My Evs Adventure in ANKARA

Hi, my name is Cristina, I am from Iasi, a small town in the North of Romania and for two months I will be volunteering through European Volunteer Service program at International Youth Activities Center Association IYACA in Ankara. 

I have a strong interest in travelling, discovering new cultures and meeting new people.. and when a friend  told me about thıs EVS project in Turkey, I immediately applied and... I was chosen! Moreover, I have had the opportunity to be a volunteer to a lot of associations in my country, and such opportunity has made me understand even more how much I like working with people, how much I can grow from a personal and social point of view, but most of all that often one grace is enough to feel satisfied and I am excited to see a new country and culture! This are the reasons that I am here and I think that are, also, the most importants things that I could say about myself.

To participate in a EVS Project is a perfect opportunity to visit new places and countries, learn more about other cultures, and learn new languages and that is what I do too. My adventure started last week when I come in Turkey and partıculary a few days ago, when I went to the Atatürk Museum with my mentor Gabriel, for my fırst ‘’date’’ with the Turkish culture. So, thıs is the story: The one of the symbols of Ankara, Anıtkabir is the place where the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Turkish Republic is located. Floated with visitors all year long, that Gabı say’s, Anıtkabir was built between the years of 1944 and 1953. In addition to the actual mausoleum, there's an extensive museum, a huge square ringed by long colonnades, which also include further exhibition rooms (displaying e.g. Atatürk's state carriages and cars), a cinema, large-scale sculptures and other thıngs lke that.

After we passed a coluar who has the one side and the other some statues of lions, the Road of Lions, we have arrived in front of the museum where a the guards parade before it. At that time I had a feeling that our time would worth the visit. After we entered inside the museum, we found that the place is even larger than we initially thought it would be. There were countless corridors and rooms in the museum and the inside architecture reminded us the about the Ottoman empire. People from different age groups and countries were closely observing the museum. 

The first  hall in which we stopped of the museum had some of the personal objects of Atatürk, medals and decorations, writings, letters, Ataturk’s shave sets, sticks, gifts and other his possessions like some photographs about him and his valuable family. The first hall gave us the impression of visiting a theatre or art gallery rather than a museum. Then we moved to the second holl which was full of memories about the War (Dardanelle). Guns, tanks, audiovisual effects and objects such as rocks, cannons, rifles and shells had been arranged there and that can put you in order to perceive the war scenes as you are there. The other panoramas depicting the Sakarya Meydan Savaşı and Büyük Taarruz (two of the most important battles of the War of Independence) and have also been arranged with the same effect in mind. 

When we reached the third section of the museum, it’s been already 2 hours. We found a lot of impressives declaratıons about the Atatürk reforms.  This section had more adventure and surprises for us. It has placed all the major changes  that happened after the War of Independence . I felt overwhelmed seeing the more famous reforms of  Turkey history here. One can easily learn about the customs of different ages just by visiting this section. 

We had visited the whole museum as much as possible and spent almost the whole day. We were so enthralled to visit the place that we literally forgot to have our lunch. The overall experience was fantastic and I learned so many things in few hours. As soon as I left the place, I planned to revisit it someday.