I saw these guys drinking whiskey out of coffee cups and talking in a language I did not understand. At first, I sat next to them, trying to figure out what they were saying, but it was only laughter I could make out. Just when I was about to speak up, one of them turned around.

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"Do you speak English?"

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His eyes lit up when I said yes. I guess I was going to be a superhero for a day.

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These two had been stuck on the bus station for two waiting for Oguz's uncle to pick them up and drive them to Oguz's hometown, Kamenitsa (yes, just like the beer). Thankfully, we managed to contact him on my phone.

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Oguz and Hami met at the Bogazici University in Turkey where they both study science. However, their approaches are quite different.

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"Hami lives for the moment, he is a bit lazy. He does not really go to lectures. What he does is he studies very hard for ten days for exams and then aces almost all of them. I have no idea how he does that," Oguz explained to me as his friend could not speak English very well.

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Oguz, on the other hand, was quite enthusiastic about his studies. He shared that he plans to do a master's degree in Finland, maybe even a phD. As for his other interests, Oguz said he was a huge fan of rap music. 

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"Yildiz Tilbe and Muslum Gurses are some of my favorite artists."

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I asked Oguz what he would most probably be doing if he is not studying or listening to rap music.

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"Probably sleeping or drinking with friends," he said, laughing.

 

Of course, there was no way I wouldn't ask about the whiskey and the coffee cups.

 

"We really needed it. We have been here for two hours!"

 

It turned out that Turkish people have a very different attitude about drinking.

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"What I've noticed about Turkish people is that they don't usually drink to relax and have fun, but when they are sad. People here in Bulgaria and in Macedonia, my home country, are the opposite way. When we get drunk in Turkey, we listen to music from the old generation. Tarkan is often one of the most popular singer choices, this is the classic. For old people, this music brings memories. For us, it makes us forget about our problems."

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