Far From Home: My First Month In Ankara
Hi! I’m Ertugrul. I am 19, and I am a philology prep student at Ankara University. I will get my bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature. I’ve fulfilled my first month in Ankara as you can understand from the title and I wanted to share my experiences as a newcomer to a completely different environment from my hometown. The reason why I am writing, I think that if there is anyone out there feeling the same way as I do, these words can help you to suppress the loneliness you feel.
Firstly, I must say that I was very excited to leave my family and start my own life, but the moment I faced the reality of loneliness, I understand that it’s not an easy thing to embrace. When I lay on my bed in the dormitory, I asked myself “Well, you are finally in Ankara. What will you do now?”. Honestly, I, myself didn’t know how to answer this question. So, dreadful loneliness has fallen on me. I cried and cried. I am not really a cry-baby person, but these emotions were so heavy to me that I couldn’t hold myself back.
I really do not want to mention the economic situation of Turkey. But if I am going to be completely honest with you, I must say that as you all know it is not good. For a young man/woman who has dreams, it is hard to accomplish them. I spent my first week in the dormitory trying to get used to these feelings and find a path. I didn’t have a decent internet connection, and I didn’t have any friends. Just me and the demons of my own. I was desperate. But before the term started, on Sunday I met three beautiful people. And they really got me out of this unstable mental state. After days, I was laughing and not thinking about my loneliness and my future.
When the term started, I was relieved. I was dealing with some things and being around new people was busying my mind. The first two or three weeks they didn’t push us. But right now, I am dealing with many homework, book analysis and my own readings. But I am not complaining about the situation, on the contrary, I am very satisfied and pleased. Finally, I feel like I have something to do in this life.
I shouldn’t get into much detail to not to bore you, but I’m staying at a government dormitory now. My room is for 4 people and I really like my roommates a lot. They are very kind and lovely. At the dormitory, they are helping us with food, and I don’t have to spend my money on feeding myself. But the prep campus is far away from the centre of the city. Therefore, it makes everything so difficult. Because university’s main campuses are at the city centre and everything social is at that campuses. I can’t join a club or a course because it is far away from me. With the bus, in the best conditions, I reach my campus after a one and a half-hour bus ride. You can imagine how hard that would be if I join to something. The only beautiful side of my situation is that I can go to my prep campus from my dorm in 10 minutes. Right now, I am thinking of hiring a flat in the city centre to get easy access to my campus.
I guess I should talk about Ankara for a bit. Ankara is a very crowded city with its 5 million population. People are always in a rush for something like getting early somewhere. Buses are extremely crowded, and its streets are full of people from different countries. You can see Arab, Afghan, Asian and all other nationalities that I can’t even count. My hometown is a mini-city. its population is around 200 thousand people. You can imagine the amazement when I first stepped on the Ankara.
Before the closure, I feel obligated to call out to those who are feeling what I felt. I know you are feeling down, exhausted. I know you are just want to go home and see your family. I don’t know if you miss your family, or you are just missing your comfort zone. But you did it! You are ten steps closer to accomplishing your dreams! Maybe you don’t feel like it, but you’ve worked hard for this don’t you forget that. We just must do what it takes. We should find new interests or things to busy our minds and lead us to the bright side of the situation because we are not a bunch of children anymore. We are building our own future. And this uncertainty shouldn’t prevent us from doing what is necessary. Stop thinking about the future or the things we don’t have any control over. The only thing we can control is now. I am not saying you shouldn’t have a plan; I’m just saying that you should stick to your plan by taking action right now.
So, I’m planning to ride for a few months like this and share my experiences with you. And in the future, I will be talking about lots of different topics. Stay tuned and take care!
