Intro to France

When I was a wee little soon-to-be-freshman, I went to an admissions event for accepted students at Ithaca College. At the event, Dean Dianne Lynch of the Park School of Communications talked about the amazing opportunities which Park students have. I gotta admit, the things she talked about were amazing – internships at the Olympics, a free trip to France, and master classes with directors and producers of big-name stuff (like the Saw movies). I doubted how real these things were; I kinda figured that she was working the typical marketing hype and telling us about the best possible things which only happened to a few students.

Now I know otherwise. I attended a lecture with the producer of the Saw movies, and I have a friend who is going to be taking a master class with him in the next couple months. I have another friend who is taking a class with an expert about how to create a television sitcom. And, most important of all, I found out firsthand that Dean Lynch’s claims were real – I won a trip to France.

Dean Lynch posted the details of the trip on her blog on January 17. I was excited about the possibility, but figured I had a very minimal chance of winning. And then, in a sheer stroke of what may be divine intervention, Dean Lynch announced to the members of the Dean’s Host Committee (the tour guides for the Park school) that they would be in a separate drawing for five of the 20 spots on the trip – thus increasing my chances immensely. All applications were due on January 31, and I expected that the winners would be announced shortly thereafter. I kept checking her blog, but nothing was posted. Professor Kim Gregson, the faculty member accompanying the trip participants to France, told me that the winners had to be checked by Judicial Affairs before they could be announced.

Dean Lynch posted on her blog that the winners of the France trip would be announced immediately after IC grad Gino Bona’s Super Bowl ad ran. Throughout the whole game, I couldn’t stand the anticipation – I kept hitting ‘refresh’ on my browser. I’m pretty sure the list was up before the ad aired… and honestly, I didn’t watch the rest of the game. I took the opportunity to call my parents and tell them about how I won (and kinda beg for airfare money too ).

We have an introductory meeting on Friday, it should be interesting to get some real details! I plan on using this blog while in France, but I am keeping the time zone as EST. I will add the local time to posts when I am in France.