Four months, two con­ti­nents, count­less impressions

Bet­ween si­mit stalls, ba­zaars and lec­tures – my life in Istanbul.

As part of my dual stu­dy pro­gram at DHBW Stutt­gart, I had the op­por­tu­ni­ty to spend four months of my theo­re­ti­cal pha­se at Ka­dir Has Uni­ver­si­ty in Is­tan­bul. Thanks to the gre­at sup­port of the DHBW, the Eras­mus+ pro­gram and TecAlliance, the or­ga­niza­ti­on went smooth­ly – and crea­ted space for one of the most in­ten­si­ve and en­ri­ching ex­pe­ri­en­ces of my studies.

When I ar­ri­ved at the end of Ja­nu­ary, we in­ter­na­tio­nal guest stu­dents were wel­co­med by a de­di­ca­ted team of Ka­dir Has stu­dents who took gre­at care of all the in­ter­na­tio­nal guests. It did­n’t take long to form clo­se fri­end­ships with peo­p­le from all over the world. Tog­e­ther we ex­pe­ri­en­ced unfor­gettable mo­ments: city tours, boat trips, yacht par­ties, ca­ble car ri­des, crea­ti­ve work­shops and trips to Cap­pa­do­cia and An­ta­lya fil­led our weeks with life and diversity.

My ever­y­day life in Is­tan­bul was cha­rac­te­ri­zed by open­ness, warmth and a con­stant hust­le and bust­le. I li­ved in the midd­le of a li­vely dis­trict full of weekly mar­kets, ba­zaars and street ven­dors – a place whe­re the city tru­ly never sleeps. Whe­ther I was ha­ving tea in the mor­ning, bar­gai­ning with the gre­eng­ro­cer or buy­ing si­mit on every cor­ner in the evening, I en­coun­te­red ge­nui­ne hos­pi­ta­li­ty ever­y­whe­re. The­se ever­y­day en­coun­ters and the en­er­gy of the city made Is­tan­bul unfor­gettable for me.

Stu­dy­ing at Ka­dir Has Uni­ver­si­ty was also very in­spi­ring. The cour­ses were prac­ti­cal and very in­ter­ac­ti­ve – with group work, port­fo­li­os and an open ex­ch­an­ge with young, mo­ti­va­ted lec­tu­r­ers. Espe­ci­al­ly af­ter the se­ve­re ear­th­qua­ke, the com­mu­ni­ty among the stu­dents was pal­pa­ble – an ex­pe­ri­ence that went far bey­ond the sub­ject matter.

The city its­elf is full of con­trasts: On the Eu­ro­pean side the­re are his­to­ric dis­tricts and tra­di­tio­nal ca­fés, ba­zaars and Ot­to­man buil­dings and sights, on the Asi­an side mo­dern bars, mar­kets and pro­me­na­des, be­a­ches and sports sta­di­ums. Places like Ka­dı­köy, Fa­tih and Şiş­li have shown me how mul­ti-laye­red and li­vely Is­tan­bul is – con­stant­ly on the move, al­ways sur­pri­sing and com­ple­te­ly spon­ta­neous every day. If you get ful­ly in­vol­ved in life, you can ex­pe­ri­ence the sto­ries and cul­tures of many in­di­vi­du­als at first hand.

Thanks to the many en­coun­ters, I was able to im­pro­ve my Tur­ki­sh and quick­ly found my way around in ever­y­day life – even when fil­ling out the no­to­rious forms as a long-term guest in Turkey.

I will never for­get the­se months. Is­tan­bul is loud, li­vely, co­lorful – and at the same time full of small, quiet mo­ments. It is a place that con­nects. And I’m al­re­a­dy loo­king for­ward to re­tur­ning soon. Be­cau­se this city no lon­ger feels foreign.