I arrived at Montreal on August 21st, and I have been experiencing lots of orientation activities for past week. It was an awesome beginning; I met lots of people that I will be dealing for next 4 years. These were the activities I was in:

August 23 – Rez Fest
August 24 – Discover McGill & Street Fest
August 25,26,27 – Science Frosh Mardi Gras
August 28,29 – SSMU Frosh

I just toured around the city with my friends on August 30&31. Signed up for the gym, looked for the buildings where my classes will take place. Tomorrow is the day! Classes begin! After 5 days of laziness of the frosh week!

Italy is shocked with the 6.3 moment magnitude earthquake which happened in the historical region named L’Aquila 4 days ago. They are 290 casualties, 1174 injuries and 11 missing people as the authorities noticed. Emergency workers are trying hard to save lives while the hopes are descending to save new lives because the time is passing by.

It is stated that an Italian seismologist, Giampaolo Giuliani, reported the earthquake a week before it happened, but no one listened to him. Giuliani said that he was silenced by prosecution; moreover, he stated that he was able to foresee the earthquake by looking to the increase in the spreading amount of the radon gases.

The prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, cancelled his trip to Russia and announced mobilization in the country. People who lost their lives in the earthquake are buried by government ceremony. May God have mercy on all those people who lost their lives in the earthquake.

Last week was the time to vote for the local elections in Turkey. Results are still being discussed while the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) reported the formal results. The results show that the oppositional parties increased their votes while the leading parties had less votes comparing to the preceding elections.

As it can be seen from the chart, the current leading party, Justice and Development Party (AKP), had 38,5% of the votes, whereas the oppositional parties got votes of following percentages:

Republican People’s Party (CHP): 23,2%
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP): 16%
Democratic Society Party (DTP): 5,7%
Felicity Party (SP): 5,2%
Democratic Party (DP): 3,8%

A helicopter crashed in the mountains called Kes Mountains near the city Kahramanmaras. There were 6 people in this plane; 5 of them were the members of the Great Union Party whereas the other was a cameraman in Ihlas News Agency. The cameraman was the only one to survive after the crash; furthermore, he called the emergency and wanted help. His recorded speech showed that his leg was broken and he was struggling to stay alive in the snowy weather.

Corpses of 5 members of the Great Union Party, including the president of the party Muhsin Yazicioglu, was found 3 days later. The cameraman Ismail Gunes’s corpse was found 2 days later, after his struggle to stay alive.

It was wonderful to see the other politicians offering their condolences to the Muhsin Yazicioglu’s family, even if they shared different political opinions. May God rest all of those people in peace…