Hola!
LECTURE #1;
Today was really fun! From feeling like I’m back in a classroom (which was honestly a really nice break from all the walking) to feeling like I’m on a cooking show, my sun poisoning couldn’t even ruin today.
We had our first lecture today and it was led by our guest speaker Benjamin Cunningham. He is 42 years old, and is a journalist. He teaches journalism and media classes, and used to live in Michigan but has since moved to Barcelona about five years ago. He had an interest in international affairs and went to University of Amsterdam. And because of his job and his interests, he’s traveled to multiple places.
I think one of the coolest parts of his lecture was when he told us about his book. It’s called “The Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War’s Last Honest Man.” It’s a book about Karel Koecher’s shifting loyalties, which started as an article and grew in size.
Cunningham answered a lot of different questions the class had, and talked more about Spanish journalism and television, and what the differences are like. I really enjoyed his lecture because he gave a good amount of detail to each topic he spoke about. (Plus, I’d really like to read his book. I’m a writer and a history minor, so I think I’d really enjoy it.)
MEDIA PRO;
We had a visit with Media Pro today at one. Media Pro is a communications group in Spain. I took the metro to get there, and waited outside the building with the class until our tour guide arrived. It was super fun and interesting to be able to go in and see all the equipment they use for the shows. The first room we went in had a big tv and cameras. The team working is able to change the background to make it seem like you are anywhere. One of the coolest parts to me is that the green screen and camera is 360 degrees, so no matter where the camera is pointing, you look like you’re in that specific place when in reality, you’re standing in a studio!
We went into a few different rooms, learning about what the job each room holds. One of the studios we went in is used for live TV.
Media Pro covers a few different topics, and has won quite a few awards. The master control room is linked to all the studios and is where they do a lot of editing and supervising while they’re live.
The last thing we did while at Media Pro was go to the roof. The view was absolutely breathtaking, even with my slight fear of heights. I got a few pictures of the view and a few pictures with some of the others before I had to make my way closer to the building.
That night, Arianna found a place called The Gatsby. It’s a dinner and a show type place and was super fancy. Tatum, Baylee, Arianna, Erin, and I dressed up and went. We got to see two shows before we were told that it was 70$ per person! Arianna found it on Google, and that was not mentioned. We all decided to leave instead of staying, but I still had a great time. Instead of calling it a night, we went to the Titanic and got some of their patatas bravas. Honestly, I think they had some of the best potatoes I’ve had the whole trip!