Blog 2: The American Welcome

Bio

My name is Sidar Yilmaz, and I am an International Relations student from the Netherlands, currently pursuing my degree at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kleve, Germany. This fall, I will join the International Center of the Capital Region (ICCR) and Hudson Valley Community College as an international intern. With family roots in Nijmegen, Albany's sister city, I am excited to experience the Capital Region firsthand while learning more about its history, communities, and international connections. During my internship, I look forward to contributing to ICCR's mission while sharing my experiences and discovering the people, culture, history, and opportunities that make New York's Capital Region unique.

Hi everyone,


Welcome back to my blog! Finally, I’ve arrived in the Capital Region of New York. While writing this blog, I’ve already been in the Capital Region for a week, where I’ll be staying for six months. I was welcomed by three lovely colleagues of mine from the ICCR: Beth Wales, Executive Director at ICCR; Christine Guerin, President of the ICCR; and Noe Noe Ko, Intern at ICCR, at the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak Station.


Besides those lovely colleagues I’ve mentioned, there have also been a lot of others who sent me an email to welcome me to the Capital Region and told me that if they could help me with anything, I simply just have to reach out. To those people, thank you. I absolutely appreciate it, and it made the welcome even warmer.


My first impression was something I didn’t expect before I left, but I felt at home, even though home is so far away.

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    During my first week, I got engaged in some cultural activities. Together with Paula Gorney, Volunteer at ICCR, I went for the first time to The Lark Street Tavern, where we listened to music in the jazz genre, which to me is also typically American.

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    I went to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market   together with Renato Guida, Board Member at ICCR, and Noe Noe Ko, Intern at ICCR, where I saw a lot of local products, cuisines, and handmade crafts.

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What stood out to me is the Dutch influence in the region. For example Vandenburgh Ave, Brunswick, Rensselaer, the flag of Albany, which was inspired by the Prince’s Flag (orange, white, and blue), and I think I could go on for a while. For a Dutch international student, this is something fascinating to see and explore.


Other things that impressed me as well are, for example, the tipping culture and how to pay at a restaurant. First, tipping is something that is not usual for me in the Netherlands.


Furthermore, in Europe, most of the time you pay at the table, or you go inside to pay, but here in the US, you hand over your credit card, they go inside, they don’t need your code, and you’re done. The last one is still something I don’t understand: how does that work and how is that possible? But it is surely something interesting to get to know more about.

So far, my time has been great, and I’m getting close to the point where I’m all set to start my internship and dive deeper into the questions and wonders I had during my first blog post.


Stay in touch as we are going to discover the Capital Region of New York together.


Sidar