Recap and Round Two

Jet Lagged Day 1

Last year August, I flew 6500 miles to a city which I had only seen in photos and videos before. Having "walked" around the campus with Google Street View almost everyday prior to my arrival, I thought I knew how it would feel like to be in Tulane, New Orleans, USA.

Well, I had no clue. At first, everything was ambigous. Although I was fluent in English, I couldn't catch up to group conversations yet. I was the kid who didn't speak very much. I would sometimes feel lost during classes.  It took me a while of adjustment to be able to fully appreciate my friends and the education I was receiving, but I got there.

As I learned to accept and appreciate the once problematic cultural differences, my view on humanity changed to a more unifying one. I realised that if we stop focusing on our minute differences, we all share the same needs, hopes, worries and fears. And although I took classes ranging from physical sciences to philosophy and music during my first year, the main idea that stuck with me is this: "We are all citizens of the world." This simple idea, which I somewhat felt towards the end of the year was solidified when my two closest friends came to visit me in Istanbul, Turkey.

Jonathan, Me and Rob. First selfie next to the Bosphorus

As I shared the city which I grew up in with Rob and Jonathan, I got to see it with different eyes. I was walking down the same streets, going to the same cafes, the same museums but it was all happening from a different, new perspective. And I loved it.

The Saturday they were in Istanbul was the first anniversary of Gezi Park Protest, a protest which had started as a peaceful sit-in over plans to demolish a park in central Istanbul but turned violent as the police intervened with tear gas and plastic bullets. My mom told me repeatedly not to take Rob and John to Istiklal Avenue, which was expected to be very chaotic. But I knew we had to go. I knew that no matter how many times they read about the protest, watched videos of it or heard me talk about it, it would not be the same as the experience. They would not have seen how out of everyone protesting first the small Kurdish group got beaten and arrested, how the police looked like they were having a fun day out, how deceiving were the undercover cops dressed like college students with backpacks.

Turkish Police

Our trip wasn't all serious though. We went to a traditional Turkish bath, where we got washed, scrubbed and massaged by Turkish tellaks. Then we traveled south to my grandparents' house in Kusadasi. One night out we met Huseyin, an ex-gardener who had been broke for a very long time. We had a heart-to-heart conversation about life, love and justice with him and promised to keep in touch as we parted. We then traveled along the Aegean coast to Kabak; a beautiful, relatively untouched valley. Although we were originally planning to camp, we had to rent a cabin as the rain flooded our tents during our first night. It was an amazing experience nonetheless.

Pre-Hamam with Rob

John likes to climb

Rob, Huseyin, John and Me

After Kabak, we returned to Istanbul, from where John and Rob flew to Amsterdam to continue their journey and I returned back to my home.

Now I'm back in New Orleans. As I settle in to my new room in Mayer and catch-up with my friends, I'm questioning whether Istanbul or New Orleans feels more like home.