Ordinarily, spring break is an excellent excuse to put a hold on academic responsibilities and instead cuddle up for a week at home with Netflix.
This year, however, twelve Rochester College students and faculty members decided their spring breaks would better be spent studying abroad.
From February 28 to March 7, this group, myself included, had the opportunity to travel to Turkey.
The Niagara Foundation of Michigan generously sponsored our trip. Part of the Hizmet movement, which is an international, non-political global peace effort based out of Turkey, the Niagara Foundation strives to bridge cultural and religious differences through undertakings such as these friendship-building trips.
Throughout the course of the week, not only did we tour ancient cities and famous mosques, but we also had the pleasure of meeting with Turkish families and learning about modern culture and government.
With the variety of experiences we were granted, I enjoyed my time in Turkey immensely. As the week drew to a close, however, I was surprised to find myself at peace with the idea of returning home.
Traveling can be a heady experience; I have found that getting swept up in a foreign country’s landscape, warmer weather (imagine!) and cultural differences can be so enchanting that I seriously begin to consider life as an expatriate.
This trip, however, was different.
Upon arriving home, I realized that if I had returned to Michigan sporting a fez, eschewing Kibo Corner coffee in favor of sipping tea in tiny glasses and waxing poetic about Turkey’s perfect society, then I would have wasted the Niagara Foundation’s money and my own time.
A friendship trip such as this one is meant to grant travelers a small glimpse into Turkish life, but this snapshot includes the country’s imperfections as well.
Therefore, if I am to write about Turkey in a way that does the country any sort of justice, then I am not at liberty to gloss over its mistakes and uncertainties in favor of declaring everything “perfect.”
At the same time, international-relations trips are designed to inspire introspection. I can’t critique Turkey accurately; having spent a mere eight days there, I barely learned the Turkish word for “water” let alone how to fix the Turkish government.
However, I am a born-and-raised American, and I may reevaluate my own national perspective based off of experiences I have had abroad.
Of the few conclusions to which I can decisively come, I have found this: Turkey is beautiful for many of the same reasons America is and broken, too, in similar ways.
Both countries have an overwhelming selection of breathtaking landscapes, but, historically, these same landscapes have found themselves soiled by the wars waged there.
Both countries have scores of kindhearted citizens, people who, for no other reason but their shared humanity, will generously open their homes and hearts to strangers. But people in these nations also are crippled by internal disunity.
In short, I can call both Turkey and America beautiful, and I can call them both broken. When I do so, however, beautiful does not mean perfect, and broken does not mean irreparable.