Lifestyle & Commentary

“Silence is the worst. Whenever a thick cloud of silence descends, the yapping voices inside me become all the more audible, rising to the...

There is no better time to start working on your resolutions than the Fall season! Don’t believe me? Let me show you why. Most people...

While regular weekend lockdowns in Istanbul have been a unifying experience in a myriad of ways, so much of our experience is tied to...

The first time I came across the signature 'Yabancı' was when I stepped out of my house to do the privileged walk during the...

Perhaps there is no word more loaded and simultaneously mythologized yet scorned than the term “gypsy”. From Fleetwood Mac to Cher to Lady Gaga...

In all facets of daily, human life, the divide between what is expressed to others and what is in truth thought in one’s own,...

“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you,...

Even though decades pass, some stories and books are ageless. Reading is more than just a hobby, as books also help us manage mental...

"Home is where your heart is," they say, but what if your heart is divided across continents? Mine certainly feels that way. I belong...

You barely catch the bus. You jump on, and it’s crowded, of course. But you squeeze your way in. Stuck in between strangers invading...

As a young Turkish woman who hasn’t lived abroad yet, the scope of my writing is largely about living in Turkey. In my essays,...

Nothing: nothing to do, nothing to fix. No work to go to, no garden to tend. No meetings to go to, no dance classes…absolutely...

In a city buzzing with nightlife, the electronic music scene is a changing tapestry as the nightclubs of Istanbul past ebb and evolve into...

Turkey is one of the few countries in the world where the rate of HIV/AIDS cases has been increasing in the past decade. Despite...

In our previous piece we discussed choosing your obstetrician - this was the most difficult part. Now it is time for you to relax...

This weekend has seen the country suffer yet another senseless terror attack, leaving 5 dead and 39 injured in the heart of our beautiful,...

As a person who has a deep interest in the contemporary history and the treatment against the minority groups, I tend to get super...

It’s Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the final day of lockdown in Istanbul. Some of you spent your days indoors working on your bodies. Many...

When I first moved to Istanbul in 2016, I too experienced loneliness. After all, I was a foreigner in a new country, who did...

Well this isn’t technically an ode seeing as poetry intimidates me. What it is though, is a giant shout-out to all you Yabangee-ers out...

I went and played my first game of football for a team in Turkey, adding to several other nations around the world in which...

It comes on suddenly. One moment you’re experiencing an exciting roller coaster of new experiences, emotions, thoughts, and people. You’re learning to become more...

Walk. Breathe. Eat. Drink. Consume. Repeat. Wasn’t life nice and easy in Istanbul before coronavirus? We didn’t realize how fortunate we were back then. Thankfully,...

Istanbul is Turkey’s most populated city with about 16 million inhabitants. Given its size and population, a great deal of work has been put...