Week 4 International Staff week

Week 4

This week comes with a lot of activities and some special guests from abroad. Since i am here since March weeks have been so far full with plenty of activities and going around rather than have too much work to do in the office. This week is not an exception, starting from 17th of May for one week in the Firat University, staff week is about to take place and we are busy scheduling meetings and trips and all type of activities for our foreign visitors.

During staff week what's happening exactly is that a bunch of professors from the universities which we have Erasmus agreements with them, they will come for a week in order to visit the campus, make bilateral agreements between departments and have different presentations. In exchange we take them to nice dinners, show them the best touristic sights and make them fell amazing so they can get the best impression about our university and eventually share best feedback about it.

For this particularly week we had send months before emails with invitations and we received around 12 confirmation emails from all over Europe. But what happened was very upsetting and hard to understand. Not even one week before our staff week we received emails from 9 out of 12 professors and coordinators who were about to come, telling us with no explanation and short sentence that they will not attend anymore our staff week and activities. Of course we are not stupid and we realized immediately what is this about. A couple of weeks before the situation was tense and still is in Turkey as we speak, bunch of attack happened in Istanbul and is well known that South Eastern Turkey is not a safe place, so we knew this was the case with them.

But i feel that sometimes is better to be straight up and tell sincerely what you think rather than give no explanation. So we were left with 3 professors you assured us they will be here.

Staff week

The anticipated week came and our first guest has arrived from Germany, she was a nice lady named Anja and she was part of the Erasmus staff in the Friederich Alexander University. We provided accommodation for her very close to the Erasmus office inside the campus as well as for the other guests. After one day one Dean and one professor from the Vilnius University in Lithuania came as well. So Monday started with an orientation day at the Erasmus office, a meeting with our coordinator and a welcoming lunch and dinner for them. We had plenty of activities for them so we informed them about it and they were so excited as well. Despite our regrets for the following professors who could not join we were so happy about the 3 of them because they seemed very friendly and always laughing and making jokes.

Our coordinator is not the person who goes and shows them around, his more like dealing with paperwork and things or maybe he just is too busy or lazy to do so. In this case it was my responsibility as well as other 2 girls in the office. A busy week was ahead!

A welcoming breakfast lunch kind off meeting where we all had the chance to socialize and know better our backgrounds. All the staff from the Erasmus office as well with some kids and the Erasmus students from last semester plus our coordinator with his wife and her daughter. Our guests are on the left side, seat no. 4 and 5 Mr. Romanas and Mr. Vaidas and on the right side seat no. 2 from the top Miss Anja from Germany. I took the picture so you will not see me in this one.

A trip to the bazaar and a traditional dinner

The very next day we meet all at the Erasmus office and started our extremely hot day with a tour around the city center followed by a visit to our local street bazaar. They were so impressed about the bazaar and all the spices and traditional Turkish things. They bought a bunch of souvenirs for their loved ones back home.

Anja and Georgiana ( Romanian girl ex Erasmus student, ex staff in the Erasmus office ) looking and trying for Turkish delicatesse.

The trip continues in search of the perfect spices. The variety of colors and smells were to die for and was so hard for them to pick from all that choices.

Pots, glasses and all bunch of items which are very traditional alongside the Turkish culture and from the Ottoman Empire times.

We walked around the city for about 2-3 hours and then we leaved our guests for an afternoon rest and i returned to the Office looking forward for our dinner later tonight.

Around 8pm we met again and we took our guests to a nice trip to the Hazar lake (more about this touristic sight in my South Eastern blog post ) showed them the lake, took some pictures, had a great laugh and we looked forward for our dinner.

At the Hazar lake from left to right: Oana from Romania, an Erasmus student, Romanas the dean of Vilnius College, Georgiana, Mihaela an Erasmus student from Romania, myself, Anja and Vaidas.

Dinner was amazing, our guests tried for the first time Turkish traditional dishes and we had overall a great dinner.

Presentation day

The 3rd day started with everybody meeting at the Erasmus office for the presentation day. The guests were preparing to show us some power point presentations about the universities they come from and what departments and faculties they have. And myself as well i had to make a presentation about the city of Elazig, the campus and general about Firat University. I had prepared this presentation about one month ago and it was extremely fun doing it, my years in university prepared me for this type of presentations so i was not nervous at all.

Everybody was ready for the presentation to start. We did not had students or audience at the presentation just the Erasmus staff and the Erasmus students so it was super relax.

Romanas and Vaidas presented us their University in Lithuania and also Anja showed us a video about the university she represents. Now it was my turn to speak.

No pressure!

Overall the presentation went well and i was not afraid to speak my mind about the situation with the professors who canceled last minute. I addressed the situation and also spoke about the latest incidents in Turkey.

A visit to the Keban Dam

On the 4th day of our staff week we took our guests to visit the dam which is the second largest in Turkey but more about this day make sure to check my blog post about Elazig in the South Eastern Turkey. Lots of pictures and explanation!

After visiting the Dam we went for a nice dinner in a restaurant known for it's fish delicatesse.

We ate very delicious fish and had a great night.

Day 5, 6 and 7

Last 3 days it was more relaxed and i excluded myself from some activities because i was feeling myself exhausted after time spend in office and after tripping and taking part in every dinner and lunch. The guys went on a trip to Nemrut Dagi ( a mountain ) i skipped this trip because i went 2 weeks before with Muhammet and it was a busy schedule, going at 4am and not sleeping throw the day.

After they returned from the trip they spend last 2 days resting and just enjoying the surroundings. Anja left first on Saturday and the guys on Sunday. I guess for them was a bit hard because Mr. Romanas was always talking about beers and this being a Muslim country alcohol is prohibited but still accessible in some supermarkets. But i had a good laugh hearing him always bring up the beer thing. Anja on the other hand was a bit more reserved, she was a vegan so sometimes the lunches were a bit of a challenge but she was cool.

After the staff week i felt myself up to no good, super tired and 2 days in the weekend was not enough to recover. But all in all was a great week and myself as well i had the chance to visit new things .

Photo gallery