TURKISH

I spent five years in London, learning English first, then working, studying in the university, travelling, etc. It all started in 2nd May 1999, when my plane landed in Heathrow Airport.

First I lived in Forest Hill SE23, with the helps of Kezban and Ozdemir Halil, for three months, studying and working in a kebab shop and a little transformer factory!!!

After my first three months, I moved to Putney SW15, and spent 5 years there. I lived with friends, worked for McDonald’s as an area floor manager and for Capital Group as credit controller, and studied MBA in International Marketing.

London is a big city and there are plenty of places in London to see, but one thing I can say about London is that you need months to do all the activities one by one and not in a rush, but I guess a few days are enough to have an idea and fast look.

Besides being the official London residence of The Queen, Buckingham Palace is also the busy administrative headquarters of the monarchy and has probably the most famous and easily recognisable design and architecture of any building in the world.

More than 50,000 people visit the Buckingham Palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the Royal Garden Parties.
During the summer, the Changing of the Guard takes place at the front of the Palace at 11.30 every day in summer, every other day in winter, and lasts about 45 minutes.

Houses of Parliament:

The City of Westminster, at the heart of London is the place where the parliaments have been located for more than 700 years. In the middle of the 11th century, the Edward the Confessor had moved his court to the Palace of Westminster, situated on a central site near the river Thames.

The whole complex, not finished until 1860 includes the Big Ben, House of Commons, Westminster Hall, the Lobbies and the House of Lords. Most of the attention of the millions of tourists visiting the Houses of Parliament each year, goes to the clock tower, Big Ben.

Big Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even know when parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clock face.

The accuracy of the clock movement is controlled by the placing of old pennies in the mechanism. Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped. The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.

There are even cells within the clock tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege, though this is rare; the last recorded case was in 1880.The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a "special interest" may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower through their local (UK) MP.

London Eye is the fourth tallest building of London, after Canary Wharf, NatWest Tower and BT Tower, offering beautiful views of the city. The capital’s stunning new landmark is the largest observation wheel in the world. It was built by British Airways to celebrate the millennium. The 32 passenger capsules, positioned on the outside of the wheel structure, can carry 25 passengers each. Constantly turning, The London Eye can carry up to 15,000 passengers a day, passengers can get on and off while the Eye is in motion. Don’t worry, it is a lot easier than you think! The trip takes 30 minutes and on a clear day, visitors can see over 40km in each direction.

Tower Bridge has stood over the River Thames in London since 1894 and is one of the finest, most recognisable bridges in the world. The bridge is 60 meters long and its towers rise to a height of 43 meters. From the top of the towers, you have a great view on the centre of London. You can then visit the Victorian engine rooms, home to the original steam engines that used to power the bridge. Tower Bridge walkways have specially designed windows, giving visitors a unique opportunity to take photos of the views without them being obscured by the glass.

Are you interested in being up close and personal with wax celebrities? Of course these include those who have passed away years ago and those who are very popular today. Meet the likes of Great Ataturk, Hitler, Pavarotti, Beatles, Kylie Minogue, James Bond, David Beckham etc and get so close enough to have your picture taken for good measure. Madame Tussaud's is London's number one tourist attraction, so it's often very busy and you have to wait long hours to get a ticket! It is open daily from 9 am to 5.30 pm and the earlier you go the more expensive it is!

I like this place but you can think that there is not much you can take by looking at a wax and you can be in and out in an hour and later either feel great or ripped off. I think mingling with the world of fake celebrities and squeezing Kylie’s firm buttocks was certainly worth it.

London is a sleepless city, even in the cold winter nights; you will always find people and cars jamming on the streets, lights and parties going on! Wonderland is wonderland even at night! Nightlife has one rhythm in London, getting out and having a party, walking on the streets, a beer in your hand, meeting new people, lovers, boys and girls, and boys and boys, girls and girls, everything is normal in London night. If you are planning to spend the night in central London, my favourite places are Tiger Tiger, Zoo Bar and O’Neils. The other well-known clubs are The Ministry of Sound, The School Disco, Walkabouts of course and for Kingston area, definitely the best two are Oceano and Works!

It is probably the most popular seaside resort in the UK. Yes, there are others in the north like Swansea, Blackpool and Cardiff, but I think the sun shines more in here! A trip to Brighton is not complete without a walk along the beach then a stroll down the famous Palace Pier. Here you can sample some typical seafood served in a little paper cup with taste of vinegar or you can have the classic “fish & chips” on the beach. There is also a funfair at the end of the pier and an underwater museum on the seaside. Of course, The Pavilion is probably Brighton’s most famous landmark and well worth a visit.

McDonald’s has a special place in my England years. I worked for McDonald’s for three years (as manager), made a lot of friends there, learned and improved my English; I even won a scholarship for my MBA course.

McDonald's is used by some people as a symbol of “Evil multi-national American imperialist culture”. But in reality it only has a different face from any other employer. Working for that money is exploitation, but when you have no alternative, or work permit, you want to enjoy it the most.

This has to start with the “Interview”, consisting of the three tough questions: "What is your name", "What country do you come from" and "Do you have a work permit". If your English is enough to answer those, next morning you are on fry station cooking fries. Everyone who works there has burns and burn scars from their fingers to half way down their forearms, the longer they work, the deeper and more permanent the scars - but, as managers always say, showing their creamy white and spotless arms, "They go after a while"! I had the opportunity to become a manager after a short time and having a lot of friends and really flexible working hours, I was able to take holidays whenever I wanted and travelled around Europe with that little money. It was good three years, but I still have a little scar as souvenir.

This was going to be my first game in the UK. As a good Galatasaray fan, I had promised to myself that I wouldn’t miss any of our away games in Europe. After long search, I managed to get a very expensive ticket from the black market.

Stamford Bridge is a huge stadium and it was a glorious display of passion and spectacle that would be hard to match in a Premier League game. There were over 40,000 people and we were right below the Chelsea fans, an interesting, colourful and mostly drunk lot they were too (They serve alcohol in stadiums here). We were made to sit down by over hundred stewards every time we stood up for some support, while these Chelsea fans were allowed to do whatever they liked.

Galatasaray clearly had the better start, putting the Chelsea defence under pressure for the first twenty minutes or so. Gheorge Hagi, although in his early seventies, was quite simply the best Galatasaray player on the pitch. I was impressed by the Galatasaray’s insistence on trying to get a goal even after going down to ten men, and this was a kind of signal that we're a top side that could give any team in the world a hard time. Unfortunately for us, the referee wasn't all that impressive and at the end Chelsea won the game 1-0, but Galatasaray went down to UEFA Cup and won it.

Known as 'the forgotten city' even in the UK, Leicester is a multi-cultural place. It's excellent for shopping (all the main stores plus lots of little independent shops) and has a very good market (vegetable stall run by Gary Lineker's parents). They even managed to keep most of the original frontage when they built the huge 'Shires' shopping centre in the middle of the city. Leicester is central England, all roads cross this city, that’s why manufacturing is so important here, is the business triangle, Nottingham for main offices, Birmingham for business, and the actual factories here in Leicester and the university of course. Leicester, pronounced Les-ter, one of the 10 largest cities in England and the biggest of the East midlands.

More than 3,000 candidates from over 80 countries have graduated from the Leicester MBA and are now enjoying successful careers, so am I!!! I attended the ceremony with my friend Sinan and it was a great day for us.

Wimbledon is a small but beautiful village with a busy street during the famous championship. You have a chance to watch some of the best players of the world live! The tournament is run so well, everything is ready, and the players get to play their best, just remember to keep quiet. Unfortunately this year no more Anna... Maria Shavapora is the new star who just won the Wimbledon title.

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum offers a glimpse of how the original tennis, has now become a multi-million dollar professional sport, played all over the world. Open all year round, the Museum includes memorabilia from many famous players and includes a state of the art Audio/Visual Theatre showing highlights of great players in action, and views of Centre Court."

England playing Turkey, once again, and we couldn’t even score a goal. The game was in Sunderland, and of course we did not miss it!

5000 of us travelled from far and wide to the north of England to support Turkey, make plenty of noise and a few friends along the way.

"Turkiye! Turkiye!" boomed Sunderland's Stadium of Light that night. The Turkish fans had arrived, very early, to support Turkey as we took on England in a crucial qualifying game for Euro 2004.

The Stadium's South Stand had become red and white over an hour before the kick-off. I was with Hasan, Ozge, Kaan and other friends in the Turkish end of the ground and gradually watched the stadium fill with the white shirts and colours of England fans, expecting their slowly increasing number to drown out our sound. But even by kick-off time England fans could not be heard over the sound of us singing, blowing trumpets and banging drums.

When the game began, there was nothing between the two teams at half time. England were slightly stronger in the second half and Darius Vassell finally broke the deadlock on 75th minutes. David Beckham made it 2-0 from the penalty spot and tens of English hooligans were on the pitch, dancing, shouting and holding the game.

After the game, the security at the ground kept us in the stadium whilst the England fans were cleared from the area, for their safety! Having just seen our team lose, and the stadium now empty, the Turkish fans still sang and cheered, and enjoyed the rest of the night. It won’t be that easy for England next time!!!

Voted "UK Family Attraction of the Year 2002" by the Good Britain Guide, Longleat is a wonderland of attractions just waiting to be explored! Experience incredibly close encounters with the world's most magnificent animals including lions, tigers, Rhinos and giraffe in the UK's original Safari Park.

Get lost in the Longleat Hedge Maze, voyage on the Safari Boats, solve the riddle of King Arthur's Mirror Maze, journey on the Longleat Railway, get close to the animals in Pets Corner, discover the treasures within Longleat House and many many more!

To make the best of your day at Longleat purchase the Longleat Passport Ticket, which offers you the opportunity to visit all 12 of the Longleat attractions - and you don't have to visit them all in one day! Come back as many times as you like during the season in order to complete your ticket! Discover the magnificent animals within the Safari Park today, and maybe come back next week to take up the challenge of the Longleat Hedge Maze. The choice is yours. You can visit each attraction once only.

British say there is nothing quite like Stonehenge anywhere in the world and for 5000 years it has drawn visitors to it. I don’t know what drew people here over the centuries or why hundreds of people struggled over thousands of years to build this monument, but visitors from all over the world come to see this huge group of stones.

How did they get these stones to stand upright? The truth is nobody really knows. It required huge muscle power and hundreds of men to move one of these mega stones, the heaviest of them weighing probably about 45 tons. Interesting isn’t it?







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