Farewell Erasmus , Farewell Competition

Five years with Erasmus

In 2011 I signed up for my first Erasmus experience which took place in Turkey and now five years later I end my last Erasmus internship in the same country, coincidence or just destiny I don't know but one thing I know it was one hell of a ride. Five years spent traveling and seeing the world, meeting new people and making new friends, falling in love and relocating, all this adventures are about to end as soon as this competition is finish. The chapter will be closed for ever...!

I found out about this competition somehow unpredictable, it was some adds on my Facebook timeline which was promoting the competition, to tell you the truth I did not heard about it before but being in that time in the same office in which I completed my 7 months Erasmus internship and due to the fact that writing is something I always enjoyed doing I decided to sign up for and start posting and sharing my travel experiences and all my stories, some of them personal, of all the cities and countries I visited during this five years with Erasmus and many more outside of it.

The love for writing I gained way back when I didn't knew which path to take or what to do with my life but I was so motivated into writing this book about music and history (yeah now that I remember it sounded so pathetic) but back then I really believed in it, of course it was just some drafts in an old math notebook but I wrote and wrote until I filled it up even though probably now is not existing anymore or already recycled. After that I really wanted to apply for journalism at university but the problem was that my city didn't had any faculties offering that so it was not a good idea financially speaking for me to relocate to other city so I just dropped the idea and signed up for tourism and geography.

Back then I didn't knew too much about what this area provides or what can do for my future but really fast I got caught up and started loving the courses and all the teaching. We took a lot of trips discovering and learning and this thing made me fall in love with travels and I learn about a new side of me which was hidden deep but now it came to light and I was fully enjoying it. Is not that I forgot about writing but I kind of leave it behind, of course I had some ideas to put up a blog and I did it but it was something low key and soon after I closed it and started to get excited about new things, such as Erasmus.

Probably I have told you guys this before but I am the second generation to ever go with Erasmus from my university and for the past five years I am still coming and going and I end up with a record of 6 times Erasmus student which I never heard somebody else before, but maybe there are. I went through my second year of university in the second semester than I took a one year break and applied again in the summer of 2012 and from there on every semester and every year I was abroad on Erasmus. You ask me how is possible to go so many times? Well the math is easy, per student you get 12 months for studies and another 12 for internship placement how you want to call it. And me well I took advantage of every month available and went.

1. Diyarbakir, Turkey for studies: 4 month period (university)
2. Malta: 8 month period, internship (university)
3. Halkidiki, Greece -4 month period, internship (university)
4. Barcelos, Portugal -6 months, studies (master)
5. Elazig, Turkey -4 months, studies (master)
6. Elazig, Turkey -7 months, internship (master)

Yeah I know it looks and sounds crazy and I don't know if they look good on my CV but I kind of noticed they are too much too handle sometime and whenever you showcase all your studies and internships abroad, people get a tendency to be intimidated. But finally after five years I ended my last Erasmus, I mean not yet officially, it will be over on the 30th September so just a few days left. And no I will not apply for another master or another university, I am too old already and I need to get a real job but I am not going to promise you I will stop traveling because that is not gonna happen, ever!

This picture above was taken on my last day in Malta after completing my 8 months internship program.

The competition

After I heard about the competition I did some research on the Erasmusu website and I actually saw is all legit so I said why not I can do this because I have many stories and many adventures so I am the perfect candidate to give tips and ideas about Erasmus and I had a plus since I was doing my internship at the Erasmus office so I managed to provide some information from the inside as they say regarding documentation and some rules which nobody knows exactly.

As I am thinking through now this competition which took place 5 months took me places and was there with me through some good and bad times. It followed me to Antalya and Alanya for labor day weekend, then it bare with me all summer everyday at the Erasmus office while I was bored and had nothing to do, it took me to Nemrut Dagi and many cities in Turkey. Took me back to Egypt where I had my first experience abroad and the most important took me back to where all started, in Trabzon, which is the city I left all my life back home for. This competition took me place indeed but also taught me many things. My love for writing which came back and gave me this idea of starting my own personal blog again, it cleared my mind about what I actually want to do in life professionally speaking and helped me develop some serious writing skills and why not I can admit it help me improve my English writing level.

I got so used to waking up every day with a new idea of blog post, I took care to always snap some pictures every where I went and gave me the satisfaction of remembering the places I went and saw through out my pictures, I told my stories and I shared cooking recipes. I don't know how things will be after today because writing for this competition was my main focus every day so even though my stories will win or not at least I am grateful I tried and participate and for those who took time to read them I truly appreciate and say thank you!

So I gathered for the last time some never before seen pictures which I took through out all my Erasmus experiences and I will write a small caption to them as well, like a farewell!

As I shared my last picture in Malta above well i had to share my first as well. This picture was taken on the first day i arrived on the island and I remember clearly we were going shopping for food and exploring the sights for the first time. We changed 3 flight to arrive there and we did not sleep for more that 72 hours straight (yes it's true). It was 4 years ago on a late July.

A picture taken in Budapest, Hungary. On our way to Malta we had a connection flight which left us one day to spend in the amazing city of Budapest. And look who i found there, Zeus himself!

Probably one of the first pics i took once i arrived in Halkidiki, Greece. This picture is taken inside the Sani Resort where I completed my 4 months internship program working in a restaurant.

Me and my best friend Milinka in Greece during shift work schedule. The beach was 100 meters away from my work place so of course I spend every day there for the past 4 months.

The last picture I took once I left Greece.

And by the way I just remembered with this picture above that every birthday for the past 7 years I spend them all abroad, every single one. Birthday picture above from Greece.

In conclusion

I still do not know how to say farewell to the Erasmus life but this competition kind of helped me to make the ending much easier and give me hopes for the future. I personally read some of the other competitors stories and I found some of them inspirational. One week from now I will be home in Romania, in my hometown, where it all started, you see life has a funny thing where they bring you in the same spot you started some while ago and I believe this is destiny. But the stories I leave here behind could mean more than just some pictures you show you mom and friends once you ended the mobility. Now all this pictures have a story behind them and I tried my best to tell it accurate and honest.

As for me, life will take me wherever it must take me, if it's back to Turkey then I will be extremely happy but if it's somewhere else well I got to do my best and adjust once again to a new life, but trust me I have plenty of experience with that so all that will be piece of cake for me!

I will conclude this post with a few words and qualities I gained during every Erasmus experience:

• Diyarbakir taught me so much about how to be independent and understand a different culture and a different religion, it taught me about people and respect. I pray everyday for the situation out there and I hope for the best and for all the bombing to stop and people to get on with their life. And last I hope for Dicle University which is an amazing place to get it's groove back and start developing again their Erasmus relations abroad.
• The island of Malta showed me my first ways of how it is to have a job and two and what responsibility means. It taught me how is to love and get your heart broken and it taught me a lot about friendship. I saw how it is to live a luxury life and have to adjust to low expectations.
• Greece gave me the first taste of hard work and hard making money but in the same time I have learned bunch of things, I experienced fake friends and the first time when someone stole from me but I went through and in the end all made sense.
• Portugal has a special place in my hear for two reasons, one is that I got to travel with my best friend and also Portugal had destroy our relationship in the end on a point where we do no speak with each other again but it also gave me the love of my life and my best friend Muhammet which I can never be more grateful to meet.
• Last Turkey, Elazig and Trabzon gave me for the first time a taste of the real life, a taste of what a family really means and what responsibilities are. I spend here almost 2 years of my life which even though I did not worked or made money I do no regret, I traveled and made the best out of every single second!

Well with this have been said, Farewell Erasmus and Farewell Competition!

Madalina

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