comblog – Page 104 – COM Ambassador Blog

Sarah: A Boston Halloween

There is no place like New England in the fall. The air becomes a bit cooler, the trees change color and you’ve survived your first round of midterms. But most importantly, Halloween is approaching – and there is no place like Boston for Halloween. Here are some of my picks for the best Halloween activities in the Greater Boston Area.

Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Halloween Line Up

Every Bostonian’s favorite independent movie theater celebrates Halloween by screening old horror movies throughout the month of October. Enjoy the romanticism of an old theater while watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Poltergeist and The Exorcist, just to name a few. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? screened on Halloween night will top off the month of horror.

ImprovBoston’s Horror Show

Who says Halloween can’t be funny? This year, ImprovBoston presents their 10^th Annual Halloween Horror show. This year’s show is a musical comedy titled “28 Days Latte.” The story follows a group hipsters and senior citizens as they barricade themselves in a coffee shop during the zombie apocalypse. What could be better? There are only ten shows this year, so order your (student-discounted) ticket soon!

Pumpkin Palooza

If you’re feeling both creative and charitable, consider painting and donating pumpkins with BU’s Community Service Center this month. Stop by the BU Beach on Friday, October 19th from 11am-3pm to carve and paint a pumpkin. The CSC will donate the pumpkins to local shelters, hospitals and group homes to decorate for the Halloween season.

Salem, MA

Nothing puts me in the Halloween spirit quite like walking through downtown Salem during the month of October. Note that this is a place, not an event. That is because there are too many ghost walks, haunted tours, festivals and expos to name. Be sure to do some research beforehand – not all haunted houses are created equally. There are enough street performers and people dressed in elaborate costumes to make just walking around an entertaining experience. Salem is just a thirty-minute train ride from North Station – perfect for a day trip. Take a trip with some friends during an upcoming weekend. Or if you’re feeling super adventurous, check it out on Halloween night.

Rocky Horror Picture – AMC Boston Commons

For the past 28 years, the “Full Body Cast” of Boston has performed The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday at midnight in Harvard Square. This year, although the location has changed to AMC Boston Common, the tradition lives on. As you might imagine, Halloween is a pretty big occasion for the cast. In addition to the usual Saturday show, the cast will perform on the Friday before Halloween and on Halloween night. You haven’t experienced The Rocky Horror Picture Show until you’ve seen it live!

Taylor: COM is a Networking Toolbox

During my childhood, I’d habitually attend “Disney on Ice.” I can recall the sensation of wearing my Toy Story T-shirt and proudly buzzing the lightening toys sold at the event. During those moments, I genuinely felt a connection with the adult performers parading like toddlers around the rink. During those minutes, nothing could distract my level of attentiveness. Recently, I found myself tingling with a more mature but quite similar batch of emotions.

Earlier last month, I had the pleasure of attending Celebration of BU, a groundbreaking event that strengthened the bond between alumni and current students. The event held in BU’s Agganis Arena told the story of the university’s foundation. Watching the speakers and performers take the ice in very unique ways was simply mesmerizing. The most captivating part of the night to me dealt with the speaker distribution. More than half of the speakers were COM alumni. Throughout the weekend, distinguished alumni, including Bravo’s Andy Cohen and CBS correspondent Erica Hill, spoke to students about their success and provided a plethora of advice.

The event kicked off BU’s billion-dollar campaign to support student life programs, faculty enrichment, scholarships, and research. The abundance of alumni connections highlighted during the festivities brought happiness to all.

In particular, it reminded me of the career services available for me to discuss employment options post college, land interviews, connect with alumni, and develop my resume and cover letter. Earlier this semester COM’s career service center -which has a database consisting of over 600 internships- held a open house. Attendees had the opportunity to take professional headshots for their LinkedIn accounts and were also given an overview of the services offered through the center. Later this month COM will hold one of its amazing networking meet and greets where students will have the opportunity to converse with professionals currently practicing in their field of interest.

I view BU as a toolbox full of opportunities to tailor your skills and get ready for the workforce and all the wonders of the world. The services readily available remind me that just as our motto puts great emphasis on virtue and piety, a underlying theme known to all within this community is that this network is immense and “you’ll always have a friend in them.”

Juliana: Where to Brunch

Hey Everyone!

For those of you who were able to attend COM Open House in April, I shared during the COM Ambassador introductions that my favorite place on campus for Sunday brunch is Warren Towers dining. When I lived in east campus my freshman and sophomore years my friends and I went to brunch at Warren every single week. Now that we live at different ends of campus, we haven't been able to all convene for Sunday brunch at Warren yet this semester. However, we've explored some off-campus spots a few times this past month.

Here is a list of my favorite brunch spots in and around Boston:

5. Crispy Crepes Cafe

This place defined my freshman year. Located on Park Drive in South Campus, this is the go-to place for... take a guess... crepes. I would always order a Nutella and banana crepe, but recently I tried a savory crepe for the first time-- the Santa Fe. Crispy Crepes Cafe is awesome because it's cheap, no-frills and has a packed menus of everything from crepes to standard breakfast to Middle Eastern delicacies like falafel and shawarma.

4. Trident Booksellers & Cafe

You can wander through aisles of books and salivate over the pages of cookbooks as you wait for a table at this popular Newbury Street eatery. They serve what they call "perpetual breakfast," which has a lot of options to equally satisfy meat-eaters and vegetarians. My favorite thing to order is a specialty tea because it comes in your own mini tea pot.

3. @Union

A few weekends ago I dragged my friends out of bed for my birthday brunch (only I would host a bday brunch) at @Union on Harvard Ave. in Allston. @Union is always super busy because it's good food for on-the-cheap. They always serve seasonal coffee drinks and they allow for refills on regular cups of coffee. The last time I was there I ordered a soy cappuccino and Caprese eggs benedict, which was meatless, with traditional Hollandaise sauce, fresh mozzarella and tomato slices. SO GOOD.

2. The Regal Beagle

My family and I discovered this hole-in-the-wall on Harvard St. in Brookline during their recent visit to Boston. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. Their brunch menu is small, but offers a great variety of creative dishes and twists on classics like a veggie burger topped with a fried jalapeno, pico de gallo and queso fresco. It's cozy and they play hootenanny music, Mumford and Sons and Bob Dylan.

1. Allston Diner

This tiny place on Cambridge St. in Allston doesn't allow parties bigger than four, so it's great for an intimate group. There's tons of options for vegans and vegetarians. I recently ordered chicken and waffles. It was straight up heaven.

Richie: The Process of Making a Short Film & What I’m Coming to Learn

Hope everyone’s school year went off to a good start! I know all us COM Ambassadors are all insanely busy with internships, overloading in classes, and being extremely involved in multiple extra-curricular activities! For you freshman, I hope you’ve started to find a good balance between your school life and your social life; definitely one of the hardest things first going into college.

Personally, this semester has been my busiest yet. I’m not overloading, I don’t have an internship, and I actually left my part-time job on campus. Yet, every single moment of my day goes to the pre-production of a short film I co-wrote and hope to direct later in the fall. It’s a pretty ambitious project but I never imagined how much time would have to be devoted to it!

The development process started a whole year ago. I wrote a simple 20 page screenplay for a class. I liked the premise and the plot, but I knew the story had a lot missing. I knew the theme and mood I wanted to get across but I wasn’t quite getting there. The next semester my friend from Long Island and I began brainstorming ideas and I would go back and change the screenplay. I’ve had more rewrites than I’m able to remember, but towards the end of this past summer we finally had a script we felt comfortable with in structure.

I then approached my friend Chris to see if he wanted to produce it. Chris, my other two friends, and I, had started an independent production company the year before and I knew they’d all be willing to get it started. We mostly specialized in free-lance promotional material around Boston, but we all wanted to make the next step.

It was around August when we met, and we began carving out a plan together for the pre-production process. When we finally got back to Boston, everything starting moving so extraordinarily fast. I found myself filling up my calendar with 5 different tasks everyday going towards my short film. Meetings with potential crew members, fixing up the budget, location scouting, extensive conversations with my cinematographer, Jorge, to capture the “look” I was going for, even opening up a bank account with Bank of America so I could keep track of the budget I would be providing. Most recently I’ve been in the casting process. I went through CPCasting which was definitely the best choice I could’ve made. I received hundreds of emails within just a few days responding to my project. The casting process has been amazing but incredibly difficult; creating an electronic sign-up, emailing all those interested, attaching files with their sides (portions of the script for the specific role they wish to read for), and spending long hours at night going through all the auditions, sometimes with over 20 people a night!

In the beginning I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. The director is usually more on the creative side of things. Constantly doing small re-writes, in long meetings with my cinematographer, meeting with the main actor for rehearsals. Yet, having such a heavy hand in the pre-production process and logistics of everything began to take it’s toll on me. Luckily, I’ve more recently been able to delegate jobs to Chris, Max my AD, and Jorge. We already also have Erik, our Editor, in conversations with some people from Berklee for Sound Design, Sound Mixing, and Film Scoring (Taking a bit of stress off for post-production).

Our first day of shooting is approaching fast and it’s all very exciting. I’ve definitely learned how much planning and organization goes into making a film, short or feature-length. It’s been an incredibly rewarding process and I know I’d be nowhere without my solid crew members and the help of oneonefive Productions!

If you’re ever thinking of making a short film, give yourself ample time to organize everything, and make sure you surround yourself by dedicated and reliable people!

Tom: Falling in Love with Your Minor

Hey all! Hope your semester is off to a great start. It's become that time of year around campus - the leaves are changing, the weather is getting cooler, students are breaking out the sweaters, and midterms are right around the corner.

This semester has been awesome thus far. I've been busy directing All Shook Up through BU On Broadway, and just found out that I will be headed to London next semester through BU's London Internship Program. A ton of great blogs ahead about both!

But for this blog, I wanted to focus on how you can incorporate a minor into your schedule and how you can fall in love with this minor, as much as your major.

First - COM's Curriculum makes it manageable to incorporate a liberal arts minor.

Since COM is focused on its liberal arts curriculum in addition to its COM classes, there is plenty of flexibility to take a minor within the College of Arts and Sciences. Through meeting with an academic adviser in COM, I realized I could make sociology my minor with only one additional class. Obviously, I took this opportunity and ran with it.

Second - Taking on a Minor gives you a break from your COM Classes.

I love COM Classes to death (hence why I'm an Advertising major). But there's only so many advertising classes you can take in one semester without feeling like you're going insane. That's one of the greatest things about being able to minor. You get to change up what you are focusing on and try out some new things. Sometimes a break is exactly what you need to do your best work.

Third - You get to try other things you are interested in.

This semester I am taking Sociology 240: Sex and The Social Life, which is hands down one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken in my time at BU. While normally, I would not get a chance to take this class, having the opportunity to minor allows me to take the class and have it count for my requirements.

In short - take advantage of minoring while in COM. While most students come in and focus only on their major, sometimes a minor can go a long way.

Steph: Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

With crazy college life, it can get really hard to keep in touch with friends from home. With all the new people, new places, and of course loads of homework, finding time for an hour-long phone call to catch up can get complicated. Here are a few tips to help you guys stay in touch without the stress.

Make a Facebook Group

When we all went away to college last fall, my friends and I made a Facebook group so that we could all keep in touch. We post stories, updates, videos, and pictures to help keep each other informed on our lives. It’s a really easy way to stay updated on your friends, and its something to look forward to when you see that someone has posted in the group.

Snapchat

For all of you with an iPhone, Snapchat is a really fun, free app that you can share with your friends. The basic premise is to send selfies of yourself to your friends, who can only view it for a certain amount of seconds. Now, I know it sounds stupid. I thought it was at first too. But it’s actually really fun and silly, and it’s a nice way to show someone you’re thinking about them if you only have a few seconds to spare. You can also draw on yourself and add text!

Set Up Skype Dates

I’m a fan of planning things in advance. Most of the time, my friends and I end up playing phone tag because one of us is always busy. So, it can be helpful to set up Skype dates for later in the week to make sure that you and your friends can set aside time to catch up.

With busy college life, staying in touch can sometimes seem like a chore. But with a little bit of effort and these easy ways, you can make sure that you don’t lose touch with your good friends from home. I always feel better about everything after a nice Skype date, silly Snapchat, or Facebook post from my friends. I hope they help you, too!

Alexa: How to Not be Homesick

Hey everyone! Hope the semester is treating you all well!

I remember last year around this time I was beginning to transition from the excitement of being a freshman in college to missing my sweet chocolate lab. I was homesick. Luckily, I was able to figure out ways to cure my homesickness, (lets just pretend that’s a word), and I thought now would be a perfect time to share.

1. Skype:

Skype and Facetime are both great ways to stay in touch with your family and friends back home. There is something about seeing someone that is much better than just a five-minute phone call.

2. Realize You’re Not Alone

Seriously, everyone gets homesick. Especially coming to BU from California, I found it easier to admit that I missed home a little when my other friends from California did too. If you can talk about it, soon it won’t be as lonely.

3. Keep Mementos from your room

Keeping something from your room in your dorm room helps you adjust more to your new (but temporary) home!

4. Get Involved

I know it’s been drilled in enough, but getting involved is one of the best ways to forget about being homesick. If you are busy interning for a radio show, or shooting for BUTV, pretty soon you’re so busy you forget about wishing you were back at home.

Hope these tips help! Also good luck on your upcoming first COM test!

Kaitlin: Cadet Kaitlin

For those of you who know me, you might already be familiar with the fact that my college experience is a bit different from many others' in COM. Sure, I live in a dorm, revolve around a tight budget, and take enough classes to keep me pretty busy throughout the week.

But unlike most people, I've already been guaranteed a job for after I graduate. In fact, I know exactly how long I'll have this job, how much I'll be paid, and who my coworkers will be- 350,000 some odd Airmen.

That's right. When I graduate Boston University's College of Communication, I'll also commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

Since the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AF ROTC) is pretty rare in COM (I'm currently the only cadet majoring in a communication field), people usually have a ton of questions for me, so I thought I'd answer a few here!

So, what exactly is ROTC?

In short, it's a college program designed to train students to become commissioned officers in the armed forces. Boston University hosts four branches of ROTC- Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy.

What does that really mean?

On top of normal college classes, I have quite a few mandatory things I must do every week as a member of ROTC, including an additional 5 hours of class-time, physical training sessions, and a uniform day. We also have additional events we must attend, the biggest one being a 28-day training in Alabama and Mississippi over the Summer (I successfully completed mine in June!). Over the course of the four years we're in college, we're learning how to become the best leaders possible, so we can soon lead thousands of men and women in the military.

What happens next?

After my college career, I will enter the force as an officer, which means that Day One I'll be the boss of thousands of enlisted personnel. My contract will commit me to four years in the active Air Force, and four years in the Reserves. My plan is to work in the field of public affairs, hence the public relations major, and learn as much as I can. I recognize that this experience is so incredibly rare, and will definitely contribute to a unique perspective on PR in other fields.

Annnnd the biggest question: Will you fly planes?

No, I will probably never fly a plane. The fact that everyone in the Air Force flies is actually a very common misconception! (Although that would be pretty cool).

I hope I cleared up some confusion and/or answered some questions you might have had! If any of you have any other questions about my experience in ROTC or otherwise, please feel free to let me know. And of course, if you see me walking around in my uniform on Wednesdays, be sure to say hello!

Dany: Do You Have Your Study Buddy?

I don’t know about you guys, but it’s getting to be that time of year again for me. Midterms. When all those times spent procrastinating on Tumblr and Netflix and barely skimming long, dense readings come back to haunt you. Well, here are some pro-tips for getting through the battle.

1. Take breaks.

Believe me, nothing productive will come from a 15-hour cram session. Your brain needs to relax. Focus on what you need to do but when you start to read the same sentence eight times and the room gets blurry, it’s time to stop. Walk around, stretch your legs, get something to eat. Smoothies help me concentrate and they always perk me back up when I’m starting to lose focus.

2. Know your study pattern.

My notes always look like Office Depot threw up on them. Everything is color-coded by highlighters and sharpie pens with the appropriate post-its where I jot down questions I have while studying. It helps me stay organized and during exams, I can visualize my notebook and remember the answer. That’s how I work. Everyone learns differently, so my point here is find your routine. Establish your study method and stick to it. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it works.

3. Plan ahead.

This one is the hardest one for me because my schedule tends to be packed to the minute. But I know that if I make little sacrifices and set guidelines for what to study, I’ll be much better off. Usually about a week or so before an exam, I’ll take a look at the syllabus and see what’s going to be on it. Then I just divide it up into sections and study a little bit everyday, leaving the day before the exam as a review. This keeps me from not getting stressed and if I have any questions, I have plenty of time to stop by my professor’s office hours and ask.

4. Find your study buddy.

One of the first things I do when I walk into a class for the first time is look for someone I know or make friends. It’s always helpful to know at least one person in each class to compare notes with, quiz each other, and just talk about the material. When you’re really struggling to understand something, simply having a conversation about it with someone else and speaking in layman’s terms can help put you on the right track. Two heads are better than one!

That said, it’s back to the Mugar Marathon for me! Good luck everyone!

Sarah: The Best Non-COM Classes I’ve Taken

In my experience, if there is one thing freshman want to know going into their first and second semesters here at BU, it is what classes to take. We hear a lot about all of the great COM classes to take, and there are plenty, but there are tons of hidden gems throughout all of BU. Here are a few of my recommendations.

SED-DE570 & DE571 American Sign Language 1&2

Jason Norman & Kelly Kim

I could dedicate an entire blog post to my love for ASL. In fact, I have (check out my post from last February). If there was one requirement I dreaded, it was the language requirement. I avoided it altogether freshman year, hoping COM would magically drop it and I would be free. When I couldn’t put if off any longer, I registered for ASL; it was the perfect choice for me. I loved learning about Deaf culture and discovering an entirely new way to communicate. And, the class was just fun! We learned by playing games, role-playing and creating vlogs. If you like very active and hands-on (no pun intended) learning, this class is for you!

CAS-PH266 Mind, Brain, and Self

Walter Hopp

The dreaded philosophy requirement does NOT have to be so bad. This class came highly recommended to me, so I feel compelled to pay it forward. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – the class is difficult. It took me half the semester to just train my brain to think philosophically. But, if you put in the effort, you will be fulfilled (and feel whackid smaht!). Professor Hopp really makes the class what it is. He is incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the subject, and it shows. He is also one of the funniest professors I’ve had (one of my friends in the class kept a list of priceless Hopp quotes). And, he is all about helping his students do well. I would send him page-long emails of jumbled thoughts and he would respond with two page-long emails of brilliant feedback.

PDP-DA 150 Cardio Jazz Funk

Jossie Coleman

This class is just as fun as it sounds. If you can commit to them, PDP classes are a great way to de-stress from a hectic week. I always looked forward to starting my day off with a little bit of dancing. Jossie is a wonderful teacher, and is accommodating of all levels of experience. She has crazy amounts of energy that will get you fired up and moving. She demands the same kind of energy and pushes everyone just a little bit outside of their comfort zone. I also loved the variety of people in the class. Some people had years of experience; some people had never taken a dance class before. But, everyone had a blast!

CAS-AR100 Great Discoveries in Archaeology

William Saturno

I took this class the first semester of freshman year, and I still miss it to this day. The work was reasonable and discussion sections were always fun. The material can be a bit dry at times, but Professor Saturno is the best lecturer ever! I feel like he should be hosting his own show in Vegas instead of teaching an archaeology course. But, he is certainly well-qualified to do so. Professor Saturno has gone on expeditions all over South America, and has a million and one stories from all of them. One of them involves a very territorial bonobo ape, but that’s all you’re getting out of me. He has also made some incredible contributions to the field – he recently discovered the oldest known Mayan murals in Guatemala. How cool is that!?