322 Appendices Family is essential for such long journeys, and it’s great to have their support throughout. Being away from where my family lives was difficult at times because of this reason, because sometimes text messages and video calls were not just enough. For these times, I would like to thank my partner’s mother Madalena and her husband Eddy, for the nice weekend getaways and good company. I truly felt at home whenever we visited you guys, and those visits provided a nice breaks during the four years. To my family in Turkey, I would like to express my gratitude in Turkish: biricik anneciğim Ayşegül, bu zamana kadar benim için yaptığın her şeye gerçekten tüm kalbimle minnettarım. Biliyorum ki bütün bu yıllar boyunca bana ve benim eğitimim için elinden geleni ardına koymadan sarf ettiğin efor ve zamanın karşılığını vermek çok zor. Canım babam Fatih, senin de tüm bu yıllar boyunca verdiğin destek ve teşvik icin çok teşekkür ederim. Yine de, umuyorum ve düşünüyorum ki bu tez ile ikiniz de de gurur duyacaksınız ve emeklerinizin sonucunu herkese iftiharla gösterebileceksiniz. Sevgili kardeşim Kaan, evin küçüğü olmana rağmen ben yokken benim sorumluluklarımın sana kaldığının farkındayım ve bu zamana kadar yaptıkların için teşekkürler. Yakından ve uzaktan, bu zamana kadarki eğitim hayatıma direkt ya da dolaylı olarak destek olan geniş ailem, herkesin ismini tek tek yazamayacağım kadar çok büyük bir aileyiz ve hepinize destekleriniz icin teşekkür ediyorum. And finally, I would like to attempt to write couple of sentences for my dear partner, Albano. For the last four years during this journey, you were extremely supportive whether it was something to celebrate, something frustrating, something unfair or something surprising. You helped me see reason, you helped me calm down, you helped me decide. You were there to listen when I blabber about experimental details or paperwork. Thank you for your patience, support, time and effort in this PhD. It’s not just a cliché, this thesis would not be finished without you and your grandiose involvement. As if your involvement by proxy as a partner wasn’t enough, you crafted this amazing cover for this thesis and beautifully visualized our ideas for the introduction and discussion chapters in addition to professionally helping for most of the figures of almost all chapters in this thesis (and other scientific manuscripts). Meeting you was the major reason when I was trying to decide whether I wanted to stay in the Netherlands, being with you was/still is the major factor helping me succeed in finishing this journey. It’s most likely not enough to say just a thank you, but even most beautifully-formed sentences would fail to describe how grateful I am. I hope I made us proud.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw