A Success Story Among Us

Hi there to everyone
My name is Ezgi Pişkin.
I am in the 3rd class of Nutrition and Dietetics Department at İstanbul Gelişim University.                                                                                                                                                           The Last  May, I had the chance to attend 12^th Annual International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences at Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic.
I participated to the conference that was held on May 4-6 and I was able to present my oral presentation which was named as ‘‘The Influence Of Nutrition On Culture And Identity’’
First of all, I would like give a further details on the reasons why and how I decided to participate to such a conference.After succesfully completing the preparatory class of our University, I was considering that my spoken and writen English would be enough to prepare an scientific article. As I had the dream of going abroad to improve myself I thought it would be a good opportunity totake the chance to go to abroad with such a project related to my professional area. I still consider this action as the first step in my career development.  I still look for every kind of opportunities to convey the knowledge I have gained professionally into an academic language, of course through different projects.
While I was searching in the internet for avaliable countries with Erasmus mobility, I came across with this conference and I thought to myself “why not giving it a try?”. The application process was sending the abstract of the scientific paper via e-mail. If the abstract is accepted the next step was sending the whole paper. So I start searching for a related, novel and fun topic for my article. After completing the article and abstract sending process only thing I had to do was to wait. And letter of acceptance reached within a week.
The rest of the work was to complete the article. Thanks to my department’s instructors and my lecturers of preparatory class were all very helpful. I consulted my teachers and took advantage of their knowledge and experience. They helped me with writting, and kindly showed me how and where to find research. Through both my curiosity and the experience I had through my education I was able to complete my essay with ease.
The procedures of getting a passports and visas were all quite difficult. For the ones who are willing to take a similar pattern I strongly recommend you to get your visa appoinment as soon as you receive your acceptance letter from the conference commitee! Otherwise you will face with some difficulties just like me.
 
 
 
 
Only one day before the conference, visa was avaliable. Fortunately everything went well, and  after I was able to go to the Czech Republic. During the presentation I was so excited about presenting in front of the academic stuffs. Then I realized that I could overcome the situation. I gave succesful presentation. Everyone who attended the conference liked the presentation and got my certificate. When I received the certificate, I was so proud of myself. It was  not only my first  travelling to abroad  experience but also my first conference for English article presentation .  Just like all around the world the attandence from Turkey was high.
The conference has thought me lot. I can say that it gave me new perspectives, it had developed my self-esteem, it added new information to my information, intercultural dialogue and I have experienced the difference of thought and methods.
I visited the country for 3 days outside the conference, observed the cultural difference and I had the chance to participate in the art-cultural events of that country. I have visited many museums. I admire the 13th century architecture with the country. It was a very nice abroad experience for me in every respect.
I’m planing to apply for a conference Which is going to be held in Vienna next year.      I take care to choose the countries I dreamed to visit. In fact, a lot of conferences take place in Turkey as well, but I prefer to attend conferences abroad to see different culture, and countries to improve my foreign language. We live in a time when the importance of talents as well as personal development and diplomacy are increasing. Especially during university years, many people are trying to improve themselves to gain new skills before they graduate.
We can improve ourselves as much as we can at the beginning.
I belive that during university education proceeds by the participation of any scientific activities will develop our knowledge, skills and experiences. I suggest my friends to  take part in such activities that can improve themselves  since starting university.In Addition I would like to thank Istanbul Gelisim University for supporting my travel fee and help to step up my future career.