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Merhaba, everyone.
This city and its people never cease to amaze me with new treasures waiting around every corner. We are coming into the final stretch of our incredible Erasmus + trip and I, for one, will leave Istanbul with a heavy heart. Despite seeing a lot here already, time is running out to see all of the majestic sites that Istanbul has to offer. First things first: work experience. The people at Ciner Medya are like old friends at this stage and have been so helpful in making our placement enjoyable and educational. Whether it be us learning Turkish or them learning English, the cultural exchange is something I'll never forget. I am continuing to record footage and an adding to my Istanbul video edit. I am very comfortable with Edius having been used to Adobe Premiere Pro for editing. The edit is coming along well. Serder and Özcan showed us around their department and server room on Thursday.Their job is to make sure that nothing fails and they routinely perform inspections. We also often have çay (Turkish tea) in the Habarturk control room with the crew. Outside of work, things are even better. Our accommodation is now all sorted and we finally got over to the Asian side on Thursday. We got the ferry to Üsküdar and met Furkan and his friend Taha. The ferry was only about 10 minutes and we went for food and then çay by the Bosphoros. It was kind of windy and drizzly but the hot tea sorted us out. We moved hotel on Friday and we had a relatively quiet night after work. The long days were starting to catch up on us. We headed into work on Saturday to make up a few hours. The weather was bad anyway so we didn't miss out on much. By the afternoon, it had brightened up so Patryk and I headed to Sultanahmet to go to the Ayasofya but the queues were very long do we said we'd go again. That’s Saturdays for you. We split up for a while and I walked back past Eminönü and Karaköy, getting some very nice photos along the way. The gang and Mary, our teacher, went for dinner on Saturday night and the food was, again, excellent. We even went to our favourite blues bar, Kumsaati, for an Efes or two before calling it a night. Even with just a week to go, I can safely say that this trip will live long in the memory and I know I'll be back. Now, for Turkish lessons… Görüşürüz, - Eric Martyn
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What’s going on everyone, this is Patryk from the Film and Documentary class .
The last few days in Istanbul were full of events. We have welcomed Mary after we had to say goodbye to Donal. Since the beginning of the week we have been brought behind the scenes for two live shows around Ciner media group. We had the fantastic opportunity of observing and training with professional camera operators, learning about the crane camera, along with witnessing live broadcasts and recordings during our time at Bloomberg and Habertürk News. That was our first time using a crane camera and I was very excited to give it a go(and we did pretty well).I also had a chance to work with a graphics designer for Habertürk News using Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Illustrator. I think I did my best to get as much as I could from that experience. In between editing photos and videos, we usually hang out with our Turkish friends from Ciner media group learning Turkish and drinking either Turkish coffee or Çay(turkish tea). Everything about Turkey, the people, the culture and architecture is interesting and it’s hard to describe the way I feel about Turkey. You really need to see it to understand. So far the time spend in Turkey has been an absolute blast. We had some accomodation problems on the way but in the end everything has been sorted. Next day of our work placement started with a trip around different levels around Cinar media group that we had not seen before. We had a chance to give a closer look on the “Show” and “Bloomberg” editing suites and what are the procedures before the show is released on air. We also checked few different controllers. For example: sound desk, picture mixer and vj station for changing video background instantly in one of the studios. Our Turkish friend Buğra invited us to his family home to have a traditional Turkish meal. These people are absolutely amazing, the level of kindness and hospitality towards us is just beyond any expectations. We spent a lovely time with them eating ( A LOT OF ) food, drinking Çay and exchanging with cultural experiences. I have never experienced anything like this before, and on top of that we also got gifts from Buğra’s family. Another day, another challenge. We arrived into Ciner media group in great moods remembering the experiences from the day before. We had a chance to use a fully functional studio to record our Erasmus+ interviews. Lights, cameras, basically everything was set up for us to use for our project. After work we have met with our friends from Ciner and Buğra and head down to Besiktas to grab something to eat as a group. We had a lot of laughs and an overall great time. Afterwards we also had Çay and the dessert to finish up the day. Can’t wait what the next few days have to offer. Turkish legends: thoughts on my first week on Erasmus+ in Istanbul
Before coming to Istanbul, I didn’t know what to expect. When I thought of Turkey, the mysticism of an old culture came to mind because the tales “One thousand and one nights” and the history classes on the Byzantine and Ottoman empire were my only references. I could only imagine this place as an alternative world; like a dream filled with incense smoke, colorful rugs, stunning palaces, crowded streets, mystics, wise-women, merchants, nomads and conquerors. Now that I am here, the city is a complete dream even though now it feels very real and it looks super modern. The mystique, bustling, charming and cosmopolitan city just blown me away since I step into Taksim plaza, its streets and corners, as well as when we visited the spices bazar. The city looks as European as Asian and it also has an Arabic vibe which makes it a unique and culturally diverse. This first week away from Ireland and home (Mexico) has been an experience difficult to put down in words, as I haven’t seen anything like this before but, at same time, it kind of reminds me of home (or maybe it just makes me feel like home). No matter where you look you will see crowds, colors, bunch of street business, professionals running to get to work, the crafty artists, the musicians and the spiritual people. And in the the background a beautiful skyline with the stunning mosques, the big clouds, blue sky and a big moon that sets early in the afternoon. Having the opportunity to do work experience in Habertürk, a newspaper from the Ciner Media Group, my classmates and I have not just get to see how media professionals do their work, but we have been able to talk to them, share our perspectives and get to learn a little bit of Turkish! I am humbled by their hospitality and their friendliness towards us. It is a pleasure to go every day to their offices and have such interesting chats with most of them. I never thought I would be able to know about Turkey’s history, culture and daily life by asking them how it is to live there and what do they think about their work and the people around them. No matter the question or the language barriers, they are always willing to answer to doubts or general curiosities, even if that means using google translator. And before I finish this first entry, I must say the Turkish food is simply delicious. Döner and kebabs make me miss home as these dishes are influences of our “tacos al pastor”, so what else can I ask? Oh, of course the Turkish delights (I could eat baklava everyday), their amazing Turkish breakfast and the new lokmata. These pastries mix the old with the new, I mean they are an ottoman original pastries with cream, chocolate and ice cream, the new trend sweet in all turkey. Probably, this would be the image I have now from Istanbul. The city is just like a lokmata (and its slogan): “Efsaneler ölmez, sadece şekil değiştirir”, which means: legends never die, they just change in its shape. It is such a pleasure to be here, in this place where history has been created along 4 thousand years. What's up GTI, it's ya girl Leah here from Level 6 Film and Documentary. So, this is my fourth day here in Istanbul, and not going to lie it’s been full of interesting and exciting events. When we arrived in the New Istanbul airport, we were amazed at how big it was and how easy it was to get around, we met Furkan at the arrivals gate where we took a quick picture with the Turkish and Irish flag. we then bought are metro cards and topped them up because they would be our life savers for the next few weeks. Then we hopped on a bus to the centre of Istanbul where we then hopped on a metro tram to our hotel. we were tired but excited to finally be in Turkey as we have been waiting months for this trip. arriving to the hotel we all had a small rest and then Asir and Furkan (media teacher and past media student from Istanbul) who took us all out for our first KEBAP and let me tell you, IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!! after that we got a tram back to our hotel. Unfortunately on the Tram ride home I wasn't very careful with my belongs because my phone was stolen, I was sad and tired and I felt like in that moment that the gods were really out to get me but my classmates and teacher Donal reassured me we would sort something out and what do you know we did, the kind people of Istanbul came through and I got a lend of a phone for the rest of my stay here in Istanbul and I am very grateful and more weary of keeping my belongs safe , which everyone should be when boarding busy local transport anywhere because it could happen to anyone in any part of the world which is why I'm not too worried about it. On Tuesday we woke up early and met Asir in our hotel lobby he then took the tram with us to meet with Donal, we then too and Underground subway to Taskim where our work placement was located, everywhere in turkey is so beautiful it’s like soaking in something new every corner you turn even if we had been there before. We then arrived at Cinar Media group where we sat down with the CEO's of the company and spoke about what we would like to do there etc. We then got a tour of the whole building. From the big live news studios to the news reporters’ offices to the editor suites. we then took a tour of Taskim where we visited the blue mosque ad saw loads upon loads of different coloured tulips. we were joined by Furkan shortly after for dinner (kebabs again). On Wednesday it was up to us to get the tram and the underground subway to work and with little avail we arrived on time with no hassle. (it was rather exciting) that day we met so many people in different departments, we met the people behind the news reports that get broadcast-ed to the news here (Haber Turk) we then met some editors who edit small sport clips to full TV documentaries. we then went into a few control rooms where we learned how everything in live TV gets all uploaded, from graphics to where the camera changes at what time, satellite information THE WORKS! everyone is so friendly and we have made a few friends already, they are helping us with Turkish and we are returning the favour with English. we then finished the day with some Turkish pizza and headed back to our hotel to put your feet up and get some well-deserved sleep. Currently as I am typing this, I am in the Haber Turk Foreign affairs unit, it is a busy day today as they are getting a lot of stories that need to be written and aired live today. That is all I guess; I am looking forward to the next few weeks here everything is so new and exciting, and I am so glad to be settling in. I hope to learn more about the different departments in the live TV industry as there is so much work that goes into one broadcast till next time! -Leah Connaughton |
Media 2018-19Leah Connaughton Map of Istanbul |
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