Kayseri? Evet! Five Tips for not losing your mind in Kayseri!

Ever since I started living inTurkey, whenever I meet someone new, they tend to ask a bit about where I am staying, which is usually okay. But when I say I am staying in Kayseri, people have one of two reactions, they either wonder about that “noise” I had just made, because they have never heard of Kayseri before! Or they just burst into laughter and then tell me they are sorry for me! I do understand why Kayseri has such a reputation for being “boring” but for me, aside form the occasional boring moments that are bound to happen anywhere, I have spent some of the best years of my life in that place!

What makes people think that a place like Kayseri is boring is basically the traditional/religious appeal of the city. You will not find so many bars or pubs or nightclubs in Kayseri…Or anything that defines a “Party”! In all my 3 years here I have only come across with one bar and it was quite empty! Not because people in Kayseri don’t drink but it is basically frowned upon among a lot of the people so pubs don’t seem to get a lot of business because people don’t want to be seen drinking in public! But that is not the point we are going for here. I obviously do not drink, thus that side of Kayseri did not affect me…But I do have to say that not having that urgent need to find a place to “Party” did make it easier for me  to explore and like a different side of Kayseri! Don’t worry, I am not going to give you a big ear full about the touristic appeal of Kayseri  because we all know that stuff is not good enough for anyone to survive in any place longer than a week.

So what if you were living in Kayseri, what do you do then? How do you not get bored? How do you survive that city?

1- Find a group of Friends that you like and stick to them!

A trip to Kayseri Waterfalls! A trip to Kayseri Marina

While that seems quite basic and typical for literally any new place you go to, it gains an extra layer of importance around here. You need to find a lot of people, and not just a few friends, because people make all the difference. They say a party is not a party without booze and I say it is not a party without people! It might be difficult at first but you need to keep going with the flow until you find your gigs! Do not sit on your high horse and start scanning through people waiting for the perfect friendship opportunity. Just go in there with an open mind and start mingling around and see where it goes..the more friends and acquaintances you have in Kayseri, the more likely you are to survive!

There is a very diverse community of foreigners in Kayseri too, you might even find people from your own country or even hometown! So it is not going to be so hard to fit in at first, even if you don’t know the local language you will find outlanders like yourself who are willing to help you out and hang out every now and then. Just look around your language learning center and you will find people who will introduce you to other people and so on..

2- Explore

One side of Kayseri! Another completely different side of Kayseri

Kayseri might seem like a village type place to some people, but this place is huge! There will always be places and things that you don’t know about in here, and the best thing is that it is not like cosmopolitan cities where you have all the cool sites mapped out for you on some application on your phone! No, here you have to find the cool spots on your own. Go out for a walk every now and then, take a random bus and see where it takes you, walk around those neighborhoods and discover new places, new stores, markets, restaurants! and then tell your friends about them. If the weather is good take a bike and stroll down the road until you are too tired to go any further! You are bound to find something interesting! Meet new people! Find some cool things on sale somewhere! Buy yourself something for a good prize! Just explore!

while exploring Kayseri on one of the

Municipality bikes A side from The Saturday Bazaar at Talas/Kayseri A rather spooky side of the Friday Bazaar in Talas

3- Do not underestimate the value of a picnic!

while on a picnic

When the weather is perfect for a picnic, whenever, however, just go for a picnic! Even if you were alone! Make a sandwich and get a thermos of hot tea or coffee, take a book or take your friends (refer to advice number 1) and hang OUT! Like really out! Even if you hate nature, it is not about that! You are not expected to go hiking or to collect any weird looking mushrooms! Just go sit outside in the sun (wear sunscreen..it is important). Eat something good, play games with your friends, throw balls at each other for all I care! Just enjoy the nice weather as you have it. You will feel like a child again, and who doesn’t want that?! If you don’t, because your childhood sucked, make a new childhood experience, it is not too late! Pull pranks at each other, play singing games, acting games, just go crazy the same way you would go crazy if you were drunk or high… YOU CAN DO IT! Just laugh out loud a lot and annoy the locals!

4- Take Trips Every now and Then

On a trip to Kapadokya Mevlana Whirling Dervishes in Konya!

If you ever get the “this city is so boring” vibe, hop on a bus or a train or a plane (if you have a lot of money) and just visit a different city somewhere close by or far away inside Turkey! There are 81 provinces and over 500 cities and villages in this country! With a lot more to explore on a low budget. So when things are low you can cheat a little bit on Kayseri with a different city, after which you are going to feel homesick to Kayseri! If you are not feeling homesick after that and you would have rather stayed in the other city a while longer, you can play a game on your way back that my friends and I made up on our first trip outside of Kayseri. It is called Kayseri…Eveeet! And it goes like this.. whenever someone randomly says the word Kayseri every one has to yell “EVET” which mean yes in Turkish! And that is to emphasize how excited you are to be coming back! It will trick your brain into thinking it misses Kayseri…

5- Take advantage of Kayseri’s Snow time!

skiing on Erciyes Mountain Making a snowman at the middle of the night!

Kayseri has a long winter, and it could limit the amount of times you can actually go out, but don’t be alarmed, there is always room for Snow fun! Aside from the regular snow man building and the snow ball wars, there is always the grand Erciyes mountain for you to skii on. Now sometimes the snow over stays it’s welcome and it could drive you crazy and make you miss the color green for a while…When that happens, try to make the most out of enjoying time indoors. Cook some delicious hot meals for your friends or just crash their dinner tables! Experiment with food and drinks, try different hot chocolate recipes, catch up on your readings, or watch all the movies you always wanted to watch but never had the time to actually do watch! Make some long distance skype calls to your family and relatives and check on them, get to know your roommates better, have slumber parties, or just turn on the music and learn their dance moves and teach them yours! Take some time to think about your life and contemplate a little bit (maybe do some yoga and indoors Pilates), if you are scared of doing that, or you are at a place where you don’t want to think about your life, just watch sitcoms or a soap and think about the characters dramatic lives..It will still make you feel good! When you are done feeling sorry for yourself, MAKE SOMETHING UP, because as the old Arabic proverb says ” Need is the mother of invention”, when you need to find something to do, that is the time for you to shine. You might just end up with some million dollar ideas!

I hope those tips were useful for those of you who are moving to Kayseri any time soon, if you are already living in Kayseri and you have some more tips to share with us please feel free to tell us about them in our comment section down there! And don’t forget to subscribe to our website and join me!

I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all my friends from Kayseri who made these days a lot better, to  those who left..You are very much missed and to those who are still here, on my last days I want you to know that you will be missed a lot!

Have a great day

Rania