Exchange Student in Turkey

Why Turkey

There are so many schools, countries in the exchange program. Why did I choose Bilkent in Turkey?

1. Budget: Devaluation of the Turkish Lira
2. Culture: Experience Middle East and Islamic culture
3. History: Prehistoric, Roman, Seljuk, Ottoman Empire
4. Landscape: Like Cappadocia, Pamukkale…etc.

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對我來說，土耳其一直是個謎，想去探秘的念頭由來已久。於是，我和我的旅伴們相約來到「文明的搖籃」——土耳其 伊斯坦堡是世界上唯一一座既做過基督教帝國首都、又做過伊斯蘭教帝國首都的城市。也是東西方世界神奇的交匯點，通過博斯普魯斯海峽橫跨歐亞大陸。在這個大約有1000座清真寺、500個東政教堂的城市，你永遠也不用擔心會視覺疲勞。

About school classes

What’s the differences between courses I took in Taiwan and in Turkey?

Course loading

• 20 - 25 students per class
• 4 lectures + 4 Labs per week
• coding during lecture
• NO homework =)
• quiz and exam often similar to practice

Attendance

• VERY important
• every hour QQ
• X final if skip too many

Tests might be on weekend!!!

• won’t know the time in the beginning of the semester
• may be scheduled on WEEKEND

About school life

1. From the lawn of the school, we can see the dusk and night view of the capital Ankara. From this point, it can be seen that the school is not only a distance from the city center, but also on the mountain. So basically no matter whether we want to go to the east campus, the main campus campus, or the city center, we need to take the school shuttle bus. It can be said that it is a good place to get away from the hustle and bustle.
2. Basically, the sports hall of the school is free. You can use the gym, swimming pool, etc. as long as you swipe your student ID.
3. The dormitory rooms are cleaned by a cleaning lady every week, and the toilets and bathrooms are cleaned every day, so they are very clean.
4. Each floor of the dormitory and department building has a self-study area with sockets. The library is even open until 11.30 in the evening, and the learning atmosphere is great (although I just want to go out and play)
5. If you store value in your student card, the meal at school is about NT$40, with soup, main meal, side meal, fruit or yogurt dessert (basically the school helps to pay half of the money)
6. The most common beverage are coffee and a kind of salty yogurt called Ayran. The most common ingredient is…tomato? !
7. There is a shopping mall at the entrance of the school, and there is even Carrefour in the shopping mall at the second stop of the shuttle bus.
8. However, in addition to teachers and students, the school staff, such as administrative staff, restaurant or shop staff, are not very good at English (I did not take the Turkish language class QQ)
9. The temperature difference between day and night is huge, and I still wear short sleeves at noon. I need to wear the jacket I wore in winter in Taiwan at night (I heard that the winter is even colder)
10. I found out that Turkey has many cats 🐱 and people are very friendly to meows

Tips

• There seems to be no way to exchange Lira in Taiwan. You can exchange to US dollars or Euros first, and then go to Ankara city center (near the school bus Tunus station) to exchange money after arriving in Turkey. Or prepare an ATM card. There is an ATM outside the dormitory with English operation instructions
• There are no Asian supermarkets and no bubble tea shops in Ankara, so if you miss Taiwanese food, you may need to prepare more in your luggage ><
• The Turkish keyboard is different from the general American keyboard! There are only Turkish letters and punctuation marked on the keyboard. (Although there are American input methods)
• After arriving in Turkey, you can take the Turkish student ID card to buy the student museum card. When I bought it, it was 30 lire. There is no expiration date. You can enter government-funded museums for free. (Sofia, Pamukkale, Mardin Museum, etc. can all be used)

What I’ve learned

• Practicing English (the classes are taught in English)
• Be brave (in the case of talking to whom do not speak English)
• concentrate in class? !
• Meet cool new friends
• Experience the feeling of not being able to eat Taiwanese food
• Know how peaceful and safe Taiwan is
• Travel
• CV may look special when applying for graduate school?!