This page is mostly directed to potential Mauritian students (thinking of) applying for further studies in Turkey but is more or less applicable to others thinking of doing the same. I’ll update this space as and when necessary, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions not covered below.
Over the past two years, I’ve had several students being directed to me regarding further studies in Turkey, which is why I have decided to compile here a list of questions that usually come up during our conversations, and some that I felt one should know before moving to Turkey. If you’ve reached this page, it probably means that you’ve already sent your application to the concerned organization, have had your interview and just received the email informing you that you have been accepted to study at a university in Turkey. If so, congratulations! If not, I wish you all the best.
I’ve just spent the past 9 months living in a yurt, i.e. a Turkish dormitory and I have to say, I didn’t think I would make it. It hasn’t been a horrible experience but it hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns either. I’ve definitely learned a couple of things since I first moved here though.
1. It’s going to suck
…. But then it will suck less and less. I remember my very first day here. I had just spent about 27 hours on the ‘road’ trying to get from Mauritius to Ankara, including at 15 hours at Nairobi Airport sitting in uncomfortable chairs watching chick flicks and reading manga. I was tired and sleep-deprived – the only time I had slept was during my one hour flight from Istanbul to Ankara which was so brief that it hardly counts at all. And seeing where I would be staying the next three years just made want to spend the next 27 hours back on (more than) a plane back home. It’s old and cold – not just in the temperature sense – and it took a while to get used to the communal bathrooms and shared rooms. With the academic year over, my dorms will be closing for summer because of repairs so I’m having to move to a designated one until it opens again (hopefully) in September. It took months to finally get settled in and get a hang around everything, just the thought of leaving now is heart-breaking.
Now here was a trip that took more than it should have to be realised. Originally it had been something my boyfriend and I had booked to celebrate my birthday, up until the point I ended up boyfriend-less (for various complicated reasons) with flights and hotels already paid for. It didn’t make any sense to cancel the trip and well there is no better cure in my opinion than travelling to get over a breakup (and I have definitely been travelling more since). There were a few more hiccups along the way when my flights got cancelled due to a Lufthansa pilot strike, which took a while and more than a few tears to get sorted and there I was, finally on my way. I had managed to convince my cousin living in Heidelberg to come down for a day and the remaining two days I spent with a friend of mine and her boyfriend already living in Munich. Continue reading Drama to Munich→
Tales of a Mauritian 