Merhaba Türkiye!: Turkish Olympiad

Monday night I attended a musical celebration for the 11th annual Turkish Olympiad. The Turkish Olympiad brings together students from all over the world who are studying Turkish as their second language for cultural exchange and to promote peace. I really had no idea what I was getting into when I went to this event. My friend, Tuba, who is Turkish and is with us from UAB, planned for us to go this event and all that she told us beforehand was that we were going to a concert. We caught a bus from campus into the outskirts of Ankara to catch a shuttle that had been scheduled to take us and other students to the event. When the shuttle arrived at the bus stop, I saw that it was nearly full of young Turkish women. Our group joined them on the bus and headed to the mysterious concert on the other side of town. Our lone male in the group was placed in the front of the bus full of women.

When we arrived at the arena, I saw that this was a huge event! There were cars and buses everywhere and people rushing towards the entrances of the stadium. There were stands on the outside of the stadium selling sizzling meats and other goodies. As we headed toward the entrance, the sea of people became more and more dense. Once we passed security, it was almost unbearably crowded as tons of excited people tried to squeeze through a singular doorway. The seven of us from UAB linked arms with one another and thrust through throng in single file.

One we were seated I saw that there were flags from so many countries hanging around the arena. Men walked through the aisles selling bread and something similar to sunflower seeds as the seats of the stadium filled to capacity. Above, a person was flying around in some sort of fan and parachute contraption as the crowd cheered. Once the event began, I learned that the Turkish Olympiad brought 2,000 students from 140 different countries to Turkey to this language and cultural festival. The concert featured wonderful performances from students from around the world singing popular Turkish songs, dances, and poetry, all dressed up in the traditional garb of their native countries. All of the singers were very talented. I was a bit disappointed in the outfit of the one performer from the US. I believe he was from Texas and he wore a red plaid shirt, a cowboy hat, blue suspenders, and a blue tie. While I can't really think what a good representational outfit for the US would be, I really hope that this would not be it. Despite this, the event was amazing and a great time!

The best part of the event was the kindness of the people we met during the event. Their was a family sitting behind us that was very friendly and even shared their meal with us. They spoke with us throughout the event gave us bread they had made and cherries from their garden. Others sitting around us were also very friendly and seemed happy to meet people from the US even though our Turkish speaking skills leave much to be desired at this point. The event ended with a literal bang. Their was a spectacular fireworks show that was probably the best I have ever seen. It's probably cheesy to say, but the whole event was a magical time. Leaving the event was also a bit of an adventure as there were so many buses and cars and they all looked the same to me. Luckily we managed to find our shuttle and began the journey home. On the ride, we made friends with several of the women on the bus who we also found out go to the university we are at. Today, we had lunch with several of them. I was sad to find out that most of them will be leaving in two weeks after they finish their final exams. It was still great to meet some friends even if they will only be around a short while.

Video of the Turkish national anthem sung at the event.