Hello everybody. For the first time in almost three years of having this channel I wanted to
share with you my personal experience and my story of how I decided to move to Turkey
and what was the main reason because as many of you know, if you have been following my videos
and my channel for a while you already know that I am not Turkish, I am a Mexican living in Istanbul
and some of you have been asking me like "hey, why or what brought you to Istanbul?" or
"why did you decide to move there?" So if you really want to know the reasons and how was
my experience and if you want to hear a little bit of my story, then stay with us to watch this video
and before we start I will ask you to go and grab your coffee or your tea and your favorite dessert
if you have one because this story will be quite interesting for you. So everything started in 2015
when I decided that I really wanted to move to another country. I didn't want to stay in Mexico
because I'm like a free soul, I love to experience different countries and cultures and I just like
to do that. I love traveling whenever I have the chance for it. So I said "Okay, why not?" if I have the
opportunity to go somewhere else, I will definitely take the opportunity. Many people were asking
me like "why Turkey?" Why not probably the U.S. or even Canada or Spain because also Spain
it's already Europe but we speak Spanish at the end of the day Mexico and Spain but I really
wanted something different something that was not similar to my own culture and I just wanted
to experience something new and I remember that one of my aunts who has traveled to
many other countries, many years ago when I asked her what was the country that she liked the
most and she said Turkey and back then she had already traveled to probably about 30 countries
so she mentioned Turkey and then I was like "Oh, wow, why?" so she started sharing her experience
and later on, I started doing my own research and of course, I fell in love with the country
and that was many years ago. That was probably about 20 years ago so I was quite young back then.
I know many people nowadays want to come to Turkey because of the Turkish series but
back then the Turkish series were not a boom so I just started doing my research and everything and
I really liked the country. So right away it caught my attention and I said "okay, I would love to try
that country for sure". We know that Turkey is a country that is very rich in history and culture
not only from the Ottoman time but also from way before from all the civilizations that
once inhabited this country, for example, if you visit Mardin and that area like Mesopotamia
and I remember from my history classes about Mesopotamia and all of these civilizations
so it was quite intriguing. So I really wanted to experience that and to come to this country and
see everything on my own. So now that you already know why I decided to come to Turkey now I will
share a little bit of all the procedures that I had to do and if it was easy or not and what did
I have to do in order to come to Turkey. Finally, when I decided that I wanted to come to Turkey and
that I was already focusing on that, I started preparing probably for a whole year, I started
doing all the procedures and everything. Actually I own a house in Mexico so the first thing that I
did was selling all my furniture, selling my car, selling everything and then I decided to rent
the house and then also I needed to do all the procedure for my university diploma because
I was waiting for it already for a whole year because in order to receive my university diploma
we have to wait about a year. So I was also waiting for that. In the meantime, I was
also trying to learn Turkish from Mexico but also back then
people weren't looking for the language back then so I couldn't find any school or online
courses as nowadays that there are plenty even in Mexico but back then I couldn't find anything so
basically, I couldn't learn Turkish from my home country so I said "Okay, I'll just go online and
I'll just try to learn some basic phrases, at least to know how to say hi, hello, how much is this"
like daily phrases. So basically Turkish that I know it's because I learned it here but
an advice that I can give you if you decide to come to Turkey now you can easily find Turkish
courses so at least try to learn the language beforehand. That will definitely help you a lot.
Also, I tried to save as much money as I could because moving to another
country, if you have done it before or if you haven't done it but you have it in mind
you require a lot of money. Not just for the airfare tickets and for the rent, for finding a place
but also like Turkey as in many other countries you will need to give money in order to get
your residence permit and to rent a flat and then the commission and then your even your phone.
You need to register it here in Turkey if you're coming with a foreign phone, a mobile
it doesn't matter the brand if it's Galaxy, Samsung, or iPhone it doesn't matter
you will need to register it. So you really need to keep an eye on each one of those expenses
because you need to save enough money in order to pay each one of those procedures
before you find a job in case you would like to work as well here in Turkey.
Once that I was ready to come to Turkey, of course I was working back then. I had a very good job
in Mexico. Probably you don't know this, if you have been following my channel for a while
you might know that here in Turkey I have been teaching Spanish to Turkish people or to any
foreigners who would like to learn Spanish because it's my native language and to be honest
I love Spanish and the grammar, I have always been really good at it, actually since I was
at school but actually I'm a lawyer so my college degree is in law school.
So for almost eight to nine years, I was working in a federal tribunal in Mexico which
it is a very good job actually, I mean you get your payments, they are very good payments
bonuses and everything and you have many benefits because at the end of the day
I was working for the federal government so it is a very good job but many people kept
telling me like "Bery, why are you quitting?, many people will die for a job like this
and you have it, don't do it, just stay here." but it wasn't for me, I wasn't
feeling happy because I'm more free, I love seeing other places, experiencing
different things. So I said "No, here is not my place." So I didn't hear anybody, I just quit
even though everybody was calling me like "are you crazy?" "are you insane?"
and blah blah. I didn't care and I just followed my dreams. Of course, my parents and my family were
a bit concerned especially because they didn't know much about Turkey of course they only knew
the things that most of the time are only shown on the media and let's remember that the western
media is not quite fair with especially with Muslim countries so they show whatever they
want to show and sometimes they tend to twist things so that's what my family at first
knew but I just told them like "okay, let me go and experience it, I can go only for a year
and within that year if nothing works out as I was expecting, then I can always come back home."
that will not be a problem but at least let me try it let me experience it because later
on I don't want to regret saying "I had the chance but I didn't try it" so let's remember that
we only have one life and if you have the chance to do other things and different experiences just
take it do it and because it's for you. Finally the time came when I had to pack everything and don't
think that I was able to bring everything that I already had in my country, in Mexico, as I said
I had to sell all of my furniture and also I couldn't bring each one of my personal belongings
so basically I had to pack in only two luggage each one of 23 kilograms my whole life so it
was quite hard trying to choose what things to bring what things I shouldn't bring and oh my
God, it was probably the hardest moment ever because I literally wanted to bring everything,
even my parents, if I had had the chance, I could've put them in my luggage and bring them
with me but of course, we need to fly at some point, we cannot stay
the whole time in the same place so yeah, it was quite hard and I can still remember it as
if it was yesterday that specific moment when my mom and I were packing everything my things
and yeah all of a sudden the day came, I was so happy but at the same time I
was so sad because I was leaving my family and my friends behind but I needed to fly, I needed
to try something else. So finally, it was time for me to be in Turkey but let me tell you something,
many people when coming or moving to another country not just Turkey but when they are
moving to another country they usually come first and they try to find a job or any volunteering or
anything once they are in the country but in my case I tried to do everything before arriving
in Turkey, so basically I found a practice opportunity in one high school and there I
was teaching a foreign language so actually it was a contract for one year and I was already
here in Turkey with an opportunity so I wasn't coming just like "Okay, I'm coming and let's see
what I can find", no, because I know it can be quite difficult sometimes and also the savings
will not last forever so I didn't want to come to Turkey without anything for sure and that is
why I tried to look for a practice or at least volunteering to come here to the country and
be able to stay for a whole year at least and yeah actually, it perfectly worked for me and I didn't
come right away to Istanbul, the first city that I went was Ordu which is in is a very small city
in the Black Sea region and I stayed there for a year and it was a very good experience and also
because it is a very small city and that gave me a really good opportunity and chance to get used
to the different culture especially the language and I was able to take my time to get ready
to go out or maybe to come to Istanbul which is probably the biggest city in the country but yeah
that year in Ordu really helped me a lot in getting used to the culture and everything
but I will not lie to you, you will feel lonely, you will feel sad, and sometimes, you might cry
I can tell you and I have to admit it that I cried a lot especially the first two
or three months because it was the very first time in my life that I was away from my family and just
to think that I was not able to spend one more birthday or even Christmas with my family it was
quite sad and frustrating but to be honest the people there were so friendly,
my neighbors, my neighbors, I will not forget them, my neighbors were lovely, they were all the time
taking care of me, inviting me over to their house to have dinner even to have breakfast and even
though they didn't speak any English and back then I didn't speak any Turkish either, they tried to do
their best and we were communicating through apps like Google translate,
body language and that perfectly worked for for us but I'm really grateful for those
moments and also my colleagues in that job were also taking care
of me and they were all the time like "hey, do you need anything, are you feeling okay, hey let's go
have some tea or anything", so they were trying to help a lot and I'm so grateful for that
but yeah let me tell you that you will feel the loneliness at some point because I
felt that, I thought that I was going to be strong enough but yeah, the first months
were quite difficult, later on you will get used to but still, you will feel homesick at some
point but the first months will be the hardest ones for sure. Finally the year in Ordu passed
and if I could have stayed there, I would have definitely stayed there because it is a very nice
place, it is so calm and that was like the perfect place just to relax and not too crowded of course
but we all know that the bigger a city is, the more opportunities you're going to have, and
that's the situation with Istanbul, so I wanted a better opportunity, I wanted to grow here in Turkey
and also my now husband was living in Istanbul so that is another reason why
I decided to come to Istanbul to look for a job opportunity which luckily I was able to
find a job right before leaving Ordu, I signed a contract and everything to work for another school
and that perfectly worked. Later on, I married to my Turkish husband in 2018
and yeah, that has been my whole story how I moved to Turkey, why I decided to move to Turkey
and how difficult at first it could be but if you really want to move to any other country
it doesn't matter what country it is, it will be difficult but it will be worth it because it will
give you a lot of new experiences and you will also realize that you are capable of doing many
things that you didn't believe that you could do, so trust me, it will be an unforgettable experience.
And finally the question that also many people have asked me, if I regret moving to Turkey?
Well, let's remember that first of all the experience that each one of us has
as an ex-pat living in Turkey or in any other country are not the same, so it also depends
on each person, maybe for me, it has been a good experience but maybe for any other person
hasn't been a great experience at all but I will speak for myself, like my personal experience, to be
honest, leaving your country and living in a different country doesn't matter which one it is
it's not an easy task at all, it's not easy and you really need to do many things in order to
to be able to do other things that you were planning but it's totally worth it, and do I regret?
No, actually I don't regret it, I love the country and I consider Turkey my second home already,
every time I go abroad or I need to go back to my country and if I'm far away
from Turkey for more than a month, seriously, I started to miss the country,
of course, there are those little things that I cannot get used to it yet but come on,
that is totally normal, I mostly love everything, the people are amazing, are so warm,
and yeah I don't regret, my experience here has been really good, I haven't experienced
something bad or crazy but some other people that I have known
they have really experienced something bad and they decide just to leave Turkey, or they move to
back to their country or to a different one but in my opinion, my experience,
I'm not thinking of moving to another country, of course the situation in Turkey is not the same as
maybe 7 or 10 years ago when I moved here 7 years ago, it's not the same,
but hopefully, the situation will get much better because Turkish people deserve it but yeah
I mean, still I don't regret, we are all just trying to work hard and trying to make
a living here and that's what we have to do. This is a country that has opened its doors
to many of us including me and for that I feel very grateful and well, to all the Turkish people
that are watching this video really, thank you so much for all the opportunities and I know that
it's been so hard for everybody but I really hope everything gets better very soon.
Also another thing that I decided to do once that I was in Turkey and that I started
to experience more about this beautiful country, my husband and I decided to open
this YouTube channel to show the beautiful places this country has to offer not just for tourism but
also to people who are planning of moving to this country and either if you are a tourist or if you
are considering moving to Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya, to any place, you can get a general idea of
the culture and the country through our videos as well. So this was my little story on how I decided
to move to Turkey, why, and all the things that I had to go through. So hopefully I had answered to
all of the questions that I have been receiving through many months already that I haven't been
able to reply because there are so many but well if you have any other questions about that
I couldn't probably speak about on this video but you still have some questions that you would like to
to ask, just write them in the comments below, I will try to reply them as soon
as possible and before we finish with this video I would love to thank each one of our
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of this video. So hopefully you enjoyed this video and we will see you in the next one bye, bye!