WTF?

I'm out there in the cold and my country is advertised as a warm escape!

Berlin Impressions

 It's been my 4th time in Berlin but I have the same excitement each time I go there. Braunschweig is about 230 km.s from Berlin and I wanted to try carpooling for the first time.
'mitfahregelegenheit.de' is a 'car pooling' website very popularly used in Germany. Drivers explain their routes on the website and find passengers accordingly. 100 km's cost around 6 Euros for each passenger. So, it costed me 13 Euros.
Sharing cars is a very efficient way of reducing CO2 emission per person. Besides, it's very affordable compared with other transportation methods, even train.
On the website, people can also look for passengers to share their 'weekend group tickets' valid on trains. In this case, you can travel to Berlin even for 8 Euros, but you have to stick with the group.
The 'weekend group ticket' is a special offer in order to encourage people to use public transport.

Berlin Main Train Station is a wonder of modern architecture with multiple floors, providing intersection to numerous lines.

Just behind the Brandenburger Gate, I couldn't turn down Mario and Luigi who insisted on a group  photo with my gorgeous moustache.

(No I paid them 2 Euros to get this damn picture!)

A six pack of Donuts. The question is; what remains of a six pack after a pack of these?

Berlin under construction!

Some backstreet in Hackescher Markt, the graffitis here are real masterpieces.

 For some reason, someone painted Deniz Gezmis, a well-known Turkish political activist who was treated unfairly and executed with his comrades. After seeing a painting of Kemal Sunal in Braunschweig and him, I'm really wondering who is behind these works. 

Turkish 'Teyze's selling Turkish food and earning money at Hackescher Markt. She complained me about their husbands not working.

 It's been 4 times in Berlin and I never got to go up the TV Tower. One day...

People enjoying Easter and their free time. How?

By eating of course, and drinking...

Poor Ozan munching a 'Kumpir' a.k.a. 'baked potatopes' at the Alexanderplatz Metro Station.

This train station hosts various snack bars which are not bad at all. 

Just before my phone's battery was dead, we got the cheapest price for two beds at a hostel :)

Hello World

Indira Gandhi is known for a notorious phrase in Turkey, which can be translated as 'Indiragandhing' and it means to pocket someone else's belongings. Therefore I felt like making this picture. I still smile when I see this picture.

Alexander Platz by night

One should not leave Berlin without eating a Berliner.. Bullshit.

Just like anything associated with a city, this Berliner from Berlin has no difference than the ones made somewhere else and tastes no better. But it does taste delicious anyway.

Espresso Explosion

My mocha pot looking out of the window, waiting to be used for the first time

And there goes the first espresso ever made by me;

that's where I should have closed the lid

looks like my mocha pot wants a cigarette after a long climax...

English Man in New York

    Globalisation isn't something new and it's not the first time I come across a Turkish textile brand abroad. But I couldn't help running to the LittleBig stand after finding one in Karstadt, a prominent mall chain of Germany.

    Karstadt, though expensive, is good that it brings many brands together and offers a variety of products mostly appealing to the upper class. Joseph and Joseph is a design brand whose products I admire and draw inspiration from. So, finding a stand spared just for this brand was quite a joy for me.

The urban bandit on two wheels

    Sometimes it's incredibly cold here and it feels two times colder when you are on the bike.

So I cover up my face as much as possible and that's the consequence;

Run Like Hell

    Running is my favourite sportive activity. Besides, for me it's the best way of getting to know a city. You set references while running to position yourself and after a few runs, you combine those references and easily reach your destination. It's like 'oh I know this Döner Shop, I should go straight and take a right!'.
   Another reason why I like running in another country is to break the stereotype of a foreigner. When on vacation, people usually move away from their daily routines and have changes in their habits. After going back home, it takes some time to establish the same order. And if you are abroad for 5 months, then you should be more careful not to change your routines so radically. Running is one of the routines I'm trying to keep doing!
    Braunschweig is a small city and doesn't have much of an industry. Therefore the air is so clean and green is the main colour scheme around. My dorm is also situated in the vicinity of a big park where you can run in fields that feel like they won't end.

Me ready to run!

Who wouldn't want to run here?

Summary of the last week

I've been feeling uneasy for the last week for not making any new entries. I knew I wouldn't be able to post everyday once I met people and it is happening now. If you are visiting my blog, you must have noticed that I don't post everyday but almost post 'for' everyday. The pictures I take help me a lot to remind me of what I did that day...
To sum up the last week;

-The orientation took place and I toured the school with the other students that I just met. While touring the school, my enthusiasm rose to start designing something with all the atmosphere around. I almost had a heart attack/ orgasm while visiting the workshops of the Design Department. The wood workshop itself is 5 times larger than the whole workshop of my home university.

-I hung around with my new friends. I'm so glad to have friends now, after spending a week on my own, I was starting to go mad. A funny thing I want to mention is that 4 of my new friends come from London and thus have hardcore English accent. If I don't make any German friends, It's very likely that I have a notable English accent by the end of my Erasmus period.

First Sunday

     Braunschweig is a small city for sure. Compared with Istanbul, they are like the Earth and the Sun. However, I definitely like smaller cities. You run across signs like this many often, which comes in handy to get around. I like this sign since it leads both to my school and my ghetto!

     I found the address of a flea market which was supposed to be open today. But 16.00 was already too late to find anything at all. This is what you should expect if you visit a flea market in the afternoon;

     

     It was sunday, the day when the city is dead and I was out. So I went to the city centre and sat on one of the three open cafés to have a coffee. The Tiramisu didn't taste like Tiramisu at all. So I undertook it as my duty to try Tiramisu in different places in Braunschweig to find out whether that café sucks or it is the Braunschweigish way of making it.

Hannover

    Today I took the train to Hannover from Braunschweig. Many people do this to commute to work everyday. The ticket costed 12.5 Euros. Once I get my student card, transportation will be free for me within the borders of Nieder-Sachsen, the state where I live.
    My friend Ozan from high school, who now studies in Hannover picked me up from the main train station and we had lunch. When looking for a place to eat, or even at least sit, I felt sorry for the European people. They were crammed in restaurants and cafés, trying to enjoy their weekends. Considering the city is substantially closed on sundays, they have no other day to chill.
    Enjoying music, good food and a glass of bier (one glass is enough to get me in the mood) with my old friend brought back joy to me. I have been spending most of my time alone ever since I came to Braunschweig, that's why I've been in great need of some sociality.

Guys like the one below were common in Hannover, which drew my attention. If I'm not wrong, the reason why the thing he carries doesn't touch the floor is to avoid paying rents. However, he has a bike behind him, which he keeps his supplies in.

In Germany, there come times when I'm not surprised to see Turks but Germans. This street is to show what I mean (also note the Ziraat Bank behind);

     In Germany, I really can't help spending quite long time in supermarkets. There are just too many lines of products which you have to pick from. Freedom of choice is good of course. But for me, who is recently discovering his favorite brands in Germany, it's hard to decide on a product. I'm glad I'm not

living in America. A view of the beer department will give you a hint:

 

I bought credits for my mobile phone and I was so glad to see that I had time until 01.01.3000 to 

have them loaded on the phone.

    Actually, nothing interesting happened today. I spent the whole day in my room, better to say; home.
With the call of an old friend, whom I happen to have played in the same band for a really short time at the high school, I pulled myself through and threw the numbness off me.
    God bless Google Maps, it comes handy for me as it never has been. I found the address he gave me and studied my route thoroughly and grabbed my bike. I easily found him.
There's nothing like seeing a familiar face somewhere where you least expect it. Talking with him
was great and his room gave me the inspiration of how my dorm room should be looking, too.
The 5km way back home was so smooth. Riding through the city at midnight is a priceless pleasure, indeed.
   
    Tomorrow, I'll go to Hannover to see a much older friend...

    I want to finish writing with a wall drawing I saw tonight on the wall of my friend's dorm. It is a depiction of the very well-known Turkish actor, Kemal Sunal. I don't know who put it there. But I believe the Turks living in Germany made it and I interpret it as their longing for their homeland.

   
                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFCxPhyb-sk

                              Me riding to REWE (a supermarket) from my dorm in Weststadt.

Dinner getting Better

    I have a bad habit of postponing things. Shopping is one of them. 

I set off for shopping at around 18.00 and was back by 19.00. Back home, I realised I didn't have a pot to cook any food. This time, knowing that I had an hour, I rushed to Karstadt and bought a set of two pots. I also took a dish which I later put back hoping to find it for much cheaper in IKEA.

The picture belongs to the tasty dinner (also became lunch) I had after a long wait.

Though I had to be careful not to scratch the Teflon coating :P

Not (yet!) a woman's hands have touched the room, still it looks much more humane than two days ago.  

A milestone for me

    Bike has always been my first choice of transportation. Not because I don't have a car or the gas prices are high, the feeling I get from it is irreplaceable. I had been looking for a second hand bike ever since I arrived in Braunschweig. This morning, after spending quite a while on "eBay Kleinanzeigen", I filtered the results depending on their distance and prices and decided on one of them. So I called the number and got the address (btw. this was the first time I talked German on the phone :) ). The owner of the bike was a sweet old man who insisted on pumping some extra air on the wheels. Now that I had two wheels under me, the city was to be discovered. 

    Apart from really enjoying touring the city with the bike, I also had real difficulty finding my way back home and finally got back by two hours. However, the good thing is that I found out the places where I would be going running once the weather gets a bit better.

    This baby below will be my comrade during my stay. I wish I can find a way to take it with me to Istanbul.

P. S: I'm glad I didn't buy the mountain bike from the French Erasmus student and patiently waited until I found this chick.