From Delft's Turkish Bazaar to Istanbul's Grand Bazaar!
At the Dutch National round of the European Youth Parliament in February, each team had to represent a country for the so-called 'Eurovillage'. We were extremely happy with our random given country: TURKEY! Some of the best food I know of, a lot of Turkish shops in Amsterdam, and we even had some outfits!
Anyway, #teamCygnus ended up building a Turkish bazaar; the tent, music, baklava, Doner Kebab, hummus, Turkish delight, everything! It was a blast. For the complete 'EYP Experience' (an article for the school's newspaper), click here.
Next thing we know, we've got two students selected for an International Session, meaning the rest of our school has a shot at a forum outside of the country(!) Then finally, it's the end of April, still no e-mail about further placement, and our coordinator says she received word. We were invited to go to Czech Republic in the summer vacation, or Istanbul right after the May vacation! For our 12th grader, Senne, it would mean missing his final exams, so gracefully he let us go without him. Czech Republic still awaits him and Senne!
Anyway, while my classmates were out in Greece and Italy for THE trip everyone goes on in the 11th grade, I was working at school, and booking tickets for ISTANBUL!
May vacation passed, regular school started, but not for us! We were off, flying with Turkish Airlines to Ataturk Airport, the cheapest flight, we would make it on time, and we even sat right behind the other Dutch team (having booked the tickets a couple months later)! The whole trip was an entire meant-to-be. SInce I booked the tickets I was allowed to sit by the window, their team from 'Bilthoven' had 5 girls, 1 guy... and ours had 5 guys and 1 girl! Also, on the way there it was Tess' birthday which meant a happy birthday song and festive plate of Turkish delicacies, and on the way back, the world-famous, Dutch soccer celebrities Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt were ON BOARD the flight!
Yeah, so that. And the session was kinda.. uhm like, epic. There wasn't actually any time to see Istanbul itself, we just took a half day of together with the Belgian and Swiss delegation, because you just simply can't come so far to not see one of the top cities in the world. While dancing in the rain (weather worse than in NL!), we managed to see the Hagia Sofia from the outside, Blue Mosque from the inside, the Spice market and that's about it! Each day packed, 1.5-hour bus trips back and forth from Europe to Asia each day, so we woke up around 6, got back close to 12 each day. Committee work, teambuilding, partying and lots of talking in foreign languages you never knew existed.
teşekkür ederim Istanbul and EYP Turkey, the Dutch will see you next time!
Ps. I normally don't post albums on facebook, but this one is, and the pictures are rotated correctly/condensed etc.
Another article will appear at in the School's newspaper/website, and more pics can always be found on my Instagram!
Anyway, #teamCygnus ended up building a Turkish bazaar; the tent, music, baklava, Doner Kebab, hummus, Turkish delight, everything! It was a blast. For the complete 'EYP Experience' (an article for the school's newspaper), click here.
Next thing we know, we've got two students selected for an International Session, meaning the rest of our school has a shot at a forum outside of the country(!) Then finally, it's the end of April, still no e-mail about further placement, and our coordinator says she received word. We were invited to go to Czech Republic in the summer vacation, or Istanbul right after the May vacation! For our 12th grader, Senne, it would mean missing his final exams, so gracefully he let us go without him. Czech Republic still awaits him and Senne!
Anyway, while my classmates were out in Greece and Italy for THE trip everyone goes on in the 11th grade, I was working at school, and booking tickets for ISTANBUL!
May vacation passed, regular school started, but not for us! We were off, flying with Turkish Airlines to Ataturk Airport, the cheapest flight, we would make it on time, and we even sat right behind the other Dutch team (having booked the tickets a couple months later)! The whole trip was an entire meant-to-be. SInce I booked the tickets I was allowed to sit by the window, their team from 'Bilthoven' had 5 girls, 1 guy... and ours had 5 guys and 1 girl! Also, on the way there it was Tess' birthday which meant a happy birthday song and festive plate of Turkish delicacies, and on the way back, the world-famous, Dutch soccer celebrities Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt were ON BOARD the flight!
Yeah, so that. And the session was kinda.. uhm like, epic. There wasn't actually any time to see Istanbul itself, we just took a half day of together with the Belgian and Swiss delegation, because you just simply can't come so far to not see one of the top cities in the world. While dancing in the rain (weather worse than in NL!), we managed to see the Hagia Sofia from the outside, Blue Mosque from the inside, the Spice market and that's about it! Each day packed, 1.5-hour bus trips back and forth from Europe to Asia each day, so we woke up around 6, got back close to 12 each day. Committee work, teambuilding, partying and lots of talking in foreign languages you never knew existed.
teşekkür ederim Istanbul and EYP Turkey, the Dutch will see you next time!
Ps. I normally don't post albums on facebook, but this one is, and the pictures are rotated correctly/condensed etc.
Another article will appear at in the School's newspaper/website, and more pics can always be found on my Instagram!