The country of nice people

Kadriye Okudan and Funda Kemali from Turkish city Antalya are hosted in Wroclaw on a student exchange within Leonardo da Vinci programme. One of the points of their stay is also a visit to Municipality of Wroclaw.

Kadriye Okudan works as assistant at the Faculty of Public Administration of University of Antalya. Funda Kemali is a student of this Faculty. They came to Wroclaw within Leonardo da Vinci Programme. Its main am is the adaptation of vocational learning systems to EU labour market needs and improvement of labour market situation in participating countries.

- At the beginning we were about to go to Portugal, and Poland was an alternative. Finally, the journey to Iberian Peninsula did not come into effect. But we found Poland is also a good idea - says Kadriye Okudan.

The women deal with public administration in their daily routine. During their stay in Poland they observed the functioning of our offices, among others with regards to investment cycle. It was especially interesting, because EU regulations apply here, and Turkey strives to be EU member country.

- But cultural differences between these two coutries were also an important aspect for us. After we git to know that we would go to Poland, we learned a bit about your country. We were wondering how it would look like in reality. The changes that happened in Poland after 1989 were really interesting to us - adds Kadriye Okudan.

The girls acknowledge that Poland is a country, where religion plays very important role, even in a public life. It is much more visible than in Muslim Turkey, where the state is secular.

In their spare time the girls do sightseeing in Wroclaw. They are impressed by Market Square and Cathedral Island with their all monuments. - The Poles are very nice. We faced many signs of kindness and sympathy - the Turks confirm unanimously.

The girls got also acquainted with Wroclaw District. During their visit to the Municipality they watched a movie concerning the District. They visited also huge logistic center ProLogis in Bielany Wroclawskie.

AS