COM Ambassador Blog

Anna: Staying Present This Stressful Season

As the days get darker and our workload piles up, it almost seems impossible to stay present. The holidays are near and the season lights flicker, but alas, we have the “dreaded finals” to finish before winter break. Rather than just trying to “get through” finals, we should embrace every moment of this season by staying present!

Get off your phone and share a smile!

A smile goes a long way. (Some would even say it’s the universal language of kindness!) Next time you’re walking down Comm Ave, look up from your phone and share a smile. You’ll realize that our community is so diverse and that everyone has a unique story to share. Maybe you’ll even run into someone you know. Remember—this season is not a to-do list, but rather, an opportunity to also uplift others and spread that holiday cheer!

Take time to share your story

I often find students asking “how are you doing?” but a part of me wonders if this person cares how I’m doing. Chances are, they do! Take this moment to connect with others. Rather than just saying “okay,” tell them more about your day! Sharing more of yourself allows you to better connect with others and live in the present with the presence of someone else!

Approach this season with an attitude of gratitude

An attitude starts with some introspection! Think about this: you’re here at Boston University out of all the places in the world. You survived even the hardest of your days and the days where you didn’t think you’d survive, you made it. That’s pretty amazing. What if you’re exactly where you’re meant to be? Stop thinking about where you could be or what will be of the future, but start living in the present and embracing every moment that your time at BU has to offer. Be thankful for where you are, what you’ve done, and who you are because this is right where you’re supposed to be!

Jamey: 3 Must-See Movies Shot in Boston

Hello all you film buffs! This week, I thought I would recommend some of my favorite movies that have been shot in Boston. There are many more that don’t appear on this list, but I think these movies incorporate some great aspects of the spirit of the city and our local history.

Spotlight

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Focused on an integral aspect of Boston history, the Academy Award winning Spotlight explores the 2001 Boston Globe investigation into child sex abuse commited by local Roman Catholic priests. The film took home the Best Picture award at the 2016 Academy Awards, and is a favorite within the BU community due to its connections to our school! Two of the journalists portrayed in the movie, Sacha Pfeiffer and Mike Rezendes, are BU alumni! While most of the production took place in Toronto, some key scenes were filmed in our city. Fenway Park, the Boston Public Library, the JFK/UMass T stop, Boston College High School, and the old Boston Globe offices all make an appearance.

The Social Network

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The Social Network tells the story of a young Mark Zuckerburg as he first creates Facebook and then follows him through the many successes, failures, and legal disputes that followed. Much of this movie takes place at Harvard and MIT, and so much of it was shot around Boston (and BU). A famous rowing scene was actually partly shot inside a BU COM production studio in West Campus, and later it was digitally manipulated to look like it was shot outside. There were even some interior shots at BU’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. With Facebook back in the news again now, check out this interesting film well-known for its score and performances!

Good Will Hunting

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Perhaps the most famous Boston movie of all time, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Good Will Hunting tells the story of an MIT janitor who is secretly a genius, and gets help from a professor and a therapist to reach his full potential. This film is shot all over Boston, including at MIT, in Harvard Square, in the Public Gardens. It was also written by two of Boston’s most well-known actors. Definitely choose this classic if you want to celebrate the spirit of Boston!

MK: A Political Campus

Tours through the College of Communication start in undergraduate affairs, go down to the basement, weave through third-floor studios and second-floor classrooms, and conclude in the first floor lobby. Offering stats and fun-facts, the tour-guides invite parents and prospective students to ask questions. These questions help the ambassadors tailor the tours to visitors’ unique interests, and at the very least they interrupt the monologues that Communication majors all too eagerly perform. In a sea of questions tossed or hurled my way on these tours, one seems to surface before the rest.

Myself, two other ambassadors, and one prospective family moved together through the college’s four floors for a late spring tour. We made our way downstairs to the first stop on our last leg: the acclaimed Pete Souza wall. The wall holds a dozen framed photographs Souza (‘76) took during his tenure as White House Photographer under President Obama.

At this point in the semester, my fellow ambassadors and myself had rehearsed our tour-guide routine a charming rapport. We would take turns talking about the photos and always point out our personal favorite from the Obama White House. I pointed to mine and said, “I love this one of him coaching basketball, I feel like I can just smell the gym he’s in.” My fellow ambassadors pointed to their favorites and offered similar explanations.

Before we could use our famous photojournalist as a segue to advertise the student-run publications on campus, a parent on our tour asked about the political climate on campus, trying to gauge whether or not students were politically active. We answered politely but honestly, hoping to inform not offend since an ambassadorship historically required diplomatic behavior beyond million dollar donations. Explaining that Boston University is an urban campus in the middle of a politically active city, we said that students embrace the opportunities for political engagement that our city and our school offer.

The question inspired me to consider the changing tides of political activism, the wave that has grown in strength and size over the past four years before it walls in 2020. Throughout my four years in college, I have watched activism evolve, manifesting in protest practices from traditional walk-outs and stand-ins, to the meme scene with “O.K., Boomer” Tik Toks. I admire the transformation of the previously apolitical, people who educated themselves and increased their own political involvement in hopes that they might empower others.

I’m so grateful to attend a university where student unions and organizations are allowed to band together and push for progress. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities and refrain from staying silent. There are causes that you should care about and they are not hopeless. Our school alone offers nine purely political organizations, but there are dozens of other groups involved with community engagement and student government. With the looming 2020 election, you can help these organizations; utilize your communication skills to educate, inform, and empower as we rush toward the shoreline.

Josee: I Am a Senior and I Have No Idea What I Am Doing

Which is totally fine! But if you had told Freshman Josee that I would be in this situation, I think she would have a conniption.

In my first year, I thought I had things figured out to a T. I would get my dual-degree in journalism and political science. According to my ten-year plan, I would intern at places like the Boston Globe, CNN, and the New York Times while still working on my pre-law concentration. Of course, my first-year mind was realistic. There was no way I would go straight into law school after BU, I had to get my masters (of course!) and have 3-5 years of practical experience.

Now, I don’t regret having those aspirations and dreams. They helped push me to work hard and keep going. They gave me a chance to work towards something.

What I didn’t recognize, what I couldn’t recognize, from the outset, was how much things would change. Now, I still had high aspirations all of college, but I wasn’t used to evolving those passions and dreams and letting go of ones that I grew out of.

I had my heart set on becoming an international correspondent for the BBC. I even took on an extra IR bachelors so that I could get “deep background” for my dream job. I was in this for the long haul.

But, after taking IR courses, joining clubs, and interning abroad, I realized that I had other passions and skills I could hone in on. It was the hardest identity crisis of my college career when I realized that I didn’t have to be a journalist.

It took a lot of time, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of self-reflection to “give up” my old dream for a new perspective. But I’m so glad I did.

Now, I’m just a senior with no clue where she will end up - but with the self-assurance that it will be an adventure nonetheless.

Brady: Podcasts, the Newest Old-Fashioned Technology

I was on the phone with my grandmother when I had quite the realization.

In a media-crazed culture that seems to become more technologically complex by the day, there are ways in which we’re not developing at all.

In fact, in certain areas, we’re going backwards.

My grandmother was asking what I had been up to earlier in the day, and I responded by saying I had recorded a podcast with a friend. She wasn’t familiar with the term “podcast”, so I had to explain it to her. In my explanation, I tried to find a certain connection between podcasts and something she would understand. Rather casually, I said it was like listening to the radio, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how interesting this comparison was.

When my grandmother was a child, she would switch on her radio and tune into her favorite style of music or the daily baseball game. That was her way to be entertained; experiencing media aurally. Later on in her life, entertainment moved to television, adding a visual element to the experience of the audience. In more recent years, “4D” movies have been created that implement a physical stimulus, and virtual reality has transported viewers into the content.

Over the years, media has become more and more immersive. But yet, podcasting is bursting onto the scene as one of the fastest-growing forms of entertainment. Why is that? In a world with more technology than we know what to do with, why are we so fascinated by the source that relies on the least amount of stimuli?

Why is podcasting suddenly so popular?

Quite simply, our culture is built in a way that allows podcasts to thrive. We live in a multi-tasking society, where hustling and bustling is the norm, and no one has time to slow down. We no longer prioritize live content or the latest releases: if we’re going to consume media, we’re going to do it on our own time.

Enter podcasts, the form of media that can be consumed in conjunction with the completion of other activities. Doing homework? You can listen to a podcast. Going for a run? You can listen to a podcast. Taking a shower? You can listen to a podcast. With this style of entertainment, you don’t need to allocate time to experiencing it. You can fit it in with your jam-packed life, and still get your fix of comedy, sports, politics, or whatever content you may be interested in.

Don’t get me wrong, “total immersion” media has its place. These forms of entertainment are most successful when their audience is willing to devote their entire focus for a certain amount of time to that specific show, movie, or whatever the content may be. However, that’s becoming more and more rare by the day. Our society isn’t as interested in putting this kind of time and attention into one thing alone, and podcasting is emerging as an attractive alternative.

In 2019, we are listening to our media just as our predecessors did nearly 100 years ago. Podcasts are taking us back in time, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s what we want. It’s what we need.

Podcasts are putting us in the past, and that’s ok.

Morgan: Homesick

As December continues to creep up on us, I am getting more and more homesick. But not in the same way that I was homesick my first year of college. I’m homesick thinking about leaving the place that has seen my grow. The place that has fostered my education. The place that has provided me with a bigger, brighter family. This time, it is Boston that I’m homesick for.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little melodramatic. I can look out my window right now and still catch glimpses of the Citgo sign and hear the buzz from Storrow Drive; however, as I write my final blog post for COM Ambassadors, I can only reminisce.

The unknown: FRESHMEN YEAR

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Freshmen year Morgan entered Warren Towers wide eyed, overpacked, and lost (both literally and figurately). I knew no one and knew nothing about living without the ease of having my parents at my fingertips. I was shocked when I teared up when I talked to my parents, for the first time after school began, through my computer screen while sitting in the common room of the 16th floor. But I quickly was able learn how to navigate my way through BU’s campus. After a few latenesses I figured out how to get to the fifth floor of CAS. I made friends in my WR100 class. And I figured out what times were best for showering when there are about twenty other girls vying for the same shower stalls.

I surely missed my group of friends from home and was sad to miss out on my family’s weekend dinners out together, but I learned to find places at BU where I discovered people who would become my family away from home.

That’s new: SOPHOMORE YEAR

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If freshmen year was my adjustment period, sophomore year was my time of discovery.

I moved out of my comfort zone by taking on new leadership positions. In BU’s Asian Student Union (ASU), I progressed from being a freshmen representative, to secretary, to vice president internal, and this is where I formed some of my closest friendships. With ASU I was given the opportunity to see events grow from being ideas to huge events, such as Breaking Boundaries, for upwards of 500 people. ASU introduced me to people who built me up and always showed me unending love and support in an environment where I was lost, and for that I am so very grateful.

I further explored beyond people’s expectations of me by taking hip hop dance classes! As an extremely inexperienced dancer, performing in front of a crowd for the first time in my life taught me confidence and has furthered my mentality of having no shame as long as you are having fun.

The Revival: JUNIOR YEAR

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At the start of junior year, I was close to comfort at last. I was rooming with three great friends of mine, and was fully acclimated to BU with all of my involvements in organizations fairly finalized. But studying abroad my second semester once again placed me in an unfamiliar setting.

I studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, and let me tell you, it was incredible. I thought that I had dedicated my last two years to learning who I was, but there’s nothing like moving across the world to force you into some serious self discovery. I experienced life like I never was able to before by being granted the privilege of having time and constant creative inspiration surrounding me. I was more active, cooking for the first time, and interning at a huge global media company. Study abroad was the much needed break that I needed to be rejuvenated at a time when the pains of college were becoming heavy.

Retirement is on the horizon: SENIOR YEAR

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Senior year is a short one. Being that I am graduating early, my time at BU is coming to an end this coming December, and I am ill prepared for the reality check that is about to come my way. However, I plan to make the most out of these six remaining weeks that I reside on Commonwealth Avenue. I am going to miss hearing the passion from my history professors. I’ll miss having late night talks in my apartment with the people who have made my time here special. I will miss the dining hall. And I will student discounts. (Just to name a few things).

During my senior year I have truly felt like an upperclassman as younger students come to me with the same questions that I once asked my own mentors and friends, which scares and excites me at the same time. In college I am currently at the height of my career, but in just SIX WEEKS, yet again I will be pushed down to the bottom ranks. For the first time I have no idea what I will be doing, who I will be with, or even what city I will be in post graduation. I will definitely return to those uneasy feelings that haunted me freshmen year, but now at least I’ll have the experiences of my last few years at Boston University to guide me.

Geneve: 5 Tips to Spice Up Your Instagram Stories

Maybe you're an Instagram fanatic and are very familiar with the platform, or maybe you're just looking to get started building your social media brand. Instagram stories are super fun ways to share moments of your everyday life with a pizzazz.

1) Letter Ombre-ing

I find this technique to be especially useful if you have one word that you really want to highlight. It does take a bit of practice. This website gives a pretty thorough tutorial on how to do it, but tldr: Select your font (this technique usually works best with "Strong" or "Classic" fonts) and type your text. Then, select all and place the cursor to the furthest right, then select a color with your other hand and slide the cursor through each letter, choosing the colors as you go.

2) Font Combining

I love using this to add a "caption" to a picture. You are essentially spelling out a word using a different font for every letter. This tool works best if you use letters from the same color family. Feel free to mix lowercase and capital letters as you go, and repeat fonts as you find necessary! I find that if you include a squiggle, it helps to draw the word together more if you find it looking a little disheveled.

3) Color Blocking

I love color blocking if the image that I'm posting has a lot of of color that I want to bring out. For this technique, I will highlight each letter in a certain color (often pulled from the image) and stagger it just a little to spell out a word. I find that staggering actually helps to bring the word together rather than just leaving them straight. This technique works best with "Strong", "Classic", and "Typewriter" fonts.

4) Pinpointing

I recently learned this technique through one of my favorite influencers. I find that pinpointing is helpful for if there is a lot going on in a photo that you want to explain. I use the white pen at a medium thickness and make a singular dot, but if your photo has more light colors, a black pen would work efficiently as well. This pairs well with the "Typewriter" font justified to the left and highlighted to bring out the text.

P.S. Highlighting works well to bring out dark or light text from the background. I like to use the transparent pen but the regular pen works also. You can do squiggles or just two lines like I did here. Don't forget you have an eraser tool if you want to clean up the edges, if that's your taste!

5) Handwriting

A lot of people will ask if I use a stylus to do handwriting on my stories, and I always tell them that practice makes perfect! I find that making the pen thinner will also help make it easier to control. Handwriting looks best when combined with some typed font. I try to avoid the "Neon" font, because it is so similar to cursive handwriting.

Hopefully with these tips, you are able to take your Instagram story game up a notch! If you need any advice, please feel free to dm me on Instagram @genevelau!

Steven: How to stay organized in COM

When you’re in COM, your class schedule may not look packed, but I can assure you, between clubs, jobs, and the daily hustle of college, your schedule fills up quickly. Sometimes managing all these plans can be difficult, and slip ups will happen; sometimes you’ll forget to grab that lunch you had planned with a friend, and sometimes you’ll forget to write your blog post for COM Ambassadors (oops). Either way, you’re going to have to find a way to manage it all. Every person I know at BU has their own system of organization that works for them, so in my blog post today I’d like to share some useful tips and tricks to stay organized that I’ve learned so far during my time here at BU.

Get a calendar

If you get anything out of this blog post, let it be a calendar. Calendars are a way of living, and the only way I function. Everyone has their own preferences, whether it be a traditional print calendar or an online calendar like those offered by Apple and Google. Every class, club, work shift, and haircut of mine gets input into my Google Calendar. Without it, I would be an unorganized mess. Find what works for you, and commit to it!

Plan ahead

Give your calendar a good overview at the beginning of each week and at the end of each day. It helps you keep track of everything you are doing and what you will need for tomorrow. There’s no worse feeling than showing up to a photo shoot and forgetting an SD card! Looking over your calendar the night before can help prevent these mishaps and ensure you’re ready for every day!

Set reminders for small tasks

Need to get laundry in forty minutes? Have an assignment due at midnight that you need to start by 9 p.m.? Set yourself small reminders for short term tasks that might require a little nudge to do. Why remember to grab your laundry if Siri can do that for you?

Don’t overbook yourself, and schedule “me” time

You think you can do it all. You can’t. While coordinating a day full of activities from 9am to 11pm may seem like a good use of your time, you will burn yourself out—quickly. I have been there, and every COM student I know has been there. Only do what you can, and try to schedule time for yourself; listen to music, watch Netflix, or do whatever relaxes you. This time will help you collect your thoughts, and will do much more good than that extra shot of espresso you’re banking on to get through the day.

And there you have it! Stay organized, find what works for you, and remember that no matter what life throws at you, you can do it!

Remy: 5 Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health

I recently read Katie Morton’s book, “Are u ok?” where she guides readers through common mental health questions. On the first page, Morton poses the question, “what’s the difference between mental health and mental illness?”

According to Morton, “mental health is how we are doing psychologically and emotionally.”

Alternatively, “mental illness is when our mental health is so compromised or neglected for so long that it affects our ability to function in our everyday life.”

This introduction stood out to me for three reasons. First, although I know these two terms are different, I have never stopped to define them. Second, we all have mental health. Therefore, you do not need to be experiencing any sort of emotional difficulties in order to care for your mental health. Lastly, I think it is important to understand how you can best take care of your own mental health needs, especially as a busy BU student.

As a result, I have decided to share five techniques/activities/reminders that I am putting into practice this fall. *Disclaimer, some of these tips work better than others and I turn to each one for different needs, so feel free to try them out.

Meditate

Over the summer, I spontaneously signed up for a six week group meditation class once per week. I have learned different meditation techniques, but my biggest takeaway is that meditation looks different for everyone. It may be outside in a scenic location, your dorm room, or even an office. Some people like to meditate alone, some people prefer groups, some people meditate for hours. For me, meditation simply consists of taking deep breaths for about 5-10 minutes when I wake up. It allows me to set intentions for the day and refocus my energy. There’s lots of resources out there to discover what meditation looks like for you. For example, I love the Headspace app. It offers a free meditation trial, and also an online blog! https://www.headspace.com/blog/)

Keep A Gratitude Journal

This is one of my all-time favorite practices. Carving out just three minutes a day where I jot down or take mental notes of everyone and everything I am grateful for helps me put my responsibilities and worries into perspective. What I love about this, is that no matter where you are, if you find yourself worried, anxious, or feeling down in any way- you can simply think of what you are grateful for and move forward with a clear mind and in a better mood.

Answer a Prompt

In my meditation class I mentioned earlier, one question the group leader posed was, “what does it mean to be present?” I noticed while answering this question that my thoughts flowed freely and it helped me relax. I reflected on this and realized that I tend to associate writing with deadlines and grades. After all, the majority of my writing is for school purposes. I had forgotten that writing can serve as a tool to relax your mind and generate creativity. Therefore, my new goal is to answer one prompt per week. This could be a question I hear in passing, google and find randomly, or make up on my own.

The point of this exercise is simply to let my brain have a break. This may sound counterintuitive, because writing requires brainpower. However, I have found answering questions reenergizes me.

Exercise

Working out has always been one passions. I am not a competitive person, so simply working out at the gym, running, or taking a fitness class allows me to focus on myself and no one else. Obviously, there are countless health benefits from working out. While I keep those benefits in the back of my mind, I try to focus on why I am exercising in that moment. Personally, I love cardio and find that it almost serves as a type of meditation.

Physically taking care of yourself goes hand in hand with mental health.

Set Aside time for friends

Lastly, I think there is nothing better than spending time with friends. I know it may sound crazy, because many of us as college students live with our friends or are a five minute walk from everyone we could ever want to hangout with. However, I noticed that I constantly found myself running into people and muttering the same line over and over again, “Oh my gosh, we need to catch up soon. Sorry, I have been so busy!” I also realized that almost every single response I received was identical to my own. Moral of the story- we all are busy! But, its OK to prioritize spending time with friends, even if it’s a 30 minute coffee or quick lunch break. My friends always boost my mood. They remind me that even though we are all here for our education, a huge part of college is about building relationships. So let yourself have fun and take advantage of having all your friends right around the corner.

Whether you try these specific tips or not, I hope that this blog serves as a reminder to take time for yourself and your mental health. Thanks for reading friends, have a happy and healthy fall 🙂

Mira: Remembering Self Care

With Thanksgiving break a month away and midterms happening in every class, this time of year is ALWAYS incredibly stressful. It’s constantly GO GO GO, and because of that, it’s easy to forget to stop and give yourself a moment to breathe.

That’s why I wanted to take a second to remind all of you beautiful people to practice self-care! I know it can feel like a waste of time when you have so much going on, but it’s BECAUSE you have so much going on that it’s even more important to set aside some time for yourself to recharge!

The advice I’m going to give you might seem like common sense, but these are things I constantly see my friends (also myself) forgetting to do when we get busy. Taking time to do the following will give yourself the strength to get through this stressful time of year and stay healthy!

STAY HYDRATED

Remembering to drink enough water is difficult enough already, but when you are pulling all nighters to study, and drinking coffee to keep yourself awake, drinking water becomes even more essential. Caffeine might help us get through writing the last page of that essay, but it’ll also dehydrate you fast, so make sure you switch out that coffee mug for a cup of water every few hours!

MAKE SURE YOU ARE EATING ENOUGH

I know that I’m guilty of skipping breakfast to rush to lecture or grabbing a snack instead of a full meal for dinner when I need to study for an exam. That being said, let yourself take the time to eat. It’s not a waste. Your body needs the nutrients and energy to keep yourself going under pressure! Food is fuel and don’t you forget it!

TAKE A WALK

When you’re stressed out and have an intense workload, it can be easy to hole up in your room and read for hours on end. However, when you find yourself losing focus, grab a light jacket and head outside! Taking a quick walk (even just 15 minutes) can help clear your head and get your back in the right mindset to continue grinding for that exam you have the next day!

CALL A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER

Don’t be afraid to lean on those around you for support! It can be a really nice break to talk to someone and get your mind off of your stressors for a little while. Meet up with a friend, or call someone from back home! I guarantee you’ll feel a lot better afterwards!

Those were just a few reminders to look after yourself! They’re simple self care skills, but important nonetheless. College is not supposed to be easy. There are times that are going to be super fun, but also times that will be insanely stressful too, and that’s okay! Just make sure you are taking care of yourself during those stressful times and know that it’s okay (and necessary) to take a break every once in awhile. Wishing you the best of luck for the rest of the semester!