A Land of Many Cultures

Two years of Turkish language study in America later, I finally embarked on my study abroad adventure in Turkey. A couple of weeks into my stay here, I am still constantly surprised by both how different and how similar to America the city where I’ve made my Turkish home is. Source: Mason HIll

For this first post, I will talk some about Izmir, the city that I’m based out of this summer. There, I am living with a Turkish family, and taking Turkish language lessons (my Georgetown friends all know this is the culmination of two years of Turkish language study on campus.) For those of you who might be reading this post and wondering what the best way to study abroad to learn a language is— hands down the homestay is essential; you actually live in the language. You might feel like a child as you struggle to communicate, but literally everybody has been there in every language at some point and you learn how to get what you need communicated.

Izmir itself is incredibly charming, if somewhat mellow to a point beyond what you would find in America. It’s a sea city; if you take an eastern Mediterranean cruise you will likely stop off there. These Turks are incredibly proud of their sea (“Deniz”, is the Turkish word) and members of both sexes enjoy taking long walks by the sea side alone, with a romantic partner, with friends, or while running away from salespeople heckling you to buy their products (all very real possibilities).

Izmir is one of those cities that is great to live in, great to learn a language in, and great because it is a hub of that special part of Anatolia with peninsulas like fingers reaching for Greece—indeed on the two weekend trips I have taken to “Yazılıks”(Turkish word for Summer Houses) I was able to see islands over which Greece had maintained sovereignty from the Turkish beach. Highlights of my time in Turkey so far have been seeing the majestic ruins of Ephesus, castles built by the Byzantines, and many mosques (including the mosque whose minaret is literally right outside my bedroom window.)

In a land of many cultures, Izmir gives a different take on what it means to be Turkish: a place where the residents are proud of their Turkish nationalism, where Turkish is almost exclusively spoken in shops, but nevertheless that air of ancient civilizations gone by hangs in the air. As someone who made the decision to study Turkish based in part on the romantic allure of history, it’s a good place to get to know the language, and a good place to make my Turkish home for this summer.