comblog – Page 89 – COM Ambassador Blog

Hannah: November Resolutions

The other day I was talking with some co-workers in the Student Services office. We all were busier than ever (even though Midterm month was supposedly only in October). We joked that there weren’t enough hours in the day, but I think we were just looking at it the wrong way. There are enough hours in a day, there just aren’t enough hours well spent. It’s easy to overlook how much time we waste.

In COM 101, our introductory communications course, we tracked our media involvement over a single week. It’s safe to say a lot of us were pretty shocked by the results so of course the next three or four days we tried cutting back on the media, but now that it’s been a year I’ve noticed that the media has intercepted my free time once again. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that between phone apps, Internet, and TV, I waste hours of my time each week.

Long story short, the Self Control computer app (not all apps are bad) is in full use for me right now and I’m reassessing how I want to spend my time. Goals aren’t just for January. There’s still so much I want to get involved on campus so I’m figuring out how I can cut back on some of the unnecessary stuff, so I can spend my time wisely getting in things I’m excited about.

Goals are great! Everyone comes in to college with this laundry list of things, but it’s easy to get sidetracked. Giving tours each week constantly reminds me how much COM and Boston University have to offer. I recommend everyone take the time to dust off his or her laundry list of goals and get back on track. We’ve only got four years here and before we know it we’ll be out in the real world.

It’s also important to plan ahead. A lot of clubs and organizations that accept most of their new members in the early fall usually have more openings in January. Now is the time to reach out and see if you can get involved next semester. Plus with registration still a week away you can make extracurriculars fit with your classes.

This isn’t to say that it’s not okay to spend the occasional evening in bed watching rom-coms, ‘cause trust me, I still find a way to work that in to my schedule. It’s a balancing act. A little planning goes along way. Set your goals and hold yourself accountable.

Julianna: Celebrating Thanksgiving with Friends

Now that Halloweekend is behind us, t'is the season for Christmas commercials galore and Starbucks holiday cups BEFORE November 28th. I'm here to give Thanksgiving all the love that it deserves. Why? Well for obvious reason number one, it's a day of marathon eating and napping, and two, it's smack in the middle of a relaxing five-day break before the semester spirals into a frenzy of final papers and exams.

Last week I was perusing Buzzfeed (you know, the usual) and stumbled upon this article: 17 Rules of Friendsgiving. Through silly memes and photos of decadent T-day foods, Buzzfeed provides a how-to to throwing a dinner party amongst friends to celebrate the holiday. I sent the article to my BU crew, and today we set a date for our very own "Friendsgiving" pot luck. Because we are all seniors our "Friendsgiving" has a lot of meaning to us. Also since most of us have kitchens this year and are honing our cooking skills we're pretty excited to see what gourmet creations each of us will bring to the table. Now if you're really into this "Friendsgiving" idea, but don't have a kitchen at your residence here are some alternative ways to gather your friends for a holiday meal:

1) Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by BU Dining Services

On Thursday, November 21st all of the dining halls on campus will be serving up turkey and all the fixings, plus pumpkin pie for dessert. Themed nights in the dining halls are usually busy, so make sure you and your friends get there early to stake out a table.

2) Kitchen Kibitz: ThanksGivukkah

What makes this Thanksgiving so awesome is that it lands on Hanukkah. A pop-up restaurant in the North End called Kitchen Kibitz will be hosting a ThanksGivkkah dinner on November 10th. That means Thanksgiving and Hanukkah traditional dishes will collide (think pumpkin seed challah, pecan pie rugelach) in this culinary experience. The dinner is 21+ and a bit pricey ($65 per ticket), but it's worth the splurge for a joint holiday that will occur again 80,000 years from now.

3) On the cheap

When in doubt, take out. Order a roasted turkey and a slew of sides with the "Family Meal" value from Boston Market (the nearest is at 245 Massachusetts Avenue). Spread out your BM dinner on the floor of your dorm room and have a "Friendsgiving" indoor picnic. If you and your friends want to venture away from T-day classics (because let's face it, no one can pull off T-day food like mom) then team up on a fast food run around the area, and enjoy a fun dinner at home snacking on chicken nuggets, burgers, tacos and fries. Or everyone can heat up a microwaveable finger food for an oh so college h'orderves hour.

Kate: My COMLife

As many of you may have seen, COM has been hosting the #myCOM campaign throughout the year where students can post different aspects of their personal COM experience. Last Friday, we celebrated COM in a Day with small contests and raffles throughout the day for those who participated. While I sent a couple tweets here and there, I thought I would share what a day in my COM life is all about.

9:30 – Mass Communication Research class with Professor Danehy. This is one of the required courses for Mass Communication students and to be honest, I was not thrilled about it. But it has turned out to be one of the most useful classes I’ve taken in college. Professor Danehy teaches us as those who will consume research, not conduct it which makes it much more manageable.

11:00 – Work in Student Services. I’ve had a work-study job in the COM Advising office since freshman year. While it has been really helpful for myself to know all of the policies of COM and BU, I also really enjoy getting to work with the advisors and COM students day-to-day. And I think my friends appreciate the mini-advising appointments I can give them in our apartment.

1:00 – COM Tour for prospective families. If I could get paid to give tours of COM everyday, I wouldn’t think twice. I LOVE meeting interested students and their parents and sharing my experiences with them. In addition to being a COM Ambassador, I am also one of the coordinators of the program and get to work with the 19 other students who share are equally enthusiastic about COM as I am.

3:00 – COMlife meeting. Once a week, the six cast members and two producers of COMlife get together to talk about what we are all working on, what we are filming, and what we all want to accomplish in the next episode. It’s a great time to all catch up on each other’s lives and see what everyone is working on. It also just reminds me who amazing the people around me are and definitely drives me to do as much as I can.

5:00 – PRSSA meeting. Joining the BU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America was one of the best decisions I made at school. They bring in fantastic speakers and is a great resource for internships/interviews/PR, especially for students who are just getting started.

Evening – Homework & Group Meetings. By the time you leave COM, you will be a pro at group projects. I’ve worked in teams of everything from two to 10 and you really get used to balancing work with others and accomplishing things together. Because I usually have class, work, or my internship from 9-5 during the day, the evenings are when homework happens.

I would love to hear about a day in your COM life – tweet me @KateScott10 and don’t forget #myCOM!

Abby: Keep In Touch!

The other day I was catching up with my best friend from high school whom I hadn’t talked to in a couple of weeks. I was telling her about some problem that came up which I had stressed over, but by the time I was filling her in the issue was resolved and old news. She said, “Abby! Why didn’t you tell me this happened?!”

And I asked myself the same question. An outside opinion would have helped me so much and gave my Boston-centric issue a fresh perspective (And it is always great to catch up with friends). Sometimes you get caught up in the BU bubble of lectures, studying, dining hall lunches and roommates that it is really easy to forget about the other aspects of your life. I think it is so important to keep in touch with family and loved-ones and they are equally grateful to be kept in the loop. With things like iPhones, and Facebook and Skype it is so easy to iChat your mom in Florida on your walk home from class, IM your best friend studying abroad in Dublin, Skype with your boyfriend abroad in Morocco and then call your family who lives in New Orleans. Old school snail-mail is also a thoughtful and often overlooked way of keeping in touch. I just sent an actual letter to my great Aunt who doesn’t have a cell phone and she was so grateful to be kept in the know about what I’m up to in college. Sometimes things can get overwhelming when you text a friend to tell them to get on Facebook so you can send them a link to a video another friend saw on Twitter and then emailed you about. So be careful to not get overwhelmed and only reach out when and for how long you want to. If it takes you a day to respond to a text that is absolutely fine. I’m sure your loved one will appreciate it no matter what.

Technology really does amaze me. Morocco is 3,515 miles away. I’m surprised I even get to see a picture.

This isn’t how it is every week, but sometimes you just have to call your Mom four or five times in one day. (We were making holiday plans and I kept losing the call in the elevator. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it, okay?)

Anneliese: Registration Survival Guide

Ah, the possible pain or glory of spring registration. For underclassmen, the day can seem daunting, as you are often left scrambling after upperclassmen claim the seats you were coveting. Here are some tips and reminders to keep you from having a meltdown when the melee begins.

1) Wi-Fi or Die

Okay, so that’s a little dramatic, because you won’t sustain any bodily harm during registration. BUT, you want to make sure you have the most pristine Wi-Fi connection during your fated time slot. You don’t want to miss out on your ideal schedule simply because those annoying, little bars are blinking.

2) Back it Up

Make sure you have a back up in case one of your preferred classes fills up. Then, have a back up for your back up. And maybe even a triple back up. Better to be safe than sorry.

3) Brunch it Out

My friends and I had a pre-registration brunch to help cope with the stress of choosing classes. It sounds stupid, but hey—if we couldn’t have the class we wanted, at least we had pancakes. Pancakes, and each other to rant to about the ordeal we had just survived.

4) Gimmie a Break

Just because registration is over, doesn’t mean you should lose all hope. Winter break is basically the flea market of course shopping, with people dropping classes and picking up new ones during this time. The victory of claiming your desired class is made even sweeter, since you really have to wait and hunt for it. Crappy metaphor aside, my point is: Stalk the registrar over winter break.

5) Don’t Sweat it

Even if you don’t end up with all of your number one choices, don’t freak out! BU offers a wide range of great courses with awesome professors, leaving you with a better chance of having good ones than bad ones. Who knows—your favorite course of the semester may even end up being one you hadn’t picked initially.

Happy registration, everybody!

Kevin: World Series Champs!

So normally I would apologize for having 2 Red Sox related blog posts, but THE RED SOX JUST WON THE WORLD SERIES!

The magic of the beards prevailed, and for the first time in 95 years the Sox just won the World Series at Fenway! As soon as Koji struck out the last batter, everyone just ran into the streets to celebrate. The BPD shut down Kenmore Square, but Bay State road was filled with people, and we all ran down to get as close to Kenmore and Fenway as we could.

There were all sorts of chants like “lets go red sox,” and “papi, papi,” (pretty sure there was one involving the Yankees and a 4 letter word for a while, but I’ll leave that up to your imagination.) People were climbing on anything that could be climbed, from lampposts to trees, the crowd was singing “Sweet Caroline,” and it was one of the best nights of my life. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Boston so excited, people were celebrating in the streets for hours.

The parade starts at 10am on Saturday, and heads down Boylston all the way down to the Museum of Science, where the Duckboats are going to go into the Charles and do a loop. (Here’s a link to the map).

http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2013/10/boston_red_sox_world_series_parade_route.html

It’s definitely going to be one of the craziest celebrations Boston has seen in a long time!!

Dany: Last Minute Halloween

I don’t know about you guys but for some reason, October is always the busiest month of my semester. And it sucks cause it also happens it’s my favorite month of the year. I love the beginning of fall, the leaves, the pumpkin-flavored everything, apple pies, and of course Halloween.

Every year, I’m forced to come up with a super lame last minute costume cause I just don’t have time to really come up with something great. BUT this year I’ve thought of some still-lame-but-super-awesome costumes that you can throw together in a moment’s notice.

1. Nudist on strike

Regular clothes and a sign around your neck. Done.

2. School spirit

White sheet and BU jacket. Done.

3. Quarterback

Tape a quarter to your back. Done.

4. Social butterfly

Draw some apps on a white t-shirt and throw on some fairy wings. Done.

5. Broke

Just add tears. Done?

Half-kidding about that last one. But really, I absolutely love Halloween and no amount of work or midterms or papers will take that away. These are lame but they always make me laugh. It’s the laziest creativity I’ve ever seen and I love it. But there’s also brilliant ideas for groups or duos that take little time and effort and come out awesome.

After all, it’s only one night. So be safe and have fun!

Tom: A Theater-Filled Fall

Hi all! We are about half way through the semester and midterms are just starting to settle down in COM, so I’ve started to set my sights on my extracurricular activities. My biggest extracurricular activity is my on-campus theater commitment. I am the President of On Broadway, which is the premier musical theater organization at Boston University. The greatest part of On Broadway is that the entire club is completely student-run, which means students run every single part of the process of putting up a show. This semester, I’ve had the opportunity to work on three different shows:

1) The Drowsy Chaperone – Assistant Lighting Designer

My first show of the semester which just launched last weekend was The Drowsy Chaperone in which I tried my hand at lighting for the first time. As Assistant Lighting Designer, I got the opportunity to learn the light board, program cues, focus the lights on the stage, and choosing which cool lighting effects go from scene to scene. Since The Drowsy Chaperone went up in the amazing Tsai Performance Center on campus, we were able to do limitless lighting effects that created an amazing show.

2) How to Succeed in Business – Ensemble

For my second show of the semester, I will be headed to the stage to act in the ensemble of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The show has been an absolute blast to be in the ensemble of, especially since I get to play a variety of bit parts, ranging from nerdy business man to an energetic 60’s game show host. I am also getting a workout with the number of dance numbers in the show (this show may turn me into a dancer, who knows?)

3) Fire & Rain: An Original James Taylor Showcase – Producer

I am trying my hand at producing again, but this time for a student-developed showcase. Fire & Rain is a completely student created collection of James Taylor songs arranged to fit numerous different musical styles. Producing is one of my favorite parts of the theater because I am involved in the advertising and budget management regarding the production. This is my fourth shot at Producing with On Broadway, and I’ve enjoyed the chance to work on a student developed piece!

My semester thus far has certainly been theater filled, but filled with all of the things I enjoy. On Broadway has been an amazing outlet for the past four years to fulfill my theater pursuits and I am very happy to have found such a great home on campus. If you are interested in theater as a hobby, BU is definitely the right place to be.

Will: Living in COM is Kinda Awesome

This past week, due to multiple projects including the successful #COMinaday endeavor, I was closer than I’ve ever been to actually living in COM. Here’s why living in COM was kind of awesome:

NUMBER ONE! Over the course of a week 3 celebrity alumni graced COM with their presence as well as incredibly informative presentations. Stephanie McMahon, a senior executive at WWE, gave a presentation on Wednesday and Jay Roewe along with Michael Gunn gave a cooperative presentation about HBO and The Newsroom.

NUMBER TWO! It’s literally 30 feet away from Starbucks, Subway and the Warren Towers dining hall. Not to mention the numerous vending machines in the building. That means I can get coffee for breakfast, Subway for lunch, and Warren for dinner and never have to be gone from whatever I’m working on for more than 20 minutes at most.

NUMBER THREE! You have no choice but to be productive. With a full-blown radio station, fully-functional multi-room television studio, and hundreds of computers equipped with all types of software, it’s easy to have fun and work on your projects.

NUMBER THREE AND HALF!

-The chairs in the student lounge are pretty comfy

-And multiple newspapers are delivered to COM every single morning!

-You can shower in the fountain…

Taylor: What Does the Grad Say?

Before coming to BU, software like Final Cut, the Adobe platforms, Avid, and ProTools were all foreign. Editing was not something that I would have immediately volunteered as tribute for. Writing for online and broadcast are skills that completely contradict my pre-college learnings. One of most valuable in-house tools that COM offers daily is the assistance of graduate students. Here are top ways to spot a Grad student (not creepy):

1. The COM Writing center, located in the basement, has nearly a dozen tutors awaiting the arrival of students interested in perfecting their writing craft. Whether you are working on a film script, press release, or a news article the room has someone happily ready to offer assistance.

2. COM has tons of applications installed on the computers located in labs throughout the building. Tip: It would behoove you to checkout the tutorial times of graduate students and other TA’s that are available for guidance.

COM offers a lot of opportunities for students to connect with peers, faculty, alumni, and graduate students…MAKE USE OF THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE!

- Taylor