ABOUT ME

Hi. I am Berdan. I am a Computer Engineer. I born and live whole my life in Ankara and I love it.
I have always been curious about other cities, countries, people and cultures. My parents are not like me. They don't have souls of a traveller, so I couldn't be a traveller yet. But now I am not a child and I want to be a traveller. I am independent. I am not just the child of my parents. I am an individual and I have just started my life. I have just started dreaming.
A Turkish poet and singer Zülfü Livaneli says "Those who die where they are born". They born, live and die in the same village. Because they don't have choices. Because nobody gives them this choice. But I have a chance to not to die where I born.
I won't be one of "those who die where they are born".
I can't say something like "I am open-minded, clean etc." about myself. You can decide this. I am just trying to be a good person.
I am a computer science student and I like programming. I like creating, building something and researching, exploring at the same time. You should do all of them to program something. That's why I love it. I am still a student and when I see how much can be done with computers, I get more excited.
I also love nature. I love camping and hiking I love to spend my free time without technology. It makes me feel more natural and free. Also, it helps me to improve myself both physically and mentally. To be with nature is both like a sport and some kind of meditation for me.
I am not a vegetarian or vegan. I can simply eat (at least taste) anything eatable :) I love to taste something I never tried. It doesn't matter how interesting they are in my culture. Eating frogs, snakes or snails doesn't sound disgusting to me.

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WHAT CAN YOU DO IN ANKARA IN 1 DAY? (ANKARA GUIDE)

Ankara is the city that I born and I lived for all my life. I love this city so much. It is full of my memories in every corner. I accept that it is getting unglier day by day, but it is still my Ankara and it is still beautiful. It is the city of contrast. It is a metropole with five million population which is still a village. It is an insurgent, under all the destruction and construction. It is beautiful and ugly. It is dangerous and safe. It is culture and corruption.

Assume that you have only one day in my beautiful Ankara. I prepared a guide to see as much as possible here. I think if you want to visit Ankara, you should walk most of the city and see it from the top. You will do both during this guide. This guide consists of more than 15 km walk and some cultural and historical places of Ankara. This may look hard but if you wake up with the sunrise and if you skip some of the museums, it is really possible. Let's start :)

Let's start from Kızılay (city centre) in the early morning. Kızılay is the most central place of Ankara. Let's see around. There are lots of shops, bars and cafes around. I suggest you see Yüksel and Konur streets. Just at the intersection of these streets, you can see human rights statue which means a lot for me. If you have time, I suggest you see here after 10 pm again. Also, you can see Güvenpark. After seeing Kızılay, let's move on :)
Next stop is Kurtuluş Park. This is one of the most popular parks in Ankara. You can eat your breakfast here with Simit (traditional bread shape of a ring) and some tea. You can buy them from sellers in the park. After breakfast, we can keep going.
Next stop is Hamamönü. Hamamönü is an area which has old traditional Ankara houses, lots of traditional shops and cafes.
Then we can move to the Ulucanlar Prison Museum. It is very close to Hamamönü. This museum is an old prison where lots of journalists, artists and political leaders stayed. You know Turkish prisons are famous :) Because it is a very very democratic (!) country.
Now it's time to see the city like a bird :) Ankara castle is a castle where is at the top of the city and you can see all around Ankara. And you will pass a poor neighbourhood which is very beautiful.
After that, you can visit some of three museums which are very close to Castle. These are:
1. Anatolian Civilizations Museum. This is an archaeology museum you can find some stuff from old ages.
2. Erimtan Museum. This is an archaeology and art museum.
3. M. Rahmi Koç Museum. This is an antique museum you can find everything from close history :)
4. Chess Museum. It is not very interesting for me, but you may find it interesting?

After the museum visit, time to see the old city centre. Ulus was the centre of the city before Kızılay. You can find lots of interesting stuff here. And it is time to eat something :) You can find a street seller near Ulus minibus station and you can eat some grilled kidneys, which is one my favourites :) I love that but if you are a very rigorous person, this is not the best alternative :)
After eating something, time to move again :) This is the longest walk of this trip, I guess. Next stop is Anıtkabir, the grave of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. I think visiting a grave is not very important but you can find a museum about the independence war of Turkey inside here. If you are not interested, you can skip this.
Next stop is Tunalı Hilmi Street. This is also a very central street you can find lots of bars, restaurants and shops. If you are hungry, you can find something to eat here. I recommend you to eat Kokoreç in Kıtır. Kokoreç is a sandwich made by sheep intestines :) Sounds disgusting but not :) But you shouldn't drink beer if the weather is good because we are going to drink beer next. Also, there is a park called Kuğulu Park. This is a small but cute park with a pool and some swans and ducks :)
After listening to ducks, we can move on.
Our next and last stop is Seğmenler park. You can buy a beer, sit on the grass and get rid of the tiredness of the day after it gets dark :) You can find some Midye Dolma (Mussels filled with rice) here. It is good to eat them with beer.
It's done. It's time to go to sleep :)

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Why I’m on Couchsurfing

https://www.couchsurfing.com/about/values/
This explains best :)

There are lots of cities, countries, cultures around the world. But I only know a few ones. I don't even know my country. It's a shame. I want to see, learn and feel more and more cultures, countries, cities, villages, mountains, forests, lakes, seas, oceans, humans, animals, plants, foods...
Couchsurfing lets us explore these as a local. This is the only way to really know about another city or country.
Also when I don't have a chance to visit other countries and cities, I can bring them to my house thanks to Couchsurfing. It is great to help other Couchsurfers and it's great to learn from them.
AND WHAT ABOUT MONEY?
Cities full of houses which has empty couches and beds and why you have to pay for accommodation? That's how capitalism works.
But no, you don't have to. Travelling is freedom and everyone should have freedom for travel. And Couchsurfing gives people this freedom at least a little bit.

Music, Movies, and Books

Turkish traditional music and traditional music of other countries.
Novels and history, poetry, politics books.
Historical movies. Some original science fiction, comedy and horror movies. But not cliche ones.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I have not done yet. I am here to do amazing things :)

Teach, Learn, Share

You can learn something from everything if you look from the right angle. Humankind looked to birds and built planes. This is the right angle. We are both students and teachers.

I would love to answer your questions. If you have questions, if you need advice about my city, country, culture please feel free to ask. I promise I will try to help as much as I can :)

I can also teach you Turkish language, culture and history, cooking of some Turkish food, how to make beer and red wine at home...

I also would love to learn from you.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can spend time together. I can help with housework. I can tell you about my city, country, culture. We can share our lives.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cyprus, Georgia, Russian Federation

Countries I’ve Lived In

Turkey