Hi everyone (we're up to 6 followers now! wow!). Sorry I didn't have a chance to write yesterday. It was quite a hectic day. We left Monday, and luckily our flights all arrived on time, and we made it to Paris safely. We spent all day Monday traveling and we arrived Tuesday evening. As soon as we finally got to our hotel (which is quite cute, by the way!), we ate dinner and fell asleep! So, today was our first true day of adventure.
We had two main objectives on our agenda today: meet with the French AP reporters and visit a French journalism school!
Our first obstacle was the metro; we couldn't figure out how to get a ticket, and then when we did, it kept messing up. Then, we had to figure out how to actually navigate. Luckily, with Jan's excellent navigational skills, we arrived at the AP newsroom just in time. We met with Angela, who actually worked for West Virginia's AP at one point, and then we chatted with Debbie, who is the current AP Bureau chief in France. We are so fortunate George Esper set this up, because I think it's been the highlight of the trip so far. The people were so friendly, and it was so exciting to see their take on journalism.
One thing Debbie talked about was how journalism is changing -- a sentiment echoed by the J-school. She said my generation needs to know how to tell stories in various ways. We are no longer just print journalists or photographers. Everyone needs to know how to do the different jobs so that only one person needs to be sent out on the scene, not 3.
She also commented about how we are all journalists. Even though someone is an editor, and someone is a videographer, they are all reporters. They are all capable of taking photos while also interviewing. That just shows that being multi-faceted is valuable today. Thankfully, I've learned various skills while at the J-school -- this just showed real employers are looking for these skills.
We had some time before our next appointment, so we went to the Louvre! I had the chance to see some incredible artwork and sculptures. I saw the Mona Lisa! If I could've spent another whole day in there, I would've!
Our final stop for the day was visiting the journalism school. This was quite a task trying to find the building, but once we did, the instructors were more than welcoming. They briefly told us about their school -- it's private, they only have about 45 students, and they have fantastic resources.
They have more than a thousand students apply, but after the take the competitive test, they only accept 45! They also help greatly with their tuition, and they place every student in a temporary job upon graduation. They also had great facilities with broadcast, radio, multimedia and print rooms. It'd be a great opportunity for any student to attend this institution, so hopefully a partnership can be set up! I think students could learn a lot!
I am thoroughly exhausted, and I hope to catch up on some sleep tonight, so I'm off to bed! Tomorrow won't be quite as busy, so hopefully I'll have some more time to update!
*Candace
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