Wednesday, December 9, 2015
The Last Days
Hey Everyone,
I hope finals prep is going well...even though I'm sure everyone is stressed and exhausted but, know that you will get through it and Christmas Break is right around the corner.
Here in London, things are beginning to slow down and everyone is trying to meet their final deadlines. Thankfully, I just have one final paper, an all day challenge for my Media Production Class and my final draft of my script and creative pack to go along with it. Not having any final EXAMS is nice.
Since last week a couple of exciting events have taken place. First, in my screen and script class we had to pitch our ten-minute short film to the students of the video production groups. There were five different groups that we were placed in randomly. In each of the groups one script would be chosen to be turned into a short film and then a second script would be chosen as a back up. The pitching session was actually really fun. Each of us students basically presented our script and answered any questions the production team had for their notes. We pitched our scripts on Wednesday and were told that Friday we would have an answer on the decisions made by the production teams. My script was chosen as one of the five to be filmed! I was excited and shocked. Starting this week we have production meetings to talk about how the filming of the script will take place. Since I am leaving my team has made arrangements for us to communicate through email, GoogleDocs and Skype about the creative process. The students will also enter the film in the British Film Festival. I look forward to this creative journey and process and I am excited to work with the video production students.
In my Media Production class we prepared for our next assignment which was to present our radio talk for TV. The challenges in this assignment were finding pictures to be added in during the talk and video if you wanted but, also being able to read from a prompter as well. Thankfully, I had previous experience from working at KDKA TV News Studios. The second part of the assignment was having to be in the control room while our partner for the assignment presented and having to direct the cameras and make sure the pictures and videos come up during the right times while recording. Everyone had one take as well. There was a trust that had to be built obviously because if your partner missed a cue in the control room there was no going back. Ultimately, the actual recording day went smooth and everyone did a great job and had a lot of fun.
In my race and representation class we started our presentations this week and of course, I was in the first group. The presentation was to center around our topic for our final paper. Mine was entitled, "Where My People At?: Lack of minority representation in Television and Film." My paper will center around the entertainment business and basically look at the roles or lack of roles that minorities receive. A big part of my paper will also be a mention of the Oscars and how it affects the image pertaining to minorities in the business. I am excited for this final paper as we had the freedom to talk about the topic of our choosing as long as it related to race. The other student's that presented chose very interesting topics as well centering on women, the Holocaust and fashion. Next week the second group of presenters will go and then we hand in the assignment by Friday.
Through this study abroad experience I have grown incredibly. Each academic year I feel as though I become more responsible and aware of my tasks at hand. Meaning that in my earlier years I can admit I would not be as focused as I could be and I probably procrastinated a good bit. Now, I can truly say I can see the finish line. I basically have three semesters left of Undergrad and then off to the real world or more school. I think it also helps that now I am into the main classes that pertain to my major and mostly all of my core classes are just about done. I take homework and all assignments seriously and look at them as a learning opportunity. I look forward to teacher meetings and conferences to assess my work and improve. I have learned the importance of staying on a good sleep schedule and making sure I have the rest I need to get through the long days. I put more time and effort into assignment making the editing process way easier. I think I have come to a point in my academic career where I have found my stride and I am completely focused on what I have to do.
I look forward to these final days here in London and seeing and doing all I can do. I plan on finishing strong and look forward to this chapter of my life to close and for another to begin. I still have another semester of hard work and challenges to go through and I look forward to pushing myself and working hard to achieve my goals.
I only have one more post after this one! Time truly flies. If there is anything you want to know or any final questions remember to ask! I will answer everything in the next post. But, until next time!
CHEERS,
Ty G.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
It's DECEMBER
Hey Everyone,
I hope your Thanksgiving break was relaxing and filled with great food. Thanksgiving is not a celebrated holiday here in the UK, so I decided to take my own little vacation to Barcelona for three days during Thanksgiving. It helped that I don't have class on Wednesday and Thursday. And I figured it would be a nice change in scenery. On the bright side it was a little warmer in Spain at the time as well.
Anyway, I went to Barcelona with some other study abroad students and we left on Wednesday morning. Traveling day was pretty long and enduring to say the least. We had to catch multiple trains while hauling our luggage and it was raining and cold in London. Then we had to catch a Coach bus to the airport which was almost two hours away. Finally, we arrived at the airport and went through the usual security check-in and blah blah blah. Once, all that was said and done we had a two hour wait (we wanted to be early just in case something went wrong) before flying over to Barcelona.
The plane ride was about two hours and once we landed in Barcelona we went through security again and had our passports stamped. We had made it to BARCELONA safely! Unfortunately, our day wasn't over just yet...we still had to figure out a way to our hotel/apartment. The first thing we all did was exchange some money and the lady working at the exchange office was really kind and she gave us directions on what bus to catch and how to travel by train to get around the city. After we all had our money we headed to the bus stop and made it to the underground train station and we were on our way to the hotel. After a LONG day of travel we had reached our destination! It was late and we were starving so we ate the first thing we could find...McDonalds! Yes, McDonalds is everywhere! Each McDonalds is also has custom changes to the menu depending on where you are. For example, we got a McDouble and the cheese on the burger was more of a sauce with a spicy kick and the the burger patties were laid side by side on Ciabatta bread. Never the less it was still really good.
The next day, we decided to buy passes to do Bus Tours of the city. This was a great deal because the passes were good for all the Buses and they traveled all over the city. It was nice to be able to sit back and just enjoy the ride and take in the all the beautiful places around us. I will post pictures from the tour. After spending a number of hours riding around on the Tour Bus we decided to get off in the shopping areas of Barcelona and look around. And finally by the evening we were all hungry and ate at a Spanish restaurant! The food in Barcelona was amazing and it was so nice to have a change of taste from the usual Fish and Chips in London.
On Friday, our last full day of the trip I was pretty tired so I decided to get up and eat breakfast with the group and then I napped for a few hours to regain some energy. Some of my friends decided to go out and see some different places they didn't catch and one friend worked on a paper. (SOME VACATION HUH?) In the evening we had dinner reservations a little restaurant and we were going to meet up with some other study abroad students from our school. They had just arrived in Barcelona! It was a fun Thanksgiving day, but definitely different not being at home with family and eating the usual turkey and fixings. However, we made the most of our time together and shared lots of laughs and good times. Finally, it was off to bed for an early wake up and travel back to London. Coming back was a little depressing mainly because as soon as we touched down in London we could feel the change of weather.
Overall, Barcelona was amazing and it's a beautiful city that I hope to visit again some day.
BACK IN LONDON:.....
I received back a graded essay assignment and was relieved that I did well. The grading system is very different here in London and at first I was worried I had done poorly and then I remembered the difference in grading scales. Overall, it was nice to see my hard work pay off and it will be nice to celebrate in Barcelona! Next up in all of my classes is basically the final assignments! I really can't even fathom the idea. I have enjoyed my classes overall and the knowledge I have obtained from my professor's and classmates has been insightful.
I went to the premiere of The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2. The film was really good and I thought the final film in the series was well put together. I didn't realize how big the movie would be here in the UK, but the theatre was packed! Thank God I preordered my ticket or I probably wouldn't have had a seat.
I can also say I have officially started wearing my winter coat due to the cold temperatures. Winter is here! The wind here in the UK is deadly and you mix that with rainy, cloudy days and it's no fun.
Coming up in the next few weeks there are a couple of final events that St. Mary's is doing for us international students which includes, The Winter Wonderland Festival. Here we will have the chance to ice skate and participate in other festive activities. This will be a fun way for all of us to get together again and have some fun before working hard on the final deadlines and assignments.
There will also be a "Last Hurrah" dinner and dance held for us international students. We will have a nice dinner and fun with one another and we are to bring a Brit to the event as well. This will be our very last event together as a group. I'm looking forward to having a good time with everyone before we go back to our home states.
Classes wise I have one more paper due in my Race and Representation class and it's on a topic of my choice which is nice! But, before I turn that in I have a presentation to give on my topic. These will be my last two assignments for this class.
In my Media Production class we are taking our radio scripts and making them into a "News Anchor" format in which we will film one another presenting our "talks." Basically, it will be like making a news package for our stories and we have to insert our own pictures and video to go along with the script.
And finally in Screen and Script we will begin pitching our short films to the video production students and also finalize our scripts and begin to make the creative pack. The creative pack is basically the actors and synopsis of the short film, mock budget, etc. all in one packet which is used when pitching as well. This is apart of our final assessment in the course as well.
Only a few weeks left before I return home!!! Until next time.
CHEERS!,
Ty G.
I hope your Thanksgiving break was relaxing and filled with great food. Thanksgiving is not a celebrated holiday here in the UK, so I decided to take my own little vacation to Barcelona for three days during Thanksgiving. It helped that I don't have class on Wednesday and Thursday. And I figured it would be a nice change in scenery. On the bright side it was a little warmer in Spain at the time as well.
Anyway, I went to Barcelona with some other study abroad students and we left on Wednesday morning. Traveling day was pretty long and enduring to say the least. We had to catch multiple trains while hauling our luggage and it was raining and cold in London. Then we had to catch a Coach bus to the airport which was almost two hours away. Finally, we arrived at the airport and went through the usual security check-in and blah blah blah. Once, all that was said and done we had a two hour wait (we wanted to be early just in case something went wrong) before flying over to Barcelona.
The plane ride was about two hours and once we landed in Barcelona we went through security again and had our passports stamped. We had made it to BARCELONA safely! Unfortunately, our day wasn't over just yet...we still had to figure out a way to our hotel/apartment. The first thing we all did was exchange some money and the lady working at the exchange office was really kind and she gave us directions on what bus to catch and how to travel by train to get around the city. After we all had our money we headed to the bus stop and made it to the underground train station and we were on our way to the hotel. After a LONG day of travel we had reached our destination! It was late and we were starving so we ate the first thing we could find...McDonalds! Yes, McDonalds is everywhere! Each McDonalds is also has custom changes to the menu depending on where you are. For example, we got a McDouble and the cheese on the burger was more of a sauce with a spicy kick and the the burger patties were laid side by side on Ciabatta bread. Never the less it was still really good.
The next day, we decided to buy passes to do Bus Tours of the city. This was a great deal because the passes were good for all the Buses and they traveled all over the city. It was nice to be able to sit back and just enjoy the ride and take in the all the beautiful places around us. I will post pictures from the tour. After spending a number of hours riding around on the Tour Bus we decided to get off in the shopping areas of Barcelona and look around. And finally by the evening we were all hungry and ate at a Spanish restaurant! The food in Barcelona was amazing and it was so nice to have a change of taste from the usual Fish and Chips in London.
On Friday, our last full day of the trip I was pretty tired so I decided to get up and eat breakfast with the group and then I napped for a few hours to regain some energy. Some of my friends decided to go out and see some different places they didn't catch and one friend worked on a paper. (SOME VACATION HUH?) In the evening we had dinner reservations a little restaurant and we were going to meet up with some other study abroad students from our school. They had just arrived in Barcelona! It was a fun Thanksgiving day, but definitely different not being at home with family and eating the usual turkey and fixings. However, we made the most of our time together and shared lots of laughs and good times. Finally, it was off to bed for an early wake up and travel back to London. Coming back was a little depressing mainly because as soon as we touched down in London we could feel the change of weather.
Overall, Barcelona was amazing and it's a beautiful city that I hope to visit again some day.
BACK IN LONDON:.....
I received back a graded essay assignment and was relieved that I did well. The grading system is very different here in London and at first I was worried I had done poorly and then I remembered the difference in grading scales. Overall, it was nice to see my hard work pay off and it will be nice to celebrate in Barcelona! Next up in all of my classes is basically the final assignments! I really can't even fathom the idea. I have enjoyed my classes overall and the knowledge I have obtained from my professor's and classmates has been insightful.
I went to the premiere of The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2. The film was really good and I thought the final film in the series was well put together. I didn't realize how big the movie would be here in the UK, but the theatre was packed! Thank God I preordered my ticket or I probably wouldn't have had a seat.
I can also say I have officially started wearing my winter coat due to the cold temperatures. Winter is here! The wind here in the UK is deadly and you mix that with rainy, cloudy days and it's no fun.
Coming up in the next few weeks there are a couple of final events that St. Mary's is doing for us international students which includes, The Winter Wonderland Festival. Here we will have the chance to ice skate and participate in other festive activities. This will be a fun way for all of us to get together again and have some fun before working hard on the final deadlines and assignments.
There will also be a "Last Hurrah" dinner and dance held for us international students. We will have a nice dinner and fun with one another and we are to bring a Brit to the event as well. This will be our very last event together as a group. I'm looking forward to having a good time with everyone before we go back to our home states.
Classes wise I have one more paper due in my Race and Representation class and it's on a topic of my choice which is nice! But, before I turn that in I have a presentation to give on my topic. These will be my last two assignments for this class.
In my Media Production class we are taking our radio scripts and making them into a "News Anchor" format in which we will film one another presenting our "talks." Basically, it will be like making a news package for our stories and we have to insert our own pictures and video to go along with the script.
And finally in Screen and Script we will begin pitching our short films to the video production students and also finalize our scripts and begin to make the creative pack. The creative pack is basically the actors and synopsis of the short film, mock budget, etc. all in one packet which is used when pitching as well. This is apart of our final assessment in the course as well.
Only a few weeks left before I return home!!! Until next time.
CHEERS!,
Ty G.
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