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Monday, August 18, 2008

The countdown begins

This is it. The 15-day mark. This summer has absolutely soared by. If my three months in London go nearly as fast as the three months of this summer, then I’ll be home in a blink. Just thinking about the next 15 days and the next three months overwhelms me. I still have so much to do.

It was a blessing to be home for this month, though, because I have been able to say some goodbyes to people I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. A couple days in D.C. allowed me to see two dear Pendulum friends and also to see the city before I see it the final time on my way to the airport. And I got to go to the zoo! When you live so close to D.C., I guess it’s easy to let a decade or so go by without visiting the animals. I couldn’t believe it myself when I realized it had been that long. I also got to say goodbye to my Roomie, who will be studying in Paris while I’m in London. So at least we’ll be on the same continent even though it’s more than the usual three-foot difference away.

But beyond saying some goodbyes, I’ve been much busier than I expected. I’m still writing a lot. For University Relations and for The Pendulum. And I have some video to edit. And let’s not even talk about the packing! I just finished a final homework assignment for my British Media and Culture class, so that’s a relief, but there’s definitely more to come! Just through the homework I’ve had to do, I feel so well prepared for London. I’ve learned so much about the government, people, culture and everything else that I feel like I could write my own book on it before even getting there. And I think that was the point of the homework. When I’m there, I have to keep a journal for the class and a journal for my internship. So, I will be writing a ton! No worries about forgetting any moment or memory on this trip.

For now, I have to make memories and moments out of these last 15 days.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Summer of Toast

It's a college cliche that every student has a summer of ramen. Explained further: He or she eats pretty much nothing but ramen for an entire summer. Well, for me, this summer has been a summer of toast.

I have never been a huge fan of the bread you can't lift without making a crummy mess, smattered in butter and some variety of fruity goop. But for some reason, this summer was my summer for eating toast. I went for Smucker's, mainly because of Willard Scott on the Today Show, in the flavors of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry. I would alternate jam depending on what mood I was in and how I wanted the rest of my day to shape up. You see, I can associate a flavor to my outlook on life.

But I would do more than smatter the jam. I would inundate my toast with jam. If I had to carb count what I consumed in toast this summer...well. We won't go there.

Beyond the literal meaning of my summer of toast, I'll go into my figurative meaning as well. Because that's probably more exciting than the calories I consumed thanks to my lack of cooking knowledge.

(Warning: This is where it gets cheesy because I had to continue the analogy.) Every day this summer was a mixture of crummy with goop (good tasting goop, though). Yes, I think I'll start out that way. My days were crummy in the way that summers should not be crummy. I was alone for the most part, with no one to go home to. I would always cook the same things and my routine never changed. My days were goopy because I loved what I was doing with The Pendulum and at work. But having to come back to an empty apartment and watch the same three movies was not the most fun I've ever had.

On several occasions, friends who live near Elon came to the rescue - more good goop. Kaitlin, for one, taught me how to cook...by cooking for me and bringing variety to my life. We watched The Onion Movie, which was ever-entertaining, and another time I fell asleep during an attempt to watch Pride and Prejudice. Sorry again, Kaitlin. Oh, and we also popped by Kaitlin's favorite theater.

And Alexa brought me to an amazing art gallery in downtown Burlington called Lyndon Street Artworks. It was an assignment for The Pendulum, so I took photos and Alexa wrote the story. You have to incorporate The Pendulum into everything you do. That is key.

In both meanings of my toast, this summer was a learning experience. I learned that I can be really independent and I can actually cook some things and be successful. The first time I failed at making pasta was also my last.

I learned that I can do PR. I never saw myself outside the print, broadcast and interactive media realm, but my eyes have been opened to PR and I enjoy it. We are friends now. After all, I do like all things fluffy and optimistic.

I learned that walking is much better (and more fun) than driving....especially after Elon's gas prices finally caught up with home's and reached $4.

I learned that sunglasses ARE a necessity. They are particularly handy when running errands across campus and you need to dodge the squirrels' acorn attacks. The squirrels take over campus during the summer, by the way. I also learned that.

I really learned InDesign in several 24-hour crash courses. I have a whole new appreciation for the fabu software.

I learned that I thoroughly enjoy writing for sports! It's very exciting and I learned a bit about the actual games in the process. Someone must have known that sports are not my forte because I have written more sports stories this summer than I thought was possible in my lifetime.

I learned that I love The Pendulum more than anything. Well...maybe I didn't learn that - it was more of a reaffirmation of something I've always known.

And of course, I learned that I love toast. But after spending a summer eating it, I'm not sure I'll crave it again for a long time.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

What happened in Korea stays...on the Internet and is shared with the world

It's been just over a month since I returned from Seoul, Korea, and I still haven't decided whether the trip was ages ago or just yesterday. I'm not sure if it's the time warp we experienced or simply the fact that it was so surreal visiting a country I never imagined visiting at 20 years old. Though I was technically 21 over there because they count your birth as the first year.

I traveled to Korea with one professor and another student to gather interviews at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Meeting. The experience was part of Janna Anderson's Imagining the Internet project. We spoke with 32 people about their hopes and fears for the future of the Internet and some of the important topics in society today dealing with the Internet and its governance. Looking through headshots I took of the people we interviewed, it still seems incredible to me to think of these people's credentials and the amount of diversity we saw in the group. They came from Egypt, Senegal, Finland, London, France, South Korea, America and the list goes on.

The fact that this opportunity was given to me is still astounding to me. I have been so blessed through the years, but I've had the opportunity to visit five countries already in my first two years in college. I have plans for at least five more in the next two years.

My trip to Seoul, far more important than the travel experience, was the opportunity to interview the people we did and to learn SO much about my career in journalism. The Internet is taking over, print journalism is dying, everyone needs to know how to shoot video, do stand-ups, layout pages, design a Web site…we've heard it a million times before. The experiences I've had at Elon have given me all that and more. And this trip is just another one of those experiences that challenged me academically, professionally and culturally.

Learning how to push aside the fact that you're interviewing a U.S. Ambassador, the CEO of Pandora TV or the FCC chairman, was a challenge in itself. It was certainly good practice, though. I can't get nervous and start stuttering just because I'm talking to someone like that – they're human, too.

The days at the conference were long, but we made the most of every minute. And at night, we were rewarded with incredible banquets of delicious food, wonderful entertainment and excellent company (from New Zealand, Korea, etc.).

Staying optimistic and bubbly throughout the day was key…not only for our own morale when realizing it was bedtime at home on the East Coast and we were looking forward to lunch on the Eastern half of the world, but to show that despite the ware on our faces from the 12-hour time difference, we were truly enthusiastic about talking to everyone there.

I think that we really made an impression on people. We were cheerful and smiling, just generally ecstatic to be in Korea at the conference. And I'm confident that excitement showed. People were very surprised to hear how young we were. Craig is 21 and I’m 20…what were college students doing at a conference on the future of the Internet economy? Well, we are very interested in it, actually, something that we learned about ourselves after the five days in Korea. And everyone we spoke to seemed impressed that two college students and their professor were so eager to learn more.

Revisiting the video interviews we shot reminded me of how incredibly thoughtful everyone was and how brilliant the people who attend these conferences are. What an experience.

The videos will be here soon!