Arts Lab 5.0: Aliye Ceylan, Turkey - Month 4

Another month has passed, and I never realized how quickly it went by. I can say that I had a real Christmas period for the first time. But before that, of course, we did a lot of things again. The most meaningful thing for me this month was that we started workshops at the school for visually impaired youth. I never thought I would feel so peaceful with them; it felt like therapy to me.

On another day, we participated in a tarabana workshop. It was a lot of fun, something I am actually very curious about and want to learn. Maybe I can tell the students from the previous schools we went to and take small lessons from them because I saw that there were students working in this field. And, of course, the schools we went to for the caravan event. They welcomed us so warmly and hospitably in the schools that sometimes I am surprised. I realized that shooting clips or preparing reels in schools is a lot of fun for me. Apart from that, we also shot a lot of documentaries. Although sometimes their editing intimidates me, I enjoy it a lot when I see the resulting work.

Let’s talk about my first solo holiday abroad. This was my dream. The fact that I did it in Romania for the first time is completely different; I will never forget it for the rest of my life. It was also a month when my desire to be alone mentally was very dominant, so I wanted to be alone. And it was very good for me.

To be honest, living in the same house with 11 people is really difficult to manage. Because when you have an argument with someone, having to stay in the same environment with them afterwards is very difficult; it requires a great mental strength. Of course, it is very enjoyable and fun from time to time. And most importantly, it is instructive. Because I know that after the end of this project, each of us will have made great inferences, especially psychologically. Every bad experience we have here will turn into a good experience.

Anyway, let’s go back to the New Year period 😊. We had a raffle to exchange gifts among ourselves at home. We all prepared meals, and we had a nice night at home. In the following days, I traveled to Cluj and Sibiu, both legendary cities. I think I did not leave any streets, museums, galleries, or churches unvisited. And we entered the New Year by attending the concert in Sibiu square (together with 2 friends from this project). Next week, after opening our 3rd exhibition, we will go to Bucharest for the midterm. We will see the capital for the first time. I am very excited both for this and for meeting new people.

Aliye Ceylan is from Turkey, and she is participating in a six-month volunteering program within Arts Lab 5.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps.