Our school trip to Cappadocia on June 21, 2024 offered a pleasant respite to students who were under stress due to the upcoming IGCSE exams. In our opinion, the main purpose of this trip was to ease the burden on the students, even if only a little, and to provide us with a good experience. While this small journey, some of our teachers accompanied us on this 2-night, 3-day trip.
When we heard that our trip was postponed at the beginning of the year, the students became desperate and thought that they would not be able to go on the trip for a long time since they were already exam group students. However, in the 2nd semester, with the announcement of our guidance counselor, we came to a common decision as a class and chose Cappadocia as the most suitable place to go. We stayed at the 4-star Göreme Inn Hotel during the Cappadocia trip, which was attended only by 9th graders at Bestepe College. It was also quite hard to believe that the entire organization was prepared by lecturers. As students, the time we spent with our friends in the cave-themed rooms where we stayed in groups of three or four was very valuable.
When it was time to visit the historical plaes of Cappadocia, we set off towards Derinkuyu Underground City with the shuttles. The city was built because of the Roman Empire did not officially accept Christianity,we must say that it was difficult to visit this underground city, which was built for years, in large groups. Students who were claustrophobic and could not stand in tight spaces had to wait outside with their mentor teachers. The rest was completely amused by what they’ve seen under the ground. Some student’s expressed that the atmosphere out there was both pretty unusual and mysterious. The students, who had the opportunity to see Ortahisar Castle while visiting this city covered with fairy chimneys, were amazed that this structure was still standing even though it was from the Hittite Period. We could not enter the Castle, which was in danger of collapse, but we had the opportunity to visit some of the fairy chimneys around it and examine them closely.
There were almost no people who were dissatisfied with this trip, which was generally instructive and relieved students under stress, at least a little. Students and teachers returned to Ankara at the end of the 3rd day and continued their education from where they left off.