Page 99 - KÜLTÜR ATÖLYESİ III

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the view on the Halic and Tarlabasi
roofs. I love to hear the sound of
the call for prayer - the “Ezan” and
it gives me a moment of silence and
reflection. Except of that we are
always chatting a lot while drinking
cay. I will never forget the smell of the
coffee when Yeliz prepared it in the
morning. I am blessed to live in an
old fashioned house with the antique
touch of Istanbul. Even when you
touch the furniture you can feel the
history that the wood preserved. This
house is a good place for meeting
different individuals because my flat
mates always bring their friends from
Turkey and all around the world who
come to visit us. Also my friends
from Germany came to visit me and
we had the possibility to share our people, especially in Beyoğlu, with some regular people, for example
experience and knowledge and the Beșiktaș and Kadikoy. You can feel around the Galata Tower. Also the
most important thing: having a good the melancholy in the music and in biggest amount of tourists can be
time together. the art of the streets. The melancholy seen there outside of Sultanahmet.
is deepey rooted in the soul of the Many Erasmus students like me meet
I have the feeling that I live in a people. Also in Northern Germany in Istiklal to hang out or go clubbing.
Orhan Pamuk novel. Something that you can feel a melancholy but it is Sometimes I compare Istiklal to the”
impressed me the first moment when different here. The people seem to like Reeperbahn” in Germany because
I arrived in Istanbul, is the amount this way of life, whereas in Germany it of the night life, clubs and the big
of dogs and cats living in peace with seems to depress the people. amount of tourist and local people.
the Istanbul inhabitants. In Germany But there is a difference. The big
you can only find dogs and cats which For me as an Erasmus student, Istiklal difference and the most impressive
belong to people, but not free in the caddesi is the vein of night life. The thing is the huge variety and the
streets. This gives me the impression movement of the people of Istiklal is high quality of musicians in this
that I am not in a big city, because the pumping blood from the heart street. From refugee children playing
humans and animals live together. of Taksim. I like the different sides darbuka to big groups of musicians
One thing that I miss, like in almost of Istiklal. On the one hand you can playing all kind of instruments to
every big city are the green areas such find loud and vibrating places with an old man playing the violin. I had
as parks and trees in the streets. What clubs or live music and on the other experienced a big factor of interaction
is very unique about Istanbul is the hand there are also quiet places for around the streets of Istiklal, such as
bohemian life and the melancholic smoking nargile or drinking a beer dancing with a lot of different people.