Survival guide: A vegetarian vampire in Turkey

Once upon a time... a vegetarian vampire arrived in Turkey for a youth exchange, with ASIRYS. And since then, her life was never the same...

How one sees Turkey from above...

My first youth exchange began somewhere over Gaziantep, Turkey.  We were all looking on the plane window, trying to figure out where we have reached. From up there it definitely looked like a challenge. And here it was: Let’s talk about women’s rights in Turkey.

We have tried them all: from dancing Vals to hanging fruits in trees and all this to prove a point: that women have rights as well, regardless of country.

I am proud to have represented my country and describe the women’s current situation in Romania. We have also shared a significant part of our culture with the others. Romanian dances are never a bad choice! 

And because we were not cautions, the participants come to know our real vampire identity... Is getting dangerous...

But things are not over here...  

What fishes and interviews have in common?

Now that we are caught in Turkey, we need our own city. And here we go again... in Turkey. We need to plan, organize and manage everything. From sketch to the final city there is a big journey. The project "Build your own city" offers us a great chance. We are heading to Koycegiz…

This time I am mayor of the city and I am more than busy with all sorts of administrative tasks. We also decide how and what to start building.  We need as much information as possible. We interview each of the participants on their experiences and wishes. We made absolutely no exception when it comes to knowledge.

Just as last time, the vampires are always proud to represent their home land. Nothing compares to Romanian food!

Now we have a perfect vampire city! Let the fun begin!

When vampires reach to baklava...

Ok... so far we have our own place... but how will some vampires earn money to survive? As usual daily jobs are not our favourites (due to day light schedule) we must open small businesses and work at night only.

We learn how to do so in the project "Create your own business", in Ordu, Turkey.

But we need help from the other participants, as we have no significant knowledge... We form intercultural groups and we start working on small business ideas. We learn how to promote a product, how to identify needs and how to manage a business.  We rewrite Bill Gates story and we discover how not to get hired. As all this business thing is very serious, we also dance, paint or sing, to have some fun meanwhile.

Once we start working in a multicultural team, ideas never stop coming. One starts and the other continue. I have never used my creativity more than in this project. Business works hand in hand with creativity... Even for vampires... 

From youth to super youth and all the way back....

Reached home after all the 3 projects in Turkey and I keep asking myself... What does turn a youth into a super youth? 

ASIRYS gave me a chance to work out every single creative cell in my brain. I have met people who challenged me to my limits and who strongly believe that working together can make a difference.

And we did it...

I suppose that the sum of choices we follow, make the difference. I chose to be a reporter, actress, mayor, business man and volunteer, all in one Super Youth!

Mădălina