FSU International Programs Valencia 2005

 

 

The style in 2005 might be different, but Valencia, Spain is the same now as it was then- incredible! Check out this video to learn about some of the excursions from 2005 that this program continues today. This is a great blast-from-the-past video that shows so much of what Valencia has to offer. For more information about the Valencia program visit http://fla.st/1G0h54Z.

'We Are Happy' in Valencia

Check out this awesome video from the Valencia Spring 2014 group!
 

 

Click here to see the video on Youtube

Going the Distance

 

Created and Written by: Zack Welsh

Click here to see the full video on Vimeo!

 

When I decided I was going to FSU, I knew I wanted to study abroad at some point. By the time fall of 2013 rolled around, I also knew I needed to get some professional experience under my belt before graduation. After some great talks with IP, I realized that interning abroad over the summer would be the perfect blend of those two aspirations.

With an experience like studying abroad, you feel an overwhelming urge to capture everything around you and save it somehow. Most people quickly realize it’ll be a long time before they’ll have a shot to come back and they want to have something to remember their time by. For most of my peers, that urge manifested itself in a journal, scrapbook, or a blog. I made a sincere effort to journal and blog but I found myself constantly frustrated trying to find the right words and doubly frustrated when I realized I could be out there doing things rather than scribbling in my book for an hour. For me, a video was just natural. My camera was always on me and all it required was pointing, shooting, and worrying about the finished product later. I could capture what I was seeing without worrying about finding the right words.

Over the summer I had an idea of what I wanted to do and the running idea was a branch of that original idea. I can’t claim total creative credit for the movie I made since I was heavily inspired by this video Casey Neistat made for Nike a few years ago. He uses the running-through-the-frame shot quite a bit. However that video, and the message behind it, heavily fueled my ambitions for travel that summer. I wanted to see, do, and experience as much as possible and I thought the image of me running through those locations captured that ambition.

In total, I took over 50 of those running videos in eight different countries and 25 different cities. I think I used around thirty in the final cut. The shots were not always easy to get and I CANNOT thank my friends who helped hold the camera enough. The only reason I don’t have credits for them rolling at the end is because it would have been longer than the video itself. At any rate, I owe them all big time. 

There were plenty of tough situations where filming wasn’t exactly encouraged (Parliament), crowds made running nearly impossible (Times Square), and the weather didn’t cooperate (Paris). In one instance, I was running along a beach in Barcelona only to be reminded later while editing that it was a topless beach. I had to cut that one out to avoid the R rating. Occasionally, people would ask what I was doing and after I told them my idea, it was a toss up between them giving me encouragement or them rolling their eyes at me.

I learned a lot this summer but my main takeaway came from an Irish bartender from Boston I ran across in London during the first week. At the end of our conversation, he nonchalantly tossed out ‘the more things change, the more they’re the same.’ (I’m pretty sure it’s a French proverb but who cares. I’m giving this guy credit.) Originally, I took it as a pessimistic statement that belittled the value of traveling and reduced the value of experiencing new things. However, at the end of the summer, those words took on a new flavor to me. It instead meant that no matter how far you travel on this planet, you’ll always have something or someone you can identify with in that place. I tried to weave that into the video a little bit by making sure the clips were from as diverse locations as possible and it’s why I included NYC at the end.

Feel free to watch the video here and I hope it motivates you to travel with FSU IP. The song is ‘Get Found’ by Bass Drum of Death and I shot everything on a Canon S110 and edited in iMovie.

Thanks for reading! Go Noles!

2014 FSUIP Video Contest Winners

      Click on the Images Below to be Directed to the Video
Click here to view all submissions

 

Grand Prize Winner: Kiara Talancha
London Program

Image source: playgroundlondontown.wordpress.com


       Finalist: Samantha Sicard
                Israel Program                                                      Finalist: April Blackwill 

Image source: tourist-destinations.com

                                   Panama Program


Image source: totalassetmanagement.net
 

Studying Abroad in London

By Kiara Talancha

    If somebody had told me back in high school that I was going to spend my first semester of college in London and would have the best time of my life, I would have laughed in their face and moonwalk away from them, screaming that they are crazy. But no, they were not crazy, and yes I had the best time of my life.

            I didn’t know much about London, which sounds bad on paper, but I think that was what made my experience better. I was going completely blind to a place I never faced before. People talk about how your first semester of college is what makes you an adult by dealing with a roommate, picking your own classes, and making new friends. Being in London, all of those obstacles I had to deal with were hard yet easy.

           
            The study centre is in the heart of London, literally. If you see the Tube Station map, the centre is in Tottenham Court Road, which is in the middle of everything. Which is great when you are bored one Tuesday night and decide to go to a Christmas Market outside Embankment Station, or go to an Ice Bar and dance to the music with your friends, or travel the London Eye and see the city lighted on night. I never thought I would experience all of those things and more my first semester of college.

            I got to visit so many places that, without the program, I would have avoided as a tourist. For example:

·         I spoke in front of my classmates and a bunch of strangers at Speaker’s Corner when I had to give a speech for my Public Speaking class.

·         My friends and I walked across the zebra steps of Abbey Road, and took pictures next to the studio were the Beatles recorded their many albums.

·         I traveled to three different cities in Europe– Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris– with my brother (if you get the chance, drink the water from the places you go, they all taste differently and it makes you think more about how water works).

·         My friends made Thanksgiving and we all set around the table and gave our thanks. I almost cried.

·         I went to my British friend’s house and sat eating English breakfast while her mother told stories of the time she was a flight attendant.

·         I climbed the many steps up St. Paul’s Cathedral and watched the sun go down the London Bridge.

           Studying abroad my first semester of college has made me cherish all the experiences I have from now on. Dr. Seuss says it best: “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” All those experiences I had while in London made me realize that if it wasn’t for that April day, when the brochure of the International program came in the mail, I would have spent my first semester of college at home, or going to community college. I am grateful to have walked the damp gravel to see Stonehenge, or tripped on concrete on my way to buy groceries in Bloomsbury, or flashed a smile to the worker in Russell Street News. My first semester abroad was, as Barney from How I Met Your Mother would say, “Legend-... wait for it... and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DAIRY!”

                                   

  Check out Kiara's video from her study abroad experience! http://youtu.be/JQoo_7MWxQ0
 

 

 

London Through a Lens

By Kayluis Peña

It was halfway through my junior year when I realized that my time at FSU was quickly coming to an end. I knew it would be very difficult to travel abroad for an extended period of time after I was out in the workforce, so I decided that I needed to pack up my things and study abroad. I quickly realized that it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

While in London I did all the typical "tourist" things during the first week, and lived there as a resident the rest of the time. I mingled with locals on afternoons at the pub and enjoyed various plates of fish and chips. On lazy evenings I would go to Trafalgar Square with some friends and just hang out.

Studying abroad through FSU was an amazing experience! Check out the link below to see London through my eyes!

Click here to see Kayluis' video

Video Contest Winner: London

Pierce won our previous video contest for his video about life in London during Summer of 2011:

Check out our YouTube channel for more videos