Before arrival: Now, I am on the plane. I am flying far away.  We are going through all the turkey. We are going to Armenia. What I know about Armenia? I know that some historical and political issues between Armenia and Turkey. That’s it but this is not enough to me because this is only one side’s ideas and viewpoints. I need to hear other side’s voices. I want to be good writer and it just happens to see the other sides. I do not want to believe in something blindly but I am worried because I have never been abroad before. This may be a sign. Firsts have a memorable place in human life. We will see. I hope everything goes well.

Day 1: I am so tired.  I could only sleep two or three hours. Program started. We are trying to learn each other’s names but I can’t remember any of them. My name memory is very weak and especially in here, it is a place I don’t know and it’s much harder for me with strangers. I am a shy person and I cannot sincere with people I do not know because I need time to get used to it.

Day 2: today, I am good. I feel good. My roommates are very sympathetic people. Actually, all of them are positive people but sometimes I feel bad because as if everyone, except for me, have accomplished and revealed something. I am studying in university. I’m a second-year student and I have nothing except from my own writing.

Day 3: we are writing prose or poem every day. We are sharing our thoughts with each other and reading them. I think slowly I’m starting to understand people and their ways of thinking. I like to observe people. This sometimes helps me from writing. This night there was an event called “Open Mic”. Everyone read their own writings with a microphone. There are people from five different countries here and I liked the sentences David said. He said “we are speaking English here to be able to understand each other but this organization’s name is not an American Writing Camp. The name of this organization is “International Writing Camp” so we can read proses and poems in our own languages.” Some of us read poems and writings in their own language. It was very nice. Finally, today is snowing in Armenia. I experienced the first snow of the year here. This is also nice to me.

Day 4: I like to chat with people at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Things we share with people are multiplying and I think I’m getting used to the people in here. I am talking more now. We all come from different places and we have different cultures and identities but in fact all of our history is interconnected. Some may still have unsettled wounds or some countries may still have unsolved problems. We forget all this here because there is something very powerful that we all have in common. “Writing”

Day 5: I know the names of people now. We talked about what we are afraid to write. I realized that some of us are afraid to talk things like politics and so on because we are aware that these issues hurt us or others. Conflicts and disputes are always there and we all know that these are not something we can easily drop but we know something more important that is the first step to overcoming them. We get closer each other. There was “Christmas Party” this night. It was so much fun. Thanks to the alcoholic drink, I was more comfortable than I was. Music combines us regardless of how different our languages are.

Day 6: today, we have visited in Armenia. Aslı Perker, one of our mentors, wanted to go to the Armenian Genocide Museum. Some of us joined her.  I went too. There was a history much different than the one we told us. I prayed for civilians and innocent people. There was nothing I could do but it was very kind of that Armenians did not put this museum into the sightseeing areas while organizing the trip. Then, we went and saw the city center and we joined the panel in a bookstore.

Day 7: we went to church, today. I realized that our last day here is tomorrow. ı think I am used to these people. It will be hard to leave someone you spend a lot of time together. I feel so lucky to have such an opportunity. I am so different than before.

Thank you all of you.