JOURNAL 3

MY IDEAL UNIVERSITY

I think a university must have several features to be an ideal university for me. Firstly, the academic staff must be qualified and well-equipped. Also, the curriculum is very significant.In an ideal university's curriculum, there must be technical and practical courses, foreign language courses and opportunities to interact with foreigners because, in order to increase its students' chances to have good jobs, being active and known worldwide is very important for an ideal university. In addition, libraries and laboratories must be adequate and easy to access. Similarly, the internet connection must be satisfactory and accesible.

Secondly, there must be social clubs and entertainment opportunities. Students cannot always study, right? They need to relax and have fun when necessary. That's why the recreation atmosphere is also essential. Students should sport, swim, play several games such as football, basketball, volleyball, tenis or badminton at university. Moreover, all kind of student clubs must be active. Students can express their feelings and thoughts freely by means of these clubs. 

Thirdly, the structure of university must be well-organized and aesthetic. It is better to gather all departments, dormitories and social services in the same campus. Also the campus should be surrounded by nature; for example forests, groves, lakes or rivers.

When it comes to question that whether METU satisfies the criteria of my ideal university, my answer is certainly "yes,it does". Although it is a little bit expensive to live in here, METU has all of the features that I demand for an ideal university.

JOURNAL 2

BEING A METU STUDENT

This year is not my first year at METU because I studied at Department of Basic English last year. I am not going through an adaptation process this year but last year was not easy for me. Although I stayed in dormitory in high school for four years, it was still challenging for me to be far away from my family and old friends. But I didn't feel alone because I had some of my friends from high school in METU. They helped me a lot during my adaptation process. Moreover, my roommates were friendly, cheerful and positive people. I had so much fun with my friends last year. However, the immoderate climate of Ankara was a big challenge for me. The daytimes were very hot and the nights were so cold at the beginnings. Although it was difficult for me, I got used to the climate in time.

This year, I do not have problems about adjusting to METU at all. But as for courses, they are more difficult and intensive when compared to high school but they are very useful for us to develop ourselves in terms of writing, listening and speaking skills. Furthermore, we learn second language beside English. I learn German and it is very enjoyable for me.

In respect of campus, I think that METU has one of the best campuses in Turkey. All of its departments, dormitories, cafes and even markets are in the same campus and I think it is a big advantage for us in terms of transportation. The campus is highly huge but the transportation inside the campus is provided by ring services and minibuses easily.

There are a lot of student clubs and communities and also social services such as sport centers, tenis courts and swimming pool. We can develop ourselves socially thanks to these opportunities. To sum up, METU fulfilled my expectations and I am glad and proud of being a METU student. :)

JOURNAL 1

UNDERLYING TENSIONS IN TURKEY-SYRIA STAND-OFF

   
The last two days have witnessed (transitive verb) a dramatic escalation (direct object) in the tensions between Turkey and Syria.

   First, Turkey (proper noun) retaliated (action verb) to the shelling of the border town of Akçakale (proper noun) by firing at targets inside Syria (proper noun).

   And on Thursday (time adverb), the Turkish parliament approved (transitive verb) a motion allowing the government to take military action against Syria for the next year (time adverb).

   However, government sources (subject) stress that the motion is meant as "deterrence" against Damascus and that Turkey is not keen on a "unilateral (adjective) military operation".

   This (demonstrative pronoun) will come (intransitive verb) as a relief to the international community, as well as a considerable segment of Turkish citizens (plural noun). Public opinion in Turkey is (linking verb) strongly against any military escalation.

   

   Harsher Operations

   Hundreds, sometimes thousands of anti-war campaigners (plural noun) came out (intransitive verb) on the streets of major Turkish cities (place adverb) on Thursday to protest against the motion and the government's Syria policy.

   "Turkey has (state verb) no interest in starting a war (singular noun) with Syria." tweeted (action verb) İbrahim Kalın, who (interrogative pronoun) is a senior advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. "But Turkey is (linking verb) capable of protecting (transitive verb) its borders and will retaliate when necessary."

   Many observers (plural nouns) say Turkey does not want to launch a large-scale (adjective) response to the assault on Akçakale (place adverb). Many Turkish observers (subject) too, believe Turkey does not intend to launch a military operation (direct object).

   Rather, the motion aims to prove Turkey's capacity to respond to a possible cross-border assault (singular noun), says foreign policy expert İlter Turan.

   "Turkey's message is clear (adjective): We (personal pronoun)  have responded to your Akçakale shelling, but if you (personal pronoun) continue, then we will be (linking verb) ready to give a harsher response (singular noun)." he (personal pronoun) says.

   Columnist Avni Özgürel (subject), who (interrogative pronoun) writes for the daily newspaper (common noun) Radikal, points to the apology that Syria has reportedly (adverb of manner) issued, saying : This (demonstrative pronoun) is a clear sign (common noun) that the vote in the Turkish parliament has reached (action verb) its goals.

   As part of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's long-planned but short-lived "zero-problem with neighbours (common noun)" policy, the two countries had mutually lifted visa restrictions and had signed free trade agreements (direct object).

   But since the uprising in Syria began back in March 2011 (dependent clause),  relations have turned upside down (independent clause).

a night in izmir