AFRE in Brno by Turkey

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

Report by Turkey THE FIRST MEETING OF AFRE CZECH REPUBLIC

If we always look at the outside from the same window we always see the same view. If you look at outside from the different windows we can see different views. For that reason we started a journey.

We started a journey between cultures. We would like to see the world with their perspective. We would like to meet and know them .We believe that if we know each other, we can love and understand each other better.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

Yes, this is a journey between cultures; Hungary, Czech Republic, England, Poland, Turkey.

Czech Republic was the first place which we visited. These are our opinions with you before we went there, we would like to share with you: ‘I have never gone abroad before. This is a good chance to go Czech Republic. I think it will also be a good experience for me. Meeting new people, sharing opinions make me excited.’

Tuğçe Aşar (student) ‘Last year we read an article about historical and famous places in Czech Republic. It was one of my dreams to visit this country. Now it becomes true. I am very excited. I wish I spent good time there.’

Ayşe Fatma Evyapar (student) ‘I am an art student. I’m happy to meet the people who are different cultures. I have seen many historical buildings in Czech on the net, they are all magnificent. I am very excited to be able to see them.’ Şule Nur Efe (student)

The cathedral of Prague

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

While we were on the way of cathedral in Prague.

When the weather was 30-35 degree, and while we were wearing summer clothes in our country, we wore our winter clothes there. We prepared ourselves

colder

weather.

However, it was better than we thought.

We visited this country in a beautiful autumn day .It was very nice and sunny.

This country is more to the north than Turkey. For that reason summer is short and the temperature rises 20 degree .Winter is long and cold.

If you go Gaziantep to Brno by plane, it is 2150 km. There is no plane directly to Brno, so firstly, we had to go Prague .If you want to go by car from Gaziantep to Brno, and you need to go 2891km.You may reach Brno after 1 day 11 hours later.

It was very a long journey for us. We started our way at 2.oo o’clock in the morning .First we landed in İstanbul, then we changed our plane .We came to Prague at 12.00 am, then we arrived to Brno at about 3.00 o’clock. It was very tiring for us.

We were happy to be there .We met our new friends. We went sightseeing of the city.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

A modern clock in Brno

While we were sightseeing in Brno, we met with the religious women. We entered the church; we watched their ceremony for a while.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

These are the photos in Brno. As you can see, pork is very common in Czech Republic. We have to thank our coordinator, Dagmar. Since we mentioned before that we don’t eat pork, we hadn’t seen any in our plate.

The cuisine of Czech Republic is very different from ours. We tasted different meals but the same soup for several times.

We especially liked the duck and the sandwich with butter and ton. We decided to make it in Turkey.

When we compare the prices of the meal in our country, they are more expensive than ours.

They take money for the rice and bread. You don’t need to pay in our country. Mineral water is very common there. They like drinking alcohol.

Students can comfortably drink near their teacher .This is strange for us.

Since we are Muslim, according to our religion, alcohol is forbidden. Yes there are some people, who don’t obey this rule in our country, but Teachers cannot drink near the students, and students can’t drink near their teachers. It is also not suitable for the society.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

We visited beer fabric. We saw how it was made! Did we have to visit it? We don’t know!

Yes, beer is very famous in Czech Republic. Pilsen is a city which is famous beer. In Turkey we have the Pilsner beer. We also have a basketball team whose name is Efes Pilsen.

We had to divide in groups to explore Czech Republic. Geography group, History group, Language and films, Biology group. We had some problems at this point.

We were three teachers and three students. Since we were art students, we prefer to be in history group.

We also have language problem .Our English is not good. We can understand, but we have some difficulties in speaking.

Our language is different from theirs. We haven’t had a chance to practice it. We haven’t gone abroad before.

We have some friends whose English are better but we were chosen .Since they had gone abroad before. Our teachers would like to give chance to us ...We mentioned that our school’s schedule time is different from

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy European countries. Since we have religious holiday (Ramadan Bayram) Our school started at the end of the September and we were here on 13th October.

We understand that the importance of learning of language.

We have started to study English much more than before.

We were with Polish teachers and students in history group.Tuğçe wanted to be in Geography group.

‘We climbed the hill, it was very tiring .However It was worth to see this scene of the Czech village. You can see a lot of villages in this country. There are some big cities; Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen…’

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

These are the photos of Czech nature.

We learned that wheat, potato, sugar beet and some fruits are grown in here.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

Poultry and pork are the common animals which are raised.

We had spent good time with my friends. We learned a lot of things about the geography of Czech lands.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

They don’t have any sea but they have some rivers which flow into the Danube. The Vltava is one of river in Prague. We couldn’t take a chance of seeing the sunset on the bridge. The weather was rainy and we had to walk very quickly. The scene was the marvelous.

We wish we had sailed and felt the nature on the river.

There were a lot of people who took photos, who drew pictures, who sold souvenirs there.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy History group We went to Olomouc. It was an old city. It was famous for being trade centre. It has the second biggest city which has the historical buildings after Prague. It is the fifth biggest city now. There was a university in 1853.

There is a big statue in the city centre, a

historical

fountain

and

a

modern astronomical clock are some of the beauties of these city.

Then we went to Austerlitz .This city was remembered with Austerlitz’s war. Napoleon who was a great soldier used a great tactical in the war. It is known as the first collision war.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy Since we are art students we were happy to be in this group. We saw a lot of beautiful statues, monuments, arts‌..

We learned that there had been 6 different countries in the same Czech‘s lands during 80 years. They had lived great pain. We resembled these men who were carrying these buildings, they also carrying the difficulties of the life in their history.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

We learned that the first café in Prague was opened by Turks. We can see the Ottoman figures in many places.

Language group We learned that there are some common names.

Jacop-Yakup Jesus_İsa David –Davud etc…….

It was very strange that hearing a word without consonant.

It was also surprised that ‘caj-tea’in Czech language is the same pronunciation ‘çay-tea’ in Turkish language.

Our General opinions about Czech We wish we had given our gifts on the first day of the meeting.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

We wished our students had presented their presentation.

AD FONTES RERUM EUROPAE Or Following the Cultural Footsteps of Middle Eastern Europe and the Cradle of Parliamentary Democracy

It became a good experiment for us. We have learned our negative and positive sides.

We can have different cultures, different history, and different geography. However, we can share the same opinions, the same feelings. We mustn’t forget the tolerance and the smiling on our face.

The End Turkish Group