least 5 kilos! But don't panic, it's worth :)

Firstly, as far as i learned in 7 days; Hungarians are popular for their drinking habits and drinks. It means that... PALINKA! The palinka is an alcoholic drink which has lots of kinds. Such as; Blackberry, cherry, plum, apple etc.. And It's strength depends on the person who makes it. For example my host dad likes it strong and he makes his own palinka at home!


When i first saw it i found it really awkward but then i got used to it... It's Fruit Soup! They put every kind of fruit inside of it and it takes 1 or 2 days to make. They usually drink this soup in Summer when it's unbearably hot. When you drink it you can feel you're really relaxed and refreshed.

After drinking soup if you're still hungry, you can find this sandwich every cafe/restaurant you go. It includes; Cheese, ham, sweet corn, mushroom sauce and mustard. It's so delicious that once you order it you want more!




I don't know how it's called but it taste like Ravioli and with the cream of the chicken, its taste doubles!



And here's our Daily Breakfast including; tomato, omelette with ham, coffee or tea with honey and tuna fish cream!




I hope, by the end of the year i won't have gained 20 kilos! Or else you can see a new totally changed Kadir instead of normal Kadir! :)

Orientation, New Friends, New Cultures...

3 days, 2 nights was so exciting, interesting, comprehensive, educational and so beautiful... It passed so fast that i want it back :) Firstly... AFS and Camp rules! I'm uploading the rules if you guys wanna have a look at it.



And secondly the place where we stayed. As you can see it's view was perfect! but unfortunately we weren't allowed to swim :( we were just able to look at it -.- But anyway, it's still perfect!



In the morning, the weather was so cold that we were wearing sweaters. If i hadn't worn it i wouldn't have been able to feel my ASS :D
Oh i have so many pictures to share with you guys! I'm even so excited to write :)
First night at camp with mostly Italians, Germans and Asians :)

And time to leave :( But...

"Even if you know something's going to end that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride"

So i did and still doing the same :) Here's the last moments of the orientation.

And time to meet my sweet sweet host family :)