General Practical Information

GENERAL INFORMATION

FOREIGN EMBASSIES IN TURKEY

The information can be found at the address  : http://www.mfa.gov.tr

HEALTH AND INSURANCE

You are strongly advised to take out comprehensive medical, accident, personal liability and possessions insurance valid for Turkey, before you leave home. While you are here, you are  eligible to use the health services provided by the university. Foreign students are responsible themselves for the cost of hospitalisation, medical treatment or services not available at the university campuses.

Insurance against theft or other kinds of insurance is voluntary and may be supplied by the students's own national insurance company .

ORIENTATION PROGRAMME FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Orientation Program is organised to give exchange students an opportunity to get to know the University life, the department, administration, social and cultural services, Canakkale city.  During the orientation program, there will be group leaders for each department to accompany the students in all activities. Exchange Students are met by host students upon request. For the first few days these host students are available throughout the day to help new students settle in, make telephone calls, use the bank and other facilities, and in general, to learn how to get around the campus and the city.  In addition, at the end of first day of orientation program, there will be a get together for all new exchange students.

ADVISORY AND COUNSELING SERVICES

Health, Culture and Sports Department offers comprehensive and confidential advisory and counseling services to the students. Since adapting to university life is often challenging both for native and international students, the Department aims to acquaint the incoming students with the academic, social, intellectual and cultural aspects of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University. 

PERSONAL SAFETY

Canakkale has been rated one of the most peaceful provinces in Turkey. The crime rate is low. You would not be expected to encounter anything other than traffic accidents  and petty theft. You should however, take normal precautions to look after you belongings. It is quite safe for women to walk around the streets at night up to 1am.

LOCAL TIME

GMT + 2 hrs. (Summer)

Time differences between Turkey and some other countries :

ELECTRICITY

220 volts AC, all over Turkey. The voltage is clearly marked on all hotel outlets.

TAP WATER

It has been chlorinated but we recommend you to prefer bottled water for drinking which is sold acroos the city markets and newsagents.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Metric system.
 

POSTAL SERVICE

Canakkale Post Office is situated at Inonu Caddesi and open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 am till 5.30 p.m..

Postal charges vary for different services depending on weight and destination.   There is also an express postal service (APS) operating to 90 countries for letters, documents and small packages. A wide variety of special stamps are available in all PTT centers for philatelists.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Books and newspapers in languages other than Turkish are not available on Campus but may be obtained from one or two bookshops in town, along with subscriptions to international periodicals. Students may keep up with international news via inetnet, satellite TVor the one English language channel (CNBC-e) brroadcast locally. All other teevision channels are in Turkish, with foreign programmes or films usually dubbed. The radio stations in Canakkale play a lively mix of Turkish and Western music. Greek stations are sometimes within reach. Otherwise, to receive foreign radio broadcast a strong radio is necessry.

PHONES

The cheapest way to make domestic calls is from a public phone using a phone card sold at the post office (PTT). If the PTT is closed, you can usually find local entrepreneurs selling cards at a slight mark up near the public phones.

Your next challenge is to find a phone. Lift the hand set and push the language button for either English, German or French and see what it says. If its says, "Welcome," you have a phone that is working. Insert the phone card according to the arrow and you''re ready to start dialing. Inside Turkey numbers outside your area code require a 0+ area code + number. Bodrum and Datca, for example, are in the same area code and don''t require an 0 + area code. If you dial an area code when you don''t need one, you''ll just get a busy signal.

If you use a Contour Telephone at your pension or a shop, expect to pay 3 to 4 times the PTT rate. These are not the phones tobe used for International calls. To make a long distance international call you will need at least one 100 unit phone card. It maybe good for from 2 - 4 minutes. The card is around $4. If you wish to dial an operator in your home country, use the home direct phone number, which is free         

BANKS

All major Turkish Bank have branches in the centre of the town where you can open accounts in different currencies.  They are open Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm.  There are cash points  belonging to Isbank, Akbank, Garanti Bak on Anafartalar Campus, and Garanti Bank on Terzioglu Campus. Other cash dispensing machines are placed at busy junctions around Canakkale.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Canakkale is a small city and many students walk from their hostels or homes to Anafartalar Campus. Students at Terzioglu Campus usually catch a minibus. Private minibuses circle the city all day long and most locations are within easy reach. Municipality buses run along similar routes and issue monthly passes (around 10 euro) that can be economical for students. Minibuses have reduced rates for students and one trip costs about 0.75 Euro. Private hostels often have their own service minibus which delivers students to their places of study and picks them up again later. A bicyle is quite a practical means of getting around. Few students  have cars  and lack of space prohibits parking on campus for student vehicles.

SMOKING

Smoking is forbidden in all university classrooms, corridors, government offices and public transport. Outside these restricted areas, smoking is common.

SOME IDEAS WHAT TO / WHAT NOT TO BRING

• All papers related to your exhange programme

• Passport

• Visa

• Insurance documents

• Pocket money

• Medicine

• Alarm Clock

• Driving License (if you have one)

• Camera

• Some snacks and drinks typical for your country

• A good sense of humour!...:)