About

An “About” page. Have never been getting on with this page on good terms. This page is probably supposed to be one of the most important pages or even parts of any blog, however up to now I’ve kinda overseen it in my previous blog & website experiences. After some months and even years, after reading & seeing so many other semi-pro, pro blogs, finally I am getting the real meaning beyond this page.

This page should be funny, but not too funny, should also be serious & informative, but also not that extreme; meaning there is no just one optimal way to write this so-called “About” page.

First, I would like to start with what I am doing right now. I am a senior, studying in the department Computer & Science Engineering in the University of Marmara / Istanbul - Turkey. I’ve just finished a one-year-long Erasmus experience in Germany and recently relocated back in Istanbul for the final year of my undergraduate degree. With this Erasmus program, right now I’m like I’ve spent a year off college in Western Europe. The reason behind this is that, even though I had 7, 8 lectures per semester in Germany, my professors here in Istanbul think the education I had in Germany are far below the level we have here in Istanbul, which of course does not reflect the reality. That’s the main reason I am once more a senior this season.

The bright part is that I will have hopefully 3, 4 lectures and a thesis the whole year. And I really want to have a part-time job in computer science and also as a freelance translator. I guess finally I will be collecting the rewards of being able to speak several languages. I will be demanding a translation job where I can make English <- > Turkish & German <-> Turkish translations, mostly in the environment of computers and technology.

After you’ve learnt what I am doing now, maybe you are still interested in knowing me. Well, let me mention a little bit more about me, more about little “Buyruk”.

I was born on 23rd October in the year 1985 in a small city called Balikesir in Turkey. After spending almost the first 5 years of childhood in Balikesir, we moved to Izmir, possibly one of the nicest cities not just in Turkey, but also in the world. I went to the 1st grade in Izmir, after then we moved back to Balikesir, again because of the job related purposes. Till college I was in Balikesir, visiting the Mehmetcik Primary School (1992 - 1996) and then the junior high and high school in SYAL (1996 - 2003). 1996 is the year that I’ve started learning English and one year later accompanied with German.

Here we have a really huge exam which is taken by more than 1.5 million students every year. To be able to go to the university and program of your choice, you have to get a really good result. I got a fine result and got the chance to study Computer Engineering, which I had been wanting for the last couple of years.

The college life opened a new page in my life, that is for sure. I moved to Istanbul, a city with a population of 16 million, shortly a metropolitan. That made my life go into a completely direction. I was learning how to deal with the problems of living in a metropolitan and alone. At the same of course trying to catch up with the lectures at college.

After 3 years of metropolitan life, I was accepted for the Erasmus program and had a chance to spend one year abroad, in Germany. Going abroad had always been one of my dreams, because for us, for the Turkish people, it is really not easy to go abroad because of the visa and financial problems. I was going to have also the Erasmus scholarship which would be such a nice help.

So I spent the 2006-2007 year, exactly 11 months in Western Europe. My college was in Germany, but of course I was traveling when I had the chance. I visited Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland and Vatican City. We’ve had lots of Erasmus parties, I had the chance to practice my English, German and to learn Spanish, get to know lots of different cultures from all over the world, from Mexico to China, from Ghana to Sweden. Really, amazing, awesome experience. Of course being able to buy cheap and high quality alcohol was also a “+”.

That was my life up to now. Not so interesting, I guess. But should you have any questions, you are always welcome to ask. Maybe our ways have crossed somehow, sometime before?

To contact me, please send an e-mail to buyruk@gmail.com…
Buyruk Alparslan - September 2007 - Balıkesir / Turkey