BY ADA KILIÇARSLAN (ECON/IV)
Name: Christoph Meyer
Department: Political Science
Country of Origin: Germany
What do you like best about Turkey?
This question is quite hard to answer because I like so much about Turkey. Maybe I can say that the three things I like most are the people, the different landscapes and the Turkish food.
Are there any similarities between Turkey and your home country?
Comparing Germany to Ankara right now, the cold temperatures are similar. And another thing that feels similar in Turkey and Germany (especially in Germany’s big cities) is the number of döner shops.
What will you miss most about Bilkent/Turkey?
Campus life, in the sense that there are open and friendly people around me all the time here.
What’s your favorite place on campus, and why?
There are a lot of nice places, but my favorite one is probably Bilka because besides it being a good “kiosk,” when I go there, I often meet someone and it’s very easy to get stuck there.
What’s your favorite Turkish food and/or favorite part of Turkish culture?
My favorite Turkish foods are kebap and köfte, and I really like the culture of having çay all the time.
Where do you expect to see yourself 10 years from now?
Honestly, I can’t even say where I expect to see myself in 2 years. But to try to answer this question, I expect in 10 years to be working somewhere in the field of policy advice.
What’s the hardest challenge you’ve handled in Turkey?
Entering the Bilkent campus the first time, because it was the middle of the night, I’d had a long day of traveling and was really tired, and then I had to explain to the non-English-speaking security guys why I didn’t have an ID card yet and that I was an arriving exchange student and they should let me in.
What cities have you visited in Turkey, and which one is your favorite?
So far, I’ve visited Kaş, Safranbolu, Kars and Artvin. I really liked the Mediterranean Sea in Kaş and also the landscape around Kars, so those are probably my favorites.
What’s an interesting question or comment you hear frequently at Bilkent/in Turkey?
I often get asked by Turkish people, including students, why I chose Ankara for my exchange. And almost all of them say to me that they can’t understand my choice and that Ankara is a boring city, but I totally disagree with that opinion.
Describe yourself in three words.
Helpful, adventurous, optimistic.