I'm taking a social media class this semester. We have to blog, and I'm kind of glad about that. Here lies my short, recent thoughts about how my perception of social media has changed since my first encounter with it:
My first encounter with social media was back in May of 2007, when my
friend told me about this new website she had just joined called
Facebook, and that practically everyone in the 9th grade (let alone the
whole school) was getting one. I admit, the only reason I really joined
Facebook was because I saw that my crush, who was a senior at the time
(what was I thinking?!), had a profile on the website. I never had a
MySpace, so the whole networking/social connecting thing was still very
new to me. I stumbled around Facebook for about a week but then pretty
much had it mastered and down to a science. I was logging on all the
time, checking my notifications constantly, and found the ability to see
what everyone was doing at all hours of the day to be intoxicating and
exhilarating.
I've come to realize that today is unfortunately
not much different, although I haven't created certain accounts (such as
a Vine) simply because some social media outlets I just don't see a
point in having. Although I'll admit, there's an internal battle with
me, myself, and I over the daily decision of whether or not to create a
certain social media account because, well, all my friends have one,
mom! I thought the same thing about Instagram when it first came out,
but then I created one, and shoot. Now I post pictures of my food.
When it comes to social media, I love it and I hate it. And honestly,
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who feels that way.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
I'm in Disney World!
I has been just about 15 years since my last visit to Disney World. As you probably can imagine, I don't remember much about that visit. I'm back here again with 18 other Ohio University students to study "storytelling in public attractions" (that was the name of our class). We studied contextual design, wayfinding, crowd management, imagineering, the layout of the Disney parks, and so much more over the last 15 weeks of class, and now, we get to apply what we've been learning over the past semester right here in Disney World. Bring on the food. Bring on the rides.
We all arrived sporadically yesterday at met up inside our hotel lobby at 5pm. The MCO airport makes it incredibly easy for you to find a shuttle to take you to your hotel within Disney. We're staying at the All Star Music Resort hotel (not to be confused with the All Star Sports or All Star Movie hotels). It has the main lobby building and then TEN other hotel buildings around it, all themed differently. After our initial group meeting where we sorted out logistics of money for the week, etc, we made our way back to the rooms to get ready for our private dinner in France, Epcot. It was seriously incredible. We had our own private patio area for just our group, a buffet style dinner with chicken, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, nom nom nom it was delicious. As dinner wound down, so did the daylight, and there we sat for an incredible fireworks display with all the other people who had made their way over to World Showcase that evening. It was amazing seeing all the other countries lit up. And best fireworks display I've ever seen, surely. From there we were escorted out of Epcot and back onto our bus to come back and crash at the hotel.
We had a pretty early morning this morning; our bus left at about 8:15 to take us over to Magic Kingdom where we spent the whole day. For our individual class projects, we were all required to pick an attraction to research. For the first half of the requirement we each gave a short presentation about our attractions during the semester in class. To complete the second part, we are required to basically give a mini tour to our class at the beginning of the ride each of us has selected. So basically we're required to ride rides for this class. Don't you love it? We rode seven required rides today for the seven students who had picked rides inside of Magic Kingdom, and then spent the day exploring and riding everything else.
I loved Space Mountain because it's super dark and you have no idea where your roller coaster is taking you. When I suggested we ride it again later in the day, my roommate, Becca, pulled the Disney app up on her phone to see that the ride was temporarily unavailable. We decided to ride the People Mover ride instead, which is just a slow moving rail that takes you up above Tomorrowland and winds you in, out, and through the rides. We got to this one section of the People Mover ride and noticed it seemed pretty empty and a little run down. We couldn't figure out what we were moving through since there seemed to be nothing to look at. It was then we realized we were inside Space Mountain, and since the ride was temporarily out of service, so was the People Mover part. We were supposed to be in pitch black darkness, seeing stars and galaxies, and instead we were riding around Space Mountain, finally coming up to some glass where we were able to look at every rail, contraption, and button to keep the ride working. It was definitely cool to be able to see but also a little disappointing that they mystery behind Space Mountain was gone. We already have a running joke between all of us that every time we see something "out of place," we say something along the lines of "Well that just RUINED my Disney experience." It's just because we spent so much time in this class going over how careful Disney is to make sure you feel fully immersed in the ride/theme/village/culture you're supposed to be experiencing. Anything less than that makes it seem like you're not getting the full experience. Thus, "the ruined Disney experience."
Speaking of which, here's a link to the blog that me, my classmates, and my professor are posting on every day, if you care to follow other peoples Disney adventures throughout this week too. Disney Tumblr Blog
We all arrived sporadically yesterday at met up inside our hotel lobby at 5pm. The MCO airport makes it incredibly easy for you to find a shuttle to take you to your hotel within Disney. We're staying at the All Star Music Resort hotel (not to be confused with the All Star Sports or All Star Movie hotels). It has the main lobby building and then TEN other hotel buildings around it, all themed differently. After our initial group meeting where we sorted out logistics of money for the week, etc, we made our way back to the rooms to get ready for our private dinner in France, Epcot. It was seriously incredible. We had our own private patio area for just our group, a buffet style dinner with chicken, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, nom nom nom it was delicious. As dinner wound down, so did the daylight, and there we sat for an incredible fireworks display with all the other people who had made their way over to World Showcase that evening. It was amazing seeing all the other countries lit up. And best fireworks display I've ever seen, surely. From there we were escorted out of Epcot and back onto our bus to come back and crash at the hotel.
We had a pretty early morning this morning; our bus left at about 8:15 to take us over to Magic Kingdom where we spent the whole day. For our individual class projects, we were all required to pick an attraction to research. For the first half of the requirement we each gave a short presentation about our attractions during the semester in class. To complete the second part, we are required to basically give a mini tour to our class at the beginning of the ride each of us has selected. So basically we're required to ride rides for this class. Don't you love it? We rode seven required rides today for the seven students who had picked rides inside of Magic Kingdom, and then spent the day exploring and riding everything else.
I loved Space Mountain because it's super dark and you have no idea where your roller coaster is taking you. When I suggested we ride it again later in the day, my roommate, Becca, pulled the Disney app up on her phone to see that the ride was temporarily unavailable. We decided to ride the People Mover ride instead, which is just a slow moving rail that takes you up above Tomorrowland and winds you in, out, and through the rides. We got to this one section of the People Mover ride and noticed it seemed pretty empty and a little run down. We couldn't figure out what we were moving through since there seemed to be nothing to look at. It was then we realized we were inside Space Mountain, and since the ride was temporarily out of service, so was the People Mover part. We were supposed to be in pitch black darkness, seeing stars and galaxies, and instead we were riding around Space Mountain, finally coming up to some glass where we were able to look at every rail, contraption, and button to keep the ride working. It was definitely cool to be able to see but also a little disappointing that they mystery behind Space Mountain was gone. We already have a running joke between all of us that every time we see something "out of place," we say something along the lines of "Well that just RUINED my Disney experience." It's just because we spent so much time in this class going over how careful Disney is to make sure you feel fully immersed in the ride/theme/village/culture you're supposed to be experiencing. Anything less than that makes it seem like you're not getting the full experience. Thus, "the ruined Disney experience."
Speaking of which, here's a link to the blog that me, my classmates, and my professor are posting on every day, if you care to follow other peoples Disney adventures throughout this week too. Disney Tumblr Blog
Sunday, January 6, 2013
A Brief 5-month Update
It's been a while. 5 months, almost to the day. So much has happened in the last 5 months. So many changes. So many ups, so many downs. To name a few...
-school was HARD. The semester change was HARD. We all got burnt out around week 11 (simply because week 11 isn't supposed to exist for the students of Ohio University). I took TWO production classes; one was a joke, one was legit. I learned an immense amount.
-leading YoungLife was HARD, but as always, very rewarding. We took 3 girls and 7 boys to Fall Weekend for the first time in Nelsonville-York YL history. Our team learned how to function with only 4 people instead of 6. We attended countless amounts of football games. Met some real precious kids. My only girl co-leader, Erin, is taking her last semester of college to really buckle down and find herself a job, and thus, stop leading, so it'll just be me, Tim, and Cooper on Team N-Y for the next solid year. It should be a really fun struggle. I'm excited!
-paying bills and rent was a really good learning experience. And hard. So was living with 3 of my best friends. But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I wouldn't trade my roommates for anyone else. We mesh extremely well, although we're still learning how to love one another to the fullest. One day at a time.
-having a car was AWESOME. Mom and Dad are saints. We couldn't find one quick enough from one of the dealerships before I went back to school, so they let me take one of the cars they own back to school. Which means no one except me can drive it. You break it, you buy it, as they say.
-trying to figure out life and my future was HARD. And scary. I don't plan my life out anymore, though. I've learned that plans are going to change on me anyway, whether I like it or not, so I just take a step back and let Him handle it. So far, He's done a good job. I have an interview with a post-production company in a week for an internship this summer. I'm sitting down with the president of the company and his creative director. I have no idea what I'm wearing.
-being home on break has been a joy. But also hard. I sometimes miss the freedoms I have at school (like closing my bedroom door and pretending I'm not in there when someone knocks). Mom always knows where I am. But I wouldn't trade my family in for a new one. Not ever.
Thus, it's been a hard (did you get that?), but enjoyable 5 months. Here's to the next 5! And a couple more blog posts in between. And Dory's voice a little louder in my head.
-school was HARD. The semester change was HARD. We all got burnt out around week 11 (simply because week 11 isn't supposed to exist for the students of Ohio University). I took TWO production classes; one was a joke, one was legit. I learned an immense amount.
-leading YoungLife was HARD, but as always, very rewarding. We took 3 girls and 7 boys to Fall Weekend for the first time in Nelsonville-York YL history. Our team learned how to function with only 4 people instead of 6. We attended countless amounts of football games. Met some real precious kids. My only girl co-leader, Erin, is taking her last semester of college to really buckle down and find herself a job, and thus, stop leading, so it'll just be me, Tim, and Cooper on Team N-Y for the next solid year. It should be a really fun struggle. I'm excited!
-paying bills and rent was a really good learning experience. And hard. So was living with 3 of my best friends. But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I wouldn't trade my roommates for anyone else. We mesh extremely well, although we're still learning how to love one another to the fullest. One day at a time.
-having a car was AWESOME. Mom and Dad are saints. We couldn't find one quick enough from one of the dealerships before I went back to school, so they let me take one of the cars they own back to school. Which means no one except me can drive it. You break it, you buy it, as they say.
-trying to figure out life and my future was HARD. And scary. I don't plan my life out anymore, though. I've learned that plans are going to change on me anyway, whether I like it or not, so I just take a step back and let Him handle it. So far, He's done a good job. I have an interview with a post-production company in a week for an internship this summer. I'm sitting down with the president of the company and his creative director. I have no idea what I'm wearing.
-being home on break has been a joy. But also hard. I sometimes miss the freedoms I have at school (like closing my bedroom door and pretending I'm not in there when someone knocks). Mom always knows where I am. But I wouldn't trade my family in for a new one. Not ever.
Thus, it's been a hard (did you get that?), but enjoyable 5 months. Here's to the next 5! And a couple more blog posts in between. And Dory's voice a little louder in my head.
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