Ankara: Travel guide, prices and free housing · 2026

ASAzhar ShaikhenovaJan 9, 2023Read

Travel and its role in my life. Travel, in the literal sense, is a trip or moving on foot through distant countries and regions. Nowadays, it has become an important part of modern life for everyone. After all, thanks to travel, a completely different, unexplored world opens up to us, one we don't even think about in everyday life. We have the opportunity to visit the natural beauties of the world, discover other ways of life, and meet interesting people. In short, travel is the key to understanding other cultures and a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the world we live in. In my life, travel plays a special role. Only thanks to traveling and living abroad was I able to become the person I am today. Qualities such as cheerfulness, openness, confidence, and global awareness have developed in me; my psychological state and views on the world have also changed. Travel significantly changes a person's life. This essay is intended to mention my personal experience of traveling and living abroad, as well as to tell why I decided to participate in the program. My first travels Since childhood, my mother raised me alone. She tried to give me everything possible, including travel. My first travels were within Kazakhstan. My mother and I often traveled to various cities, such as Kokshetau, Almaty, and Shymkent. At that time, I was a one-year-old child, and imagine, a young girl traveling with an infant to different cities, and alone at that—I don't think everyone would dare to do such a thing. By the time I reached my teenage years, our travels were becoming further and longer. At 11, my first trip abroad took place, and my first country was the United Arab Emirates, as a result of my mother's hard work. Later, the number of countries increased slightly, and at the moment I have visited 3 countries, two of them several times. After these travels, I realized how important it is to travel, even if only to small towns. Already as a teenager who had just finished school, I was able to enter the university of my dreams, which I had planned to enter and had been preparing for throughout the 11th grade. It was Nazarbayev University. Throughout the 11th grade, I worked hard and attended various courses just to get my cherished acceptance letter. I succeeded; I was able to achieve my goal, but fate had other plans for me. In the middle of summer, I received another acceptance letter, but to a different university in a different country, which I had completely forgotten I had applied to. Upon receiving the letter, I was very surprised, because I had not planned to enter that country at all, and here I had a letter from there. That country was Turkey. I was immensely happy, as this grant covered all expenses, even the ticket there, but realizing the seriousness of the situation, I was overcome by the fear of making the wrong choice. After all, my future life depended on it. 3 months of deliberation ended with me having to leave my dream of studying at NU and choosing Turkey on the advice of my relatives. By choosing Turkey, I had to leave my mother, all my relatives and loved ones in Kazakhstan, and fly to a country that was already familiar but little explored. Life in Turkey Life in a foreign country can be an exciting but also a frightening experience. At the time of my departure for studies in Turkey, I was only 17 years old; I did not yet realize what awaited me ahead. At the airport, before boarding, I was joyful; I already felt like an adult, there wasn't even a drop of sadness. But upon arrival, I realized how small and insignificant I still was in such a large metropolis as Ankara. I knew neither the language nor their culture. When checking into the dormitory, it was very difficult to process all the documents, because the administrators did not know English, and I did not know Turkish. With great difficulty, with translators and the help of girls who knew the language, we managed to fill out all the documents. Right then and th