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My name is Meryem Poyraz. I was born in 9 Octobre in 2003 in Kocaeli, Turkey. Currently, I study Bachelor's degree in Spanish and Foreign languages in La Salle University. I'm keen on playing piano, reading webtoon and drawing. When I went to Colombia with my mother, father and brothers in 2016, I was 13 years old. I was a very silent, calm and shy girl. So, when I came to Colombia I had a very hard time because you need to practice and interact with people so much to learn a language. Since I couldn’t take the first step, I was always waiting someone to talk to me.

However, as time passes, I started to take a step ahead and move forward, thus, I felt more confident. Right now, I would define my myself as a disciplined, responsable, emphatic and compassionate person. Furthermore, although I hesitate sometimes to do new things, I usually push myself to do that thing if it is necessary.

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My family was always so supportive in fulfilling my dreams. They helped me very much in overcoming the obstacles and difficulties. Specially, my mother is a very good listener and advisor. So, if I have a difficulty, I talk to her.

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The Impact of My Experiences on My Interest in Languages

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The Impact of My Experiences on My Interest in Languages

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I became interested in languages after having hard time in learning Spanish in Colombia. So, If I go to somewhere else, I didn't want to have the same difficult situation there in learning language. Thus, I wanted to learn English which
is valid everywhere, and to be able to communicate with people easily. However, it was not only for work but for traveling as well.

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After meeting with Colombian people, I can say that culture absolutely shapes your identity and automatically it shapes your experiences. Colombian people's and Turkish people's ways of thinking, perception and behaviour is not the same, and I'm sure that people of other cultures is not too. Although living in other country with a different cultural identity comes with challenges, it also broadenes your perspective and perception of the world. You start to have more choices. Before you meet other people from the other cultures, you just do what the people around you do, but when you see people from other cultures, other ways of thinking and acting, you start to think "Oh I can actually act or think in that way" and it gives you different choices and helps you to look from other perspectives

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The Changes In My Identity After Interacting with Colombian Culture

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The Changes In My Identity After Interacting with Colombian Culture

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While in Turkey some behaviours are considered rude, after seeing that those behaviours are normal in Colombia. I started to do those behaviours. However, I was acting in that way in front of Colombians and I was acting differently in front of Turks I think it's because our actions change according to the people we are interacting and to the situation we are in. For example, your behavior or the way of talking is not the same in front of your family, your friend or your boss. Thus, your behaviour also changes when you talk to people from a different culture and with a different perceptions.

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Not being able to communicate with other people well because of the language

Feeling like a burden to other people when I don't understand something in Spanish and I ask them again and again

Forgetting some words in Turkish too and couldn't express myself neither in my mother tongue nor in spanish worsened my communication skills and self-confidence in expressing my opinions.

Having a different religion and appearance and feeling people's stares to my Hijab make me feel always a foreigner.

Representing everytime your nationality and your religion

Not eating everything everywhere.

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While teaching English, you also need to have a good Spanish to able to translate what you've said to the students to help them understand. However, switching languages from English to Spanish is not so easy, sometimes I confuse the languages. Also, when your language is not that good, the students don't understand your or you don't understand them especially when they speak quietly.

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My Turkish Identity which is shaped by Colombian Culture

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My Turkish Identity which is shaped by Colombian Culture

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The shoes in the image represent my Turkish identity and the path shows my experiences in Colombia. The shoes are not totally in red (the turkish flag's color) because my experiences in Colombia shaped my identity and changed my perception which was different in Turkey.

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In the image there is a plant which is growing in a hard situation. The rain helped it in growing and the leaves of the plant appeared. The reason why there are no leaves in some branches is because there is still a long way to go and challenges to experience. However, if we look at the shape of the tree we can see that it is not totally straight or in a good shape but some parts are leaning because of the storm it faced while growing up. Thus, although the plant grew up until now, we don't know if the plant will keep growing in the future or fall down because of that hard situation.