01.12.2007 “Our aim is not only to prevent the nuclear wars but all wars. ”Everything about IPNW and Germany started with these sentences that I well remember which were told by pretty woman in the conference saloon of medicine faculty of 9 Eylül University in Izmir. At the end I learned later when I asked her for her e-mail address that this pretty woman was called Ulla. So the times for me going several times to the German embassy in Izmir to get visa from the German state though I did not have enough time for my exams started and took quiet long time.
It was months later seeing Ulla again at Berlin airport. Time in Berlin was really crazy I was trying to reach Ulla in the streets of Berlin that were quiet foreign to me with lots of biking people and fluent traffic. After one day with a very nice medicine student called Ulrike, who gave me the general impression of medicine students in Germany, I was on the train to Villingen-Schwenningen.
Villingen-Schwenningen
When the train was on the main station of Villingen-Schwenningen I was a bit anxious about whom I will stay together for two weeks but that anxiety had already gone away after I had seen a sweet good-looking man in the middle of platform. He was still looking around but I had already recognised him. It was him, Elu, Ernst Ludwig Iskenius. The following two weeks were with him and with a wonderfull lady called Eva and her husband Rolf who were doctors in Villingen-Schwenningen. These two weeks were my best times in Germany because I never felt like a foreigner there; me, Elu Eva and Rolf were close friends and having fun as it was possible. Villingen-Schwenningen was so sweet place for me and I was enjoying the small water channels, the clock towers and the very old city wall while I could find time during the practise.
Dr. Elu was impressive with his hardworking and friendly character and it was pleasure having discussions with Eva in the evenings. Though I stayed there just for two weeks it makes me feel like I have been there for years!
Following four weeks were in Freiburg where I had internal medicine practise. I had the opportunity of having experiences about angiology, valve diseases and coronary artery diseases. I was very lucky being a practicer there, therefore the doctors there tried a lot me to be orientated to the issues they were discussing about.
In the North
Four weeks later I was on the train to the north of Germany: it was interesting seeing big cities so close to each other that sometimes I was feeling there was no distance between. Fifteen minutes were enough to go from one to another. So I was in north Germany after a long journey that gave me the opportunity of seeing almost whole country from south to north. I worked with Dr. Gisela there where I learned a lot about German medical system and also about the patients in Germany. Sometimes it was funny seeing some people coming to doctor almost without any reason like having a small cut on a finger. But I think the more interesting than this was, that Gisela was always doing something for patients so all patients could find something there for themselves, that was nice. But the interesting point for me was that the patients were all satisfied. They were all happy anyway while they were leaving the room. But this was very funny for me. I think if patients are happy the rest is not important any longer. So one week with family doctor practise taught me that it was not so difficult making people happy!
While I was in north I could easily see the difference. People here were talking less than the south and also more slowly, it was easier to understand German language here and I started to speak German also.
One of the best places in Germany that I have been to was in Cuxhaven, the “Alte Liebe” where the Germans emigrated to America while leaving. They had to leave their friends, relatives and their lives in Germany. It was sad hearing the story.
Being on the coast of North Sea was making me feel strange because I was feeling like I was almost at the end of the earth. But of course it had been quiet long time that has been shown that the earth was round and even North Sea could be the centre of the world!
Learning And Seeing
Every minute in Germany for me was all learning and seeing new things. I got used to seeing biking people on the streets everywhere which is not so common in my country.
In daily life I was feeling that German people speak much and sometimes I think it was because of I could not follow the topic, it seemed to me unnecessary. But by the time when I started to be able to follow the dialogues it became more normal and more necessary to me!
Germans and Foreigners
German trains were the other impressive thing for me, I almost went everywhere I wanted to go by train and seeing people so natural especially people with their bikes in trains was an other impression.
During eight weeks in Germany I noticed that it was not so easy living in Germany as a foreigner. I was a guest here and I was very comfortable I had no any problem about staying here or any anxiety like being caught by the police any time, because I knew that there were many people here like that. It was also not nice hearing from many people here even the German themselves that the German state did not want any foreigner any longer. This was really not nice, “not to be wanted” I could imagine the feelings of foreigners here. I met many students from different countries, the life of them did not seem difficult to me but when I was on the street and having a discussion with anyone from any other country I could easily see that some of them were feeling isolated and having problems about staying and also finding a job here. But the most impressive thing that I learned here that some people from other countries were not allowed to work but it was also not allowed to stay in Germany without any work! And this was like a street that you can not go any longer. Because they had to work if they wanted to stay in Germany but they were not allowed! And when I thought more careful about that topic I could easily find out that this was the solution to make it easier sending foreigners out of the country! This clever but cruel solution is not acceptable. I think this is one of the problems that must be solved otherwise our solutions will be the problem for other people and I think nobody in the world has the right of having luxury while others are suffering.
Though I was a guest of IPPNW and just an exchange programme student here , I was really feeling familiar to Germany, because during my time in Germany I saw many people from Turkey, my country. It was very nice and also different seeing them here so far from Turkey. It was easier for me here than for the other guests because every time I had the luxury of finding people from my country. I was asking for help in any Turkish shop if I was losing my way or if I was hungry. It was interesting for me listening to them and having a knowledge about their lives here. I noticed that some of them had problems about integration and language. But my impression is that all of them were trying to do the best.
Like all guests who have been here before me, time to go came for me also. I have to leave my friends and the people I like so much. Maybe it will be a very classic sentence but I can not stand without saying: I will never forget the nice people I met here who made me feel at home though I was thousand miles away; especially the time I spent in Villingen-Schweningen, in Otterndorf and in Freiburg with my friends Steffi, Julia and Fredy, which was always natural and never duty will always remain in my mind.
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