ERASMUS+ Akademisches Auslandsamt/ Studierendenmobilität International Officeii Erfahrungsbericht
Land Gasthochschule Studienfach/OVGU-Studiengang Türkei Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Computer Engineering / Computervisualistik Studienniveau (BA/MA) Aufenthalt von (Monat/Jahr) bis (Monat/Jahr) Bachelor 09/2015 05/2016 Name, Vorname (oder nur Vorname) eMail-Adresse (optional) Carl Stermann-Lücke [email protected]
Hello everyone, I’m happy you are interested in Boğaziçi University and how it is (or rather, can be) to study there as an Erasmus student. I hope this report helps you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, I’m happy to help. Please excuse the length of this report, I didn’t have time to make it shorter :) This is why I start with a small summary of the most important points before going into more detail:
Summary: Boğaziçi University in Istanbul is primarily known among Turkish people to be a very prestigious elite university. Its medium of instruction is English. It is a state-owned university, meaning it is comparatively cheap to study there and the university provides a lot of services for the students (okay, this might not be true for all state-owned universities). I was one of two students from OvGU to go there in 2015/16, the other one was Alena. Bare in mind that Istanbul is experiencing frequent terrorist attacks, but different people experience different levels of fear and discomfort – so you might be completely fine.
Application process at Boğaziçi University: No visa was needed. Expect deadline end of April, though it might be postponed. Documents to be prepared: ◦ Language Certificate for English (e.g. DAAD Sprachzertifikat) ◦ Recommendation Letter by a professor or scientific staff member ◦ Statement of purpose – write why you want to study at Boğaziçi University and why you are qualified to do so Your contact person is (probably still) Jana Stoláriková. Extension is very easy.
How to get to Boğaziçi University: Travel by train via Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia. Costs: Starting at 110€ one way. Buy Balkan Flexipass in Belgrade – like Interrail for the Balkan countries including Turkey, but way cheaper. Detour via Sarajevo highly recommended. In Istanbul, use Tram and Metro. Maps are available at every station. More information: http://seat61.com/Turkey.htm
Course registration: You can look up courses at http://registration.boun.edu.tr (click “General Services” → “Schedule” → Choose your semester (Fall term is -1) → the “department” the course is offered at and you will get a list). The registration system will be explained on the introductory day. You should be quick in order to get the courses you want. A good consent request opens many doors, so don’t panic. You need to register for all courses, academic, sports, languages, or arts. Second week is add/drop period. If Jana tells you you can’t take a Turkish course, send a consent request anyway.
Courses: Between 25 and 30 ECTS should be achievable. All courses (except language classes) taught in English. Most require attendance. Exercise classes are rare. Turkish courses are good, but prior knowledge of Turkish helps a lot. A laptop is necessary.
Examination: Different forms of examination Usually more than one examination per course
Accommodation and Dining: Find accommodation on Facebook group “Boğaziçi Housing”. Expect to pay around 800-900 Lira per month. Budget not more than a week to find accommodation. Eat in the yemekhane and enjoy!
Campus: Computer Engineering is on North Campus. Most courses are on North or South Campus. North and South Campuses are close to each other. South Campus looks like this: https://yandex.com/maps/-/CVXjE-ZQ
Free-time activities and public transport: A lot to see and do in Istanbul – follow friends’ advice Public transport available between 6 am and midnight
End of the summary, now a bit more detail. Application process at Boğaziçi University: As Computer Engineers, we could apply with Frau Zabel till February 28th, not with Prof. Wäscher. Contrary to everything we had read and been told, we didn’t need a visa (as German passport holders). As far as I know, the rule is that you arrive to Turkey with whatever your passport requires you to have to enter the country as a visitor. Then, once enrolled, you apply for a residence permit. We had a central application day when the citizens office came to the university and we could all hand in our applications. This was mid-October. I received my actual residence permit mid-November, but that was probably a lucky case. For the residence permit I (being privately health covered) needed to provide a proof of health insurance in Turkish by a sworn translator – English was not sufficient. Regulation seems to change frequently, so it’s best to ask your contact person at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi. This is Jana Stoláriková. She is very friendly and also knowledgeable, though at times information she gives becomes void due to change of circumstances shortly after. This is why you should ask her directly with important matters, not just rely on stuff she sent you, as she might have just copied it from last year. I would recommend getting in touch with her. She usually answers promptly, if she is in office.
At the time of my application, the international office was migrating to a new electronic system. This meant I didn’t need to post any of my documents to Istanbul, but could upload all of them. However, they needed a bit more time than expected in order to get the new system fully up and running. Originally, I was told that the application deadline was 30.4. - which it could again be for following years – and that I would receive an e-mail with details on the application process in time for that deadline. I received it on the 7 th of May, with a deadline of 26th of May. And I got the confirmation that I was accepted only on the 8th of July. So it can be quite a while living in uncertainty. I have got no clue of how likely the acceptance of the application actually is. Alena and I were the only two applicants that year and we both got accepted. What you should get before or shortly after you hand in your application to Frau Zabel, are a proof of English, a recommendation letter, and a statement of purpose.
I got a DAAD language certificate for English from Dr. Kiernan in building 40. The test was done and signed in not more than an hour, if I remember correctly. I made an appointment with him on the day – don’t rely on that though, better get it early. I hope it doesn’t bring him trouble if I write that I didn’t need to pay anything… We can also use a TOEFL (550 + TWE 4.5 for paper-based test, 213 + TWE 4.5 for computer-based test, 79 + TWE 24 internet-based test) or IELTS (6.5) instead.
For a recommendation letter, just ask one of your professors or scientific staff members. I got mine from Claudia Krull. She is also responsible for FIN students on exchange. For the statement of purpose, I wrote why I wanted to study at Boğaziçi and why I am a suitable candidate for studying abroad.
After a few months, both Alena and I decided we wanted to stay one more semester. Extension was very straightforward, both with the Turkish and the German side. Only the residence permit needed to be applied for again. How to get to Boğaziçi University: I went to Istanbul overland. Among others, the advantages are that I didn’t have to book long in advance, I could spend time and stopover on the way, nobody controlled my luggage limit, I could extend my stay in Turkey without having to take my booked return flight, and it’s not quite as bad for the environment. The cheapest yet direct route is via Budapest, Belgrade and Sofia. Book the ticket to Budapest a few days in advance, as you get saver-fares from Deutsche Bahn. I just decided when I actually want to leave Germany 4 days in advance, and when I bought the ticket I paid 37,50€ for the daytime train (on another occasion, I paid 65€ for the night train, booked a week or so in advance). From Budapest, there is a 15€ Eurocity train service to Belgrade, which you can just buy a ticket for when you reach Budapest. Once there, if you are up to 26 years old, buy a Balkan Flexipass. It costs 53€ for 5 days within a month of free train travel in Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro and in theory also Bosnia and Herzegovina (I tried to buy a pass in Sarajevo, but they didn’t sell it at the train station). Well, it is not exactly free, since you need to book accommodation on overnight trains – or this might have changed because of the new daytime train from Belgrade to Sofia (actually coming all the way from Moscow!!!) and the mess with the railways on the Turkish side. But still, it is a lot cheaper than point-to- point-tickets, particularly as you can make a detour or travel around in Turkey. Up to Istanbul, you can book your trains on the day of travel (unless you take an early morning train, maybe).
These days, unfortunately, the train service from Sofia to Istanbul is a bus between the border and Istanbul, which might change till when you are going inşallah! It is a bit exhausting, but you can still use your Balkan Flexipass. If you use that service you arrive in Sirkeci in Istanbul’s historic centre on the European side early in the morning. Both Sirkeci and Boğaziçi University are shown on the inner-city rapid transit network map, so it is easy to find. You can go by tram T1 to Kabataş, by funicular F1 to Taksim, by metro M2 to Levent and by metro M6 to Boğaziçi University. Or go by Marmaray to Yenikapı, by metro M2 to Levent and by M6 to Boğaziçi University. It usually takes a bit less than an hour. In order to use public transport in Istanbul, buy an İstanbulkart at the vending machine for 6 Lira or so. Touch on each time you enter stations, buses or ferry terminals. Getting to university costs between 3 and 4.5 Lira, depending on the route. The university will give you a discounted İstanbulkart after a while, which gets you around cheaper. More information can be found at http://seat61.com/Turkey.htm.
What I actually did and recommend is spending some time in south-eastern Europe. I don’t want to tell too much about all that can be seen, just one thing: You should visit our sister city Sarajevo. It is not on the direct route and actually, you might want to take a bus from Sarajevo to Belgrade. But the visit there was the most extraordinarily moving one I have done so far. The city and its people gave me a lot to think about with the omnipresent recent history of theirs, with the war, the siege, the resistance and the reconciliation. It was so touching. In my opinion, every young person living in Europe should have come to Sarajevo. Course registration For semester times see https://academiccalendar.boun.edu.tr. The first official day, where I was asked to attend, was the Friday before the course registration period started. We were explained how the course registration system works and how to get our residence permit. They also presented the university and introduced the international office staff. You can look up courses at http://registration.boun.edu.tr (click “General Services” → “Schedule” → Choose your semester (Fall term is -1) → the “department” the course is offered at and you will get a list). Courses have codes. The first letters in the code denote the department, i.e. an organizational unit of the university, but also a course of studies. Computer Engineering is one of them, with the code CMPE. For most departments, you can search for
I can definitely recommend Information Retrieval. The course is interactive, close to research, I learned a lot without much effort, and the instructor, Prof. Özgür, is just super friendly. Interaction Design is not a classical computing course – so no programming or algorithms. I learned principles and applied them mainly in a project of designing a board game. It was fun, but I found the course didn’t bring that much of an overview. Hearing about a concept in the lecture and applying it in the project was too much dragged apart, in my opinion. Principles of Programming Languages is similar to our “Programmierparadigmen”, which I had not taken before. I learned Prolog, Haskell and Smalltalk. It was useful for me, I think, but a rather basic course. Most of the people in the course are in their 4th semester and it’s a mass course, so I got to know many people. I would say, Prof. Salah (Interaction Design and Principles of Programming Languages) does a very good job in explaining things understandably with concrete examples, giving interesting if not entertaining lectures and make students reflect and discuss. On the other hand, in his courses it was rather difficult for me to bring the different things I learned together to form a bigger picture in my head. Wearable Computing with Prof. Arnrich was a very practical course. We only had few theoretical lectures, while most of the time you are busy with a team project on solving some problem of your choice in a “wearable” way. I would also call this close to research, as we conducted a feasibility study. The Industrial Engineering courses I took were non-programming courses on graph theory, mostly about proofs. IE456 also dealt a lot with modelling of engineering problems into graphs. I think that was very useful, but I must also say they were the hardest and most time-consuming courses I took. IE598 dealt with polynomial-time computability of problems which are NP-hard in general when dealing with certain restricted classes of graphs. It became rather theoretical with not much practical motivation. There is one thing I really missed, which is an actual algorithm on how to get to a solution in the tasks we were given. Most of the time, it was just a bit of creativity, a bit of genius, and a lot of trial and error. I definitely recommend taking Turkish courses (if you are non-native, of course). I took the first one with Neşe Kaya (might now have a different surname) and the second one with Bilgen Erdem. Both courses were good for me. Neşe is good at really making sure everyone has understood what has been taught. Bilgen is a bit more energetic, her course was a bit more fun. I personally did not come as far as to understand normal conversations between native Turkish speakers, but it got me far enough to understand them when they cared about me understanding them. The topics covered in class were useful for my life in Turkey. Classes usually give a break after 50 minutes. I found it helps a lot with concentration. Turkish is not necessary to follow the courses (except for the Turkish courses). They are held in English, the course material and textbooks are all in English. Many courses stick rather strongly to a textbook or a lecture held elsewhere. Perhaps this is the actual reason why English is used here.
Prof. Preim was generous with accepting my courses the way I needed them for my German study plan. At the time of writing I haven’t received my credits yet, but I have his signature on my Learning Agreement, so it should be fine. Particularly, there are a handful of courses of “Computervisualistik”. I got Graph Algorithms and Applications credited for that, but there would have been some alternatives as well. Interaction Design can count as “Allgemeine Visualistik”. If you take Anwendungsfach Medizin, I could imagine you to get credits for “Personal Electronic Health Assistants”, but I didn’t try that since I had my Medizin credits full already. Special Topics in Advanced Graph Theory counts as minor for the Computer Science master program.
Picture 1: A public lecture by a guest professor in the rectorate.
People, Language, Culture As there are way more young Turkish people who want to study at Boğaziçi than it can accommodate, those who do study there are the ones who have performed extraordinarily well academically. The way I noticed that in daily life was that most of them are quite diligent. There was one sort of students I’m happy to have never met at Boğaziçi: Snobs. Still, making good Turkish friends was difficult in the beginning. One of the reasons is probably the language barrier. All but the Turkish language courses are in English. Therefore, all fellow students know English – which is not the case for the general young population of Turkey. That, however, doesn’t mean they like to speak it more than necessary. At times they ask questions in Turkish in class – and most instructors answer them in Turkish. Often, when having lunch together, even some of my friends started speaking their colloquial version of Turkish which I had no chance of understanding, and that also didn’t really help in learning the language. And student activities and clubs are mostly in Turkish. Even English Debating was in Turkish (apart from the actual speeches and judgement). So integrating was a bit difficult. I made friends with other international students more easily at times. I arrived to Turkey with almost no knowledge of Turkish. This is not recommended. As I stayed for 2 semesters, I can also see that my participation in Turkish life and making of friendships became so much easier and more successful in the second semester. Maybe I just needed to wait for the right people. But I suppose the language was definitely a major factor. Conclusion: If you have the chance, learn some Turkish before you arrive. Attached to this report you find the list of topics covered in TKF111. I think it’s a good start to cover them beforehand, although I actually don’t know how to do it. https://www.duolingo.com can be a way, I have heard good things of https://turkishteatime.com (founded by former students of Boğaziçi), though I didn’t get far before classes started. And classes were more effective.
As for academic culture, I had the impression of being a bit more patronised than in Magdeburg, with less individual freedom. There is more focus on the students as a community and on the university as a cultural entity – I don’t know how to explain that further without causing stereotypes.
Picture 2: A typical classroom in the Computer Engineering department building.
Examination The examination of most of the courses is spread. Many have a final exam, but also graded midterms, projects, homework, “quizzes”, presentations, and even grading for attendance, depending all on the specific course. I personally felt that the exams were not as hard as at the FIN. Projects were of about the same level of demand as at the FIN. The multitude of examinations has one big advantage, which is that it dilutes the stress in the exam period. Particularly after my first semester I had a very relaxing time (except for the mountains of snow that fell, but that’s another story). The biggest disadvantage, from my point of view, is that teamwork is rather discouraged – instructors want to be sure you did your work yourself. Which is why they don’t admit so many people to their courses, to still be able to grade everyone. And there are not usually exercise classes, which can make it harder to get to know people. Some instructors grade performance relative to the other students in class. People seem to think that is fair… I got really good grades with a reasonable effort. But to be fair, I must say that I only took 4 courses with a total of 26 ECTS per semester, while many of my Turkish peers took 6 or more, some as many as 10. This might be what the elite status and the demand from the students consist of.
Picture 3: A typical lunch or dinner in the yemekhane. Accommodation and Dining Jana wrote I could move to the superdorm, but I had already heard long in advance that most people were not happy with living there, since it is expensive and restrictive. And actually, it is even further from the relevant campuses than the flat I moved into. For finding accommodation, unless you have some private contact, I would recommend joining the Facebook group “Boğaziçi Housing” and looking for accommodation offers there. Most offers are in Turkish, so it helps to have some Turkish speaking friend helping you, if you don’t speak the language yet. When people offer a place particularly for Exchange students, I would recommend asking why. There are many people in their English preparation year who want a non-Turkish speaker at home to practise their English so they can pass their exam. But there are also offers that are just too expensive. Closest to North and South Campuses, where all my courses were, is the neighbourhood of Hisarüstü. Rents plus bills for a furnished room in a flatshare range between around 600 and 1000 Lira per month. I personally found it difficult to find a cheap room. When talking to my Turkish friends, it felt like the only Turkish students paying as much as I paid were my flatmates and the people living in the superdorm. It also seems common that a room is only offered to women, but not vice-versa – or maybe this only seems common to men. Mould is a common problem which you should pay attention to when you are shown a flat. In my experience, many Turkish people are good at cleaning things up, but not good at keeping things clean. Many of them value cleanliness more than most Germans I know. It was also hard for me to find a really smoke-free flat. Too many people smoke.
I had found my first flat in advance through a private contact, though it was heavily different from what I expected. Judging from the experience with my second flat, I would say one week of searching before moving in should be more than enough, and it seems very unlikely not to find accommodation at all. So don’t worry.
I think I cooked something like 5 times in 9 months. The reason: The yemekhane (“Mensa”) is simply the place to go. Many students living in dorms don’t have a kitchen, so the yemekhane is designed to cater for people’s full diet. And it does. I got three meals a day, 7 days a week, with exactly the right amount, on demand even vegan, really high quality, well prepared, and, above all, incredibly cheap. Breakfast costs 1 Lira, lunch and dinner 1,50 Lira each. So something like 1,20€ per day. No shopping, no cooking, no dish-washing, no fighting for room in the fridge, just a bit of queuing up sometimes. And a great meeting- point, too. For breakfast you have a (theoretically limited) choice of Açma, Simit (i.e. Turkish bread), eggs, cucumber, chocolate spread, butter, jam, olives, tomato, 2 different types of cheese, chips, juice (well, fruit nectar rather) and cornflakes. Lunch and dinner consist of 4 parts: You can choose between vegetables and meat, between typically two of pasta, bulgur, börek or rice (way better than in Magdeburg), typically two or three of dessert, salad, yoghurt soup or ayran, and you get a bowl of creamy soup. Drinking water is provided. Many people recommend against drinking tap water. The yemekhane is really my first association when I think of Quality of life. I can’t express how much I miss it.
Campus When I first went to https://yandex.com/maps/-/CVX6uIL9, taking the decision to go to Boğaziçi University felt a lot easier. South Campus is simply amazing. When being there, I felt like soaking up a very special spirit, like living in an own little green oasis, quiet and bustling at the same time, in midst the crowded metropolis that Istanbul is. So, understandably, I got a bit disappointed when I found out my department was located in North Campus: https://yandex.com/maps/-/CVX6yAKA In general, there is a lot going on on campus. Many student clubs are active (though most of them in Turkish), there are two cinemas, swimming pools, frequent concerts, and many students live on campus as well. There even is a university-owned beach. Picture 4: On South Campus, there is always something going on.
Free healthcare is provided on campus for both students and “our Boğaziçi friends”. There is a general practitioner, a dentist, an ambulance, and a veterinarian, though the English- speaking ones are not always around. I must say that I fell sick more often than usually.
North and South Campus are very close to each other. 10 minutes walking, 5 minutes running. The campuses are also connected via a free shuttle bus. The university recently started restricting access to non-members of the university – due to security concerns, officially.
The Computer Engineering department building has got a new student lounge, which is supposed to be open 24/7. The library is also a popular working place, given that teamwork is discouraged, many courses follow textbooks and there are few proper working spaces in the department buildings. Renting a carrel is only available to Master and PhD students. There is a separate study hall in the library building. The library is open 24/7. It has a fiction department, audio-visual centre, and current international newspapers, too.
Both campuses are home to “our Boğaziçi friends” If you are allergic against them, beware, since they are hard to avoid. They even come to classrooms or study halls sometimes – and to the yemekhane, of course. If you are scared of dogs, the stay might actually be good for you and calm down your fear. The dogs, not having an owner, are so much more relaxed on campus compared to the ones in Germany. They are independent, very calm, rarely bark, often just lie around sleeping. The cats and dogs are also very popular among students…
There are public computers, but they are limited in quantity, quality and availability. I would call it a must to bring a laptop, particular for computer engineers. You will get hopelessly lost without one. You don’t need a kitchen, but you must have a laptop! In winter it can get cold in Istanbul, so bring warm clothes. When it rains, your feet get wet quickly because the soil is sealed and the slopes are steep. Bring an extra pair of shoes.
Picture 5: Not all rules are strictly enforced… Picture 6: … even if provisions are made...
Free-time activities, public transport, telecommunication If study leaves free time, the university itself offers a lot of free-time activities. But of course, Istanbul also does outside the campus. It helps to connect to friends to find out about the not-so-wellknown things. There is also an English website (http://yabangee.com) about Istanbul that lists events and other noteworthy things. I found it helps to read about common scams. I was more prone to fall for them than I would have expected.
Since April 2015, Boğaziçi University is privileged to have its own metro station. So going places is easy. However, keep in mind that Istanbul is incomprehensibly extensive. So you can go for three hours and you are still in the city. Metros are fast and the crowding could be worse, but the downside is that you don’t see much of the city. Buses are often frustratingly slow. Ferries can be a good option, as they offer plenty of space and view. Public transport runs frequently from 6 am to midnight. After that, only limited services are available, none of which reach Boğaziçi University. To use public transport of any kind except Dolmuş, you have to use a prepaid card, called İstanbulkart. You will receive a discounted-fare one from the university. As a journey planner, trafi (http://web.trafi.com) has done good service. Only once we were an hour faster than it said :)
I twice tried to ride a bike in Istanbul, once from the university to Rumeli Kavağı, the other time on the car-free island of Büyükada. I can only advise against it. Where there is cars, they hardly care for cyclists. In Germany, when a driver sees you on a cycle, they will most likely try to avoid a collision. In Istanbul, I had the impression that the drivers simply don’t care. The other probably more important reason is that there don’t seem to be adequate bikes around. The two bikes I tried – ok, it was just two – were really horrible to handle. And I tried these because the places were I rented them from didn’t have other ones available. Finally, there are quite steep gradients in Istanbul. So if the gearbox causes trouble every few hundred meters, it is annoying. I heard that Turkish Airlines takes bikes for 30€.
When operating your foreign cell-phone with a Turkish SIM card, you have to register it. This costs you money, I read online it is 131.50 Lira. If you don’t register, the phone will be blocked. Yes, no joke, the phone, not the SIM card, will be blocked. With my cell-phone and SIM card, the deadline approached already after one week, but usually it is longer, I think. Since I wanted to buy a new cell-phone anyway, I decided to buy one once I’m in Turkey, as Turkish phones don’t need to be registered. What I didn’t know was that Turkish phones are also a lot more expensive than German-bought ones. So it might not have been worth it.
Picture 7: The new Computer Engineering student lounge during a basketball champions league match, Fenerbahçe against … I forgot. Security In general I felt quite safe in Istanbul – unless I was riding a bike. Particularly at night, I felt safer in Istanbul than in Magdeburg. The reason is that there were really few drunk people and no people with barking dogs in Istanbul.
When I applied for my stay in Istanbul in early 2015, I didn’t think it would be any dangerous at all. Soon after, the picture changed quite heavily. There have frequently been violent attacks happening in Istanbul when I was there and they continue to happen. Most of them targeted the police and jandarma, and they were in fact so frequent I probably did not even notice all of them. But some targeted civilians. I personally felt safe from terror in Istanbul, particularly in the area around campus. Except for one week in March. In that week, at first a professor of Boğaziçi University was detained for signing a petition calling for de-escalation in Turkish-Kurdistan. Following that, I could sense sadness, grief and anger among my fellow students. There were protests on campus that persisted. In the beginning I was afraid the protests might be dissolved by the police, which if I had been around would have sent me out of the country – or worse. It didn’t come that far, but as of my knowledge the trial is still not over at the time of writing.
Picture 8: At night, the dogs like to relax in the study halls where it is warmer than outdoors.
Picture 9: View from South Campus south onto the Bosphorus. Picture 10: The Princes’ Islands are a popular local recreation area. Rural atmosphere with a constant reminder of where you just escaped from.
Later that week, the German consulate wrote in an e-mail that they closed for a few days because of a very concrete terror threat, and advised people to avoid Taksim Square. That is untypical for them. Usually they wait until there is an attack and afterwards tell people to avoid that place – very helpful. But that time, I felt the threat was real, so I was really scared of going into the city. And this fear grew as the threat turned out to be real indeed. On Saturday that week, there was a bombing in İstiklal Caddesi, next to Taksim Square. Terror had succeeded putting limits on my daily life. But still, the probability of being hurt or even killed in a terror attack stays really low. If a stay in Istanbul will be enjoyable depends on how fearful you are and how persistently your friends and relatives will call on you to return home quickly.
Conclusion My stay in Istanbul will surely continue to be an important episode in my life. I learnt a lot academically, got a bit clearer which areas of Computer Science I’m more interested in than others, and I think a stay at Boğaziçi University serves this purpose well. There are courses for late Bachelor or Master students that introduce new topics, so even students without prior knowledge can attend, while they also go deep into the topic and current research. I found it useful to attend such courses at the end of the Bachelors. Picture 11: The Eurasia-Marathon: From Asia to Europe on foot. There are many very interesting people at Boğaziçi, and meeting new people is probably one of the greatest advantages of going on exchange. I found good friends. My highlight I would sum up with Quality of life. Good and easy food at affordable prices, seeing my friends often, short ways, a green campus, all these made it easier for me to focus on my studies – and the good sides of life.
What I did not like that much was that it was difficult for me to disconnect from Germany. The reason is probably that I wanted to keep up with current affairs in Turkey, but quickly saw that due to the very limited freedom of speech and press in Turkey, reading Turkish media (in English) is just not satisfying. The media landscape is very polarized and didn’t appear very credible to me. So I resorted to German and international media.
From today’s perspective, what I’m most happy about is that I feel I found a home in Istanbul and that this home stays reachable. It is easy and fairly cheap to just visit from Europe. So it will stay part of my life. I’m looking forward to visiting it again. Picture 12: New Year’s celebration with a friend on South Campus. Complete with Christmas Tree! By the way, during Christmas we had exams. Elementary Turkish for Foreigners I Unit 1: Merhaba Greetings alphabet, sounds and pronunciation introducing yourself; talking about nationalities, languages an introduction to vowel and consonant harmony rules, -lAr, -lI, -CA endings plural ending and basic vocabulary: objects and people around us Unit 2: Ne Kadar? numbers & prices simple shopping conversations foods and drinks, use of existential predicates: var-yok talking about your house use of locative ending -DA Unit 3: Öğrenci Misiniz? basic vocabulary: adjectives asking & answering about the things and people around us question words, non-verbal predicates, conjugation of nouns, adjectives conjunctions ve, ama, hem... hem, ne... ne Unit 4: Ne yapıyorsun? talking about what is happening, what you are doing, actions that take place at the moment of speech verbs the use of the present tense form -Iyor talking about daily routines and schedules using present tense time expressions, days, months, weather, -lI and sIz endings Unit 5: Nereden nereye gidiyorsun? location, directions, destination and departure use of dative and ablative cases -(y)a and -DAn transport and use of instrumental case -(y)lA, giving directions, signs and warnings and imperative form of the verbs Unit 6: Kalemin var mı? talking about personal belongings, family, clothes, colours of things genitive-possessive structures the structure and use of possessive compounds Unit 7: Ne yaptın? talking about the events that happened in the past comparing past and present the use of past tense forms with verbs and nonverbal predicates