I feel a strong connection to the cities I have lived in, I call them my home’s. My new home is Yokohama, I have moved here recently from my hometown İstanbul, before my home was Boston in the east coast for five years. From my experience of living almost one fifths of my whole life abroad, I have come to believe adapting to a new place is ultimately allowing yourself to transform into a new person. In this post, I want to display the ways in which being a Google Local Guide for me is to keep track of my experience living abroad and traveling, as well as doing my best to help other people like me: locals, students, expats I share the city with, and people who are visiting.
The obvious challenges and pre-existing conditions of that new place -like the new culture or language-, will push you forward and make you grow as a person. Yes, your whole world will shift slowly but surely, you will see life that you are taught from another perspective; you will see yourself and the place you come from with the eyes of others. You will meet with new people, get to know their worlds; learn how to think in a whole different language. Like a serious romantic relationship, the city you live in will become an inseparable part of your identity.
To me every city I have lived in has a signature taste, smell and vibe. Yokohama is the taste of my iced Matcha Latte and cheese mochi from a station’s Seven Eleven (convenience stores in Japan are gold) right before I head to Tokyo; Boston is the chocolate bread from When Pigs Fly Bakery in Jamaica Plain after a day of babysitting; İstanbul is the hot Turkish tea at the Moda Tea Garden while watching the orange sun sink into the Bosphorus.
Getting used to a new city forces you to learn your surroundings in a somewhat survival mode. You have to create a routine that includes everything you love about that place, so you can feel safe, happy and peacefully at home. For me Local Guides Program have been a digital memory holder and a tool to speed up my adaptation. Checking Google Maps makes me feel more confident when I explore. I see it as my duty to warn visitors against what might spoil or step up their experience. In my comments, I try to share the price ranges, foreigner-friendliness, and menu info for people with special diets like myself. Most importantly, being a part of the Local Guide Program allows me to help others love the city I am in as much as I love it. Thank you for reading.
, and nice picture