Lovely Vilnius

İzmir is too hot in summer. Sometimes it can exceed 40s and you just sit without doing anything during the day.  Life begins with the sunset in İzmir. My phone rang one of these days.  That was the call which started all of my history…

One of my friend said ‘’we are going to Lithuania’’.

I said ‘’ how come?

She told me about a project and its details. I knew it before but I had not experienced to be a part of such project before. I was shocked. Nevertheless, I accepted the offer. We started to preparations for the trip. Even the thought of Vilnius is cooler than İzmir made this offer juicy at that moment.  The only thing I knew about Lithuania was a Lithuania lover girl Polly in cartoon of The Kids from Room 402 and her famous spoon collection.

That was going to be my first project experience as well as first overseas trip experience. Hence, I was worried sick and was afraid of not to communicate with someone in particular I was so damn sure that I was going to have communication problem.

That cartoon gave way to one of best moments in my life. Lithuania gave me fabulous moments, beautiful songs andsuperb friends. I did not know how Bulgarians are such courteous and helpful and how Romanians are such fun and friendly too.  I did not ever think aboutLithuanians are tactful and hospitable.

I will never forget my Romanian playmate’s backing for my language problem and how she ran to pick me up when I fell to playground. My Romanian friend who we enjoy playing foosball together, who we share our drinks and who we enjoy chatting is always on my mind. Moreover, I will never forget that friend who was the group leader and mention his love for Turkish people. Also my Romanian roommates enshrine my memory by making mornings and nights beautiful with our common song. I still miss chit chats in the room…

When I fell down my hand was injured so I had to stay bandaged for 2 days. I am thankful for my Bulgarian friend who saw me carrying bags and helped me to carry them. Besides, I cannot forget group leaders who were always with me during the skills requiring activities.

As regards to landlord… words fail. They are a huge bridge from Turkey to South Europe for me. First of all, all of them were great musicians. They introduced us beautiful songs at their culture night. We had joyous conversation with my guitarist friend and it is not possible for me to forget how he helped me for not falling behind. Other friend of mine who fascinated me with magic tricks juiced up. Also the other friend of mine who shared his glass with us even if she is so meticulous, who guided us and who we are still talking is valuable for me.

We stayed in Vilnius one more night after the project ended. They spared time and showed us touristic places we did not see. While we were sitting and drinking coffee we were so happy for being together as well as so sad that we were going to leave. It was very hard for us to leave these people who we know just for one week. When we got to airport there was a little problem so had to call our friends and it took 15 minutes for them to come. We were so happy to pass more time together at that moment.  More importantly, they knew that we were going to wait long hours in Kiev so they brought cakes, fruits, and chocolates for us. They had prepared separate bags for us. That was one of the kind thoughts I have ever came across. They waited for us till passport control and danced for cheering us up. After 8 months from the project we still talk on the internet, even we surprise on our birthdays. I would never believe if someone says you are going to have a great friendship over there before the project.

Here these beautiful people came into my life thanks to Erasmus+ project.  That is why there is no leading actor in my story instead this story has decent heroes and a lovely city.