Overall Reflection

Next week is my last week at my internship and I just have to say that I absolutely loved it! I learned so much. Going back and looking at my first post and I remember writing that one of my goals was to integrate at my internship and I did just that.

Every time I come, I feel welcome around the people I work with, I am able to have a proper conversation with them since we have things in common, because I work with them at a radio station, therefore we talk about the different things in the radio station.

I told my the host manager that I next week was going to be my last and she seemed a little sad and disappointed. One of the reasons was because she said I was doing so good and that I was just starting to work at the Mater Control Room. She also said that I was doing such a good job working there.

Language:
For the language, I have to say that it has improved. I am not afraid to ask a question when I have trouble, I am able to have conversation with the different people. Me and my host manager have different conversation and we are able to talk just about anything without me looking for the rights words even though when you know three language it gets a little complicated. But overall is has been great.

Growth:
Working at the radio station really helped me discover that I was always so curious and always wanted to learn about and know I find myself doing it. I never knew working at a radio station would be so much fun. If I had the chance to do it again, I would without a doubt!!

Gratitude:
Before I leave, one person that I really have to thank is my host manager. Since the beginning she has been so nice to me. She has really explained how the radio station works and I am more than grateful to have met such a nice person like her.

I would definitely recommend this internship to another person. If you are looking for a nice experience, working at a radio station, listening to music, and meeting wonderful people from all over the world. It is something you should really take into consideration.

I just want to finish it off my saying that It has been a pleasure to have worked with the wonderful people at ckut radio station and for the people that have never heard the show. I strongly recommend for you to listen to it. It is commercial free, they play music from all over the world and that is not necessary mainstream music. In other words, music that you usually don't hear. They play beautiful music by the way

CKUT radio station Rocks!!

Practice makes perfect

Once again we are back for another exciting week at my internship and I think when you practice yourself at doing, you become better at it the more you practice. What I mean by that is that there are skills in life you are not good at and for order to you to get better at is to practice.

An example I am going to use is at my internship is when I have to call someone on the phone to tell them that they will soon have them on the show, or that we are going to interview them. I start off by introducing myself to them, who am I, why am I calling and what will the procedure be like. Something like this...

Me: Good Afternoon sir or ma'am
Man:Yes
Me: My name is Jean-Pierre and this is ckut radio station
Man:Yes
Me: We are going to have you have here live, so we would love for us to stay tuned.
Man: Sure, no problem
Me: Thank you very much and please hold

After that. I transmit them to our radio station and then he can listen to the radio station while the hosts get ready to interview the person. It is very important to greet the person and to always be polite because they are doing you a favor.

I guess you had an idea of what I mean when practice makes perfect and this is an example of it. It took me quite a little while for me to get the right words and to make them feel comfortable and at the same time polite.

Stay tuned, as next week I talk to you guys about my overall reflection.

Breaking it Down

We are almost at the end of my internship with just a few weeks left before my internship ends, and I have to say that my English has improved a lot. One observation that I have to point out is that when you surround yourself with the English language as well being around people that speak that language. Especially when it comes to interacting with people, talking and hearing all types of different music, it really opens up your ears. Also when you hear a song, and you really take the time to listen to the lyrics, you put yourself in that type of situation and live what is going through the songs.

Now that I have been at my internship for quite a few weeks, I feel like I have really integrated in that little community, which was one of my goals since the beginning. I feel like the people know me there and I know them. Me and the people are able to get along, talk about the same things and be on the same page with them. I was also thinking about applying there because my host manager told me that they were hiring someone to help at a radio show that takes place on Fridays, It is a Latino radio show they told me they were in need of a helper so I would do my best to try have the post. So long I'm still learning to really host a radio station when it comes to making calls to different people so we could have them on air, trying to put the music, changing and pausing the tracks when told so and just  making sure nothing goes wrong.

I guess one way of having a good show is when you have a good host and someone technical to help them. That's where I come in. Usually my job is to make sure that everything is on track. The music is always on time, that the music does not stop for any particular reason and just have a good communication with the host. When the show is live we really don't the chance to talk because everything has to be done within an hour and we have to respect that hour. But before the host always brings a sheet for me to have an idea on how the show is going to go down. If I'm able to do that and make sure that everything is set and on time, then that's what makes me happy.

Stay tuned for next week as I give you more details on what my final Internship days will be like.

Week # 5: Cultural encounters

So as you noticed in my previous posts, I have written and described my internship to you and where it takes place. So now I will take my journal I usually take notes in and describe to you the observations I’ve had over the past few weeks. One of the things I experiences as soon as you step in the door is the vibe, more like the feeling that you are in University. You have posters everywhere manifestations, events and concerts. Like I said in the past, Ckut radio is part of the McGill University so people that want to study communications or be a host at a radio station go there and have them practice and make them feel how working for a radio station really looks like.  Also where my internship takes place, we play all type of music so I would really say that there is specific type of music but there are all sorts of music. Some music that you can hear from your community as well as the things that are going on in the world and politics. So if you are curious to know the events, riots or disputes going on in the world right now you should stay tuned and definitely listen to the show that you are interested in hearing.

I’ve asked people at my radio station if they celebrate Christmas and most of them said that they did. A lot of people told me they like to spend Christmas with their families and just gather around. That’s usually what Christmas is all about, being surrounded by your loves one in the family and to be thankful for what we have in life and cherish just every moment of it in the world. My family usually opens the presents on the 24^th, just like the people at my radio station so we have a lot in common.

I guess the only readings that I have is when I get to do paperwork and in the Master Control Room, we have to read a sheet and prepare for the time you are there, making sure that everything goes according to plan. It’s always good to come in the radio station and to be prepared if ever something goes wrong and to always have a plan b.

So far, I’ve used an expression that I was able to use from my class notes it was “In a bee line” which means straight line and that’s how I’m headed right now at my internship. I would have to say that my biggest challenge is just being to control the (M.C.R) room all by myself and be able to handle the charges and responsibilities given to me. It takes to do it, but like I say “Practice makes perfect”.

Week #4 The world

Like I posted on my blog last week, my internship takes place at Ckut radio and the time that I am there I host the show called “Caravan” which talks about news and music from the Middle Eastern. This week we had an interviewer from Morocco come on the radio station and talk about his project. He was telling us that he was making a keyboard for the Arabic language. When I heard that for the first time I was shocked, I did know what he meant by that. Probably I misunderstood or there really was not a keyboard for the Arabic language. So as the show went on, he was telling us that he is currently studying computer science at the University of Montreal, so his main focus is to work with computers. He was also telling us that the Arab language had lots of difficulties with the writing and the speaking. He said that they are like two different languages. Let me explain, he said the when you write in Arab and when and it is written in one way, and when you speak that same language with someone that uses the Arabic that they talk on the street will have difficulties understanding. Also someone that speaks the Arabic “on the street” and were to write it would not be the same as the Arabic that you usually would learn in school. So that’s what I mean when I said that the Arab language was like two different world. So the person that came on the show was trying to make a keyboard that is easy to understand for both types of Arabic “street” and learned in school so that people would be able to communicate with each other much easier and understand at the same time.

 

Just like I was saying on the other paragraph, after the interview we had another interviewer on the show. This time it was done on the phone, so I had to take the time and call the person to tell them that they were going to be on air soon and to please hold. It was my first time doing that so I was a bit nervous. But it went well, (that was one of my first challenges I as to encounter) the person that we spoke to on the phone is a McGill student had also studies languages like. She knew Spanish and wanted to learn Arabic, she had taken a few classes at McGill but said the best way for her to learn the language was to fly to an Arab speaking country and try to communicate and interact with the people down there. She went to Syria and she told us over the phone that “you can’t judge a book by its cover. She said that they are a lot of things happening in the Middle Eastern countries but when she went to Egypt it seemed very peaceful. That was a new expression I heard. As I was saying she was talking and interacting with the new people and she just had so much difficulty trying to understand was she was saying just as the other person trying to interact with her. And just listening to her was very interesting. The difference is when you talk to someone that has been traveled and been around the world; you learn so much vocabulary and expressions compared when you are in class. The person you talk to tells you their experience from their point of view. Kind of like a “piece of cake” (something being easy) or like “hit the books” meaning to go back and study or look over your notes. That was something the person we spoke on the phone needed to probably have more vocabulary in the English language. Well that’s all for today. Stay tuned as I talk about more adventures that happened to me next week. So stay tuned!

Internship week#3 Driving In

This week was a little different for me. This week in my internship, I got there and I started with the usual. I was on the computer and I was doing paperwork. Making sure is they were any special events coming up as well organisations, or letting the staff at Ckut radio also let them know and update them on the coming event or organisations being held in the City of Montreal.

Now the really interesting part of my internship is when I get to go downstairs and help out the host at the "M.C.R" also known as the master control room. But this week was a little different. The person the usually hosts the radio station that I also work with, which is called "Caravan" by the way called in sick and could not be there at the time. I was a little nervous because I had never hosted a radio station all by myself and did not know what to do. My host manager told me not to worry, and that things like this happen all the time. As a matter of fact, she told me to always have a plan B whenever things like this happen. The good thing was that, my internship host had a pre-recording about, the show I host “Caravan” the war right now between Israel and Palestine.

Since my internship usually concentrates about the Middle Eastern and its surrounding, I usually do not have a lot of interaction with the Anglophone community. But like I in my previous posts, I was very surprised just how far the English language has gone and how are able to communicate with one another.

I remember that day was raining, I was talking to my radio host and she told me an expression that I have never heard before. She said that “it was raining cats and dogs”. I have never heard that expression before not knowing what it meant and started laughing because I did not know my host was referring the rain to cats and dogs. Also, another expression that I heard was that when I was in the Master Control Room was “ a needle in a haystack” that was when my time hosting “Caravan” finished and the next host was not there to take over after we finish. I was suggesting what album to put in the meantime as soon as the other host arrivers. I suggested a song an album song I had heard on my first days I was doing my internship, but my host manager said that looking for that record was looking for a “needle in a haystack” we also took matters into our own hands and just put any random track until the other hosts comes.

Also during interviews people, when we make or receive calls from the Middle Eastern communities, I noticed that people seem to use people’s first name to interview the person. And I think that was an observation I noticed in the Anglophone community. It is not like French when people use the pronoun “vous” to address someone in a polite way.

Well folks, that’s all for this week, Stay tuned as next week I get to tell more interesting stuff that happened to me at my internship.

Internship week #2 First Impression

My first impression of my internship placement was very exciting, and at the same time very nerve wracking, especially when they told me that I was going to be working in a radio station. I had never worked at a radio and even more inside a (M.C.R.) Master Control Room for those who do not know the meaning. It is basically where the live radio station takes place. My first impressions just by looking at the radio station and how it operated, I was just amazed by it. I guess if anybody goes there for the first time will have the same reaction as me. Also at first, it all looks so complicated with all the buttons. I knew it was going to be hard just like learning how to ride a bike for the first time or taking on a new language but, I was up for the challenge. What really impressed me about my internship were all the different cultural backgrounds as well as the different shows the radio station CKUT broadcasts. The radio station unites all the communities from Montreal and tries to play from each of the communities as well as live interviews from people from other countries that explain their point of view on a certain subject. So If you want to know about other countries and want to experience another kind of music except the one you always hear in the radio and that it is not in your native language. So here is your chance. This would be a great way of learning and discovering other thought from people all the world. One thing that I also learned in my internship is that how important the English language is in the world. It unites the world when it comes to business, traveling, and even communication. One of the reasons I say that, is because there were interviewing a person from Palestine which stars in a movie. The movie talks about  the conflict between his country and Israel. He talks about the situation they have to face every day as well as the everyday struggle. Not knowing when a bomb can go off anytime and how many innocent people are dying all the time. By speaking English, a lot of people were able to understand what he was going through and they also heard about the war between these two countries from his point of view. At my internship, I learned new words such as "a walk in the park". This expression was used when I was  working at the master control room, when I was in charge of putting the music an making sure everything was in place to put the next song, also to make sure nothing bad happened, or if a track had stopped playing. Not only you get to work at a radio station, but you also get to know new vocabulary and expression. So far, so good and I am very excited for what is going to happen next week so stay tuned and find out.