Oh my goodness. I can’t
believe it has only been the first day of the conference. We are soooo tired!! It was a very long, but good, day.
First of all, I slept horribly, which sucked cause I was so
tired yesterday. I don’t know if it was
the time change or what…but it was no fun.
Travis and I met P Col for breakfast at 8:30am and we ate at
the hotel. It was delicious….I had
nutella on pancakes….so it was obviously delicious.
We got to the conference center a little after 9am….we
registered, got spiffy bags, and went to our booth. Right away people started approaching us
before we even had the video playing!!
We met with people and told them about Wartburg until about 10:30am when
the opening sessions started.
I sat with P Col for the opening speeches and Travis stood
in the back and got some video. Most of
the people who spoke presented in English, but some were in German so they gave
us headphones and a translator helped us out.
The first few speakers spoke about the conference and welcomed us. They then had a speaker talk about “Quality
vs. Ratings” in educational television programming. Honestly, it took me awhile to get back into
the swing of paying attention….I haven’t had to listen to a lecture in a few
months now! The talk was alright…..after
that they had a panel of people from all over the world debate the topic. Most of the time they focused on educational
programming rather than the quality vs. ratings debate, which was ok.
At about 12:30pm, P Col and I decided to go find
Travis. When we went back to the booth
he told us all about everyone who he was meeting. He met a guy from Pakistan who owns 6 different
radio stations (more on that later), a guy from Palestine, and some other
people. He said he was having a great
time meeting people and connecting with them.
The big thing we are finding out is how we can help people from all over
the world and how they can help us, which has been really interesting. A few problems have been 1. Our booth says “Wartburg
College” (obviously)…but in Europe “college” is high school…so people are
getting confused so we just tell them we are an American university and they
understand. The other problem is 2. We don’t
have a master’s program…and that’s what a lot of people are asking about. Travis does most of the talking and I speak
up when necessary, so it works out fine.
We grabbed lunch quick and then we were off!
Then a few people from Deutsche Welle took us to
Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences.
There we met with the President of the university (Dr. Hartmut Ihne) and
a communication arts professor (Dr. Michael Krzeminski). We met with them to see if there is a
partnership we could start between their university and Wartburg. We started off by introducing ourselves and
telling them about the communication arts department at Wartburg and they told
us about their department. It was funny….when
I introduced myself and told them a little bit about me, the president said, “So
when can you come to Bonn to study?” I
was like ummmmm……when you pay the tuition?!
Hahaha, I didn’t really say that…but seriously! Both universities are very similar in that
students get hands on experience right away.
It was really interesting for me to be part of this meeting because I
got to see how a lot of ideas form one idea. After much discussion, they came to the
decision that Wartburg would add a “International Media” major and/or
minor. The students pursuing this
major/minor would then spend a semester or May term in Germany at the
Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University. The same would
go for students at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg studying international media….they would
come to Wartburg to study abroad. We
would then share programming and what not for us to use on our channel and for
them to use. The big thing would be that
the two universities would come up with a topic for the students to research
and study and then pursue deeper once they are abroad. Basically, it sounds like an awesome
experience. It was almost disappointing
listening to them because I know I only have one year left at Wartburg and
these opportunities won’t be available for me!!
One thing discussed was that the Wartburg students would have to know
some basic German…and the German students would have to know some English
(which they already do since it’s taught at a very young age.) After the discussion they gave us a tour of
their media department. Their tv station
is pretty small, but overall it’s a nice layout. I really liked their radio station. It was very wide open (unlike at Wartburg)
and it looked like a fun environment (not saying that KWAR isn’t fun, but a
small room covered in foam only gets so fun…)
After that we drove back to Bonn (about 25 minutes) and we
went to the Deutsche Welle offices (located right next to the conference
center). We met with some people here to
talk about more opportunities for Wartburg students (kinda like our last
meeting with the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg people).
They first gave us a tour of their facilities, and again, a pretty small
tv station, but it works! Travis and I
really liked how at both Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University and at Deutsche Welle there
is a “newsroom”…which is something Wartburg doesn’t have. We don’t really have a room for producers to
work in a comfortable environment….so that is something we started talking
about. After seeing their facilities we
went back to the meeting room to discuss.
In Bonn there is a Deutsche Welle Academy. This is for elite students who have their
bachelor degree and who are looking for more.
Through the program students receive their masters degree. Now, when I say elite, I mean elite. They have about 30 students a semester and
they try not to get more than one or two students from each country. So right now they have like 28 students from
17 countries….so it’s very intense. I
thought it sounded very interesting until they said you have to be able to
speak/understand German. Another
requirement is that you MUST have at least one year of experience working in
some form of media (tv, radio, newspaper, public relations, etc.). Since Wartburg has such a rigorous
communication arts department, we asked them if one year of working experience
would still be necessary and they said “oh yes”….apparently you can’t change
the rules in Germany. So what we
discussed with the Deutsche Welle Academy people was Wartburg would prepare
students (maybe one a year) who they feel would be a good fit at the academy as
long as they would be looked at and be given early acceptance….so they would
know if they work hard at Wartburg and learn German, they would be accepted to
the academy. Another thing we discussed
was a May Term opportunity where a Wartburg professor and a group of students would travel to Bonn and the
professor would teach his/her class at the DW Academy and the academy students
might be included/they would work with the Wartburg students/professor. It was very interesting learning about all
these international experiences future communication arts students at Wartburg
could be having!!!
After that all the attendants of the forum were invited for
a boat ride down the Rhine River. This
was a HUGE boat….basically like a small cruise ship….it holds like 1,650
people! When we first got on the boat it
was raining so we went inside and got some drinks. After mingling with some people Travis and I
got some food (it was really good!) By
this point we had lost P Col… After we
ate Travis and I went back upstairs and outside because it had stopped raining….it
was beautiful out! The houses along the
river were absolutely gorgeous! Oh, and
then we found P Col….but he kept wandering off…..silly guy. Oh!
Back to the man from Pakistan that I mentioned earlier! His name is Salman and like I mentioned, he
owns like 6 radio stations in Pakistan.
Now, the thing with Pakistan is that right now radio is starting to get
popular. Travis explained to Salman how
exciting this is because the “Golden Age” of radio in the United States was in
the 1940s and 1950s….so a country that is just now experiencing that is
awesome! Oh, and a fun fact about Salman….he
is writing a novel about women. In the
novel he describes the “4 seasons” of women….how each year they have different
seasons (fall, spring, ect.) “You know,
they are a prostitute, and then a mother…”
I said, “Yeah, sounds like a typical year!” Hahahaha…but seriously. So I might have to read the book when he is
done. Travis was asking him a bunch of
questions about it, and jokingly Travis said “You should try drag!” Salman said, “I have!” Okkkkk then!
Like I said, should be a good read!
Anyways, we talked to Salman for over 2 hours…it was SO interesting
talking to him! He told Travis that he
(Travis) is the first American who has actually talked to HIM…made eye contact….talked
like they are both humans….I thought that was so sad. He said 95% of the people in Pakistan HATE
Americans even though 30 years ago Pakistan and America were BFF’s (ok he didn’t
put it that way…but it sounds cuter J
) Travis really wants to do something
with Salman and his radio stations as well….possibly something like a debate
where a Wartburg student and a student in Pakistan debate on the radio….or just
discuss why they are perceived poorly in each country. Again, it was just really interesting to talk
to him and hear about the problems/differences in Pakistan regarding radio.
When the sun started going down it got REALLY chilly on the
boat, but the view of the sunset on the river was soooo pretty! We went inside the boat and it was like a
dance party! So many people were having
a great time, I blame the free booze!!
We got back around 10pm and it was still really light out, which I
thought was weird! We walked back to the
hotel and I think we are all ready to crash!
The time change has been really weird for me to think about….it’s
weird to think that it’s midnight here right now and my parents are just
getting off of work….. I don’t know, just different I guess.
Oh yeah….today I told President Colson that I think Wartburg
needs an ice skating rink! His response,
“You know, that would be fun wouldn’t it??
And I don’t think it would be that hard…..just build a foundation like
you would for a house, fill it with water, and freeze it.” YES!!!
P Col!!!!!! We are BFF’s….I’m
gonna get us bracelets by the time the trip is over J
There are mirrors everywhere here….FYI. It’s odd.
And there are actually a good number of English channels on the tv. I found a channel similar to Lifetime….so ya
know, movies about women who are being beat…and teenagers who are pregnant….good
stuff!
Well, I’m super tired, and this post has been way too long,
but that’s what you get with a full day!!
More tomorrow J
Shelby*
