Using Vlogs as a Medium for Growth and Learning. Lydia Lucas

Transcription

1 Using Vlogs as a Medium for Growth and Learning By Lydia Lucas

2 Lucas 2 In January 2014 I made my final decision to go on a five-week long summer study abroad program in Macerata, Italy. I began to think of ways that I could make the experience more impactful for myself in the present as well as the future. Many people keep travel journals when they take trips such as this, but as a video production student I wanted to take it a step further. I decided to make a daily video blog (or vlog) every day, chronicling how I spent my days, what I was learning, and how the experience was changing me as a person. Now that I am home, I believe that the decision to create these vlogs was a good one. Making a daily vlog for sixty-three days in Europe taught me many things about the process of production, understanding and experiencing different cultures, and coming to terms with my own place in humanity. The production process for my vlogs was something that I had given some thought to in the beginning, but I still learned a lot through the process of filming and editing content each day for sixty-three days. I knew I had to finish the Italy portion for my grade, but if I m being completely honest I wasn t sure if I would be motivated to continue through my independent travel through France and other parts of Western Europe. Without a grade on the line, I thought my laziness would get the best of me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that people continued to watch the videos I made. This helped motivate me for more personal reasons. Knowing that people I cared about were watching and enjoying the videos helped me to keep making them, and at a certain point it simply became a matter of finishing the project. So as it happened, I did manage to make a video for every day I was in Europe or travelling. There are sixty-three videos for each day. They range from one minute and fourteen seconds to eleven minutes and thirty-nine seconds. All sixty-three videos together have a running time of three hours and twenty-three minutes.

3 Lucas 3 The basic process of making a vlog did not change much from start to finish. I filmed the narration at various times of day, but I tried to keep the content as uniform as possible. I started out with a summary of the day and the things that I had learned. Then I included some aspect of Italian culture that I had observed and wished to reflect upon. As time went on, I learned how to get better b-roll coverage. I begin analyzing my days from start to finish as they were happening. I would ask myself, Will this be something I can talk about in today s video? I began to focus on making my pans slower and fewer and included more still shots so that when it came to editing I had more to choose from. Each day I got faster at editing. It took me about an hour to work through some of the first few videos, but as I developed a system and learned what worked and what didn t I cut the entire production time down to about twenty minutes. When I first started writing the scripts, I would write word for word what I wanted to say. It clearly sounded like I was reading. I began a new process that involved going through my footage from the day and making notes about them so that my voice sounded more genuine. I learned how to find stories in the smallest of things. There were a handful of days when I wasn t sure if I was going to have anything to talk about in the video, but in the end I could always find something interesting to talk about on these days. The dull days forced me to find a way to make the video watchable, and they continue to be some of my favorite videos. In some ways, it was better than cramming a lot of tourist information into a five minute video. All of my videos were essentially slice of life style, but these videos in particular showed what it was really like to live in Italy every day. Looking back now that I am home, I believe the vlogs were integral in helping me to absorb and understand much of the culture shock I might have otherwise experienced. They helped me to process my experiences each day by forcing me to think critically about my

4 Lucas 4 environment and myself. Being able to unload the information about my entire day helped me to see each day individually. Being able to compartmentalize my experience this way helped me to lessen many potential stressors. Being with other Americans also helped me to process some of my initial thoughts and observations about Italian culture. I was able to ask questions of my professors and also share camaraderie with my peers. Some aspects of Italian culture came as a surprise to me, but there were also a few that I embraced wholeheartedly. In my orientation packet through AHA International I learned that exact change is appreciated by Italian businesses. I found this surprisingly easy to get used to, as I usually feel guilty for holding up a line to give exact change in the States. It was also mentioned that customer service is not necessarily a priority. Italians do not value efficiency in the same way that Americans do. Having worked in retail myself, I found this to be refreshing. I like the understanding that a business transaction doesn t need to have this veil of fake over-eagerness and perkiness on the part of the employee. I knew that I didn t have to tip in Europe, because servers actually get paid a livable minimum wage. When I continued my trip outside of Italy I found out that this is mostly true of other countries on the continent as well. However, there were some isolated incidents in which leaving a tip was a very acceptable thing to do. Despite doing my best to research the culture, there were plenty of other cultural differences that I had to experience to fully understand. Having exact change came in handy when I learned how to barter. I didn t try it the first time I bought something at an open-air market, but I attempted every other time afterwards. I ended up buying most of my souvenirs from open-air markets instead of the various businesses around town that never seemed to be open. I learned to deal with the fact that businesses close on Sundays and at certain times of the day and sometimes just whenever they feel like it. When we got into Macerata on the first night

5 Lucas 5 I had a craving for Coca-Cola light and went in search of one. I thought the gas station would still be open, but it wasn t. I eventually had to learn to pay attention to how late things stayed open and coordinate my schedule around the grocery store s hours. When I took my trip to Vienna, I met an American student who had studied there for a semester. She told me that stores and business also have different and sometimes inconvenient hours in Vienna, and she had to learn to adjust as well. Another big adjustment was getting used to the drivers and traffic. Small and energy efficient cars can fit into smaller spaces than most American cars, but some Europeans seem to take this fact as a challenge. The drivers in Rome terrified me at first. Little did I know at the time that the worst was yet to come. By far the most daring drivers are located in Naples. Some of the roads these cars have to navigate also dictate their small size. And parking was a real issue, especially in France. I also noticed that traffic laws don t seem to apply to scooter and motorcycle drivers, but they are required to wear helmets. The fact that we do not require this of our motorcycle drivers was a shock to my French family. The reversal of this is that it s a shock to Americans that most Italians don t wear a seatbelt when they drive. Italians may not like wearing seatbelts, but they love their coffee and gelato. My love for gelato became infamous within the group. I ve had ice cream a few times since being home, and it has been disappointing every time. I also learned to love coffee even more than I already did. I had espresso after every dinner where it was offered. When I got to France I was reminded that my cousin is also obsessed with coffee. We had the most flavorful and wonderful coffee every morning. Now that I am back I find myself missing European coffee more than the food.

6 Lucas 6 In their love of food and cooking, France and Italy could have a duel. A certain member of my French family claimed that food was more important to the French than it was to the Italians. After having spent more than a month there I saw his opinion as nothing more than inflated French pride, but I let him believe it as fact. I am not fully qualified to make the judgment, so maybe food is more important to the French. However, I must say that I prefer Italian cuisine. I was told that after coming home I wouldn t want to have pasta or pizza ever again. However, I surprised myself in wanting to order from my favorite pizza places one of my first nights back home. It s true that the pasta is pretty disappointing here, but I still think that America does pizza pretty well. The culture of food in both Italy and France was a very intense change for me. I was not used to several course meals. They are simply not the norm for me. After my first pasta dish I remember thinking dinner was close to over. There were still potatoes, meat, salad, and dessert. I eventually got used to this and learned to take advantage of it during our many group meals, where the food seemed to be limitless. It was also during one of these group dinners that I learned it s very disrespectful to send back food. Not being a picky eater myself, this hadn t been something I experienced until the end of my Italy trip. But when I couldn t stomach a dish at a restaurant in France, I was plagued with embarrassment as my cousin insisted it was okay if I wanted to ask for something else. As he made his excuses to the waiter I heard him say I was, américain, another constant source of distress for me. I was constantly aware of the fact that I was an outsider, something I hadn t often experienced as a white person who had never left the United States. I had heard all of these stereotypes about Americans, especially touristic Americans; that we are loud and obnoxious and rude. I thought that Europeans didn t like us, but I learned that, like most things in life, the

7 Lucas 7 situation is much more complicated than that. When I kept an open-mind and immersed myself in my experience I found that most people I met were more willing to tell me the things that they like about Americans than the things that they didn t. There were a few times when other Americans would embarrass me in the most populated tourist areas, but my French cousin told me that French people often embarrass him when he is abroad as well. Maybe it is just a universal experience to want to represent one s country as best as one can. There were only a couple of cultural differences that went against my very nature and upbringing as an American. I could never quite get used to paying for water and bathrooms. I never did wrap my head around the concept of paying for something that has been free my entire life. But I tried my best to look at it from an unbiased and open-minded point of view. The greatest parts of different cultures are their similarities. Of course I didn t have to acclimate to everything, and that not everything had to be different. Some consistencies are purely human in nature, but many modern aspects of today s societies are consistent throughout most developed countries by nature of the information age. The combination of these differences and similarities all formed my experience and growth as a person. When I first began planning for and thinking about the trip I didn t want to have any expectations for how it might change my opinions or character. As such I tried to go into the experience as openly and optimistically as I could possibly force myself to be. I consider myself to be a very open-minded and optimistic person already, but I knew that I would probably face many challenges I had never faced before. I didn t want any preconceptions about what might happen influence decisions I made. I decided that I wanted any changes to be genuine and not something that I expected to happen.

8 Lucas 8 I was nervous about things that I couldn t control, but I eventually learned to let go of my controlling nature and let myself live in the moment. I ended up loving the times when I had no plans. I would let life take me somewhere new and would inevitably experience something great. My short trip to Naples was the best example of this. People kept asking us why we were going to Naples as it doesn t have a great reputation, but I discovered that even the most crime-ridden city in Italy can be full of unexpected gems. We stayed one night, and on our way back to the hostel we stumbled upon a dance contest in the metro station of all places. It was full of the most passionate dancers and people I ve ever witnessed. I cannot speak for my companions, but I was engrossed in the intensity of the whole affair and could have stayed to watch all evening. Finding such genuine, wonderful, and beautiful people in these unexpected places was something I loved. In my many conversations with people from different countries and cultures I reinforced my long-held opinion that people are mostly good. Stereotypes have never made much sense to me. On an individual level I find people to be unique, interesting, and beautiful. They are just trying to live their life in the best way that they know how and to be happy in the best way that they know how. Meeting people throughout Europe, seeing the way they lived and the opinions they held, helped me to reestablish these beliefs that I already held to be true. In the same way that I love meeting new people, I believe that trying new things is what keeps life interesting and keeps me growing as a person. I was especially proud of how quickly I picked up on some of the survival Italian we learned. Living in another country is the best way to learn the language, but I am now determined to continue to better my language skills in Spanish, Italian, and French simply because I want to. Being able to communicate a little made me feel more comfortable as I wandered and explored Macerata in those early days.

9 Lucas 9 Conversely, not being able to communicate fully was a very difficult experience as well as a very rewarding one, because I had to work hard to achieve even small tasks. However, it was amazing to me how quickly I adjusted to my new life. My routine established itself quickly, but Macerata become home to me very gradually. It almost snuck up on me, but by the time I left it felt like I was leaving another home. In fact, it took me a while to feel like I was completely outside of my comfort zone. France was the first time I experienced homesickness. I eventually figured out how to get over it or, at least, push it aside for a while. My biggest struggle stemmed from not being around other fluent English speakers like I had been for so long. Initially, the language barrier between my cousin and me was frustrating, but when I thought about it from his perspective I realized how selfish I was being. I knew that it was difficult for him as well. I also knew that making it through the difficulties would be part of the journey for me. I had to constantly focus on that fact that what I was feeling was not going to last forever. I tried to soak up as much of the experience as I could instead of feeling sorry for myself. This bout of homesickness heightened my already growing respect and empathy for international students, immigrants, and even tourists who come to the United States. In Europe, I loved that all the modern aspects of life are juxtaposed with the incredibly old. I saw remnants of Roman ruins in seemingly random parts of Rome, Paris, and Vienna. These unobtrusive monuments were located within sight of such buildings as McDonald s, shopping malls, and modern art museums. Being in a country so old and full of history, I would often get chills from the simplest of experiences. I had a particularly humbling experience in San Ginesio while looking at frescos in the catacombs. I stood nose to nose with one of the worst paintings I had ever seen, a painting I had laughed at when I first saw it. When I got

10 Lucas 10 closer to the wall I realized that I could still see the brushstrokes on a painting that was hundreds and hundreds of years old. Seeing that human component, being reminded that a living, breathing person created this, made me stop and contemplate my initial reaction to it. It was still an objectively bad painting, but I acquired a new appreciation for this person who had so clearly done their best work to glorify God. The über Catholic culture of Italy was something that was a shock to me as a non- Catholic, in fact, a non-religious person. However, I found it very charming and beautiful after a while. There were statues of saints in some of the strangest places. There was one on top of Mount Vesuvius along with a portrait of the Virgin Mary. Once we got to Macerata, it amazed me that even the small churches were beautiful and ornate. The way the community cared about the appearance of their place of worship was a very wonderful thing to see. And the community pilgrimage I witnessed almost made me want to walk all night with them to Loreto just to be a part of their excitement. While I don t consider myself a religious person, I do think being in such a richly spiritual country helped me to grow in many ways. Maybe it was the amount of churches I visited, but I grew an appreciation I thought I had lost for people who find their spirituality through religion. Even when I thought I never wanted to see another church I found something wonderful in the simple fact that so many of them existed. My most intense spiritual moment came when listening to the monks prayer at the Fiastra Abbey. I pushed away all visions of Monty Python mockery and found myself completely swept away by the voices of the brothers. I was in awe of these people who have seemingly given up everything in order to follow a simple life worshipping their god. They spoke a language I don t even pretend to understand,

11 Lucas 11 and yet I felt their emotion. I felt the weight of the moment, what being able to witness that prayer actually meant. All of these singular experiences came together to form a two-month experience that I will never forget. I am better able to remember and process all of these experiences because of the effort I put forth to create the highest quality videos blogs that I could. The vlogs not only provide a great way to remember my trip now, but also helped me to process my experience as it was happening. They forced me to slow down and really think about what happened to me each day that I was abroad. This made me a better observer, a quality that helped me to get the most from the experience as I could. They forced to me to be a better storyteller and a better editor. My production skills became even more honed and efficient as I worked with Premiere and my camera every single day. I now have the confidence that I will be able to tackle any project that might be given to me in an educational or professional environment. My critical thinking and troubleshooting skills were also tested during this experience. Technical difficulties sometimes slowed me down, but I never allowed them to stop me completely. I proved to myself that I had the confidence to complete the project, do it well, and learn from the setbacks, mistakes, and failures.