My flatmate, Piotr, is a computer genius and coffee-maniac . Completely genius. And, he’s definitely He’s sharing what he has with me. Including a special espresso machine. We have everything in the house.

In the second day, I had a bank account. One of the ladies at the institute was with me during handling all affairs. I’m impressed by the generosity and helpfulness of the people at the institute.

With the time, things will be easier. Being new in this city is a big advantage. After all, Warsaw is a widely well-known European city.

I have a study place inside the institute. It’s really big, actually. My desk is just next to the window. So, I can enjoy the historical, and a bit monumental view when I need to get some relaxation time ) .

The floor where I work is one of the busiest (after the library, it’s in the 3rd floor) one. There’s a tea and coffee saloon. Everyday, at about 14:00, it’s served cake for everybody. Good opportunity for meeting other Ph.D.s and staff unless you screwed up that occasion. I just know one of my office-mate, Marek. He’s not permanent here. He’ll graduate from the institute a couple of weeks later. My other office-mate is a Spanish, Javier. I haven’t met him yet.

Anyway, academical life in Poland is beginning on October 1st. Hoping to overcome everything .

I remember Galilei Galileo, and what he phrased “The universe cannot be read until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word”.

Anne Watson, who is professor of Mathematics Education at Oxford University, emphasized that the students’ conceptions of some fundamentals in mathematics was stable since 1980s. I, as a person has been dealing with maths for the last 7 years, can say guilt free that those topics are the basics not just in maths itself, but in many others fields involving maths. People use advanced calculus to build railways in the cities.

In the video, it says “ no need for complicated calculus”. Yes, for getting all those parts together, all you have to use are pencil, a pair of scissors, and other basic stuffs. Unless one understands basic mathematics, it’s not possible even building an easy layout like that.

One should perceive the basic maths (which has been written as topics in the article) as the leverage of daily life. Those are exactly what makes our life easier. But, public sees this ease indirectly and in the long term.

The bottom line is that it must be paid attention on students’ mathematics education ever since their elementary school times. Cause, sooner or later they’ll benefit from that education.

There’s always a minority in the public wondering what mathematics is used for. And for sure there’s some keep thinking that “but of what use will mathematics be “. Please fellows, don’t expect me to describe what mathematics is. It may merely be given some properties of what doing mathematics is. Mathematics is not a spectator sport. What you do in the name of mathematics is supposed to be sharp, applicable, elegant, and aesthetic. OK, you may say “the equation describing the best biscuit can contain such properties”. So, this time not for entire mathematics (of course), for this drivel; but of what use will it be.

People think mathematicians are introverted freaks. Considering developments like this, I doubt about that opinion. Look at this! They’re looking for the best solution to the common situations what we all are involved in our daily lives. It makes mathematicians extrovert. What sort of benefits may it be to find the perfect biscuit equation? I’m sure when some of you gives a break for a cup of coffee, you’d like to enjoy it with some tasteful biscuit. And experts already discovered the equation of the most tasteful biscuit.

The best day of the year… What can happen on that day? Is it the most appropriate day for proposing? Or, maybe, accurately, it’s the day when you get promotion.

All right, let’s get over all these mockings. Is there any genuine benefit of finding such mathematical results? Maybe, it means more lucrative for the companies. According to the article a company asked Simon Singh to come up with a result describing the best day of the year. I’m sure, somehow, that company has some profit from that propose. However, what disappoints a scientist is being aware of he’s manipulated. Not only is this exploiting mathematics itself, but mathematicians themselves.

There is some always pursuing the most elegant equation, there’s some pursuing the most ridiculous equation. Two sides of a medal, huh? On which side would you prefer to be?

Due to my approaching departure from Turkey, I’m warming up myself. But, in the bed. You know I underwent a little operation. It tingles time time. So, I put my leg up. As you can see in the above, I’m not taking it as an excuse for not studying . While lying in my bed decked out with Thomas’ Calculus and Classical Dynamics .

That Ph.D. is not only going to be a hard working session, but an undeniable significant experience for my entire life. I hope I can use it in the best way.

Anyway, that’s all from me. Hope to be back soon with bunch of topics

The other day, I went to a place where one could drink some tea or coffee with a friend of mine. I ordered a turkish coffee. The waiter dropped some on the plate while bringing it. When I drink turkish coffee, I always pay attention on its appearance. Yea, I know how it sounds. But, I’m totally strict on that. Besides of dropping some, it was harder than I ordered. I always order my coffee with a middling amount of sugar. But, what I ordered was, so to say, out of sugar.

My friend told about the benefit of carrying card instead of cash. He said “then we don’t need to leave some tip”. I said “Oh, they already don’t deserve any tip cause of coffee”. Now, I’m thinking about our expectations when we go to a place. Are out expectations from their service too high? All right, everybody can make mistake. Dropping some coffee, mixing up the order by bringing it to another table, etc. Maybe, we do not think under how hard circumstances waiters / waitresses work, or how much they work. On the other hand, considering the economy of turkey, money is always hard to come by. For sure, those people have some responsibilities such as making contribution to the budget of their home.

Anyway, we always have anticipations from the life. But, not all of them are true.

Gdansk is part of the Trojmiasto, or Three-City, urban area, made up of the towns of Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot. Each town has their own beauties. But, Sopot probably is the most famous one. Famous with what? Superstars of Gdansk always hang around in Sopot. The hotel that Hitler lived in the WW-II time is in Sopot, in The Grand Hotel. Sopot is exactly the point on the Baltic Coast of Poland. Therefore, people, so to say, flow there. Actually, they’re drawn into that atmosphere by the beauty of Sopot. Not only the citizens of Gdansk, but the ones from almost each corner of Poland, no matter far.

The pier was built in 1827. It’s the longest wooden pier in Europe with the length of 511,5 meter.

Here’s the entrance of the St. George’s church in the city center. Quite spooky, huh ?

…and here’s the tower of the church.

In fact, if we split Sopot into two parts by the Sopot Main Train Station, the upside of the train station may be called “the unknown part of Sopot”. Why? Cause, most of the landmarks are mostly concentrated in the downside. Pubs, clubs, that hotel… In the above, you’re seeing the major places of Sopot. Now what Sopot means to me.

Friday morning 7:00 o’clock. Wake up, take a shower, have a strong breakfast, dress up, and head to Sopot. To me, Sopot means where I can have fun and improve my scientific background. Every Friday at 10:00 o’clock in the morning, weekly mathematics seminars were held at the Gdansk branch of the Mathematics Institute. It’s located in Sopot.

I took the local train SKM to get there, like many Poles . In the above, you’re seeing two inside shots of the SKM.

One shouldn’t ignore the contributions made by Polish scientists. Unfortunately, many of them were killed in the WW-II, mostly by torturing. Some managed to escape from that incident and continued to do science far from home. Can you spot Stefan Banach in the poster? Poland should owe him a lot, that’s why they’ve given the name of him to the institute, Stefan Banach International Mathematics Center.

Aahh, here’s the seminar saloon. After me, Prof. Dziedzul always entered the saloon. “Oh, hello! How are you?” with his peaceful voice. Prof. Zbigniew Ciesielski with his nice tea cup entered the saloon, but always the last person. Before Prof. Anna Kamont, Prof. Ciesielski was running the institute as president. People deeply respect him, and he constantly deserves. Prof. Joachim Domsta, always with his elegant suit. Those people and many others are constantly genius.

Well, it didn’t take me so long to get adapted to the Polish study customs. What are those customs? The major one is that no lunch break.

There’s a restaurant of the university that you’re seeing in the above. If you have time, you can go there and eat something whenever you want to.

I always used vice dean’s office as study place. I had my lunch inside the office. Sandwich . There were some rare times when I went to the restaurant and grabbed a bite. Actually, at the university, almost everybody was working during the work time. Imagine yourself working in such a community that everybody is enthusiast for what they do. As a result of inhaling that atmosphere it doesn’t take you so long to getting accustomed to work circumstances.

How did I work? As a light sleeper, I hook on coffee. As I wrote in one of my previous posts, I cannot start day without coffee. Not only the Turkish coffee do I like to drink, but others. In Poland, I find the study time as a combination of coffee and sandwich .

In the following pictures, you’re seeing some shots through the window of the office that I worked.

Actually this red box was gifted to me by Ania Lesiewicz. I think I owe her a lot. She showed me ropes in Poland. We, together, had great times. She gave me that box full of chocolate at the Christmas.

What is inside the box? Everything valuable for me. My student ID card which is not valid anymore. An ID card, so to say, is as strong as passports in Poland. Probably, so is it for other European countries. Tickets for concerts and for some clubs; Sfinks, Parlement, etc. A ribbon. Ania gave me a Santa chocolate. I mean a chocolate in the shape of Santa Clause. It was inside a plastic bag, tied by a ribbon. As a memory of that, I’m keeping the ribbon . The train ticket for when my life changed. I went to the Stefan Banach Math Institute to give a talk. It was necessary for the Ph.D. process. I’m still keeping the ticket. I don’t think I’ll throw it away for the next years. A competition was organized by the ESN (Erasmus Student Network) for the ones coming to Gdansk as erasmus in the second term. Some erasmus from the first term also joined that event. It was definitely great occasion for name of getting acquainted with the new ones. At the end of the day, ESN gave out some stuffs. Wooden Puzzle (a cube) is one of them.

Here’s my last gift. My neighbor, Edyta, gave it to me a couple of hours before my flight. To be honest, I drink my tea with this cup, so often. On the cup, it’s been pictured the historical places and monuments of Gdansk. The Neptune statue, fortification point, commemoration region for WW2, etc. I was astonished when I saw it. I wasn’t expecting something like that. “No one expects gifts” said Edyta. She’s right .

I really don’t know what makes it so special for me. I cannot start day without drinking it. For those who have never tasted Turkish coffee, you can compare Turkish coffee with real Italian espresso (in the case you you’ve tasted real Italian espresso). Which one is harder? I guess Turkish coffee. I’m not expert on explaining the chemical, or technical construction of both. But, I tasted the real Italian espresso.

In fact, according to Turkish customs, you should drink coffee with a glass of cold water and something sweet (chocolate, Turkish delight, etc). Here’s the what to do with them: Drink an amount of the water to clean the inside your mouth and throat, then you can get the taste of coffee 100%, and eat your sweet. After you drink the coffee, drink rest of the water so as to get rid of the unlikable taste of coffee.

How is it made? Let me leave it to Turkish ladies who really know how to make it. I use a machine . I know, shame on me.

So, enjoy your coffee.