by Diana Tsai When you read the headline news about critical water shortage in Turkey, what do you think? When you watch the news about a Turkish Airlines crash, does it make any difference to your life? To be honest, news like this always agitates me, because one of the victims may be a friend that I made in Turkey! Every time something goes wrong in Turkey, you will find me logging on to my Facebook account and desperately trying to contact my friends there. This is how much Turkey means to me! Unlike in the past, students in Taiwan nowadays have more opportunities to participate in international affairs and, so far, they have also been encouraged to keep doing it. Every year, thousands of international entities and organizations provide youths with different types of projects, such as taking part in international conferences, entertaining foreign guests, working abroad during the holidays and overseas volunteering. However, what can we really learn from them?
In summer 2008, I signed up for an AIESEC development internship program that took me to Bursa, Turkey for two months. The AIESEC organization is the world’s largest student organization founded in Sweden in 1948. It creates an international platform for young people to discover themselves and to develop their potential so that they can have a positive impact in the society. It provides exchange programs in 107 countries and in different fields as well. The two months I spent in Turkey changed my life forever. From negotiating with the Turkish government to adjusting my living pace, what I learnt was far beyond my expectations. My internship project was called “Shape the future,” and its main purpose was to lead and facilitate Turkish people to “think globally, act locally.” Hence, it recruited people from different countries to participate. My colleagues came from the United States, Latvia, Iceland, Romania, Georgia, Sweden, Japan and China. In general, each project signs contracts with six international organizations and a representative will get one week to make a presentation on an international institution. When I introduced Taiwan, the Turkish people were interested in all the topics I covered and always gave me their full concentration. When it came to Taiwanese poli-economic systems, they would ask me questions and we had ardent discussions. Moreover, owing to this project, I was able to work and be in touch with people from all walks of life. From toddlers to the middle ages, from businessmen to engineers, not only did I learn to communicate with them in English but I also learned to understand their thoughts as well. Sometimes, despite the fact that I could not communicate with them verbally, both of us still wanted to know each others’ culture profoundly. Some of them would invite me to their house to experience the local lifestyle. Their friendliness and open-mindedness impressed me very much and made me feel accepted. Besides working with the Turkish people, I lived with a Turkish family in the center of the city. During my stay, I discovered that they emphasize “Family Unity” and the connection between friends. In the mornings, when the father was leaving for work, the mother would accompany him to the front door and then follow him with her eyes until he was out of sight. Every night, we waited until the last member of the family came back before starting our dinner together. After the meal, the young people would gather at the plaza to meet with their friends. Furthermore, in my family we had a scheduled gathering with our neighbors every week. This also taught me the lesson of “Treating people the way you want to be treated”. During these two months, the family introduced me to their relatives and treated me just like a daughter. It was really pure luck for me to meet them and have the chance to live with them; it was an unforgettable experience. Generally speaking, by taking part in this kind of international activity, I can broaden my horizon, improve my communications skills, test my crisis management abilities and, most importantly, I can get to know myself better. From my point of view, experiencing culture shock and then reaching a mutual understanding were the most important lessons that I gained from my travels in Turkey. a
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May 2024
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