Turkish Culture Shock

During the summer of 2009, I went to Fethiye/Oludeniz (Turkey) for the first time in my life. Although I had heard a lot about Turkish culture, it was different when actually experiencing it. One of the first things I noticed is that the people there are more laid-back and less sensitive to time than are Americans. I was interning in Fethiye for 2 months at a private school called the American Cultural Association, where I was to teach English to students of all ages. The date/time of the classes were made up as the days went on, and there weren't any lesson plans; you just make them up as you go. The bosses and employees would order and have lunch together, and there was even a pool table so that students and employees can play together during breaks. It was definitely more of an unstructured workplace than any I had experienced in the U.S. thus far.

The Turks are also big on tea; they drink it anywhere between 2-5 times a day. It was a little hard for me to comprehend at first why people drank hot tea in 115-degree weather, but then I learned that it actually helps during the heat because it quenches your thirst. Also, people greeted one another with a kiss on each cheek instead of a handshake, even people they were just meeting for the first time. So imagine meeting your boss and one of your employees at the airport for the first time and getting greeted with a kiss on the cheek: definitely caught me by surprise!

That's all for now, hope you learned a little something!

Hello, my name is Edita Muminovic and I am 22 years old. I was born in Bosnia (otherwise known as former Yugolslavia) and moved to New York when I was 7 years old. I am trilingual; I speak English, Bosnian, and Macedonian fluently. I love to travel and plan on doing lots more of it in the future!

I played on the Baruch Women's Volleyball team for two years and enjoyed every moment of it. Now I manage the Baruch Men's Volleyball team and enjoy that as well, seeing as how I get to travel with them for no cost at all.

I transferred from Hunter College two years ago, where I decided that the Psychology degree I was pursuing was not the right career-choice for me. I'm graduating from Baruch this May with an International Marketing degree and plan on using it to do something either in the International Logistics or Advertising job market.