Hear two Turkey Academic Year program participants reflect during their final days in Turkey on their language learning and cultural exchange experiences.
"I've come to love Turkish as a language because it is like a puzzle… it's almost become a part of me just listening to it all day."
"I could've watched movies about people in Turkey; that's how I could have learned how they dress, how the houses look. But it's so much better to learn things hands on than it is to sit there behind a book or behind a television screen."
"I can go anywhere in the world, I feel like, and learn the language, because I was able to learn Turkish."
- Amber, NSLI-Y Turkey, Academic Year 2011 - 2012
"When you learn the language, you're actually able to make strong bonds you didn't have before. Learning the language is the most important part."
"It's like having two families; it's actually like having your real family and having your real family across the world."
"When your Turkish gets better, you find out that they actually have personalities, and they find out that you have a real personality and are a real person, and then you start to get to know them really well and their interests… and you make really good friends."
"Learning a language in high school was never really fun, but coming here, it's been the most fun thing I've ever done and the best year of my life."
- Arman, NSLI-Y Turkey, Academic Year 2011 - 2012