Since i am making min 2-3 events a week and using hangout a lot. Meeting more than 150 peoples a week. It will be hard to track for me find the profiles to write reference for. If u enjoy my events and my hangout it will be great to have a reference from you. I will write back to you soon as possible

Note: GUIDELINES FOR ISTANBUL

Welcoming to my beautiful city İstanbul! My name is Cemycem, Ambassador of the city. Here to give some tips about my city and what to do or not to do.

Since most of the foreigners who comes to Istanbul don't know this; just a few months ago metro is connected to both airport ( Europe and Asian) to metro map. This is the cheapest ( 2-7 $ for the distance) way to come to centre. To use transportation in Istanbul you need ISTANBUL CARD. You can get it at the machines in the stations for 120 lira/4$ .Can also use for more than 1 person with 1 card. Metro is works between 6:00 am till midnight. Also there is shuttle buses for too.I wrote this because many of my Couchsurfer friends had a problem with taxi and transportation.

For exchange money best rate place to have is Grandbazar in the Old City.

Right now biggest issue in my country is high inflation. Always make sure check the menu/price tags/google reviews before doing any shopping or spending money. If not in the end when you are paying might be shocking. But trust me if you know how to do the research you will happy with the prices and services.

You should always have a little cash for emergency and also many places don't accept cards or charging extra for paying cards.

Always try to have street foods which is very affordable and tasty. Just cash acceptable

Most affordable restaurants are the ones runs by Istanbul municipality. You can eat full menu with good quality less than 2$ ! Links of the 2 of them at the centre:

Üsküdar

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nFNXog3fwkUfnRFm7

Old City

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VBAR9jUqxqAZUBiK9

For old city you need min 2 day to explore and try to go there early for less crowded.

After old city most popular area to visit is TAKSIM. 1 day may enough or 5 day is not enough at all. You will feel it when u visit it ;)

For the asian side USKUDAR and KADIKÖY is most popular area to visit.
Walking from KABATAS to ORTAKÖY also very cool opportunity to have it.

İf u gonna visit princess island you need to early in the morning. Otherwise the time will be not enough to enjoy the island.

Istanbul Couchsurfing community is the biggest in the world and most active hangout too. Specially if you are woman you will get a lot of messages from men unfortunately. Always check the references on couchsurfing profiles. For any weird and uncomfortable messages pls report to support

For events we have 3 ambassadors doing featured events in Istanbul almost every day. We do our best to help and make sure everyone enjoys the event. Besides than events you can always ask any questions about the city and couchsurfing.

Pls also read the safety advice of Couchsurfing

https://about.couchsurfing.com/about/safety/

Biggest scum in the city is taxi and for clubs. on the street if anyone ask u to go to club together, have a beer or offer you free food pls aware of this and just say no to them and leave directly. We keep having many bad stories.

For any of this kind of problem and other safety issues fastest way to get help is TOURİSM POLİCE. Here is the number

📞 : +90 212 527 45 03
WP: +90 505 187 66 14

For further questions feel free to ask me. Hope you will enjoy your stays in Istanbul. I will do my best to help you and for your experience in Istanbul on my free time. It would be also amazing for hangouts or at the events.see you soon 🤗

Beat regards

Now rest is the profile is about me and about my Couchsurfing journey ;)

Hey ! I am 30 years old now. With new year i will try to done my goals this year.My goal is started to travel latin America and starting to work remotely. But currently still at Istanbul;)

Couchsurfing changed my life a lot. I had an accident and during that time i was hosting a person. If i am alive today it's thanks to the person i was hosting and Couchsurfing!

I do also have a tattoo. It is symbol of couchsurfing.it is my first and only tattoo ;)
You can see at the photos in my profile.

I had to do it for something very meaningful for me.

I was born in Konya the city of Rumi / Dervish and i raised in Istanbul. Also lived in Dubai for a while and had some job at there But i am originally from Turkmenistan 🇹🇲 I can't speak that much Turkmen language but i can understand it tho.

ıf u love sarcasm and mix it with kind and funny jokes i am sure we can have a good matches:)

I love to write poem and short stories. If u also interested on this we can do duet when we meet!

I can do also good fortune teller for Turkish coffee . Remind me if we meet !

My main job is designing unique jewelry (gold, silver, gems, leather..etc ).I have a shop in Grandbazaar.Till now i manage to design 300.000 unique jewelry over 20 years now.

Also i do macro and portre Photographer. Doing e-commerce business for many years. Also i have partnership for several websites. I have also YouTube page for designing jewelry. At the same time i am selling my jewelry designs to some popular designers and ateliers. I have been doing the jewelry business since i am 7 years old. I also started some other new businesses starting of this year.

Many people asks me how i am doing all these. Interestingly mostly i sleep just once a 2 day. Not very healthy but my body get used to by this life style. My lifestyle is not fitting well to host people now. I stopped it a while ago. I will start back when i have proper living style..

I had a chance to move to Canada, USA and Dubai. But instead i decided to stay the beautiful city Istanbul. I have many experiences about the city and can help you to discover the city for you. You can ask any questions. We even don't need to meet up in person. Don't be shy to ask questions ☺️🙃

I helped to download Couchsurfing App for hundreds of my friends! Couchsurfing is a great community to practice language, exchange culture and meet many people from all around the world. If you are a new member you can message me for any of your questions.

Since i start to learn english i've always try to have long conversations with customers.i met many amazing people.i got chance to listen their stories from all around the world.thanks to some of them i heard Couchsurfing and my adventure started.

I am a person who is super stick/connected with my friends. If i like to hangout with you trust me i will introducing you to my good friends right away. I am %90 of my free time with them tho. If you don't like my friends no need to be keep hangout together. Because my friends
are like my family. I am in love with them and care about them. Already %90 of my friends are from Couchsurfing
. Without my friends it's not real Cemycem you will know ;)

Currently i organize Weekly Taksim event alone and Weekly Kadıköy event with ambassador Mustafa.

The event at Kadikoy is the OLDEST event on couchsurfing history that still happening. I am organizing that event more than 5 years now but weekly this event happening more than 700 weeks already!

https://couchsurfing.page.link/niEq1h8Yg7Mtvc6b8

Also i do organize walking coast tour too

I should warn you before meeting with me, i talk a lot :)

I like to go to live music places, social gatherings, hiking and camping tours. I love to cook. And please don't offer a cook for me. At my place only i can cook for you since i love to learn and practice foods.I mostly cook sote, pasta, Turkish breakfast and soups. Kinda sure you will love my foods 🤗

When i host people half of the time i love to give my bedroom for privacy and giving space for you. I love to sleep at my couch.

I like to dance free style and as a professional carrier i am an assistant in the biggest tango school in Turkey. I dance also blues, swing, lindy hop, solo jazz, Forro and balkanian folklor dance ❤️

I can help you find a professional dance nights for these dances. Specially Taksim is the most popular area for these.

I live at Nişantaşı/ Osmanbey. My house is small but very centre of the city.This area is most popular part of the city and just 1 metro station far from Taksim.Taksim is the busiest/touristic area of Istanbul.

My favorite tv series is SEINFELD. If you watched this serie i am sure we will get along very well when we meet :)

I played professional volleyball at Galatasaray when i was in high school.

Yes i don't like so much putting photos of just myself. I want to put photos with amazing people i have met. Maybe you will be one of them ;)

PHILOSOPHY

I believe people are like books. In every person is a whole of story, which then would explain the maxim, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." Fair enough, right? Now in all the hundreds and thousands books that you will come across in your entire life, there are bound to be some that would stand out, some that would be forgotten, and some that would be left behind. As it is, we have to move on from one book to the next. With people, it is an inevitable phenomenon to be fleeting creatures, in constant search for new experiences, new sensations. There is, after all, only one life that we are given to live, right? ;)

THE COAST WALKING TOUR
https://www.couchsurfing.com/events/8th-the-coast-walking-tour

WEEKLY KADIKÖY NIGHT MEETING

https://couchsurfing.page.link/7wGWfU9fjpLWg8We7

WEEKLY SATURDAY NIGHT MEETING

https://www.couchsurfing.com/events/112th-weekly-saturday-night-meeting?utm_source=couchsurfing-ios&utm_campaign=event_social_share

NEW YEAR EVE PARTY 2022

https://www.couchsurfing.com/events/couchsurfing-new-year-eve-meeting

WEEKLY FRIDAY NIGHT MEETING

First event https://www.couchsurfing.com/events/weekly-friday-night-meeting/attendees

FROM INDONESIA TO ISTANBUL WITH LOVE
( with Indonesian Ambassadors )

https://www.couchsurfing.com/events/from-indonesia-to-istanbul-with-love

DINNER, SPOKEN WORD & JAZZ CLUB

https://www.couchsurfing.com/events/dinner-spoken-word-jazz-club

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Meeting amazing and interesting people!

Yes Couchsurfing is a great app to travel, meeting nice people and having a great events..but same as many things there is people who misuse the app.i could write hundreds things but i am sure everyone knows these things already. no need to make my profile unreadable :)
i am trying to make the good events and helping to people as possible as i can with CS spirit

Interests

• festivals
• salsa dancing
• tango
• swing dancing
• rock music
• hiking
• camping
• traditional food
• trekking
• learning new things
• heavy metal
• lindy hop
• meet new people
• jewelry making
• spanish language
• latin dances
• jazz music
• blues music
• blues dancing
• jewelry
• classic rock
• learning spanish
• event planning
• milonga
• jazz clubs
• medieval festivals

Music, Movies, and Books

Fleetwood Mac, Alvin Lee, Everly Brothers, David Bowie, The Doors, The Moody Blues, First Aid Kit, Ludovico Einaudi, Teoman, The Kinks, Journey, New York Dolls, Tim/Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Frank/Nancy Sinatra, Esther Phillips, Stacey Kent, John Coltrane, Yves Duteil, Tom Waits, Simply Red, Georges Moustaki, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Simon&Garfunkel, Cat Stevens...

•movies&tv shows; Shameless, FullMetalAlchemistBrotherhood, Groundhog day, Into the wild, Seinfeld, Vincent, Scent of a women

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

• I have organized more than 300 events but best one was 2019 Halloween with more than 600 couchsurfers!

• Going to medieval festival (2018) with my first host ; hiking, eating, drinking, singing and dancing with many Serbians without sleeping for 3 day!

• I organized my first event after pandemic first started and i celebrated 2022 NYE with more than 250 people and stayed together till morning!

• Biking in an island with no phone, no money and without food for whole day. Meeting new people and spending my time at that day was my highlight of 2017!

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: Designing jewelry , Turkish language, Tango Dance, How to cook Turkish Foods and my recipes..etc

Learn: Anything interesting about you and your culture!

Share: my friendship, long conversation, food, stories, dance...whatever i could do in the time and in the mood when you meet with me :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia, United Arab Emirates

Countries I’ve Lived In

Turkey, United Arab Emirates