UNTITLED

When checked my blog yesterday, I realized there has nothing been written for almost one week. On Wednesday we would have class and I thought something should be written by Wednesday. I spent almost 15 minutes to find a title for this essay but at the end I decided to put a title after finishing it. Actually, I don’t know what I am going to write here and I want see where my words are moving. This writing will be some kind of self-criticism because I am going to write how I feel directly. Instead of thinking, studying, and writing I could watch a good movie on television or read a book that I like. However finally I managed to sit on the chair to write something about anything.

When I look at the people in my classes, at the beginning everybody had motivation to study and they could concentrate on classes. After a while I observed some motivation loss and I started to hear some complains. Now while approaching to end of the semester, students seem as if they lost their motivation and they don’t have any will to do something for classes. Nevertheless, I strongly believe all students in my classes will manage to be motivated and they will be able to find energy and concentration to finish this semester successfully. I don’t know how students can do that but so far I have been witness to such finishes.

Although I have not much knowledge about psychology, there should be a subdivision for students’ such as their mentality, factors affecting them during school, or any physical factor. It is interesting to observe people at their age of 50 acting childish when they are announced as students. I saw many people even including myself acted differently in different atmosphere. While they were working, you might think they could be the most serious people in their workplace, but on the other hand when you saw them as students, they could act the most childish way that you ever seen. In our class, even if there are various kind of students at different ages, we are students now and we will manage to finish the semester successfully with same feelings as many others students before us and now.

Source:

http://www.valorifussell.com/i/fig_thinkingMan_l.jpg

LONG DISTANCE BUS JOURNEY…

Sometimes we are informed about interesting topics such as ratio of sleep in our lives or average walking distance per day for average person. One of my favorite statistics is how many times people travel alone by public transportation during their lives. Travelling alone is always important to me because many important decisions are taken especially during long distance travel.

When I was 13, I left my family to study at boarding high school in another city which is 500 km far away from my home town and I started to long distance travel in those times. I preferred to window side and I like to lean my head on the window by help of pillow. In 1990’s it was not forbidden to smoke in buses and the only bus from capital city to my home town was at night. It was terrible journey due to smoke in the bus until morning. Fortunately, firstly smoking in public transport was banned few years after my first long distance journey and then the law was expanded as in all indoor places.

After settling on the bus seat, the journey into inner world of the man also starts. Even if sometimes a person by you pretends to start a talk with you, you can always have enough time to think about yourself. People not only think about our pasts, but they also think about their now and futures. These journeys are rare opportunities for people to confront themselves. People can judge better themselves and be objective while they are alone. They also can enjoy their journey very much feeling mixture of different emotions.

Travelling might be more enjoyable in Turkey because transportation by bus is very popular and service sector in long distance bus transportation is developed. During your 8 hours bus journey, hot and cold beverages with snacks are always provided by Bus Company. These are nostalgia and living the nostalgia again might be enjoyable and exciting.

Sorce:

http://www.ilkhabergazetesi.com/wordpress/wp-content//2008/09/yol_manzarasi.jpg

INFIDELITY

Yesterday in one of the episodes of “This American Life” radio program, the topic was infidelity and there were interviews with people who cheated their wives, husbands, girlfriends or boyfriends. One of the stories was about a woman who had cheated her husband with his close friend. They all expressed their feelings during what they had been living and after the end of everything. They were stating their opinions and reasons of their treats in order.

Sometimes I think whether the meaning of cheating is same in every culture or not. While in some cultures the punishment of cheating is death, in other cultures it is considered as normal behavior. There are many factors such as religion, social structure, traditions and economic independence of people which constitute different perceptions.

I felt they were so relax while they were interviewing that nobody blamed to others. I was confused whether they were much modernized people or very far away from humanity. I think my words would be different if I were born in any other society. Our believes and ideas are formed according to environment where we grow up and people who we communicate with.

A few weeks ago I heard similar things on another radio show. The topic of the program was cheating and the reasons of that in USA as well. One of the listeners participated in the program to share what he had lived with his wife. He told his wife had cheated him with her boss at the work. After coming out of the event, when he asked why his wife had done such a thing, his wife’s answer was fear of losing her career. She told him that if she had not slept with her boss, she could have not progressed in her career. The more interesting thing in this event is this reason was accepted by her husband. Listener said that they were still married and together after that event. Some people can accept such a reason but personally I do not accept that kind of reason.

Source:

http://www.palme.nu/comics/w4h-infidelity.gif

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO START FROM SCRATCH EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE…

Today I listened the story of a man called Joe in one of podcasts. It’s about ordinary day of that man and life story of him. He likes gambling, rather his life is based on gambling. Las Vegas is the city of gamblers and it is difficult to say whether he is taxi driver or gambler. He prefers to work at nights and 5 days a week and he earns more or less $2000 per day which makes $10000 per week and $500.000 per year. However he has almost nothing and he starts his every single day around $30. He divorced and his daughter lives in another country due to his addiction to gambling.

I have never gambled in casino and I don’t know how people feel during and after game. What are the motives that encourage them to gamble? Money, passion, ambition, and winning feeling are examples of those motives. Sometimes I think is there any other situation that we earn or lose a lot of money in a short period of time called in minutes. You can earn thousands or even millions in one night or you can lose your money or house in another night. Actually people don’t lose only their money or house; they also lose their families, futures, social environments. It is like a drug which makes people be addicted and people might be impatient when gambling is concerned. It is difficult to understand choices, lifestyles and decisions of gamblers for people who haven’t gambled in their lives. Selling own house might be thought madness but gamblers can do it.

Their perceptions and interpretations of life are totally different from regular people. Some problems or events which are thought terrible by some people can be thought reasonable by people gambling. I wish I could understand their way of thinking, impressions, and mentality.

Source:

http://www.stathis.co.uk/galleries/illustration/gambler.jpg

URBANIZATION IN ANKARA

As the capital city of Turkey with around 5 million populations, Ankara is a metro pole. Like many other metro poles, Ankara has some problems during its enlargement. Every year many people come to big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir to find better jobs or to get better life. Increase in population in these cities requires more infrastructures, schools, hospitals and buildings for social activities.

In such cities, territory and real-estate are very valuable and profitable like they are in many other big cities in the world. In some part of city, building of skyscrapers is allowed but in some other parts it is not. Managing and carrying out zoning issues in metro pole cities are always tough. Mayors are appointed by elections and they have to be equitable in their decisions. Municipalities are non-profit organizations and they are for everybody in that city.

In Ankara, decision and application process about zoning and development are complicated. If new territory is planned to develop as residential area, first residential density of that region is decided by metro pole municipal council. Then zone plan is prepared by the metro pole municipality and macro plans are decided by the municipal council. In macro plans, details concerning residential are not shown but when macro plans are passed from that council, micro plans are prepared by the sub-provincial municipalities to make residential area plans more detailed. In that plan, streets, parks, houses, school area and many other things can be seen in detail.

People who have territory in that region can appeal to decisions taken by the council. Interests of people are the key issue in those situations. While in some districts, the residential density is low which means you cannot see tall buildings in that region, in some other districts it is high and people who have territory in that region get more profit. As mayors are appointed by elections, unlike their responsibilities, they sometimes make favor for people or district who voted for him. Although, urbanization is supposed to be technical issue, politics always involves in decisions.

Source:

http://www.collegenews.org/Images/ankara3.jpg

PLANNED URBANIZATION

In some countries we like cities that we visit very much. Do you think why we like those cities very much? Some reasons can be said such as nature in that region, hospitality of people, historical sites and buildings, arts and architectures in that city. People living in there would like to relax when they go out. They would like to look at river, sea, or green to feel better. They don’t care about the income of any store operating in skyscraper in the vicinity of those places.

Governments, municipalities, city councils, or some other social organizations are the primarily responsible for keeping cities as livable environments. Besides all these organizations, residents living in and sharing same environment are also responsible to make their cities better. As in many societies, some people’s interests are different from others’ like their concerns in money issues might be more sensitive. They may want to make more profit from less capital. Chiofaro Harbor Garage is good example for that kind of situation.

It can be asked to residents whether they want to see those kinds of buildings or structures in their cities or not. Especially in cities which attracts huge amount of tourists and have some important characteristics should be done. Munich is a good example for that kind of measures. A few years ago when I went to there I had a chance to visit some historical and touristic places. Everything regarding to city was planned very well. You could use efficient and punctual subway to move one place to another; you could find what you wanted easily. However while you were doing all these things, you could live intimately with nature. During my visit, I hardly saw tall buildings or skyscrapers. When I asked my cousin living in Munich why I hardly saw tall buildings, he answered me that a survey had been held to decide what kind of buildings people had wanted to see. Majority of people voted against tall buildings and all authorities in regarding Munich Municipality has obeyed this decision since survey results.

Planned economy, planned urbanization, and planned living scares people especially in the US. As a matter of fact planned urbanization is needed for all cities to make them better places for all living things. Sometimes we see cities where huge skyscrapers and small houses or cottages are standing together. New cars on narrow roads, insufficient infrastructures and traffic jams are only some problems for those unplanned cities.

Planned urbanization, strict good rules and laws, conscious people and responsible governor are prerequisites to live in beautiful city.

Source:

http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/towns/images/tint5_1.jpg

BOSTON

When we received this assignment two weeks ago, I thought it would be easy to write about what I believe. However, today I am reading my third attempt at the perfect essay after two cancelled drafts. I have realized it is extremely difficult to express feelings and ideas in 3 minutes. I think our professor assumes that we can write such an article in an hour, but the reality is different. I found myself constantly writing and re-writing sentences. I even considered writing an essay entitled, “I Believe Writing an Article in English for People Whose First Language is Not English is Definitely Challenging Especially in the Process of Their Language Improvement”. Finally, I gave that idea up and decided to write about Boston in the sense of contribution to the quality of each of our lives. This essay will be some kind of monolog.

I think impressions of people about Boston depend on many different reasons such as duration of their staying here or their purpose of visiting or living in Boston. Some people are born and live here, while others come here for a shorter period of time like us and some people come here just as tourists. Looking and seeing have different meanings. People who come to Boston as a tourist look at the city and they visit some tourist sites. They enjoy what they do but we cannot expect them to feel the city. People who live in Boston see the city which means they can see and feel what the people coming for vacation cannot.

So, you are thinking that where the point that I believe is. You are right so far I have not stated anything about it yet. What I would like to share with you is I believe Boston is a city that transcends a surface level experience, rather one needs to dip deeper to truly experience Boston in its entirety. You can say transportation facilities, cost of living, number of social and cultural events, and so on. All these are required to decide on it but there are some more for me like nature, river, sea or ocean. Last ones are really important to me. Whenever we get bored or we have problems in our minds we need fresh air and also sound and view of water. Furthermore, walking under the colorful trees or fishing relaxes our bodies and minds worth to many things. Let me share an anecdote with you. There is an advertisement in some countries about a well known credit card company. In short, it says in that advertisement “value of buying tickets for you and your girlfriend is this amount and value of having dinner together with her is that amount but warm smiling and hugging of her is invaluable. There are things in life which money doesn’t work, for the rests that credit card is enough”. Why I said it to you is stressing on some special moments which cannot be felt easily. Boston contains many beauties which gives you those kinds of special moments. As many other attractive cities, it also provides activities, social events in some areas such as arts, history, outdoor activities, sports, science, tours, family fun, and shopping.

So far I have looked to Boston but I hope I will be able to see it as well soon. I believe Boston is a good city to live.

Source:

http://www.massaudubon.org/Images/schoolgroup/forestpath.jpg

THE POWER OF LOVE

“Love” as a word consists of 4 letters and it has different impressions for each individual person. Yes, now you are thinking on love between a man and a woman. However, “love” which I would like to express has broader understanding. Just try to imagine contrasts in the world. How there are contrasts in the world such as day and night, black and white, goodness and badness, likely human being lives with his contrasts. People are born with these contrasts, they live and die with them. Between birth and death we all have ambitious, happiness, successes, disappointments, expectations. Love is the key point in our life.

What are the main goals in our life? Happiness, peace, calmness, success, career, wealth and many other beauties result from love of people to their jobs, environment, and other people who they communicate with. It doesn’t matter what you do, if it doesn’t contain love, unfortunately the result would be worse.

In this class, everybody’s preferences are different. Some of us like to dancing, cooking, reading and some others like to live in boat, and fishing. What is the common element here? As you know, love is the common element and we feel happy with what we love to do most. It is same for success in our business life because it is not possible to be successful and efficient in a job that we dislike. Also same thing can be said for social environment and relations. Do you think a person who doesn’t feel any love can create a good relation with others? That kind of people cannot be happy or successful in their lives.

Love is the most important positive motivation for us. Look around and think about the important people in the history who nowadays are remembered as the good. They left us a heritage in art, science, music and in many other fields. How could they succeed to be remembered during years? They loved with passion what they did and this brought them fame and respect after many years of their death.

Always try to feel love in our lives for better life.

Source:

http://www.nilaytorum.com/wp-content/love.jpg

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Good evening everybody! 2 weeks ago our professor told us that we should write an article about which we really believed. So during these 2 weeks time I thought to write an article such as renewable energy source, relationships between people, education system, and political struggles of nations or why people have different believes. However, I didn’t know how I could handle the subjects because all these topics are so serious not to finish in 3 minutes speech. Finally, I decided to write something which actually was not I believed but I wanted to believe.

How many mistakes have you been able to count so far? If they are more than 10, I am not going to keep talking.

I tried to write something about us and my speech will cover topics on international students and their adaptation process. I will mention what the main problems are and how we can overcome these problems. When we came to the US leaving behind all our caring families and facilities, we had to start facing lots of problems to adjust to new life. All we looked for places to live and we needed to know where to eat and do shopping. These were beginnings for us in foreign country. After that, we have been facing with cultural shock, home sickness, language learning, social barriers, and academic difficulties.

Are you still counting the number of my mistakes? Should I keep going?

Each of these problems is not to deal with. Especially language is always a big problem for international students. I don’t know how many of us come from countries where English is not frequently spoken but we sometimes feel the stress in our academic and daily life. Although we already have English skill proved at least by TOEFL, most of us find it difficult keep up with our classmates and people. Sometimes we have problems in keeping our confidence. Sometimes, when finding Americans roaming and discussing within their groups, I would feel a little bit hard to catch up with them and awkward to join the talking’s. We have also some academic difficulties resulting from language which indirectly increase our workload burden. For example, while an American student can finish a book in an hour, an international student who doesn’t speak English as a native language may spend 3 hours to finish it.

After saying all these difficulties, it is time to talk about suggestions. I checked some internet sources concerning adaptation to new life for international students. They suggest us to be patient, keep an open mind, build a healthy life, work on improving English, make some new friends, and look for help from institutions and work hard. I can say my point of view that I am patient enough, open minded and I am going to swimming after class to build healthy life. Also I write 3 articles every week to improve my English, every day my circle of friends is expanding (finding girl friend will be talked you during break time!!!). I don’t know whether the topic is relating with believing or not believing but at least I can say that I want to believe.

Source:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/75/184848118_f14b4c7668.jpg