Each year, the International Center helps new international faculty members and their families settle into life at Bilkent. Besides overseeing an orientation program, providing administrative assistance and offering advice, the Center organizes social events and trips throughout the academic year, beginning with the annual Welcome Picnic. This year’s picnic took place on September 24 at the university’s festival area and hosted around 170 guests, giving incoming international faculty members and their families the opportunity to get together with their new colleagues.
The next event on the calendar was a weekend trip to Bursa, located in the northwest of the country, on October 14-15. Twenty-four international faculty members went on the tour, which featured visits to a number of cultural and historic sites (including two small villages dating back to Ottoman times) and, of course, a dinner of Bursa’s famous “İskender kebap.”
International Center Coordinator Berna Örge notes that such tours not only provide participants an excellent opportunity to see more of Turkey but also give them the chance to get to know each other better. “It’s always great to see international faculty members from different departments and countries together,” she remarked following the Bursa trip.