Person 114 Basic Information 1. Name Sara Svensson, Sara.Svensson6956@student.uu.se 2. Exchange university Sabanci Universitesi 3. City Istanbul 4. Country Turkey 5. First semester of your exchange Swedish autumn semester (HT) 6. Academic year 2011/12 7. Level of studies at the exchange university Undergraduate 8. What are you studying at Uppsala University? Medicine 9. How many years of study had you completed before going on exchange? 3 Studies 10. Write one or more paragraphs describing the following: The differences between Uppsala University and the exchange. What were the teachers like? The relationship between teachers and students. Examinations. The academic level and quality of your courses. Access to computers. Sabanci University offers a wide arrange of separate courses or classes, from which you can pick and mix in a way that interests and suits you the best. The courses you choose will have 3-4 in-class hours per week and they will all be running parallell to each other. This system suited me perfectly, since I could pick out exactely what I wanted, even from different faculties and levels. I ended up taking Bioethics, Film, Psychology, Litterature and Cultural studies. The system is very flexible and you can add and drop classes for several weeks to create a timetable perfect for you! Back in Uppsala, I have only studied medicine at Läkarprogrammet, and so my exchange semester was not only a trip abroad, but also a true break from what I normally do. In spite of that, I managed to pass all my new humanities classes. Maybe because I mostly choose undergrad. ones, but mostly because of the seminar-like in-class weekly sessions, which in Swedish terms most correctly could be described like primary- or secondary school (eller gymnasie-) lessons. Every week, homework would be given, and the following week quizzes or discussions on the take-home readings would take place, effectively reassuring that everybody in class understood the main points and are fit to eventually take the final exam. The classes are small in my Litterature class there were only about 8-10 students all in all. All classes are in English and the Turkish students as well as the teachers all speak intermediate to advanced level English. I was especially impressed by the teachers/professors, who were all very young, competent, down-to-earth and well-educated (most of them had studied in the US or UK) and who always had time to answer questions and look up things asked for until the next session. They learned everybody s names immediately and, being only about ten years older than most students, the teachers and students usually worked together as equals in a very effortless way. Attendance in class is mandatory and plays a part in your final grade. It is hard for me to say anything about the academic level of the courses, since I do not take the same subjects back home. But that a med student can manage to get A s in humanities classes might give you a clue.
Most courses had one midterm exam and one final. Some in stead had a final paper. In between these major exams, there were a lot of response papers, quizzes and homework to be done and of course a whole lot of readings! I think the exams were fairly easy, but relevant and the papers were graded quite generously. At times it felt like quantity was more important than quality... At Sabanci there are no public computers for students to use. In stead, you have to bring your own laptop and have it registered to the university s wifi (which is high speed and you can access from everywhere, even outside sitting on the lawns!). An option is to rent a laptop from Sabanci for about 130 liras (=500SEK) for a whole semester. This is what I had to do, since the one I brought from back home collapsed during the first month. It worked out very well, the deal including free check-ups and repairs. Orientation and reception 11. Write one or more paragraphs describing the following: How you were welcomed as an exchange student. Orientation, information, activities. We had a whole week of welcoming, the Orientation Week, when only exchange students, buddies and random curious Turkish students were at campus, getting to know the grounds and having lectures, welcome talks and getting-to-know-each-other games. It was all good (with interesting lectures on why Turkey absolutely not want to join the EU anymore...) but since the September weather was sunny and warm, we skipped quite a few lectures, and still felt welcome and oriented by the end of the week. Before we arrived in Turkey we were bombarded with emails on what forms and documents are needed etc. My advice is to read these mails thoroughly, since you actually need to bring quite a few piles of paper work because of the Turkish bureaucracy! Accommodation 12. Write one or more paragraphs describing your accommodation. What type of accommodation did you have, where you satisfied? Do you have any tips for future students? From the start, me and the other girl from Uppsala Universitet were planning to stay in the campus dorms, located just next to the lecture halls at Sabanci. But before the start of the semester we went there to have a look and realized that it took over an hour by a special shuttle bus (which by the way is VERY expensive in comparison to everything else in Turkey, about 7 liras=30sek one way) to get to campus and that the rooms very quite small, but clean and neat with a bunk bed to be shared. We decided to live in the city, in Kadiköy on the Asian side of Istanbul in stead. From here you can catch the shuttle bus to campus several times a day. The shuttle services are good, but sometimes crowded and comparatively expensive. The dorms are a bit more expensive than sharing a flat in the city, but on the other hand you do not spend as much money on the shuttle. Also the dorms are safe, quiet and clean (theres a cleaning lady changing your sheets weekly) and you can sleep in more often than the ones living in the city. On the other hand, if you rent a flat with some friends, you get your own room (that you can keep as dirty as you like), its cheaper and you will be right in the heart of Istanbul every night. This last point was the one that made me choose a flat in stead of a dorm. We had some serious problems with the first flat we moved into, and especially with the landlord, who was himself a Sabanci student, hence someone we thought we could trust. And we were not the only ones with troubles. We ended up being tricked out of a lot of money and waking up without a functioning toilet, electricity or hot water. But through contacts with the other exchange students we could move into new flats, where everything was working well.
Although the flats are cheaper than the dorms, the rooms offered for exchange students are way more expensive than the same type of flats for Turkish-speaking students. It is very easy to get fooled and badly treated. My advice is to start looking for a shared flat or room well ahead of leaving your country and to talk to primarily other exchange students, not Turks (they can and will make a lot of money out of you!), when you are shopping around. For me it was great to in the end stay with two other exchange students and a Turkish girl. Your finances 13. Write one or more paragraphs describing the cost of living. Did you find CSN adequate? How was the rent in comparison to your rent in Uppsala? Did you undertake part-time work in addition to your studies? Food is cheap in Turkey. So are clothes. A beer is about 30-50 SEK and clubbing with expensive entrance fees can end up pretty expensive in the end. We travelled a lot but still managed to make the CSN and Erasmus money last without working on the sideut Istanbul is not as cheap as you might want to think. My rent for one room was about 2800 SEK. Free time 14. What did you do in your free time? Did the university arrange any special activities? Where there any activities specifically for exchange students? Were you happy with what was on offer? Staying in the city, we did go out for beer, clubbing, concerts and other events a lot, as well as a lot of small sightseeing trips on the weekends. During the fall break and longer weekends we did longer trips to for example Fethiye, Ismir, the South East, Cappadocia, Efesos and some students even went skiing in the mountains! At campus there was a great gyma and weekly games of basket ball, football, squash, volleyball e t c. There were also a lot of student clubs for horse back riding, drama, snorkelling, creative writing and so on. A lot of famous and interesting lecturers came to Sabanci to talk during my semester and films were shown in the university cinema hall and at several times the university arranged for big bus trips to different places all around Istanbul and around. In short, there were a lot of things to do! Your exchange on a whole 15. Please sum up your exchange experience. If you have any other tips for future exchange students, or any other comments feel free to include them here. I am very satisfied with my exchange semester. Turkey is a very interesting, and sometimes forgotten country. Things are speeding up down there and the melting pot of different cultures, languages and religions are truly astonishing. The Turks are friendly and hospitable, but you should also realise that some of them will try and make a lot of money out of you. Sabanci is a somewhat secluded, but very progressive and young private university, where English actually IS spoken by (almost) everyone. My courses were fun and not too hard. I did not take Turkish because of a time clash, but I would strongly advice you to not make the same misstake as I did:) I would stronlgy recommend anyone to take a semester in Istanbul and Sabanci!
Person 106 Basic Information 1. Name Jenny Wennersten 2. Exchange university Sabanci University 3. City Istanbul 4. Country Turkey 5. First semester of your exchange Swedish autumn semester (HT) 6. Academic year 2011/12 7. Level of studies at the exchange university Mixed undergrad/postgrad 8. What are you studying at Uppsala University? Peace and Conflict studies 9. How many years of study had you completed before going on exchange? 3 Studies 10. Write one or more paragraphs describing the following: The differences between Uppsala University and the exchange. What were the teachers like? The relationship between teachers and students. Examinations. The academic level and quality of your courses. Access to computers. Generally, I think Sabanci was a very good University. The backside of it, something that Swedish people generally are not use to, is that it is a private university. That results in that most of the students (Turkish students) are there because their parents are rich, and a few are there because the are on scholarship. Most students that are on scholarship are studying at graduate level (master), since you have to have a certain score to qualify for masterlevel at Sabanci. The teachers are great! They are demanding a lot: exams, hand-ins, assignments, presentations every week but in the very end they will also give you a good grade. Most teachers are Turkish and I also had one American teacher. The quality of the cources was generally very good, even though you can see the difference that some Turkish teachers are more use to learn by heart knowledge (rather than analysing). I can really recommend mastercources within the \ conflict sphere\, that students generally were very happy with. Orientation and reception 11. Write one or more paragraphs describing the following: How you were welcomed as an exchange student. Orientation, information, activities. Sabanci arranged an introduction week, which I unfortunately did not find very interesting. Make sure you have all the paperwork prepared and go there the first day, that is my advice. There was a few interesting seminars, but to me it felt like Sabanci was trying to fill a week with any content. I only went to one of these introductory days, and then I travelled with friends.
Accommodation 12. Write one or more paragraphs describing your accommodation. What type of accommodation did you have, where you satisfied? Do you have any tips for future students? I recommend you to really consider what you want to get out from your exchange. Sabanci is 40-50 minutes away from the Asian side of Istanbul by bus, and for me was it never an option to stay on campus. I stayed in Kadiköy, on the Asian side. Kadiköy is a very nice and relaxed part of Istanbul with communications (bus, shuttles to the airports and ferries) nearby. What I should have done if I got the opportunity to do my semester again, is to check the area of Moda. Moda is a bit fancier but very nearby to Kadiköy and the area have cinemas, cafés and restaurants. And if you live in Moda, it will be near to the bar street, a place that we spent many evenings. Me and another Swedish girl got in touch with a Turkish guy via the Sabanci incoming group on Facebook. From him, we got an apartment that we felt was ok, but not very good. After a few weeks we realised that we could not stay because of the conditions in the apartment, his behaviour and attitude against us and it did not work out with our flatmate either. So, take your time to search for a good place to stay. It is reasonable to pay around 500-800 liras per month, but not more than that. If you want to have the school nearby, you should consider campus. I highly recommend you to take a look at campus before deciding. Most of my friends stayed in Kadiköy or on the European side and the ones that lived on campus really regretted living there. You are kind of isolated and there is basically nothing else to do but going to the gym or hanging out at your dorm or room (that you have to share) if you are living on campus. Your finances 13. Write one or more paragraphs describing the cost of living. Did you find CSN adequate? How was the rent in comparison to your rent in Uppsala? Did you undertake part-time work in addition to your studies? The CSN will definitely be enough for living in Istanbul. Both living on campus and out of campus is expensive (500-1000 liras per month), and if you stay out of campus you have the overprised bus to pay every day too (5.8 liras one way). Istanbul is quite cheap for Swedish people so you can definitely have a good life and go to concerts, eat out, travel for the CSN. Free time 14. What did you do in your free time? Did the university arrange any special activities? Where there any activities specifically for exchange students? Were you happy with what was on offer? I did not do anything that had to do with school in my free time. We were hanging out in Kadiköy or in the European side and we were also trying hard to sightseeing in the weekends. There was a cultural exchange group, but unfortunately it turned out that they did not do very much togehter. Your exchange on a whole 15. Please sum up your exchange experience. If you have any other tips for future exchange students, or any other comments feel free to include them here. Even though I have been writing some negative things, I must really encourage you to go to Istanbul! For me, it has been an amazing experience and I met so many wonderful friends and I have really gained new experience in my study field. I would recommend you to try to travel in the beginning, because the semesters are hard. Sabanci is not the ultimate place to go if you want to have
a relaxed semester, but it is definitely the right place if you want to learn something! I really think you should take a Turkish cource if you have the time, it is so useful and fun to be able to speak some Turkish! Personally, I also think you should stay out of campus, because you will learn more about the culture and about the people. Just make sure you make a good choice and that you are living with nice people. I think it is really difficult to write general tips, but you are more than welcommed to send me an email if you have further questions. (jennywennersten@hotmail.com) Approval 16. Do you approve the publishing of your exchange report on Uppsala University s website? Yes
Person 108 Basic Information 1. Name Rahima Ortac 2. Exchange university Sabanci University 3. City Istanbul 4. Country Turkiet 5. First semester of your exchange Swedish spring semester (VT) 6. Academic year 2011/12 7. Level of studies at the exchange university Undergraduate 8. What are you studying at Uppsala University? Juristprogrammet 9. How many years of study had you completed before going on exchange? 2.5 (1 on juristprogrammet) Studies 10. Write one or more paragraphs describing the following: The dierences between Uppsala University and the exchange. What were the teachers like? The relationship between teachers and students. Examinations. The academic level and quality of your courses. Access to computers. Sabanci är ett privat univerisitet med bara ca 3500 studenter, med all undervisning på engelska. Det som var positivt till skillnad från Uppsala var att alla kurser var öppna att söka till och man var inte begränsad till sitt huvudämne. En stor skillnad mellan Uppsala universitet var att klasserna, beroende kurs, kunde vara väldigt små. Jag läste t.ex. en kurs där vi endast var 3 studenter. Det som var positivt var att man hade mycket närmare kontakt med lärarna och kunde därför få den hjälp man behövde. Hursomhelst var nivån på examinationen lågt och inte alls svårt att få höga betyg. Känns lite som att det var för bra lärare med hög akademisk nivå för de studenter de hade, därför sänkte de nivån på tentorna. I biblioteket hade man tillgång till dator, om man inte valt att skaa sig en lånedator. Inga problem med tillgång till dator. Orientation and reception 11. Write one or more paragraphs describing the following: How you were welcomed as an exchange student. Orientation, information, activities. Vi välkomnades med en introduktions vecka, där vi både ck lära oss mer om skolan och staden. Det som var jättebra var deras Buddyprogram där varje utbytesstudent ck en buddy som kunde hjälpa till men också blev väldigt bra vänner. Det var inte heller några som helst problem med att få hjälp med kontaktpersonen på internationella kontoret, som var en väldig hjälpsam person och hjälpte till med allt. Så hade man frågor om boende, kurser, it m.m. kunde man bara gå till henne. Som sagt var även studenterna, oftas buddies, villiga att hjälpa till.
Accommodation 12. Write one or more paragraphs describing your accommodation. What type of accommodation did you have, where you satised? Do you have any tips for future students? Eftersom Sabanci ligger ganska långt ut från själva centrala Istanbul bor 75 Det som är lite jobbigt att bo på campus är somsagt att det ligger så långt bort och man är bunden till dåliga busstider (shuttle bussar som skolan har). Och sen så delar man rum och rummen är inte alls stora så det kan vara påfrestande ibland. Sedan var inte heller köken de bästa att laga mat i, så inte ofta man laga mat. Ett tips är om man är osäker på om man vill bo på campus eller inte att prova bo där i 2-3 veckor, utan kostnad, då man inte behöver betala direkt och känner man att det inte känns bra är det väldigt lätt att hitta boende. Man kan också på det sättet hitta utbytesstudenter som skulle vilja dela lägenhet. Your finances 13. Write one or more paragraphs describing the cost of living. Did you nd CSN adequate? How was the rent in comparison to your rent in Uppsala? Did you undertake part-time work in addition to your studies? Det är billigare att bo i Istanbul jämför med Uppsala, både kläder och mat är billigare. Jag erhöll både CSN (bidraget bara) och Erasmus stipendiet (som alla får bara man följer instruktionerna) och sedan hade jag lite sparpengar. Hyrorna i Istanbul är billigare än Sverige ligger runt 2500 kr. Men vill man bo på campus är det lite dyrare ca 3200 kr, dyrare än Sverige då man delar rum och badrum med en person. Free time 14. What did you do in your free time? Did the university arrange any special activities? Where there any activities specically for exchange students? Were you happy with what was on oer? Det nns väldigt mycket att göra och se i Istanbul och Turkiet. Men bor man på campus är det lite begränsat med aktiviteter, det som nns är ett gym (gratis och bra) och kaféer sedan såklart vänner. Det jag gjorde mycket på fritiden var att gymma, laga mat med vänner, åka till Taksim eller Kadiköy (centrala delar). Universitetet hade även olika studentklubbar som man kunde vara aktiv i om man vill och även vara med i något sportlag, ex. fotboll, basket, amerikansk fotboll. Lite tråkigt var det ibland då det inte fanns mycket att göra på campus. Men det fanns även ett stort outlet köpcenter som bara låg 10 min med buss från skolan som man kunde åka till. Your exchange on a whole 15. Please sum up your exchange experience. If you have any other tips for future exchange students, or any other comments feel free to include them here. Att åka på Erasmusutbyte är verkligen en av de bästa valen jag gjort. Tycker man verkligen inte ska tveka att åka! Sabanci är ett bra universitet som har utbyte med många länder över hela världen, en internationell skola. Jag hade turen att träa så underbara människor från hela världen där vi alla blev en stor familj tillsammans. Personligen tycker jag att man ska våga uppleva något annorlunda, utanför Europa men ändå Europa. Istanbul är en så blandad stad, och väldigt häftig på det sättet. Sök sök sök!
Approval 16. Do you approve the publishing of your exchange report on Uppsala University's website? Yes When you are done press Submit. You will then be asked to conrm that you want to submit your answers. Press OK. Thank you for replying to this survey - your input is greatly appreciated.