 Alas and Alack, Cüneyt Yýlmaz Hasn't Become a Fan of Avatar yet. (Sorry, James)
Here at Bilkent, there are two kinds of people for me: the ones that I take lecture notes from and the ones that I pass lecture notes to. As soon as I got back to school from winter break, I tried to contact some of those in the first category to make sure I have notes for the first midterms, but all I got to ensure was that they all had left for Erasmus. And to tell you the truth, it was a real letdown for me. Lesson No.1: Do not trust your friends.
For many years, I've thought that disappointment was something peculiar to my parents who would think I was the cleverest student in the country, which is mostly because I was able to reel off the numbers from one to twenty in English by the age of seven. It took ten years or so for them to realize the truth, and we owe that to the ÖSS. But as I left my family for Bilkent University, faith has done whatever it takes to make me feel the way I do at home. And as one disappointment led to another, here we are. Lesson No.2: Do not trust faith.
Now, if you are a second year undergraduate and the registration appointment date and time that Stars thinks you deserve is "January 27, 16:39pm", you unintentionally get disappointed, right? Moreover, many of the classes I would like to take were either already full or not eligible on the 27th of January by 16:39pm, how cool? Because of my incompetence in anger management, I suppose, I accidentally added a course called "Amer-472: Writing for the Internet Age," which reminds me solely of Twitter (Sorry Amer-guys). And see what the worst part is: I wasn't able to drop that course, because I would end up below the required number of courses. Therefore, I tried to change it with a Basic French course, which later on turned out to be added separately, not in exchange for the Amer-472. And no offense, but compared to my classmates who take Chinese classes because of this "growing Chinese economy " trend that shapes their CV-oriented lives, taking a French course doesn't seem to me as the smartest of the ideas. Regarding that Amer-472 course, I don't think I should learn anymore English either. In fact I already feel like I've learned more English than I need. Life was easier back in high school, where all I needed to care about was Simple Present Tense. Need evidence? Take, for example, Pokémon. Can you imagine how hard it is for a guy to stand up to the disappointment caused by the fact that Ekans is in fact "snake" written backwards (And please don't get me started on Ash Ketchum's Surname!) Lesson No.3: Do not trust Japanese Anime.
Another anticlimactic experience was James Cameron's "Avatar." For a year or so, all that many Web sites did was roar to make sure that everyone on Earth (and maybe on Pandora) knows about James Cameron and his gigantic Smurf-like friends (less cute, obviously). That big advertisement campaign, my friends, has led to high expectations, which turned into something else that I call disappointment when we all got out of the theater. Now, I agree that James Cameron was generous when it came to visual effects, but there should be more than that to call a movie the "best movie of the decade" (or "of my life" for some of you), right? A story line that I can't write, maybe? (Sorry James, again.) Lesson No.4: Do not trust James Cameron.
In fact, there is more to add, like my Power Rangers Nostalgia, or Muse and their latest album, The Resistance. There isn't enough time or space for them, though. So, instead, here is something that will not only put a perfect end to this week's column, but will also show you how far I've gotten in French: Au Revoir. (Not very harmful for a stray bullet, huh?) Lesson No.5: Do not underestimate my French.
By Cüneyt Yýlmaz ( ECON/II )
cuneyt_y@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
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