ABOUT FULBRIGHT

My Fulbright Life

Transcript For: Ceylan Conger, Turkey, 2008.

Lee Rivers talks to Ceylan Conger about her Fulbright experience in Turkey in 2008.

My Fulbright Life - Ceylan Conger

Lee:                  Hello and welcome to this edition of My Fulbright Life. I’m your host, Lee Rivers, and I want to thank you for your listening support.

                        Hello. Today I’m joined by Ceylan Conger and she’s going to share a little bit about her Fulbright experience in Turkey. How are you doing today Ceylan?

Ceylan:             I’m great, thank you.

Lee:                  Wonderful. Thanks for taking time out of your day to speak with me. I appreciate it.

Ceylan:             Absolutely. Thank you

Lee:                  So, Ceylan, tell us a little bit about where specifically in Turkey you are studying and tell us a little bit about what you are doing there.

Ceylan:             OK, well, I’m located in Istanbul, Turkey, which is the largest city in Turkey. I have a major in political science and minors in art history and Asian studies and my research here is a combination of all three fields. So the title of my project is “The Identification of Women through Modern and Contemporary Art in Turkey.” I wanted to see if political and social issues were expressed and shown in contemporary art, and if so is it mainly women artists who are showing these issues. I think that art is a great medium to see the political and social atmosphere of any country and I kind of wanted to put that thesis to the test through my Fulbright scholarship. So basically, I’m here in Istanbul interviewing artists, gallery owners, art administrators, traveling to different exhibitions, museums, and independent art spaces and conducting research there.

Lee:                  That’s absolutely incredible.

Ceylan:             Thanks.

Lee:                  And so, what originally led you to apply for the Fulbright? What drew you to the program initially?

Ceylan:             Well, initially, I had a few professors at my university back home that suggested it to me and I looked more into it and saw that it was a very flexible program, that it was about what you thought was best to do, it was your research and it was very independent. And that’s what really drew me to it.

Lee:                  And so talk to us a little bit about a typical day. You said you were traveling around a little bit and also going to various exhibits, those sorts of things. I’m sure it varies immensely, but if you could kind of tell us about a typical day- what would it be like? Who would you interact with and what would you spend your time doing?

Ceylan:             Well, I make appointments to interview specific artists or specific art administrators that I want to talk to. So I usually meet with them in the mornings, hang out in their studios or their spaces, look at some of their art. And then afterwards, I took a political science class at one of the local universities so that I could get a better background of Turkish political system. And then also, I took Turkish language courses which was very important for me to start to get a better grasp of the language here. And then at night, I usually met with other Fulbrighters or Turkish friends that I made and experienced the Istanbul nightlife.

Lee:                  You had mentioned earlier, before our recording, kind of speaking about your family origins and that your name, your first name was Turkish, yet you had the last name American. Can you talk about your cultural… your family ties to Turkey?

Ceylan:             Yes. My mother immigrated from Turkey when she was, I think, 5 years old with her family and has only been back a handful of times. And so, I had really only visited Turkey once, I don’t have a good grasp of the language, and I wanted to also better understand a significant part of my heritage. And so when I came back to Turkey I actually found a lot of family members that I had never met before. And I stayed with them for three weeks. They did not speak any English. And it was like a Turkish culture 101 course that I had while living with them.

Lee:                  Incredible.

Ceylan:             Yeah, it was really great.

Lee:                  So, I don’t know… I’m sure that’s definitely one of the highlights from your experience there thus far. Do you have any other highlights that you’d care to share with the listening audience?

Ceylan:             Yes, a big highlight for me was being able to present my research at the 2009 Fulbright Seminar in Berlin, Germany. I was able to present my finding in a city I had never visited, in front of a peer group of fellow Fulbrights from around the world, American Fulbrights from around the world. And we were able to talk to each other and share our, either similar or different experiences and difficulties.

Lee:                  [cut off]… going into the Fulbright project, but how have you faced that challenge and worked through it.

Ceylan:             I think the biggest challenge was setting up my life in Istanbul in the beginning. Istanbul’s a very large, very crowded city, and there’s a lot of traffic. I knew this before coming, but I really couldn’t have visualized it until I landed here. And so I felt a little overwhelmed by its size, by its transportation system, and by the pressure to, you know, find an apartment and set up a bank account and get a residence permit and all those little things that come with living in another place. So what I did is I stayed at the American Research Institute of Turkey for three months and slowly set up my life and this gave me the ability to get to know the city better, decipher where I wanted to live, in accordance to where I was doing my research and I also got to meet other more seasoned scholars there who could give me advice and help me get acclimated to the city.

Lee:                  Well it definitely sounds like you’ve learned a lot about survival and being independent in a large city. Just sort of in addition to that, Ceylan, what other skills have you learned that you’ll be able to apply to your life even after this Fulbright experience?

Ceylan:             Well, Turkish is a critical language now and that’s definitely… the ability to speak it is definitely a skill that I’ve learned here. Also research skills, both in the field, interviewing people and also in the archives is a skill that I’ve learned and the ability to just present myself, my findings, my opinions in a professional and academic manner is something that I think is most important.

Lee:                  And what are your plans looking like after your Fulbright experience?

Ceylan:             I’m taking the foreign service exam in June here. So that’s the route that I think I’m going to try to go in.

Lee:                  So some of your time, well, probably quite a bit of your time has been spent studying for that then?

Ceylan:             Yes, a little bit. Not enough but… a little, definitely.

Lee:                  Well, great. Is there any advice that you can give that you think would be helpful for students and young professionals, artists who are applying for the Fulbright program?

Ceylan:             Sure. At first it might seem overwhelming, but it is probably one of the best experiences that they’ll have. I strongly encourage anyone who is applying to first contact a Fulbright alumni for any questions that they have. I did that and it was most helpful. Also, for the application itself, to make sure that your project proposal is feasible and that you have a solid plan or course of action. For instance, how will you create your weekly, or monthly schedule? How will you employ free time? How will you be able to meet people within that particular community? Or, how much time will you allot to traveling? This will not only help solidify their project proposal but will also give them a direction when they come to the foreign country.

Lee:                  And so do you have any other advice or insight that you’d like to share with our listeners?

Ceylan:             Yes, I think it’s very important that you spend some time traveling around the country where you are and getting to know all regions of that country and getting a better knowledge fully of that country’s culture.

Lee:                  And so have you had time to be able to do that then?

Ceylan:             Yes, you can… I think it’s always important to make time for traveling because traveling itself is research. And I’ve been able to go to the southeastern part of Turkey which was extremely beautiful and really affected me. And from there, a friend and I were actually able to go into Syria for a few days which is something that I probably will never be able to do again. And then, for the nest few weeks I will spend traveling to the Black Sea region and also the Mediterranean regions of Turkey.

Lee:                  Incredible. Well that’s all the time that we have for today, but I just want to thank you once again for taking time out of your day to speak with me.

Ceylan:             Oh, thank you so much!

Lee:                  Alright, well, I wish you the best in the remaining couple of weeks that you have in Turkey and look forward to chatting with you once you return to the states.

Ceylan:             OK, thank you so much.

Lee:                  Alright, this concludes this episode of My Fulbright Life. Hope you tune in next time. Have a good day. Good bye.