The longer it has been since I arrived at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, the stranger questions and comments from people at home have become. Dean of Study Abroad Scott Carpenter, for example, asked me to explain what my university experience says about Turkish culture. Then, my family wrote me asking, “What do you find different about the Turkish people?” And now an editor of NOW!HERE has assigned me 500 words about “how Istanbul incorporates both European and Asian influence into its culture.”

How can I be expected to know the answers to these questions?

One semester in a foreign city is not nearly enough time to fully understand its culture. Istanbul is especially difficult, a city which spans two continents and is home to almost 13 million inhabitants from incredibly diverse backgrounds.

As journalists, we often visit places and then try to fit them into molds. Maybe to answer these questions I would describe the bustling streets of trendy Taksim, a neighborhood known for its nightlife. Taksim is where most of the students from my host university spend their Saturday nights, weaving through crowds of women in Louis Vuitton headscarves or with henna-died red hair. All around, machismo men cat-call European tourists, and rowdy high school students fight over the latest soccer match. I would end my article with a tired generalization about Istanbul as the bridge between East and West.

This type of travel journalism is not only cliché, but it also ignores the vital, complex, political, and social phenomena that lie behind the scenes presented. It would take years or maybe a lifetime to actually understand why: why there are so many mosques, why a woman does or does not wear a headscarf, and why the men call to the European women.

At the same time, “empirical” observations are, of course, a useful first step. Bogazici sophomore Yusuf Yüksek asked me to write a description of Istanbul as I see it in order to quell what he believes are prevalent western misconceptions about Turkey. “I want to ask you what you [thought] about Istanbul before you [came] here. [Did] you think we [ride] camels? Some of my chat friends from Europe thought that we [ride] camels,” Yüksek said, doubled over in laughter. In actuality, Istanbul is full of commerce, liberal thinking, delicious food, beautiful mosques and churches, bad traffic, and yellow tulips, but no camels (other than the cigarettes, which are certainly prevalent).

But there is a fine line between making observations, extrapolating from my university experience, and making generalizations about Turkish culture. Understanding the difference is especially important when visiting places in and around the Middle East, an area about which Americans in general fail to understand, myself included.

Finding our proper place as tourists, travelers, or study abroad students is always difficult, and NOW!HERE struggles with this issue in every issue. We find that even those with the best intentions can become stuck in the “culturalist” mud. I find that the most I can do is try to travel with my eyes open and talk to people. With hopes of uncovering some of my own biases and misconceptions, I can try to avoid fitting people and places into molds for my own convenience. Istanbul has proven an excellent place to begin this cultural inquiry.

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Students from Columbia studying abroad in Istanbul attend Bogazici University, the most prestigious university in Turkey. Columbia requires students to take one semester of Turkish language, but classes at Bogazici are (mostly) in English. I highly suggest the program and am happy to give advice to anyone considering it.