Final impressions

A few last visual insights in to Munich's innercity:



















by Mary Pinckney Waters

Back in The States

By Kelly Enright

I have officially been back in the United States for a week. I’ve had plenty of time to think about my trip, and each time someone asks me about it I exclaim, “it was awesome”, and that is the truth. I have been meaning to write this last blog entry, as a kind of as a closure to our trip.

I must be honest, because my reasons for going on the trip were a little selfish. I am a German minor and really just wanted to see Germany again. I’m not too interested in studying abroad for an entire semester or year, so this was perfect. I’ve been to Germany once before, and it’s not everyday someone can travel to Europe! Also, I was convinced to take this class because I’m obviously in the J-school, so I would gain some great experience while abroad. In the end, the trip was much more than I expected. A group of 6 students and 2 professors went to Munich, and that right there is a little scary! As a group of students, none of us were “best friends”, and a few of us had never even met. So traveling to a foreign country with people you don’t really know is an adventure itself. And throughout my entries, I discussed my many “German Adventures”. We were all challenged with getting to know one another, from sharing rooms to navigating the public transportation, to sharing a pretzel because you are stuck on a train and that’s all there is to eat! But we all managed to get along!!

I was a little worried that we wouldn’t have time to be tourists, but we definitely did! We held meetings and class time and also had plenty of work to get done, but shopping, eating, and experiencing were all very important aspects of this trip! You can’t be in Germany and work all day! On many days Whitney and I took many different “adventures”, as I’ve called them, and we became great friends on the trip. We both learned you can get to know a person very well when they are in a new situation, and for us it worked out!

The professors on the trip were awesome. I believe it was the second day when I asked if we could drop the “dr.” and just call them Tanner and Sidel. Well, they accepted and were dubbed with nicknames. Both of them had great advice and made sure we stayed on task throughout the trip. I know that was more than a challenge between the late nights out, various meetings for the broadcast students and the random trips we all took to experience whatever we could. All of the J-school profs are great, but I feel we were very lucky to have such awesome ones on our trip. We all really got to know each other and had a great time!

Our project hasn’t been finished, but we will have it all finished by the end of June. Keep your eyes open for an iSite. It will be another quick glimpse into our trip. If anyone is interested in this class for next Maymester, make sure to speak to Dr. Andrea Tanner. If you have any questions for me personally, feel free to contact her and she can direct you to me!! I think anyone interested needs to go on this trip next year!


Travel Update: For those of you who read my blog about being very frustrated the day before I left Munich, here is what happened on Tuesday (the day I flew home). First of all, it was pouring outside. I’m not talking a little rain, I mean buckets of water pounded down with every step we took. Whitney and I were outside of a souvenir shop 30 minutes before it opened, and they let us in to shop! We were off to a good start! Next we were waiting outside of Kaufhof, a large department store, waiting for them to open also! We went in and purchased what we needed and were off to the hotel to grab our luggage and head to the train station. When we got on the train, I realized that my bags were packed full and I had just purchased two large bags of stuff to bring home! Whitney and I managed to repack my suitcase in the middle of the train. This involved lots of laughing, grunting and strength to close my suitcase. It also needed both of us to sit on it! The Germans around us were really looking at us like crazy Americans after this!

Now I will tell you something very embarrassing, but it’s all part of the experience so I have to share! When we stepped off the train at the airport, I felt a rather cold breeze on my bum. As I reached back to figure out what was going on, I discovered a rather large rip in my favorite pair of jeans. Well, how awful!! After we laughed and I borrow Whitney’s jacket to cover up, we entered the airport. This is where we separated, as Whitney didn’t have much time before she needed to be at the gate!

We both made it home safely, and the German adventures have ended. But weren’t they fun? I hope everyone enjoyed reading the blog.

Challenges for Journalists

By Jenn Ghelardini

I just became a student in the Journalism school. Until recently I studied Marketing in the Business school. I have had business internships, and have a pretty good idea of the types of work to be done. I however, did not have a real grasp on the professions in the field of journalism before this trip. There were various setbacks and challenges that I had not expected.

Throughout the Media Maymester, every student overcame many obstacles including: technical problems, a lack of compatible equipment, the varying weather, difficulties scheduling interviews and contacting people, unfamiliarity with the local transportation, permits to film and physically carrying around camera equipment.

There are always going to be difficulties in any field and on any assignment, but these setbacks were aggravated due to the language barrier, difference in customs, and being in an unfamiliar land.

One setback, that was most uncomfortable for everyone was physically carrying around all the camera equipment. Being an advertising student I had never used a camera before, so I was not used to simply putting it in a car and driving to location, like the broadcast students. I eventually felt their pain as I went to many of their interviews and b-roll shoots with them, as I was happy to help out and learn something new. By the end of the class, I think everyone was happy not to have to lug around the big, heavy and awkward camera and tripod bags.

Another factor that no one predicted to be such an important determinant to when, where, and how we could do our work was the variability in the weather. In South Carolina, there can be change in the weather throughout the day, but it does not compare to the dynamic change in Munich weather. This was an important aspect for the the broadcast students since they needed to shoot their outside takes in good weather and lighting. For the most part, the weather was pleasant and perfect for shooting video, but it always seemed like the weather would quickly end up dark and dismal on the days set aside for shooting.

This was most challenging for Sarah who planned on shooting a great deal of environmental footage for her story the last few days before she flew home. She wanted to shoot some of her stand ups with large smokestacks in the background for her story on the environment. We tried several spots, because the weather was overcast and we just kept trying to tweak the camera and get good lighting anyway. I never realized how important and tricky lighting is to broadcast journalism- it's just one of those things you don't usually think about. It was just so trivial, we wanted to show the smokestacks in the background, but we also wanted a good shot of Sarah's face. When Sarah's face was best illuminated the smokestacks would completely fade out of the shot. Its converse held true so that when the focus was on the smokestacks, Sarah's face was not in focus and shadowed.

Another difficulty that came about was dealing with the constant stream of walkers present in Munich. There is always someone walking in Munich, or rather, a lot of someones. It was hard to set up shots where there would not be a lot of traffic in the background. Many times we had to quickly dodge bikers and move the camera out of the way. Sarah and I actually hiked across a muddy field to avoid the heavy Munich pedestrian traffic. This wasn't so bad for me since I was just helping her, but poor Sarah was dressed in her nice clothes for her stand up, and it mattered that she got a little muddy.

One difficulty I personally encountered being part of the IMC (integrated marketing communications) team was (everything) with computers. I took an advanced computer programming course in high school, but am by no means advanced when it come to any kind of technology. I get easily frustrated with computers and they are not my forte. It was all silly setbacks. For example, I put all of my pictures on Maddy's computer; Maddy left to go to Paris. My American flash drive actually crashed a German Apple computer. Blogger conveniently shut down while I was at an Internet cafe. The computer that I saved my inDesign presentation was the only one that supported the video programs fro the Broadcast students. Sigh! Like earlier mentioned, I am not a technology whiz, and it just seemed like anything that could go wrong would against all odds. After a while, you just have to laugh it off. "Well, I worked on my Blog entry until Blogger went down." Now, that I am back in the States I feel more comfortable because I can save all my work to one computer with Internet access. It's a very calming thought.

Luckily, we had the HFF students and professors help us out. They greatly lessened the problems of the language barrier. They also helped us attain permits to shoot, as well as informing us of the various permit laws and regulations. The also showed us around the city, which when in a city as large as Munich, local citizens are much better than any map.

This Maymester really showed me the difficulties of being a real journalist, and this could not have been taught in a classroom. I never really understood all of the work that broadcast journalists have to do for their 30 second- 2 minute stories. Now whenever I watch the news I really think twice about the newscasters, and have a great appreciation for their work. I also could not have anticipated the setbacks to simply working out of one's environment. I just assumed it would be just like at USC; boy was I wrong.

Any student who wishes to gain real-world, hands-on, outside-the-classroom experience should consider the USC Media Maymester. It gave me a new appreciation and outlook on the journalism careers.

The Isar River and English Gardens

By Jenn Ghelardini

One of the most alluring aspects of Munich its varying landscapes. Munich is nestled not too far from the bottom of the Alps, allowing for a picturesque view of the mountain peaks in the distance anywhere in the city. Along with the mountains, the Isar River runs through the heart of the city. This resulted in many beautiful and exquisite bridges. The river also dictates the layout of the city as well as the lifestyles of many of its inhabitants and visitors.



When the weather is pleasent everyone in Munich heads to the riverbansks of the Isar. It is a favorite amound Munich residents and Germans from nearby smaller towns. There are many places along the river for people to relax and enjoy, but the most popular location is in the idyllic English Gardens, located near the city's center. It is quite popular for local University students, since it is right beside one of Munich's larger Universities.


You can find just about everyone and everything happenign in the English Gardens on a sunny day. The activities are endless and range from people sunbathing, picknicking, practicing rock-climbing techniques, swimming in the river, playing music and even surfing.

I was quite surprised to witness surfing in Munich, no less in a river, so I asked local surfers about thier sport.

Many Munich surfers spend a great deal of their vacation time traveling around Europe, away from Munich. In this time they are able to visit countries on the beach, such as Spain. This is where they do most of their traditional surfing (in the ocean) and perfect their techniques.

However, when in Munich, they are still able to practice their sport. They go to a man-created wave under a bridge. It is very dangerous because the wave was created from the build up of rocks, so the surfers are surfing right on top of huge rocks. A few people have died river surfing and there is a sign posting that surfing and swimming is prohibited. I found this interesting, because in America, one would get in a lot of trouble for disregarding a federal sign.

In conclusion, I found that the Munich river surfers, as they are known to the Munich community, really just love surfing, and enjoy the opportunity to do so- whenever, wherever, no matter what the risk.

Lions, tigers and bears

Could German zoos really be that different
from American ones? We find out.

By Kelly Enright and Whitney Robosson

German Fussball

Determined to find tickets, Whitney and Kelly document their
experience outside and inside a Munich-Mainz soccer game.

By Kelly Enright and Whitney Robosson

The post-wall divide

By Mary Pinckney Waters

This morning I had breakfast at a 3.50-euro buffet with some old friends from the University of Bamberg, where I studied for a year on exchange. Toward the end of our lattes, Christian, the oldest in our group at 28, started telling stories from his childhood as an "Ossi," or East German, and had our corner of the cafe swinging between a loud laugh and a slowly exhaled "krass" (crass).

He started by recalling how he was on a "Star Search"-type program for a couple weeks when he was child, how he sang Socialist anthems in a ridiculously high voice and was never nervous like the other contestants.

He said one time his family had guests from the West and that within an hour of their departure, government officials knocked on their door to ask them the purpose of the visit, what was discussed and what the guests brought. He said that he knew it wasn't any coincidence that officials had showed up at such a convenient time, and that one of their neighbors must have been in the Stasi.

He talked about moving to the West and integrating in Western schools. He said his teacher and his principal were blatantly prejudiced against East Germans and remembers being called out from the other students. One time the fact that he and another student were the only East Germans at his school was mentioned over the intercom; he recalled this fact through laughter-laden words, and everyone at our table cracked up with him as if we were watching a black comedy with a hilariously unfortunate protagonist.

Christian said that finally a new student from the East came who couldn't speak Hochdeutsch (High German) like he could, and at last he had an easier time at his new school because all the discrimination was refocused on her.

He also said when his new teachers held lessons on East Germany, he would often raise his hand and correct them on inaccuracies. Once he offered to have his uncle come speak to the class about East Germany; he said when his uncle came, he basically unraveled the teacher's entire lesson from the day before. "Yeah, with propaganda probably," another laughed. No, Christian answered, giving an example. He said they were taught at his new school that East German children had military training in winter, but said that really what was called Winter Maneuver just meant going on an annual hunt. "Yeah, Winter Maneuver was a lot of fun," he said, eyes distant and smile settled. But when I asked my friend Thomas, from West Germany, what he thought of the hunt, he said that he, and others, still considered such structures as Winter Maneuver a form of military training, adding that these topics are still very divisive for Germans.

Christian went on to talk about how he thought how older generations had an easier time in East Germany because the infrastructure provided for them better and the political philosophy was more family- and community-focused. "Hey, I love my neighbor," a "Wessi" at the table joked. Behind the wide smiles I wondered to what degree honor was being defended on the breakfast table between us, or whether this young generation was really just talking between sarcastic sides about its elders' choices.