A New Chapter, 6000 Miles Away

Me and my unrealistic goals—always scheduled to start on a tomorrow that never comes.

I don’t know where to start. It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a blog post. And in between the last one and this, a lot has changed in my life. Maybe I should begin by talking a bit about today. Then I can go over this week, and eventually go further back.

Today (April 23), I woke up and started my usual slow morning with a cup of coffee while watching the news on YouTube. Then I had my regular oatmeal breakfast with protein yogurt, a banana, and some extra protein powder. After that, I headed to Pure Barre to get a good workout from Emily in her Define class. Now I’m home writing this post, and once I finish, I’m going to the department to attend the department meeting.

This week, we reached the end of the spring semester at UTC, where I’ve been working since September 1, 2024. Yes, you read that right (I’m talking to the three loyal readers who regularly follow my posts!). I resigned from my tenured position as an associate professor at Mersin University, Turkey, and started a new chapter as a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Why would someone leave a well-paying, secure job and start a new journey 6,000 miles away from home? I often find myself asking that exact question. I also wonder, Is it going to be worth it? Ten years from now, will I be able to look back and feel happy with the decision I made? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I was unhappy at my old institution, where I had worked for 15 years. I wanted a change. I wanted to challenge myself—to do the job I’m very good at, but in a different language, in a different work environment, surrounded by different mindsets. I told myself that, in the worst-case scenario—if I feel unhappy, dissatisfied, or homesick—I have a home to return to. I can always start over. So I asked myself, Why not? Then I bought a one-way ticket to Atlanta and began almost from scratch.

The Math Department at UTC has been great—honestly, much better than my old institution. Back there, I was often made to feel like an outsider for no real reason. Well, maybe for one reason: I didn’t always say yes to everything. I had my own thoughts, my own beliefs, and I stood by them.

At UTC, things have been different from day one. The department has been very welcoming. Everyone has been supportive, every small step I took was noticed, and every little achievement was celebrated. It made me feel that coming here was the right decision.

Teaching in a different language and interacting with students was tough during the fall semester. I had to figure out my limits—what I could say, what I should avoid in casual classroom conversations—because of cultural differences. So, I didn’t interact much. I mostly just covered the topics, said “Thank you, see you next time” at the end of each class, and repeated that same boring process until the semester was over.

The spring semester, though, was a whole different story. I felt like myself again. I didn’t worry about my accent or how funny I might sound. I made jokes about everything—mostly about myself—and, I think, won my students’ hearts. I say “I think” because, as of today, I haven’t read the course evaluations yet, so I’m not a hundred percent sure. But that’s the feeling I have. Below is a selfie Chintaka took during our last class this Monday. As you can see, everyone looks happy.

One of the best parts of being in the United States is being surrounded by so many different cultures. Just last week, I was invited by Shahidul to celebrate the Bengali New Year. (I had only known that the Chinese New Year is celebrated at a different time, but it turns out Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also celebrate their own New Year!) I went to their event and got the chance to spend time with both new people I met there and familiar faces. You can see that in the photo below, where I’m sitting between Deborah (our administrative specialist) and Eymard (a visiting researcher from Mexico).

One of the things I started doing at UTC was mentoring undergraduate students. I’ve been working with Gracie, a sophomore in the Math Department, and Jennavieve, a senior. With Gracie, we’ve been studying inverse problems, and with Jennavieve, we’ve been working on Floquet theory. They are both amazing young women, and they’ll be presenting our work at a conference this coming May—which makes me so proud. Before the conference, they practiced their talks in the department and did an incredible job. I’m sharing a collage of pictures Deborah made for Gracie’s presentation, along with a photo of Jennavieve and me that we took yesterday after her talk. Jennavieve and I will be working together during her master’s, and I’m looking forward to mentoring her in the best way I can.

Until this point, I’ve only talked about work—but as we all know, life isn’t all about work. I’ve made some great friends in a short time, and that has really helped me feel at home in Chattanooga. One of them is Ravali, whom I met thanks to Pure Barre. She’s awesome in so many ways—especially her talent for framing our selfies so that the calories I’m about to eat at Rembrandt’s show up in the picture, while she cleverly hides hers. 🙂

Amanda is another good friend of mine. Actually, Amanda comes as a package—with her dog, Audrey, and her son, Asher. We’re all good friends. We go eat at food trucks, we go hiking, and we do lots of other fun things together.

And then there’s Jill, whom I met at my first-ever book club—both at UTC and in my life in general. I still remember how nervous I was walking to the library to join a book club in a language that’s not my native one. But I’m so glad I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. If I hadn’t, I might never have met Jill. She spent some time in Antalya, Turkey during the COVID period and knows a lot about Turkish culture. The photo below was taken during our dinner yesterday at Calliope, a restaurant where we enjoyed some Levantine cuisine, including künefe—or knafeh, as they call it here. It was good, but I still prefer the one I have in Turkey.

I also feel incredibly lucky to have my Turkish friends here—Menekşe, Zeynep, and Cansu—and the broader Turkish community in Chattanooga. They have been a source of comfort, joy, and familiarity. Being around them often feels like a little piece of home, and I’m so grateful for the sense of belonging they bring into my life. Note to self: next time, remember to take photos with them.

That’s it for now. See you in my next blog post—which I hope won’t take as long to post as this one did! Now I have to get ready and head to the department for the last department meeting of the semester.

April 2025, Chattanooga.