My name is Kamila and I’m from Poland. This will be kind of a summary for my short-term volunteering project with Pi Youth Association 🙂
I came to Izmir with no expectations because I’ve never been to Turkey and this is the approach I try to implement whenever I’m going to a new place, that gives me opportunity to be nicely surprised never disappointed. Since day one I’m in love with the sun, which is definitely deficit product in Europe during the wintertime. The omnipresent smell of Turkish coffee is amazing, and I won’t lie if I say that I needed some time to get use to the rush and chaos on the roads, not to mention that I have to learn how to cross the street safely 😆 but I think that all these little things are the beauty and essence of this place.
Because of people that I met here I had a chance to see not only Izmir but also a few of the cities around it, for example Urla, Çeşme and Alaçatı. All of them stole my heart and I instantly fall for them. Little streets, houses with colourful additions to them, all looking like straight from the fairytale. I’m very into architecture so for me it was an amazing experience to be able to see how different but, in a sense, the same are all of this cities. I don’t think it will be exaggeration if I say that never in my life I have seen as beautiful water as I’ve seen on the beach in Çesme. When we were there everything was just perfect, the weather was amazing, we had some snacks with us, we listened to nice music, people were fishing, we discovered a little cave, this day I will remember forever…
After this 2 month all I can say is that this time was definitely too short and even though I’m missing my family and friends I couldn’t be sadder that I’m leaving. I spent here an amazing time; I met amazing people – that is sooo true what they say about Turkish hospitality! I will miss the sun, beautiful nature, palm trees and aloe Vera plants in which I’m in love with! Smiling people drinking their çay in front of their houses or in the little restaurants, dogs and cats basking in the sun with full bellies. I really hope that one day I will come back to Turkey to explore even more. I’m leaving this place with a heavy heart.