free time and leisure activities of west african international students in turkey:between integration and identity withdrawal

Leisure occupies a prominent place in the practices of daily life. especially for internationalstudents who have a routine in their own country, their daily life habits may change or be interrupted dueto economic, psychological, social and cultural reasons when they travel to other countries. it's in thisperspective, the present study focused on how west african international students spend their free timeand the effect of free time on their cultural interaction in turkish cities. thus, within the framework of thepresent study, the individual qualities of the international students, group membership and environmentalfactors were analyzed, on the other hand, cultural interaction, cultural differences, cultural conflicts,solidarity social, cultural recognition, adaptation and social exclusion were mentioned. the fact that thereare a minority of studies in the literature that address leisure practices of international students from theperspective of cultural interaction makes this study unique and aims to contribute to the literature. thisstudy, which has a phenomenological approach centered on the experiences of individuals in daily life,was conducted using qualitative research methods. the maximum diversity sampling method waspreferred and the students were reached with the snowball method. nineteen international students fromwest africa were contacted and in-depth interviews were conducted in ankara, istanbul and izmir.students between the ages of twenty-four and thirty-nine, of different socio-economic levels, preparingmaster's and doctorate were affected. the data collected using the descriptive analysis technique wasinterpreted within the framework of predetermined themes/titles. as a result of the study, it was foundthat international students spend their free time chatting with african friends who share a commonculture, traveling occasionally and mostly studying. it has been observed that some international studentssocialize by playing sports and taking turkish language courses. due to the common language, space andculture within this network of relationships, west african students spend more time with students ofafrican descent and feel closeness creating a sense of belonging. due to cultural differences, they maycome into conflict with other groups, be excluded and encounter various problems.