Today I just said that to my friend from my erasmus semester. Before I came to the Netherlands, I was thinking that I will definitely have an amazing semester full of parties, beers and dancing all night. We all know Erasmus means parties, for many people. (okay, I don't deny it is a lie). However, the fact I have never consider is that I really met extraordinary people in Tlburg, my lovely Dutch city. I knew I will have friends, but didn't think that much deep feelings or strong bonds. I mean, of course, there is an important part of Erasmus which consists of parties but still, it is much more than it. One of the worst feelings is saying goodbye to your friends and watching the train to leave in a fullmoon (true story). Let me start:
First of all, it is one of the biggest challenges you can have ever lived. Who knows I can cook "mercimek" or eggplant? I had pretty dreams about my exchange year before I came here, but it was...just beyond my dreams. There were some regular things I loved to do, and if we think that I literally hate doing same things or protesting regularity, it was a different kind of growth for me. For example, I drink wine in every week with Alice (Prague) and made incredibly deep conversations starting from the origin of universe until the questioning of the rooted beliefs. We both feel the concept of "broaden the horizons" at heart haha! Moreover, we cook with Maca (Chile) and Diogo (Portugal) in every week in company with funny videos, daily talks and lots of giggles! I cannot ever forget any single moment spending with them. Oh, espeacially the day we went to Bohemian Rhapsody while singing we will rock you aloud! What else, here my lovely Korean friends who will be always remembered! (Yejin and Soo -she knows her name means water in turkish). They were the excellent chefs who made delicious Korean foods, and loved trying turkish foods like Mantı. I was telling their fortune in english with my turkish coffee cups, and they admired and truly believed whatever I told them. I hope I could see their fortune for real. There were many great people that I cannot finish the list. All the people coming from all over the world meet in this small Dutch city. I have friends from Aruba to Colombia, from South Korea to Thailand or from Switzerland to Indonesia. I feel like all the pieces of the puzzle come together and form a colorful mosaic. It felt, touching the rainbow.
Exchange means breaking all the stereotypes you have, and replacing them with actual truths. Yes, there are great differences between Chinese, Japanese and South Korean people! No, Portugal and Spain are not the same country. And definetely yes, Cappadocia is not the capital of Turkey! In the beginning of your exchange semester, you ask many questions starting with "but Germans are...Chinese always...Brazilians never...". During the time, you hear lots of "it DEPENDS!" and realize that you cannot generalize one color to all. I have a German friend who hates beer, a French friend who actually speaks english and a South Korean friend prefers to be alone instead of being with many people. Just, do not generalize people. In the end, we all know that one size does not fit all.
I realized that we are more similar than we thought. We share universal emotions such as love for commitment, sadness for separation and anger for discrimination. It doesn't matter which continent you live, the only important thing is genuine empathy and mutual understanding. You can always think that there will be always language or cultural barrier, but in fact, it is not. We all get through hard challenges, miss our homes and feel lonely sometimes. "We are only human after all". In the end, you just teach them how to dance the halay and some of them think it is sufi whirling!
One of the best things I have ever made is biking from the Netherlands to Belgium border! I stayed up until the morning for Halloween in Amsterdam, or stuck in a train like a thriller movie. After all, I love you all guys. Thank you for all the memories we made together, and the laughs we shared.
Like Jack Kerouac said, "All of life is a foreign country."
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