Hello dear friends,
It is the first time ever that I am writing a blog, the reason is to let you know about my recent experiences in life, especially about that big adventure called "European Voluntary Service" or "EVS" or "SVE" in french.
Well, lets start from the beggining and have a look what I have done so far!
After staying 7 years in this beautiful city of Turkey, it was time to leave for France, but first I needed to know final details about EVS from experienced trainers. To do that Sefik Emre Coskun and Muratcan Karagoz, my ex-collegues and friends helped me a lot and gave useful informations during "Departure Seminar" organized by "Dokuz Eylul Project Manegement and Guidance Unit".
I also add that TREX-EVS association contributed a lot to my EVS adventure, by its seminars, giving me the chance to speak with EX-EVS volunteers and learn about their experiences.
Then it was time so say goodbye for a while to life in Turkey, to friends and to Turkish tea!
After a long trip starting from my hometown Gaziantep, changing the flight in Istanbul, I finally arrived at the city "Nice" in France.
It is the 5th biggest city of france with a population of 344.000. In comparison to the other big cities of france it is much more secure, has an interesting history and a wonderful old town. Italians called it " Nizza ", it is still possible to see the italian effect on buildings.
I will give more information about this city later on. Now I continue...
At the airport of Nice, I was welcomed by 1 french, 1 hungarian and 1 Latvian, quite surprised! It was a nice welcome, they immediately took me to the place where my EVS would begin: Cap d'Ail.
Centre Méditerranéen d'Etudes Francaises, the language school where I started volunteering is in Cap d'Ail, which is a town situated in a place from where you can walk to Monaco, take a bus to Nice, or a 30 minutes train to Italy.
It is has a view of sea from the top, and has a hill behind, called "Tete de chien". It is a little bit tiring to climb up to the school, we have to walk some stairs, it is a nice path though..
At the end of the stairs, when we reach to the to top, at the terrasse of the school we have this view..
Talking about the school, I should talk about Jean Cocteau (You would remember him for the movie "The Beauty and the Beast" ), who spent some time here and built this theatre in 1959.
He was inspired by Greek theatre when he made it, it is seen " Komodia & Tragodia" written on the top of the scene, and a representation of the play "Orphée" in the middle.
After my arrival, I didn't really feel very tired as Turkish Airlines is the best of the Europe and make you feel home ( yes advertising! :) , I immediately wanted to go out and discover the area. It didn't take a long time to see all Cap d'Ail, because it is quite small and a calm place. At least it has a wonderful restaurant and a market open sundays ( it is rare in France ), at least Cote d'Azur.
Well it is our lovely local restaurant where we usually eat pizza and drink coffee:
After discovering Cap d'Ail, it was time to see the closest country : Monaco!
It is the world's second smallest but most populated country, still ruled by monarchy. It is a place where there is no tax! People of Monaco called "Monagesque". If you are one of them, as you pay no tax, you almost pay no rent too!
That is the way which goes to the palace of Monaco, then we have the palace:
But the most popular place to visit in Monaco is not the palace! Not hard to guess...
Yes, "Casino Monte-Carlo", even if it is not my favorite place, it's worth to see at least one time.. And just next to it, there is hotel where you can have a breakfast for 600 Euros (not joking) ...
Here is a nice place to eat at Monaco:
After all, a good side of Monaco is Formula 1 of course. I am lucky to see the preparations for this event.
Arrival Seminar
One of the best part of EVS adventure is the "Arrival Seminar" where you meet other voluteers, make new friends and share experiences. It is a week full of work but also full of fun! My seminar was in a small town called "Sommiere". It is a quite good protected medieval town. During the night there is nothing open, but there is a small river and a nice castle where you can have a nice time without no sound, during the night , everybody is home in Sommiere.
Making new friends...
Getting to know local people..
Then goodbye to Sommiere, coming back to Cap d'ail passing through Nimes:
After the arrival seminar I was more clear in my mind, it helped me a lot in putting my goals for EVS more clearly and I learned many basic tips for living in France.
Life in the school
The place where I am volunteering is basically a French language school, offering also cultural activities and daily trips to its visitors. So we have students from many nationalities. The first month of my arrival was quite interesting and international, we were hosting a Japanese group from Nagoya University. As I am a lover of Japanese culture and people, I was so glad to meet them. They were so calm, respectful and friendly.
We attended many activities and made trips around Cote d'Azur. Here they are presenting their country, writing our names with japanese alphabet..
Peace!
A trip to the beach at Nice..
Day trip to Italy, San Remo
Wakame soup! Delicious!
Similar to me?
Attending the festival in Nice..
After 3 weeks of nice and funny time, we said goodbye but still getting postcards, that is japanese friendship!
I and other 3 volunteers: Lazslo from Hungary,Diana from Latvia and Umut from Turkey, we continued to welcome to student groups from Italy, Spain, Germany, United States, Australia, Nederlands etc.. Here we see some photograps taken during all the activities..
Umut,playing petanque (traditional french game) with German students..
Jean Cocteau workshop, painting ceramic dishes
Visiting Fragonard perfume factory with Spanish students.
Visiting Greek house "Villa Kerylos" with Australian studens..
Thanks to the trips with students I travelled the popular destinations around Cote d'Azur, but I also wanted to see some local life and to meet local people...
Exploring South of France
Whenever I have some time, I always tried to see the places where I haven't been yet. When people talk about Cote d'Azur, the first thing to say is the "sea,sun and sand and money" but for me doesn't come first. The thing amazes me more is old medieval villages, local life and natural beauty around here. Under this topic I want to share some pictures taken during all this visits-trips. I will write more detailed about this area under another entry.. Here we go again!
Antibes, at the port
Watching the sea..
Nice place to rest..
Visiting Picasso museum in Antibes
A nice small street in old town of Antibes
Then we have Cannes, where every year a huge film festival held...
Feeding the birds in Cannes...
Some french women out for a sunny day..
Eating "Paninis"
The red carpet.. It is not a special thing but famous just because of celebrity people who walked on it.
And then we have Nice, which is the biggest city closest to Cap d'Ail..
Second hand books, magazines etc. - Palais de Justice at Old town of Nice
Nice is really beautiful, but as I said I am keeping it for my next topic, i have to give more detailed infirmation about this city.. Now i want to share some shots taken in some small villages of French Riviera...
Villefranche
A picnic at Villefranche with Erasmus students of Nice
Eze Village
And Roquebrune.. My favorite..
As it is written on a wall in Roquebrune village " Here or somewhere else, carpe diem" !
To be continued...
It is the first time ever that I am writing a blog, the reason is to let you know about my recent experiences in life, especially about that big adventure called "European Voluntary Service" or "EVS" or "SVE" in french.
Well, lets start from the beggining and have a look what I have done so far!
Departure from Izmir, Turkey
After staying 7 years in this beautiful city of Turkey, it was time to leave for France, but first I needed to know final details about EVS from experienced trainers. To do that Sefik Emre Coskun and Muratcan Karagoz, my ex-collegues and friends helped me a lot and gave useful informations during "Departure Seminar" organized by "Dokuz Eylul Project Manegement and Guidance Unit".
I also add that TREX-EVS association contributed a lot to my EVS adventure, by its seminars, giving me the chance to speak with EX-EVS volunteers and learn about their experiences.
Then it was time so say goodbye for a while to life in Turkey, to friends and to Turkish tea!
Arrival at Nice, Cote d'Azur - 7th of February 2013
After a long trip starting from my hometown Gaziantep, changing the flight in Istanbul, I finally arrived at the city "Nice" in France.
It is the 5th biggest city of france with a population of 344.000. In comparison to the other big cities of france it is much more secure, has an interesting history and a wonderful old town. Italians called it " Nizza ", it is still possible to see the italian effect on buildings.
I will give more information about this city later on. Now I continue...
At the airport of Nice, I was welcomed by 1 french, 1 hungarian and 1 Latvian, quite surprised! It was a nice welcome, they immediately took me to the place where my EVS would begin: Cap d'Ail.
Centre Méditerranéen d'Etudes Francaises, the language school where I started volunteering is in Cap d'Ail, which is a town situated in a place from where you can walk to Monaco, take a bus to Nice, or a 30 minutes train to Italy.
It is has a view of sea from the top, and has a hill behind, called "Tete de chien". It is a little bit tiring to climb up to the school, we have to walk some stairs, it is a nice path though..
At the end of the stairs, when we reach to the to top, at the terrasse of the school we have this view..
Talking about the school, I should talk about Jean Cocteau (You would remember him for the movie "The Beauty and the Beast" ), who spent some time here and built this theatre in 1959.
He was inspired by Greek theatre when he made it, it is seen " Komodia & Tragodia" written on the top of the scene, and a representation of the play "Orphée" in the middle.
And Volunteering Starts!
After my arrival, I didn't really feel very tired as Turkish Airlines is the best of the Europe and make you feel home ( yes advertising! :) , I immediately wanted to go out and discover the area. It didn't take a long time to see all Cap d'Ail, because it is quite small and a calm place. At least it has a wonderful restaurant and a market open sundays ( it is rare in France ), at least Cote d'Azur.
Well it is our lovely local restaurant where we usually eat pizza and drink coffee:
After discovering Cap d'Ail, it was time to see the closest country : Monaco!
It is the world's second smallest but most populated country, still ruled by monarchy. It is a place where there is no tax! People of Monaco called "Monagesque". If you are one of them, as you pay no tax, you almost pay no rent too!
That is the way which goes to the palace of Monaco, then we have the palace:
But the most popular place to visit in Monaco is not the palace! Not hard to guess...
Yes, "Casino Monte-Carlo", even if it is not my favorite place, it's worth to see at least one time.. And just next to it, there is hotel where you can have a breakfast for 600 Euros (not joking) ...
Here is a nice place to eat at Monaco:
After all, a good side of Monaco is Formula 1 of course. I am lucky to see the preparations for this event.
Arrival Seminar
One of the best part of EVS adventure is the "Arrival Seminar" where you meet other voluteers, make new friends and share experiences. It is a week full of work but also full of fun! My seminar was in a small town called "Sommiere". It is a quite good protected medieval town. During the night there is nothing open, but there is a small river and a nice castle where you can have a nice time without no sound, during the night , everybody is home in Sommiere.
Making new friends...
Getting to know local people..
Then goodbye to Sommiere, coming back to Cap d'ail passing through Nimes:
After the arrival seminar I was more clear in my mind, it helped me a lot in putting my goals for EVS more clearly and I learned many basic tips for living in France.
Life in the school
The place where I am volunteering is basically a French language school, offering also cultural activities and daily trips to its visitors. So we have students from many nationalities. The first month of my arrival was quite interesting and international, we were hosting a Japanese group from Nagoya University. As I am a lover of Japanese culture and people, I was so glad to meet them. They were so calm, respectful and friendly.
We attended many activities and made trips around Cote d'Azur. Here they are presenting their country, writing our names with japanese alphabet..
Peace!
A trip to the beach at Nice..
Day trip to Italy, San Remo
Wakame soup! Delicious!
Similar to me?
Attending the festival in Nice..
After 3 weeks of nice and funny time, we said goodbye but still getting postcards, that is japanese friendship!
I and other 3 volunteers: Lazslo from Hungary,Diana from Latvia and Umut from Turkey, we continued to welcome to student groups from Italy, Spain, Germany, United States, Australia, Nederlands etc.. Here we see some photograps taken during all the activities..
Umut,playing petanque (traditional french game) with German students..
Jean Cocteau workshop, painting ceramic dishes
Visiting Fragonard perfume factory with Spanish students.
Visiting Greek house "Villa Kerylos" with Australian studens..
Thanks to the trips with students I travelled the popular destinations around Cote d'Azur, but I also wanted to see some local life and to meet local people...
Exploring South of France
Whenever I have some time, I always tried to see the places where I haven't been yet. When people talk about Cote d'Azur, the first thing to say is the "sea,sun and sand and money" but for me doesn't come first. The thing amazes me more is old medieval villages, local life and natural beauty around here. Under this topic I want to share some pictures taken during all this visits-trips. I will write more detailed about this area under another entry.. Here we go again!
Antibes, at the port
Watching the sea..
Nice place to rest..
Visiting Picasso museum in Antibes
A nice small street in old town of Antibes
Then we have Cannes, where every year a huge film festival held...
Feeding the birds in Cannes...
Some french women out for a sunny day..
Eating "Paninis"
And then we have Nice, which is the biggest city closest to Cap d'Ail..
Second hand books, magazines etc. - Palais de Justice at Old town of Nice
Nice is really beautiful, but as I said I am keeping it for my next topic, i have to give more detailed infirmation about this city.. Now i want to share some shots taken in some small villages of French Riviera...
Villefranche
Eze Village
And Roquebrune.. My favorite..
As it is written on a wall in Roquebrune village " Here or somewhere else, carpe diem" !
To be continued...
çok güzel anılar paylaşmışsın, hepsini okudum devamını bekliyoruz :)
YanıtlaSilTesekkurler, devami haziran-temmuz gibi:)
YanıtlaSil