Summer School anyone?

Hey, what's up?
I only know Berke and Mertol from ENG 101-102 classes, attending Sabancı Summer school.
Are there any other Sonja's students around?

Campus is almost deserted. It's just me and my roommate, some students I see around rarely
and newly arrived foreign students, who seem to be studying Türkçe. It'd have been a nightmare if we didn't have the chance to take the shuttle to Taksim and Kadıköy every now and then. It's way too hot!

Getting your courses in summer terms seems quite advantageous. Each time I attend a lecture, I notice that the student number doesn't exceed 1/3 of the students enrolled. When you combine it with the laziness derived from the hot weather, exam curves drop dramatically!

I know Gorkem is in UCLA,
Salih is attending the Harvard-Sabancı programme,
Mert is "working" at a bank,
Ezgi just finished her internship,
What about the others?

Fate of this blog...

I am just wondering if King Blogger Mete and his team of blogger-followers are planning to continue posting to this blog. I would be pleased to continue contributing, as we are sadly not going to see each other in class anymore. And of course, that means the blog can move fully outside the academic realm - it was never really properly anchored there to begin with, judging by the posts here. :)

I hope we can use the blog to keep in touch and discuss (and debate!) topics of interest. I am, as ever, very keen to know the (unique) Turkish student perspective on things!

Sonja

Eurovision 2009

As we all know, Eurovision 2009 was held in Moscow, Russia this year.

I think that'd make a nice topic to get other's opinion on the contest and have some chat.

Have you watched it? Which songs did you like in particular? Are you content with Turkey's result?

Let's comment, have your own word on the subject.

P.S. "Norwegian guy was so cuteee!" and such comments about him are not welcomed.

Academic Time Management Among Turkish Students

Hello guys, It's me, Arif Mert Kapıcıoğlu (AMK). What'up dudes?

Based on the conversation between me, Mete, Salih and Sonja, I've decided to discuss how Turkish students both succeed at accomplishing every task at the last minute and at the same time spending time mostly unrelated to the tasks. I hope it'll be a legendary source for Sonja to figure out how our minds work.

Your favourite BORAT quote

I really wish Borat Sagdiyev would come to Turkey one day, to make beneficial interviews.
I've seen Recep Ivedik as well. Somewhat that guy is not funny, as he looks and acts offensive, but Borat is something else, he's peaceful. If Recep is a grizzly bear, then Borat is a swan.

Here goes my favourite one:

In Kazakhstan, We say: "You show me a woman with brain, I'll show you a horse with how you say...wings!"

Day Dreamer

London the city of emotions, you can find yourself blithe while buying a pint of beer and chatting with your pal’s in a pub located in London Bridge district near the Thames River. You are enjoying yourself, you don’t have any problems, everyone is happy while getting drunk in this magical city. Sebastian is happy too but there is a problem with him, he doesn’t seem to be here mentally. He is watching the buildings that located across the Thames River. Thinking as usual; about life and all the crap that it brings. Thinking is an extraordinary thing , you can just live three year of time in 10 minute, there are no borders of time, there are no limits, it feels like you are in dead space alone and no one can hear you and you are the one that is designing this universe. You are the one in control of everything. You can create an Utopia inside your head which is beautiful and perfect. But there seems to be a problem, No matter how hard Sebastian tries he just can’t manage to keep that Utopia alive for long. A place that everyone gets along with each other. There are no wars ,no murders , no rapes, no cheating, everyone has his or hers soul mate living with them. That is the heaven the utopia he created in his mind but after a while thinking, that heaven turned into a hell.

Everything is so perfect but everything is so the same. The biggest problem is there are no problems. Without world borders can there be culture? , Without crimes can there be perfection? , Without hate can there be love? , Without a difference can there be us?, Without religion can there be ethical borders?

“Boring “ said Sebastian and he took a nip from his beer. Then he thought “Without those fucked up peoples I cannot exist”

What made him become such a perfectionist?

He had a harsh life. The father figure he had wasn’t so perfect. “My creator must be better than this” he thought. His father was beating him when he was a little kid because of little accidents. Then he cheated on his mom and Sebastian’s parents decided to divorce. It was a harsh divorce. He wasn’t understanding anything at that age. All he knew was he needs to live in backstreets of London Bridge district. In that shithole with high crime rate and ignorant fools. His mother taught him how to be a good person and his life shaped it as a sculpture. After the age 18 he taught that “The created must beat the creator” He is a smart man that has passion for perfection. Even when he was just a child he couldn’t gave any meaning to selfishness, cheating, lying, and all the other bad things. But is he really so perfect ? We can say he is near to being perfect but he can never be perfect. Because of he is human he can never understand perfection in emotions or actions. Everything is a struggle in human life and the biggest two struggle is religion and human relations. Is religion a necessary evil ?

Controlling billions of people must be hard when it comes to forming a society. Yes there needs to be someone or something that has created this universe and whatever there is at the end of the universe.

PART ONE

It was a rainy day. Sebastian was alone in his room thinking. Thinking about life , thinking about his future. Like every other

man , he was thinking that he is special. He had no idea about the struggles that he was going to fight with in the near future

A war, An epic war that will last forever between good and evil. There was no gray in his life , just black and white. He was

dreaming about a girl, a girl that he didn’t meet yet, a girl that will make this life reasonable more beautiful more perfect.

He was special, he knew that he will find the true love and live forever for her. If we need a word that describes Sebastian

it would be "I feel". He loves being lonely even though it sometimes hurts him.

"Fuck this" he said. He checked the door and he felt relieved due to his parents were focused at watching T.V.

He opened the window and lit a cigar and continued thinking about life. Everything was perfect in is dreams.

His dreams were like movie scenes. His dreams were so cliché due to he never fall in love before and all the love he knows about is from media and movies. He is wearing nice clothes, a white shirt, jeans and a topcoat. He is walking into the bus terminal with his girlfriend. They had a fight and he brought her here to say goodbye one last goodbye...

She looks into his eyes then lowers her head and passes through the security. Sebastian knows that he needs to go but he is standing like a stone just to see her look back one last time. But she enters the bus without looking back.

Sebastian leaves the terminal in a sad mood, he knew that this is wrong he knew that this is not how it should be. Suddenly

he remembers of a song "Skin-Faithfulness" and starts to run back to the seaport. He is so exited and depressed at the sametime. Millions of thoughts were running through his head. What if i can’t make it to the bus, What if this is it....

He buys the ticket and rushes into the bus, his eyes are searching for her

"Damn it Where is she? " He says to himself he starts to run through the corridor and checking every seat.

"There she is" his eye grows big when he sees that she is crying. He slows down and goes near her.

"Hey there lady" he says with an attractive but sad voice. She turns to him, she is shocked because of seeing Sebastian in

this bus. Sebastian starts hugs her and starts to...

"What the hell is this?" says Sebastian’s mother "Are you smoking ? we have a big problem here mister! you will never learn

anything in this life" she shuts the door and goes to the living room before Sebastian can say a thing.

She yells again from the living room " Your teacher is here you better come here fast !"

A deep depression struggles Sebastian. Studying for 3 hours isn’t the thing he wants at the moment; he wants to continue to his dreaming. He leaves his room without replying to his mother and goes to the sitting room.

"Someone is in a bad mood" says Nicholas

Sebastian sits on his chair without even looking at him. Then says "You can't even imagine"

"Dude you are going to sit on this chair for 3 hour and focus on what we are doing so live with it " Nicholas said.

"yeah yeah i know same old torture that you are doing to all of your students" says Sebastian

"Well Luci is enjoying this, she will be successful. You are pissing me off so much Sebastian you are very very smart but

you are not using your intelligence. “says Nicholas

"Same old story huh" says Sebastian and smiles

"I told her about you a bit" says Nicholas

Sebastian starts to get interested about this conversation. Now he is curious and his mind couldn’t think about just one question

"What did she say?" said Sebastian.

Nicholas smiled in a devilish way and said “Why do you want to know ? "

"There isn’t a specific reason if that’s what you are wondering Nick."

Nicholas and Sebastian are more than just teacher and student, they had a good friendship even though Nicholas was keeping it

inside the limits. They had nearly the same characteristic and they were both smart.

"But i can listen to what you said and what she told you in return" said Sebastian with a shy voice. Nicholas laughed and looked

at Sebastian. He started to think about how similar they are. The same person... But they were locked in different lives.

Nicholas wants Sebastian to start a good relationship with a woman that he can love. Yes he wants that even though he knows that

it will end with misery and pain. Well he ended with misery and pain after all.. He remembered how much he loved Johanna and took a deep breath. He knew that two kids can not manage a decent relationship.

"Well i told her about you and she seemed interested “said Nicholas. Sebastian was giving all his focus into the subject.

Sebastian actually started to enjoy this conversation. He is a daydreamer. Tiny information about any issue can make him start to

dream about it and create scenarios in his head, and when it comes to love, when it comes to the opposite sex it is a must for him

to daydream. That tiny little information was enough for him to create a new world inside his head. He started to generate millions

of different faces inside his head. Millions of love story and millions of happy endings. Everything inside his head was pure and white.

Young boy did not had an idea about the hand of Lucifer and the worst is the hand of humanity. Things can be judged when it comes to dancing with the devil

but when it comes to humans how can we define an action as good or evil , white or black, ying or yang. Gray is the most complicated color.

Yes... Sebastian had no idea about the color gray, the unknown. He did not knew anything about selfishness. He did not

knew anything about the chemical mixtures in the human body, that one mixture can be replaced easily by the other one. Young boy

didn't knew anything about getting stabbed in the back.

"Tell me more please, As we all know it is all about the details" said Sebastian with a cocky but also in a sweet attitude.

After a long chat they started to study maths. Calculations, equations, numbers. Sebastian wasn’t caring at all. His mind was somewhere else

, somewhere more beautiful more pure, it wasn't like every other dream. It was different more dark. A sweet darkness that surrounding his emotions.

Running under the rain, making sacrifices, loving someone, someone that deserves the sweet emotion, someone that understand what it means, someone that feels it.

PART TWO

"I love you" said Luci

Sebastian looked into her eyes he was so happy, those three words that been invented by humans... it is indeed what making him happy and feel special.

Luci... She was strange and beautiful for Sebastian. Full of surprises, a women of love and emotion. He was ready to do anything for her.

It was a fact that their souls were connected togather. Only god could had the power to cut this eternal commitment. How could he know that the one who is going to cut the soul

from this everlasting reality would be only a man. Apart from the thoughts of Sebastian; they had a decent relationship for 2 years.

Yes there were some harsh arguments, sometimes even more then a normal relationship would had. But they survived..

Yes surviving was hard. Those years had taught Sebastian much about life, love and humanity. After that day... After the day he cheated on Luci

he learned a lot.

Luci started to talk about something, it wasn't important at all for Sebastian at that moment, he started to daydream again.

He was thinking about his memories about the past, about that day...He started to daydream again…

Jane smiled and said "I thought that you are just a kid when your cousin told me about you"

Sebastian smiled and said " It seems not"

Jane was attracted by the appearance of Sebastian. He had blue eyes with mixed blonde and brown hair with a handsome face.

As every other man Sebastian got the temptation in her sentence.

"Indeed" said Jane and got into the car.

"Hi cousin!" yelled Michella and jumped on Sebastian

Sebastian was shocked because of he couldn’t understood what she was doing instantly, then he laughed and said "hey there Michella

After the greeting ceremony all of them entered Sebastian's car and drived to home. Michella and Jane told Sebastian about their trip to

London and about their close friendship.

After they got home Michella got into shower which gave Sebastian and Jane time to know each other better. Both of them were feeling

the temptation and the tar pit trap behind the temptation. They both had lovers for years. But they seem like they weren't caring about them.

After Michella got out of the shower Sebastian called for her name and said "Well babe as you know today is my birthday so i will probably go to

Mike's for the night, do you fancy to join us tonight?"

Jane heard the conversation and said " Yeah lets go Michella, i mean it would be more fun to have a party instead of staying here with Sebastian’s parents"

while she was looking into Sebastian's eyes.

"So what kind of a party?" asked Michella

"You know hanging out with some friends, having fun , maybe a pint of beer" said Sebastian and smiled

"Just a pint?" said Michella

"Well we will see don’t we " said Sebastian.

When the clock pointed on 19:00 they got out of the house and drove to Mikes place. It seemed like a decent house

bigger then a avarage house. There were four people apart from Sebastian , Jane and Michella. They were friends of Sebastian, close friends..

After some chit chat everyone seemed friendly to each other. Everyone was sitting in the living room apart from one person. Sebastian.

He was sitting in the balcony drinking vodka alone and thinking about "what is going on". His mind was mixed, his emotions were mixed,

everything was mixed. He is a shy boy but he is smart enough to understand the interest of another women on him. He loves Luci but

all those fights, arguments... Luci isn't an easy girl she loves control and if she is angry she wouldn’t listen to anything.

Barack Obama: Change HE can?

Hello again, it's me as usual :P

I'd like to hear what you guys are thinking about the newly elected US president and his endeavours.
Being the first black president in The White House, can his governing policies really make a change as he claims they will?

I think he looks promising, and somewhat he looks like no other US president I've seen. He has emergency plans and full-support of the society. I've seen him on Jay Leno show, he does have a sense of humor I can tell. He shows no hostility towards Iran, unlike the previous government. He airs a video in which he's reciting a poem from a Persian poet and reconciles. Amazing!

The thing I am interested in is that whether he will succeed at solving this middle-east and Iraq mess, or not. That concerns my part.

Choosing the research topic

Hi guys,

To start off with the blog and that I am curious to know, which renewable energy will you choose as your research topic and why?

Does your source of energy appeal to you more than others? Are the related scholarly sources plenty? Or what?
Tell us, elaborate & evaluate!

WELCOME to our class blog!

Thanks again for agreeing to participate in this and I hope it will be even more beneficial than last semester. All new bloggers are most welcome!

As per your preferences, I will participate and provide feedback, but I will not be posting any "assignments" - you will create your own posts to reflect what you would like to discuss with this group. All you need to do, once you sign into the blog with your Google account, is to click on "New post" in the upper right corner, draft your post and press "Publish post". That's it! Now other students are free to comment on what you have written.

To add a comment to a post, click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the post, type your reply into the box and press "Publish your comment". You can also give brief feedback simply by ticking one or more of the boxes below the post. We all appreciate feedback, so let's support each other by commenting as often as we can!

If you subscribe to the RSS feeds (see the green box), you will also be informed whenever new posts and comments are added, making it easier to track contributions. You will need to use an RSS feeder such as Google for this. Please let me know if you are unfamiliar with this.

It may take a little time to get used to the blog, so don't worry. Feel free to experiment. I am here to help or give advice any time you need it.

HAVE FUN!
Sonja