EPISODE 5: ME? A CELEBRITY? MY, OH MY!

After a 7-hour flight, I arrived in Istanbul. Yep, I was finally in this city. YTB organized a bus to take all students that arrived on that day to their various dorms. We loaded our luggage onto the bus and headed into town around 9AM. After a long ride that included finding other students’ dorms, I finally made it to my dorm.

A beautiful ginormous building. Definitely better looking than the other dorms I had seen early and was secretly wishing my dorm wouldn’t look like. Yes you guessed it, I did Google the dorm when I received my acceptance letter but whew with the way things work, Ghana has taught me to trust nothing, not even ones right in front of me. I disembarked from the bus and took my luggage, that I remembered to take from the bus to the dorm. Why did I say luggage that I remember? Because ladies and gentlemen, remember the Ghana-must-go I bought and put my overweight luggage in it, yes, that one. I forgot it on the bus. And I have still not found it till this day. My village things are strong I tell you. But I’m stronger.

And that is how I officially became a Türk!

I finished all the official lodging procedures and went to my room. I spent the rest of the day unpacking and resting. The next day, I had a new roommate. Meet Salma. She’s from Indonesia. She’s also a YTB student just like myself and she studies Physics Engineering. We quickly became very good friends, sharing experiences and visiting places together.

After arriving, I still had to finish my language course and that sometimes meant going to my university. Anytime I walked out of the dorm, there were always eyes on me. I remember walking around the mall once and being asked by people to take photographs with them. Shocked? Just make the word my middle name already. So here I am walking down the street and there’s people taking pictures. My oh my! I reveled in it. Took as many pictures as my social battery allowed at the time and continued with my life. I finally got used to it, I don’t get as many picture requests as I used to (maybe I’m losing my celebrity status) but I still get the stares.

While juggling life as a celebrity with relocation cultural shocks, I completed TÖMER and graduated with a C1 certificate in Turkish. Yeah, my speaking may be for decorative purposes but hey, I made it.

Salma and I spent the summer traveling around Istanbul, trying Turkish food and taking pictures.

So yeah, since 2021 I’ve had quite a great time in Türkiye. I’ve had the opportunity to travel to over twenty countries via debate and for personal reasons as well. I’m currently in my third year of studies and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything else. It has really helped me grow as a person and I am forever appreciative of it. And thank you for joining me on this journey. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Till next time!

PLAYLIST:

Jealous - Labrinth