STN 2015 Day 5: SDSU, KPBS, Fashion Valley Mall

     Hey Everyone! Today was very fun! We went to SDSU, or the San Diego State University, then we went to PBS, and finally shopped at the FVM, or the Fashion Valley Mall. I woke up around 7, and we had breakfast in Uncle Don's room. I ate a fruit cup, and thank you to Uncle Don and all of the chaperones! It was delicious! After breakfast, we went on the trolley to SDSU. The trolley was pretty interesting. I was also pretty surprised on how it looked like. I imagined it way differently. It reminded me of the bart. The trolley was pretty packed in the morning. I just held onto a pole but was later given a seat. There was also an interesting man there. He was holding a staff and started shouting out a weird chant. The trolley ride had to make a lot of stops before we finally got to the stop, "SDSU". There was hardly any people on the campus since it was Spring Break. However, there was this kind lady who showed us where we needed to go, even though she wasn't going in that direction. We met up with our funny tour guide, Dr. Bey-Ling Sha, who was a professor in Public Relations and an interim director. It was very thoughtful of her to take the time to create a PowerPoint slideshow for us. She talked about the different majors for media, journalism, public relations, advertising, and media study. I learned that there is a very big difference between journalism and story-telling. Journalism is story telling, but grounded with non-fiction facts and evidence. Story telling can be more fictional. Another thing I learned about is public relations. Most people think that it's just the people who cover up the mess, but actually, they are the people who make sure the company does the right thing for the public, so that they won't have a mess in the first place. Advertising is endorsing a product and persuading the public to buy their product. Media study is the study of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. She also talked about the minors they offer and why it is important to take both majors and minors. First off, you might find another class more interesting then the major you are taking right now, and you may want to switch majors. Second, everything in media is connected. It's connected to math, science, business, a lot of things! Also, it's great to expand your skill set since they're all connected! She then talked about all the different award winning clubs they have to offer like their radio and broadcast clubs. They even had an ad club! She took us to see one of their older iPad labs. I loved their desks/chairs! It rolled and it could move around! The tables were the same. Apparently, it's scientifically proven that moving around helps stimulate the brain to pay attention. Then I ate lunch at subway and sat by Napua, Kolten, Taylynn, and Angeline. We also got to go to the bookstore after lunch! I absolutely LOVED the bookstore! They had so many good books that I wanted to read. I bought three books there for a good price. The bookstore was so great in my opinion! Then we met with a senior there named Sammy, who was our tour guide who showed us around the Omleca residence halls. Also, there is an actual difference between a dorm and a residence hall. A dorm is just were people sleep and eat, but a residence hall is where they offer help with your school work. Sammy told us about the pricing to live in single, double, triple, and quad rooms, and their meal plans. You can bike and walk on campus too, but you unfortunately cannot skateboard. She also told us about the different activities they have to offer, like movie nights and carnivals. After the SDSU tour, we walked across a white bridge to KPBS. We met with our tour guides, who were volunteers, so thank you very much to them for showing us around! The group I was in, first went to the Digital Operations Center. It was really interesting and a bit intimidating. There were a bunch of large monitors and screens everywhere that displayed a bunch of little screens inside of it. Through all of these computers, they could monitor and control everything on the screens. They even had their show in Spanish! We walked inside the building to their KPBS Radio Broadcast centers. They had microphones and computers around a circular desk in all of the centers. What I found interesting was that there were two layers of wall, which made it sound proof! As our tour guide told us, a tank could drive by in the hallway with the door shut, and you wouldn't hear it! There were even buttons that said cough, which muted the mic when you needed to cough so that the audience doesn't hear it. Of course, there were many "On Air" signs that lid up obviously when they were on the air. We also got the great opportunity to meet many of the talents. We met radio hosts, anchors, camera men, and more! I am so grateful to get that experience! He showed us the make-up dressing room, although they said they don't use it that much anymore. Next, we went to where the anchors sit. I got to man a $250,000, or 1/4 of a million dollar camera! It was pretty awesome! Everything looked so intricate and complex, a big bulky HD camera with a bunch of wires and cables attached to it. The cameraman there who had lots of experience in this industry, taught me how to zoom, pan/tilt, and focus, to set up the anchor shot. It was really neat. Then we went upstairs where we saw an open area called the KPBS News Center. Everyone was busy working on their stories, with huge projector screens to see their information in a large format. It was pretty intense, and they had to make a new broadcast everyday with new stories. I learned a lot from KPBS, and it was also fascinating that it's like a sister station to PBS. Then we went to the Fashion Valley Mall via the trolley. I loved the mall too! I was with Kolten, Nicole, Javlynn, Taylynn, and Aunty Christy. We went to many stores like Hollister, The Disney Store, See's Candies, Nike, and Bath and Body. I bought some gifts there too. After shopping we caught the trolley back to the hotel and we are finishing our blogs up now. Tomorrow we go to Petco Park, doing a scavenger hunt, and also meeting our pen pals! I'll keep you posted! Until then, that's it for today's blog! Thanks for reading! Bye!