Part 4:- My First Day at Istanbul Gelişim University 🎓🇹🇷

Part 4 :- My First Day at Istanbul Gelişim University 🎓🇹🇷

18 September.

The day we had been waiting for had finally arrived our orientation day at Istanbul Gelişim University.

We woke up in the morning, although most of my fellows were still sleeping. I got up and prayed, and then my friend and I decided to go outside for a short morning walk.

After coming back, we started getting ready for the university.

I wore a black outfit with a pink upper, and since I have short hair, I made a ponytail. Once we were ready, we finally left for the university.

Our orientation was in J Block. As we walked towards the university, the Gelişim Tower caught our attention. It looked so tall that, honestly, it almost seemed as if it was moving with the wind! 😂

After around 15 minutes of walking, we reached the orientation building. We asked a girl where J Block was, but there was a little confusion because the letter “C” is pronounced differently in Turkish, so we weren't completely sure what we were hearing. Thankfully, she understood where we needed to go and took us to our orientation room.

When we entered, our professor was already waiting for us, and most of the students had arrived.

He asked us to introduce ourselves, so one by one, we introduced ourselves and then took our seats.

The classroom itself was quite interesting. There were benches, with space for two students on each bench, which felt a little different from what we were used to back home.

A Warm Welcome 🤍

The Erasmus Office staff welcomed us so warmly.

They didn't just give us information about the university; they genuinely tried to make us feel comfortable in a completely new environment. They guided us about almost everything we might need during our stay—where to get things, how to manage daily life, how to travel, and how to survive in a new country.

During the presentation, they even shared some Turkish poetry, which was such a beautiful touch.

They also served us Turkish tea and biscuits, giving us our first little university welcome treat.

But one of the things I appreciated most was that they provided us with buddies.

Meeting Our Buddies

The buddies were students from Istanbul Gelişim University who were assigned to help exchange students according to their needs. They were there to guide us and make things easier whenever we needed help.

The university also gave each of us some lovely gifts—a Gelişim cup, diary, notepad, and ballpoint pen.

It may sound like a small thing, but receiving those gifts made us feel genuinely welcomed. We had just arrived from another country, and having the university make such an effort to welcome us made us even happier.

After the orientation, our buddies took us with them because we needed to get our Istanbul Cards, which are essential for travelling around Istanbul.

Exploring Istanbul with Our Buddies 🚇

First, our buddies took us to the Admin Block, where they explained which important tasks we could get done there.

After that came another long walk.

Eventually, we reached the metro station, where they helped us get our Istanbul Cards and top them up with money.

From there, they took us to Marmara Park, a huge shopping mall in Istanbul, because we also needed to get a Turkish SIM card.

But when we found out the price of the SIM cards, we were surprised. They were quite expensive, and we also learned that without a Kimlik, the SIM could stop working after three months.

So we decided not to buy one at that time and instead wait until we received our Kimlik.

What exactly is a Kimlik?

Well, I'll save that story for my next blog. 😉

Marmara Park 🛍️

Even though we didn't buy the SIM card, visiting Marmara Park was still a really nice experience.

It was such a beautiful and huge mall, with so many brands, shops, restaurants, and food options. After coming from Pakistan, seeing such a different shopping environment was another little experience that made us realize how much there was still to explore in Istanbul.

After spending the day travelling around with our buddies, we finally took a bus back to our hotel.

By the time we reached, we were completely exhausted.

We went outside, had some food, and then came back to the hotel and went straight to sleep.

But despite being tired, we were genuinely happy.

Our first official university experience had gone better than we had expected. The warm welcome, the helpful Erasmus staff, our buddies, the gifts, and everything we experienced that day made us feel that perhaps we really were going to be okay in this new country.

It was our first step into Turkish university life and it felt like the beginning of something beautiful. 🤍🇹🇷🎓