Muhammad Ali Siddiqui Blog

I, Muhammad Ali, started off as a lost, overly ambitious Sophomore searching for opportunities to live a new life, to explore new places, onboarded the journey to Turkey in my third year at LUMS as a Management Science major. With no detailed information regarding the university, I was travelling to, plus having never been to Turkey before, I was two things; perplexed but excited. The minute I set foot into Turkey, I knew right away why I was excited; Turkey, with its cold, pleasant air and narrow streets bordered by small cafes, where concrete jungles meet old, historical buildings; Turkey was beautiful.

I got accepted into the Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara which was one of the top universities in Turkey with a very brilliant business school. After having taken a couple of classes with my Strategic Management teacher, I knew right away that he was an extremely competent instructor, and his classes were very valuable. Besides its Business school, the Humanities school also had interesting courses, but the one that sparked my interest was Intro to Philosophy, which I can safely assure has been the best experience of my entire life. When interest meets quality, that is where you find this enlightening course, where every single second of that 3-hour long class exudes information and enhances your knowledge so much so that you end up scoring highest in the quizzes, despite never even having studied philosophy before. Hence, I can confidently say that the academic experience at METU has been excellent.

Having been an individual who has always created an appropriate balance between academics and socializing, METU with its huge campus and its multiple cafes, was the perfect place for me to explore and meet new people- a journey which began the minute I entered campus where I met two people who invited me for ‘go-karting’. The next minute, I was surrounded by a group of friendly, bright individuals who were part of my Orientation Week group. From the people I met in O-Week, to the people I met randomly at Sunshine Café (METU’s version of Jammin Java) to the lovely group of friends I made on ESN trips to my Palestinian roommate who was a great source of entertainment, and my interactions in Turkey had been very light-hearted and enjoyable.

Most importantly, given my love for travelling, I knew even before entering Turkey that I had to visit all the famous historical sites as well as other attractions, which included Pammukale, Izmir, Antalya etc. Out of all of these, Antalya was definitely the highlight; where emerald, green waters meet the rocky seashore, the scent of rainwater intertwined with the aroma of coffee lingers in the air, and centuries of history looms throughout the whole city, Antalya was a dream.

Overall, the whole experience has been absolutely wonderful and left me as an improved version of myself. To share my experience and journey with you, I have made a YouTube channel so that all of you can also join me in this adventure:

@Muhammad Ali Siddiqui  

I’d like to give my thanks to Ma’am Gulmeena and Ma’am Zainab, and the LUMS Office of International Affairs for giving me this opportunity to experience this journey of a lifetime, without whom this would not have been possible.