Teoman Karamanoglu (Turkey)
Teoman Karamanoğlu, born in the year 1986 in Cologne-Germany, moved to Istanbul-Turkey at the age of 6, where he began his educational life. He finished his BA in Political Science and International Relations at the Marmara University in Istanbul, during which he has been active concerning European Union related projects in Turkey, amongst them, giving guest lectures to high school students on Europe and EU-related matters. He has spent one Erasmus semester at the Vilnius University in Lithuania and also has participated in various EU-related programs like the renowned Cambridge Model European Council at the Cambridge University, UK. Directly after his Bachelor studies he was admitted to the European Commission Erasmus-Mundus MA in Euroculture, which he finished with Master degrees from the University of Göttingen in Germany and from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, also successfully completing a 4-month Research Track at the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, USA. He works for Daimler AG since 2011, after various positions in HR and Purchasing at Mercedes-Benz Turkey, he is currently located in Stuttgart and is performing the role of Global Commodity Manager for Management Consulting and Business Process Outsourcing.
I had applied for the Euroculture program after I had graduated from the Marmara University Department of Political Science and International Relations in Istanbul. Actually at the given date of the telephone interview I was on vacation in Italy and received the call just on my way back from the beach (the call came 1 hour earlier than expected – not due to time difference) which of course gave me a shock I will never forget. But thankfully, everything went well and I started my first semester in Göttingen. It was a great experience for me, I learned about things I never knew existed (like German fraternity houses – yes, I lived in one) and met many interesting and (most importantly) “different” people. People from all around the world, from cultures I never had contact to before… My second semester in Groningen was also a great experience, especially the IP (Intensive Program) where you meet all Euroculture students studying all around Europe. My Euroculture adventure did not end with this. I also got the chance to take the Research Track and went to IUPUI in Indiana, USA. This also was academically a big experience since I took classes from renowned professors like John McCormick and got the chance to see how university life in the US looks like. After all, now being back in my hometown, Istanbul, in the midst of all corporate-life stress, every time I look back to my days as a Euroculturer, I have a smile on my face.