Travelogue Series 2: Second Day

 I woke up earlier than my alarm clock the day after we arrived because it was orientation day, and so that I can also go to the cafeteria an hour early for me to have more time to eat. 

 

my messy bed

Since the doors of the dorms around campus are configured to lock automatically before 8AM, I don’t know why, I was stuck outside when I went out so I asked stephen to walk with me around the University and take pictures 

the other side of Mysch/Hurst Hall is the Lafollette Complex

the iconic bell statue 

finally 10 minutes before 8AM the other members of the filipino team were finally ready

had some few good laughs with the gang before class 

I told you, the freakin’ security system: very effective! 

we went to the second floor of the Arts and Journalism Building to have a traditional american breakfast. (Bagels, Fruits, OJ etc.)

yummy right? 

It was also our first time to interact with our other asian classmates, the malaysians and the indonesians. //miss them tho, like loads.

Eric Schumacher working on the name tags 

from L-R: Sean How *Malaysia, Our English Professor, and Suzy *telly professor 

look at eric’s camera :| I want :( 

TEAM PHILIPPINES (incomplete)

Team Philippines and Team Malaysia 

our claZZZroom 

I took journalism, TV, and news writing classes under BSU in partnership with the New York Times

usual university orientation plus campus tour

the cafeteria (TALLY)

Our Activity Log that we hate so much but we have no choice but to do it everyday

after a day of orientation, lectures + introductions (getting to know you) we ended our day hanging out with thor. He looks like a stoner but seriously he’s a nice guy! haha 

_____

Ball State Emerging Media Program

the “welcome” video 

The News Curriculum

Travelogue Series 1: MNL to IND

So I haven’t formally made a “travel series” post since I came back from the states less than a year ago and like what I promised, I wanted to share to everyone my summer semester experience overseas. This is to inspire everyone to take a leap of faith, follow your heart and passion in what you really wanted to do. Of course the experience exceeded my expectations, I got more than what I bargained for and I really made sure the experience was worth it. It was one helluva [hell of a] ride. 

(my bags packed) cue music: “all my bags are packed, and I’m ready to go…”

It was midnight then, my driver finally came to tell me that it was time for me to go. I got to the airport at around 3 in the morning to meet up with my other classmates. We were more excited than the time we got our student visas. One thing you should know about me is that I love airports, I love the chaos happening inside the area, I love looking at people getting lost - looking for terminal gates etc. 

Super sleepy conditioning ourselves for the 16 hour flight to the US. 

Stopover!!! JAPAN!!! can I just say, I was seated beside a baby and I wouldn’t recommend it. The baby kept on crying from JAPAN toooooooooooooooooooo the States. Imagine how many freakin’ hours? It was a “kill me now” moment. 

from MNL to Michigan, and this shot was taken from Michigan to Indianapolis. 

this was taken at Indianapolis Airport. First time we met our Telly professor Ms. Suzy Smith but everyone calls her by her first name, Suzy so let’s just call her Suzy. Of course, Eric and Shawna (our graduate student mentors) were there to document our arrival. We were treated as celebrities, it was definitely a Paparazzi moment. 

WATCH the documentation: 

lol at overpacking! 

Our chevy service. It was just like in the movies! 

Suzy handed this goodie bag full of treats! 

Indiana is just near Chicago and Columbus Ohio (reminds me of Zombieland) 

the thing about Indiana is that there are a lot of cornfields 

Welcome to my University for Summer 2011, Ball State University. They have the best Journalism and Media programs in the country with top caliber professors and facilities that’s why the US State Department chose them to host the Summer Semester Program over other schools (e.g. the Ivies, other state universities). 

coming from a different timezone It was kind of weird to still see the sun at around 8PM, yes this was around 8PM. Back in June 2011, it was the month of the transition from spring to summer. It was kind of cold, which was good since I live in a tropical country where it’s sunny everyday. 

I can’t blame mik, It was a super tiring trip. We travelled for approximately 19 or 20 hours including layovers and local flight and road transfers.

I miss our dorm, Mysch/Hurst Hall!!!

our super small R.A. HAHA I forgot his name but he’s super kind to us.

My student card. When we got inside the Mysch/Hurst common room we still had to sign forms and memorandum of agreement papers, we didn’t notice that it’s already past 9PM, and the sun was still up. 

At 9PM, Eric gave us a tour of the whole University, including the nearby villages. 

my room

Around 930PM, we decided to call it a day since we have to wake up 7AM the next day for our 8AM class orientation. Yes, Imagine the stress!!! The next day we went straight to class groggy for orientation, and oh, we’re still thankful that we got there earlier than the other teams *Malaysia and Indonesia* because they arrived I think at around 10PM and 12AM the next day respectively. 

To whoever wrote this, I understand you man. HAHA miss my dorm days in the states. First time for me to ever wash my clothes my whole life. Was so scared for someone to take out my clothes that time. 

Asians at the Caf. 

I think I used this photo to tweet back in July, well It was our first lunch together for the summer semester and as you can see, all asians are eating together. This is such a WTF photo. Anyway I miss them all. Wish they’re all having a Merry Christmas! 

Comfort Suites Hotel, Pennsylvania USA

Okay, now that I finished watching the first season of American Horror Story, (which by the way is such a good series*the finale episode was just disappointing) I’d like to share this photo I took at my hotel room, (all suites actually have this view). We stayed at this hotel because it was just 3 minutes away from the Gettysburg Battlefield. Imagine all the tombs, these people died like decades ago and they’re just outside the window stuck there.

Well probably they were watching me sleep then? (insert shocked meme face here)

Underground late night chill months ago xxxxx lol at ancient photos. Love the place photos from Tasha. @ Indiana, more like that 70s show vibes. Street culture. Underground bands ahhhh missing the people!!! 

Condolences to the family of Jennifer Haskell. It’s so sad that this happened in the Indiana State Fair. I feel so much connected to BSU and Indiana after spending last summer there studying. 

(article from Ball State News) 

SUSI Blog#2: Social Media and Politics

How do candidates & campaign managers integrate social media into their political strategies?

Before the advent of web technology, every election season, people in the Philippines consume a lot of information only from the print and broadcast media. Everyone’s glued on their TV sets during primetime and morning news about the latest in political surveys and popularity rates. Politicians and campaign managers always take the opportunity of buying air time to substitute product commercials to their campaign commercials amounting to hundreds of thousands per airing. The start of the popularity of the internet, and web-based social media triggered the Political campaigns and efforts to take a big shift.

(facebook page of NoyNoy Aquino, current President of the Philippines)

*One of NoyNoy Aquino’s campaign videos, “Hindi ka Nag-iisa” (He made use of Youtube, also as an outlet for video). 

It is always about getting a lot of people more informed, and having a large audience share. With a lot of people engaged in social media, politicians and their campaign team set up a website, facebook page, twitter account, youtube account etc. to better represent their candidate during elections. I guess what candidates see in using the social media is that it moves you up the ladder of popularity and having a wider reach of the masses which becomes directly proportional to winning. All presidential candidates in the Philippines during the recent Philippine Elections set up their website with their platform presented, vision, and the projects that they have accomplished. Now the current President of the Philippines, NoyNoy Aquino maintains an online avenue to update and ask opinions from the Filipino People. In the United States of America, President Barrack Obama maintains a website that contains all the updates in his career, every piece of legislation that has been passed, executive orders etc. In contrast to the Philippine President who’s not using the website effectively to show transparency. 

(WHITEHOUSE.GOV: Official Website of the President of the United States of America, utilizes the website to inform the citizens of the country of the efforts of his office and keeps the site updated from time to time) 

The popularity of facebook became an option for candidates and current politicians to post photos of their community service efforts, promotional videos, campaign videos, credentials, accomplishments and make the audience feel as if the candidates and politicians are talking to them and reaching out to them when in fact, a campaign team handles the social media department of public relations. Social Media plays a vital role in political campaigns and will continue to be an avenue for political strategies. Since majority of the voters’ share comes from the youth, more politicians target the Social Media to gain more voters and attention. 

SUSI Blog#1: Social Media

What is social media and what makes it unique from other forms of media? 

Social Media adheres to the use of the web and mobile sites for interactivity. It is a platform for people to network with each other and interact through photos, videos, forums, comment posts and the like. Social Media varies in different forms but the most popular is the use of Social Networking Sites. Many of us in today’s generation started giving in to Social Media through My Space, followed by Friendster, Multiply, and now Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. There are various Social Networking sites available that’s just within anyone’s reach. 

(sample of facebook profile)

Through a single click of a mouse via the web/internet, anyone can start creating online profiles and accounts to start with the Social Networking bandwagon. What’s unique about Social Media is that the online platform whether community blogs, microblogs (twitter), social networking sites (facebook), collaborative projects (wikipedia), content communities (youtube), becomes the extension of ourselves.It has become an opportunity for talented emerging artists to get discovered via youtube such as Charice Pempengco, a Filipino singer discovered online who landed a role in the hit US TV series, Glee. 

*(Photo of the use of Skype, a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the world wide web) Photo from here. 

Social Media is an online extension of our bodies, it is an avenue for non-face to face interaction. Think of it this way, social media is a two-way interaction of communication. News organizations with the use of the web as an avenue for publishing their news stories allows you to post comments which provides an opportunity for interaction and instant answers. The use of video messenger applications such as Skype, and Yahoo Messenger provides a platform for online conversation without physical contact. Parents are now concerned with technology and the web based interaction replacing the face to face conversation, Staci Slavin, a mother of 2 (ben and stevi) and a professor at Ball State University, said that she’s greatly concerned with the future of her kids. She kept on asking herself, will her children communicate personally the same way as they will communicate in the future online with their friends because people say things they say online that they do not say in a person to person conversation. News Organizations take advantage of the Social Media (e.g. twitter - micro blog) to send instant news updates, and this is vital in sending immediate information to the public especially during natural disasters, government agencies utilize social media. 

*(from left to right: Stevi, Ben, and Staci Slavin) photo lifted from Staci Slavin’s facebook page)