Paul Oetken

Studying abroad during Corona – Vacasol Stipendium

“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” – John Allen Paulos

This quote is the best description of my term abroad in 2020. Uncertainty is the only constant during my four months stay and it already started months before I even had a chance to set foot in Istanbul: Uncertainty about whether the term starts as planned, about travelling in general and university regulations. One week before my scheduled flight from Hannover to Istanbul, the university announced that there will be no face to face studying and that we have to quarantine for two weeks after our arrival. The latter luckily turned out to be wrong.

Yet, after two months in Istanbul, I did not see any of my teachers or classmates in person. Two weeks ago, the government announced a partial lockdown. All restaurants and bars close at 10 pm. I never know what might happen next. Especially due to the fact that Istanbul is the Corona hot spot in Turkey. However, in the same way I got used to wearing a mask all the time, I got used to a certain level of insecurity. It is even somewhat comforting. Facing my own powerlessness in this global dilemma leaves me with the enjoyment of this one moment, and the little things. Taking all the pressure from the unknown tomorrow.

There are more advantages. For instance, there are very few tourists this year and therefore sightseeing is not a stressful race from place to place in order to cross out to-dos on a list but actually a rather personal experience with fascinating sites. The sights are not crowded, and everything seems to be more authentic. Moreover, hotels, restaurants and activities are cheaper than usual.

To get away from the crowded city I went to do a sightseeing trip on the south-west coast. It was a magical trip, I felt like I am living inside a travel guide: breathtaking antique ruins in the burning afternoon sun, scuba diving in crystal clear water and delicious Turkish see food.

University life is very different during a pandemic. No parties, no big trips and only online classes. However, it is still very easy to make friends and there is still a lot to do: Visiting the biggest mosque in Turkey, going to a shooting range or dining in a traditional Yemen restaurant. Istanbul is the largest city in turkey and after two months, I still have only seen a small fraction of what there is to explore.

On the 9th of September I got the message I have always been scared of: “You have been tested positive for COVID 19, please stay inside, a medical team will assist you.” – ironically this bad news was delivered through a friendly WhatsApp message. I would have expected something more official. I do not even know how or where I got it. Luckily, I only had mild symptoms. Nevertheless, I had to self-quarantine for 10 days, meaning an abrupt end to all my explorations of Turkey. I remember this time as a vague back and forth between boredom and frustration. I was never so happy to walk through the streets of Besiktas like that day I was able to go out again.

I do not know whether I go back to Germany during Christmas, it depends on the travel regulation, but who knows how they are going to be in month? Five minutes ago I received a text massage saying that the governor of Istanbul would like to have a full lockdown, like in March … but I who knows if that really is going to happen? – right now it is just me, a cappuccino and a cold, jet friendly autumn day.

Final report

In October, the government announced a partial lockdown. All restaurants and bars close at 10 pm. I never knew what might happen next. Especially due to the fact that Istanbul is the Corona hot spot in Turkey. In November they tightened the regulations further. I lived the the constant fear of a full lockdown and travel bans. However, in the same way I got used to wearing a mask all the time, I got used to a certain level of insecurity. It is even somewhat comforting. Facing my own powerlessness in this global dilemma leaves me with the enjoyment of this one moment, and the little things. Taking all the pressure from the unknown tomorrow. There are more advantages. For instance, there are very few tourists this year and therefore sightseeing is not a stressful race from place to place in order to cross out to-dos on a list but actually a rather personal experience with fascinating sites. The sights are not crowded, and everything seems to be more authentic. Moreover, hotels, restaurants and activities are cheaper than usual.

Istanbul was a bit too much for me in the beginning. The vibrant city wit around 16 million inhabitants was a bit overwhelming at first. To get away from the crowded city I went to do a sightseeing road trip at the south-west coast. It was a magical trip, I felt like I am living inside a travel guide: breathtaking antique ruins in the burning afternoon sun, scuba diving in crystal clear water and delicious Turkish see food.

Then, regulations were rather loose in Turkey, especially in the less populated regions. I started at Istanbul, where I rented a car. After a stressful drive in Istanbul traffic, I finally made it to the highway where driving is very relaxed. I spend the first couple of days visiting antique ruins. I saw the Pergamon altar, the Celsus library in Ephesus, the magnificent temple of Aphrodisias, the antique city Pamukkale and many more. In Pamukkale I went swimming in the famous hot springs and got an incredible view over the sight while I was paragliding. Turkey sure has an impressive cultural heritage to offer. Afterwards I changed my hiking boots to flip flops in Fetihye and Kas. I went swimming for hours and did a little Kajak tour. In Kas I went scuba diving where I met a group of people from England with whom I spend the night out in a bar. Looking for some activities I never experienced before, I ended up doing rafting as well.

I dropped the car in Antalya and (unfortunately, only) spend two days in the old town center enjoying the sea food and a hilarious and disorganized quad tour.

The last stop on my trip was Cappadocia. A place which looks so unreal that they filmed some scenes of Star Wars there. The nature is unique, and the scenery is topped off by the colorful balloons which rise together with the orange morning sun. Balloon rides are rather expensive but worth every penny (even though getting up at 4:30 was not easy). I still can not believe the astonishing view I had. It is definitely a must visit place for every nature lover. Besides that, it has a very interesting cultural heritage as well because there are some of the oldest churches there. Early Christians found safety in the stone caves and left some remarkable artwork.

Cappadocia is definitely one of the places one has to visit in Turkey. A couple of month later, looking back at this trip, I realized how different things were back then and how easy everything was. This trip was without a doubt one of the best experiences I ever had.

After my trip, University started. Student life is very different during a pandemic. No parties, no group trips, no events and only online classes. The only face to face event we ever had with the other Erasmus students was a pizza night right in the beginning. Of cause, this whole thing was a huge bummer for the whole studying abroad experience. The BAU was well equipped for the online sessions and most of the time everything went smoothly. Tasks and papers were assigned on an online platform and the students and professors were already used to the system from the last term. Luckily, the universities main campus was still open and with some restrictions it was possible to access the learning areas. This allowed some illusion of normality.

However, it is still very easy to make friends and there is still a lot to do: Visiting the biggest mosque in Turkey, going to a shooting range or on a Kart track. Luckily, I met a very friendly Saudi Student who knew the best Restaurants and Places to go. One of the highlights was dining in a traditional Yemen restaurant. Eating only with the hands sure was a new experience. It did not take long until we formed a group of around 10 people who met regularly. Some of us met daily. We wandered from café to café and restaurant to restaurant. Moreover, we did sightseeing together. It was a colorful mix of nationalities and characters. Two Arabs, a French guy, some Ukrainian folks, some Austrian girls, a Hongkong Chinese, a Korean Gild and so on. Until November, I had the time of my live. It was everything I hoped for and more, even though there were some regulations. Nevertheless, Istanbul is the largest city in turkey and after two months, I still had only seen a small fraction of what there is to explore.

The day my quarantine ended was the last day of the loose regulations. On the next day, the gastronomy shut down and therefore one of the things I enjoyed most. That was the last time I was able to sit in a restaurant. That was the last time I had a cappuccino in a proper cup and not a paper cup. It also was the last day of free movement. The new regulations included a partial curfew every night from 22:00 – 06:00. I remember that day like yesterday: It was a friendly autumn day, sunny but cold. Back then I did not know whether I wanted to go back to Germany for Christmas. It depended on the travel regulations, but no one knew in November how the regulations are going to be in December. So, I waited, as I always did.

The city became so quite during the weekend and at night that it was almost scary. Streets which were usually full of people were now empty and only sometimes a car would pass buy. The most dramatic change I noticed was in Beşiktaş, the district I lived in. Beşiktaş is known for its football club and rather liberal mindset of the people. There are many students and a big support for the policies of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. It is very authentic and known by locals for its many bars, cafés and restaurants. Usually, the narrow streets are packed with people. There is music everywhere and you can hear people shouting and screaming. Many of the bars are sport bars and if Besiktas is playing it feels like everyone in the district is crammed into one of those. It is one of the most vibrant districts in Istanbul. However, this drastically changed once the restrictions were introduced. It felt like someone just pulled the plug. The music stopped, the cafés and restaurants closed, and the streets were now empty. This was obviously a very necessary step in the pandemic. Yet, I was disappointed in the beginning.

Day by day I got more used to the new regulations and everything being closed. Since restaurants were closed, I started ordering food or used the takeaway option. I ended up spending a lot of time at the university because I wanted to avoid the flat I was locked in for 10 days as much as possible. Instead of restaurants, we ended up visiting each other’s flats and spend our evenings there. Moreover, I ended up exploring the city on foot. Due to the regulations, the city became less crowded and walking around or just taking the bus to and visiting a Mosque became much more appealing. There were almost no tourists, but many sights were still open, so I took advantage of that. In the end, I probably had the calmest and most relaxed experience of Istanbul any tourist can have. I never had to wait in any queue. Not even at the Hagia Sophia or the Galata Tower. The Grand Bazar usually is so full of people that it is hard to move, and I felt very unconfutable in the narrow aisles when I was there for the first time (which had to do a lot with the bad feeling that you are stuck with hundreds of strangers indoors during a pandemic). When I visited it again in December, things were very different. There were only a couple of tourists and some locals and one could stroll around.

The magic happened when we realized that we as foreigners had special rights. Unlike the locals, the curfew hours did not apply to us, so we were one of the very few people who were walking around in the city past 22:00. The situation became more bizarre when the regulations were tightened again in mid-December and now included a lockdown over the weekend. Since we still had a tourist status we were allowed to walk around in the city. Even though there was nothing to do besides walking, it was a unique experience. This was the once in a lifetime chance to see an abandoned Istanbul City center.

Then Christmas rolled around, and I decided to stay in Istanbul. It did not make sense to impose my family to any unnecessary threat and the travel regulations would have made the whole process rather painful. This was the first Christmas that I would spend without my family. Even though there was hardly any Christmas spirit around in this 90% Muslim city, it felt strange to not go home. So, we decided to do our own little celebration. Five of us rented an Airbnb on the Princess Island and spend Christmas Eve there. We ordered some food and to spice things up we added some things: We did our own Glühwein and traditional Ukrainian Christmas food Kutja.

That was my second and last trip to the Buyukada Princess Island. Those Princess Islands offer a very welcomed break from the crowded city, Buyukada is the biggest one. It is the perfect destination if you want the flee from the noise, cars and crowds. In fact, even on the biggest Island, there ware no cars allowed. Only small electro vehicles. During summer that Island becomes especially pretty due to the blossom of the bouganvillea flowers which are part of almost every single garden. The Island offers some nice little forests and a little monetary on the hilltop. One can go swimming there as well. One has to love cats though. The Buyukada Island is filled with more cats than people. Because there are no cars, the cats are very relaxed and extremely friendly and if you want to, you can pet them. Some will even fallow you around for a bit.

Cats are a phenomenon in Istanbul in general. It is the called the City of Cats for a good reason. I could not have imagined how many stray cats there are. You can literally not walk around for more than 5 minutes without seeing a cat. And the people love those cats. They take care of them. Everywhere you see little bowls with water and food. People will stop in the middle of a street, pet a cat and then walk on. Most of the restaurants and cafés sort of have cat which always chills there or wanders around. Especially in the little cafés you will find a cat sitting in front of the door or on a chair, without anyone feeling bothered. Sometimes you will walk around in the city and see a cat casually sitting in there in the windows of the stores. Especially clothing stores seem to be very popular for cats and sometimes there is a cat sleeping on top of a pile of t-shirts or hoodies.

You really feel that you settled in a district once you start to recognize the cats. After two weeks, even I, as a foreigner, started to feed the cats in our neighborhood. Of cause my University had its own cats which were just running around on campus. There were even some little kittens. You would be sitting there studying and suddenly a cat walks over your keyboard. Even the gym I went to had its own cat! Those cats are definitely one of the things I miss the most. There are many stray dogs as well. However, they do not get along with being stay as good as cats do. I often felt bad for those dogs, especially during winter. Cats always find a little spot to sleep, but dogs don’t. They are too big to just be left alone.

After Christmas, I decided to do another little trip. And friend from Austria and I decided to visit the origin of the Turkish black tea: Çay. So, we went up north - east to the back sea costal region of Trabzon. We were very lucky with the weather. Even though it was winter, I could walk around without a jacket when we visited the tea plantations. The opposite was the case when we drove up the hills. Here we struggled and had to finally skip one of the sights we wanted to visit: the Kıble Dağı Camii. This is a mosque on top of a hill. However, the hill was impossible to access due to 30 cm of snow.

We had another big bumper when it came to sights: the Kloster Sumela was also closed due to restorations. However, it was a located in a beautiful landscape and impressive to see form the outside as well. Overall, this trip did no go very smoothly. Most of the restaurants in Rize and Trabzon were closed and hardly anyone offered take away food. When we visited the tea plantations all of those little cafés which usually would offer Çay to tourists were closed. Even though, we were struggling sometimes, it was a great trip and we had lots of fun.

Then New Year’s Eve came. I can only imagine the incredible parties and fireworks which would usually take place in Istanbul that night. This year was different. Due to the pandemic the government banned all gatherings and fireworks. So, this New Year’s Eve the city stayed quiet. I met with a handful of people and we had a nice cake (called Pasta in Turkish which I noticed one day when I was craving noodles and ended up being very disappointed) and some drinks.

My last four weeks in Istanbul just flew by. I moved into Beşiktaş center (which would have been impossible if not for the pandemic because that part of the district is usually far too noisy) and had my exams. However, I had one more very unique experience: Snow in Istanbul. Mid-January, it studently began to snow heavily. The city looked magnificent while covered in a thin white layer.

The whole period still feels like a dream. I cannot believe that I was gone for almost five months. There are so many more little things I experienced which made my time there so memorable. The friendly face of the Cig Köfte guy when I stopped by for the fifth time in a week, the university cat sleeping on my lab, the view on the Bosporus when I stepped out of the university, a Salep with cinnamon which warms you when you are on the ferry to Moda.

And the most important part: people. I met so many nice people there. Some only for a couple of moments like the three Americans I met in Cappadocia and had far too much wine with or a Russian girl I met on the Quad tour in Antalya and then had dinner with or the British couple I met in the Bus to the Airport. Others stayed with me for the whole time and will forever have a special place in my heart. I hope that one day our paths will cross again.