ISTANBUL, Turkey

The people from my last ride let me of in front of the highway where I didn’t wait longer then 10min and I got picked up by a truck. Turkey seams very easy to travel by hitch hiking. I never had to wait longer than 10 minutes. My last ride was also a truck how let me out in the middle of the city-highway in Istanbul. I had no Idea of the scale from that city and no idea how to get around. I dot to the Metrobus which I thought is a brilliant system for this kind of city. It took about 45 minutes until I was sort of close to the centre.

 I could not get hold onto any couchsurfing person or friends form friends. I wondered around and went straight into the busiest hostel road. I checked in for two nights and enjoyed the company with people from England, Australia, Quatar, South Africa and Turkey.

The city is unbelievable big. I just began to walk around by myself and tried to get lost. Which was very easy in Taksim. I found these little roads with all does little shops and cafes. On my second day in Istanbul I met Dogu, we met via couchsurfing. He organised me a place to stay at his friends place. He showed me around at his university, which I think is one of the most amazing spots, right on the Bosporus. And he invited me for a Surfing trip on the black sea cost. I had this great opportunity to meet all his friends who also study graphic design or fine art or any other creative subject. I tried to do my best on the board but I think I was better in taking pictures and watching.

They also took me on a hike for the next day on the countryside. We were a group of about 50 people. After the Waterfall we went to play football and they all called me ‘Erasmus’ because most of them thought I am studying in Istanbul. However I had a brilliant time with most of them.

The next few days I mostly where busy with getting lost in the city, doing some drawings and asking people from different design offices for volunteering work. Unfortunately I could not find anything which I could relay to. It was still a great opportunity to meet new people and spread my Idea of Design Volunteer.

As I met many locals and spend a lot of time with them I felt like living there instead of being a tourist. At Dogu’s University they gave me some really good Addresses from Designers, I met Tara which was wonderful because she got me to places I would not have gone myself and Duru took me to some art exhibition and also hosted me for some days.