Being a METU Student

BEING A STUDENT AT UNIVERSITY ESPECIALLY AT METU

Almost every university student experience a life which is different from the one they have in their hometown.I think university means independence, having your own decisions, leading a life without anybody’s help, and feeling that you are capable of doing whatever you want and many things like these. The time period in which we are living is passing quickly. We are growing up and being an adult day by day.

This is my second year at METU and I have an extraordinary life here. As I have said before every university is different, but Metu is also much more different than the others. It is a life style on its own with its campus, activities, student communities, and the forest, which is one of the biggest man-made forest of the world,  its rings used for transportation inside and outside the campus,etc. One morning, when you wake up in your dormitory, you can find many things that you haven’t seen up to that time. For example, there may be a protest against the government or the university authorities. How many of you have seen a strike protest in your hometowns before? How many of you have tasted pepper gas up to now? They may be accepted as nasty behaviour patterns but, they are the differences of METU.

There is a concept as ‘’being a METU student’’. After you register at METU, whereever you are, whatever you do, whenever you graduate from METU or after graduation you are ‘’the student of METU’’ every time and you will be happy by feeling this privilege.METU is a place of freedom and, you can express your opinions in an easy way to the others. Some may object to you, but they don’t interrupt you. You can find millions of different thoughts at METU.

I had many problems while adapting to this place, and I think this a very normal situation as there are thousands of students here coming from different parts of Turkey. For example, transportation was a problem for me. There is a great distance between my dormitory and my school. Last year, in the first weeks of the school I didn’t know the ring system and I used to walk to school from my dormitory every morning. Moreover, I didn’t know too much about Ankara, but I learned eveything day by day.

All in all, I am now happy with almost everything. After some time, I will watch the match between GS and BJK with Odtülü Aslanlar.

Metu is a kind of place which makes you feel happy : )