CHANGEisTANBUL April 2011

This exchange in Istanbul was special in many ways: The newly founded LC Istanbul Boğaziçi (alongside the former, experienced LC Istanbul ITÜ) organized an international exchange for the first time. Two LCs from IACES took part for the first time in the bridge building contest “Design and Construct 2011”, which was also opened to international teams for the first time this year. For the first time, eleven members of the LC Karlsruhe flew to an exchange, more than ever before.

The young LC from Istanbul met the expectations of the participants, despite the huge task of organizing an exchange and the contest at the same time. The program traditionally consisted of a cultural part, which included the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, a Bosporus trip, the big bazaar and other important places. The technical part, which consisted of very interesting large construction sites (skyscrapers, basketball stadium,...) and of course Istanbul's day and night life. The Turkish spring was perfect, not too warm and not too cold. The soccer match between Beşiktaş Istanbul and Ankara ended in a 2:2 draw despite our enthusiastic cheering. The participants from Zagreb, Banja Luka, Tehran, Belgrade and, of course, Karlsruhe came from relatively few different LCs, but this in no way detracted from the good atmosphere. Initial difficulties with the accommodation were solved flexibly. After the first few days, the Karlsruheers also got used to the apparent chaos in Istanbul and realized that this big city with an estimated 15 million inhabitants was a great place to live: This large city with an estimated 15 million inhabitants is ruled by an organized mess.

The focus of the exchange was on the Bridge Building Contest. The aim of this competition is to construct a bridge (7mx1m) so that it meets various criteria: it must be able to be built as quickly as possible by a maximum of twelve hands, be light, inexpensive, good-looking and as stable as possible. The latter is measured by a horizontal and vertical load, the rest is assessed by the jury. For the spectators, the construction against the clock is exciting - the first group was finished after just under 20 minutes and received a bonus, after one and a half hours points were deducted. Once all the scores and points had been added up, the placings of the 14 Turkish groups and the two foreign groups, Zagreb (Croatia) and Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), were finalized. Surprisingly, Zagreb took third place and thus won prize money of 2000 Turkish lira, the equivalent of around 1000 euros. The first ideas for Karlsruhe's participation in “DeCo 2012” are already in place...

All eleven participants from Karlsruhe would like to thank the team from Istanbul for organizing a wonderful week with lots of new experiences!

Text: Merlin Best