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My name is Eelin. I come from Finland and I am a third year MA student in at Tallinn University. Third year might be a little strange, since my programme lasts only for two years. My explanation is that I did my bachelor in Folklore Studies and even if I knew what I wanted to do for my thesis, I didn’t know much about anthropology so I decided to take my time and educate myself in anthropology before doing my thesis. Now, already for three months I  have studied in Turkey with . During my second year I realized that writing my thesis did not mean I had to stay in Tallinn, but that I could take some time to go and explore. After making some Erasmus friends in Tallinn, I discovered that Osmangazi University was one of TU's partner universities. There were some minor hitches, like the fact that the contract was with the Turkish language department and they did not teach any classes in English. But the Erasmus office at Osmangazi and the coordinator Elif Kara from Turkey, helped me to take my compulsory courses at the International Relations Department, where I am currently attending a course in European Integration and European Union. The course supposed to be in English, but I think they forgot to tell the lecturer who is telling most of the content in Turkish. Anyway, there are only about 8 Erasmus students in the whole university, so we have gotten to know each other quite well. The university takes very good care of us, organizing Turkish classes and helping us with administration, like the residence permit. They will also sponsor our trip with ESN Turkey to Cappadocia in a few weeks. I do not think anyone can deny the positive effects of doing an exchange period abroad, you gain much socially, culturally and in experience. But for me studying abroad meant that academically I would lose. This opinion was the sum of many reasons, I would spend more time making friends than studying, travelling and exploring would keep me occupied with other thoughts than school, and then the time spent with paperwork and administration would eat all the time I could have spent reading. However, now, midterms arrived and my first exams scores proved me wrong. I was not worried about passing, but the technicalities were confusing as I forgot my student card at home and I did not know if I my education categorizes as a primary or secondary education, which was the information that the lecturer asked me at the end of the exam. We got the results on an online system, which is in Turkish, so as I was deciphering what it says, I thought I did a little above average with my 75/100 points. However, going to class after the midterms brought me a surprise. The lecturer had copied the best scoring paper for all to see and congratulated me on the highest score in the class. Perplexed I thanked him and silently thought about the advice I had been given about not bragging with high scores, as that is not considered polite behavior here and probably not really anywhere. Before closing this post of mine I wanted to help you, dear reader, on your choice on go or not to go abroad with Erasmus. If you are thinking like I was: “Hey, I am already studying abroad, why should I go on exchange?” You might have noticed that you’re already hanging out with an extraordinary crew of foreigners at TU, but why not widen your circle of friends and colleagues to include those from another country? Being a Finnish girl in Turkey coming from an Estonian university, sure has confused many of the locals here, but it has made me a cosmopolitan and I think that any future employer will consider it as a plus that I went out of my comfort-zone and lived abroad for one semester. Text by Eelin Hoffström ( MA student).  

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