Celebrating Novruz in Turkey
Hello everyone,
I am Ali, an Erasmus exchange student from Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan. Currently, I am doing my exchange semester at Celal Bayar University in Manisa, Turkey. I have had great experiences in one month since I arrived here, both in university and generally. Firstly, I want you to know that Erasmus’s chance will be one of the greatest opportunities you will get, for improving yourself in your field with a foreign university and strengthening your network. The variety of technological facilities here helps me understand my subjects better and team works make me iterate with local people and have a great relationship. Turkish people are generally very warm-hearted people, and they will help you in any difficult situation you will face. Outside the university, you can still enjoy yourself with a great nature view around the city and spend your time in good café shops and shopping malls. Izmir is approximately 30 minutes from Manisa and there are even better places to visit there such as Alacati, Ephesus, etc. In Manisa, you can meet Azerbaijanian people also, who can help you to know the city better and make you feel more comfortable in a foreign city. Since Turkish people don’t celebrate Novruz, I was thinking to celebrate alone, but thanks to the Azerbaijanian people, they invited me to their celebration, and we had a very good time there and I even got a chance to meet more new amazing people. We also cooked the sweets such as “shakarbura”,” pakhlava” and grow “Samani” according to our traditions. It was one of the best celebrations, which I will always remember. It is all for now, I will share my further experiences later.
