What is the most valuable thing about Erasmus? Not what you expect, but what you unexpectedly get.
It´s a strange feeling, but Erasmus is over. Three weeks ago, I returned to the Czech Republic and I am still composing in my head what this experience actually meant to me. I remember Istanbul as one big dream – it was a kind of an insertion into another reality, but not the reality itself.
Istanbul gave me a lot. It showed me life in the suburbs of the Middle East in a place with a completely different culture, religion and political situation. I broadened my horizons, experienced a different rhythm of life, a different everyday life. But everything comes to an end.
The last days between teas and sunsets
The final exams at Bilgi University were, in truth, not very challenging – but perhaps that was because we were encouraged to study frequently during the semester with compulsory assignments. I got A´s in all my classes, while studying intensively mostly just two days before each exam. And it was enjoyable and productive studying – it always helps when I sit down in a nice and inspiring place, like a colorful coffee shop. I wasn´t distracted by the surrounding noise – I can´t understand other people's conversations in Turkish, so they have a similar effect on me as “white noise”.
With the exams over, during the last two weeks of my stay, I found myself in a strange frame of mind – I had the mentality of a person who knows they are leaving soon. Probably also because after the exams all the “Erasmus people” were leaving gradually, so I was constantly saying goodbye to someone. I kept telling myself: “Maybe it´s my last walk around this mosque, maybe it´s the last time I´ll have falafel” or “It´s Tuesday – the last one I'm here, I have to catch the pub quiz."
And then it really came: last tea on the last ferry, last coffee overlooking the Bosphorus, last sunset walk on the Galata Bridge, surrounded by dozens of fishermen.
Back to reality and a quick cut
When I returned to Brno, I felt like a complete stranger for a few days, even in my own city. Everything suddenly felt quiet, slow and all too familiar.
Soon I was engulfed by a new reality - an internship in the Brno newsroom of Czech Television. Suddenly I was covering regional issues, much smaller and quieter than those of Turkey and the Middle East, where the political and economic situation is constantly and often drastically changing. It was a sharp cut and I had to get used to it quickly. The pace was completely different - but that too is part of the experience.
The time was not as much as I expected
My study stay was not without one minor setback. At the beginning of Erasmus I had set myself an ambitious goal – to film part of my future bachelor thesis in Istanbul. Even though I am only in my second year, I wanted to be ahead of the game. It just didn´t work out. I was still a bit worried about how I was going to manage it, and I also didn´t have a great communication with the key respondent, so unfortunately it fell through.
But I´m trying not to take it as a defeat. I know I still have time. I don´t want to just “check off” something as important as my bachelor´s thesis because of a pressing deadline. I want to do it right.
“I will have so much time at Erasmus that, besides my bachelor´s and studies, I will be able to travel and pursue my hobbies from Brno,” was my rather naive diary entry from before I left. In the end, it turned out that I did not continue my habits from Brno in Istanbul. I was busy with a lot of other things and obligations that were on my agenda, so I didn´t really get much free time.
Unexpected solitude, but a rich experience
I was expecting a rather stereotypical scenario from Erasmus – a great group, travelling together, shared experiences. Instead, I was alone most of the time. I explored the city without company or always with someone new and different that I met by chance. Yet, or maybe because of that, my experiences are more diverse. I met a lot of different people, heard their stories, visited many interesting places – and I didn´t mind walking around the city unaccompanied, having lunch alone in a restaurant or going to a café – a podcast or music on my headphones was enough.
Even though Istanbul was more of a dream than a reality, it changed something in me. And maybe that´s what´s most valuable about Erasmus – not what you expect, but what you unexpectedly get. Academically, it was a successful stage - apart from the journalism classes, I was very happy to take the international relations classes that I wouldn´t have been able to take here.
But the most important thing for me was what I learned outside the lecture halls.
The author of the text is a student of the Faculty of Social Sciences and a member of the student editorial team of M Magazine.