Try @ TXST

Giselle Kowalski:
Hi everyone, my name is Giselle Kowalski and I'm the Digital Content Producer here at Texas State University. You're listening to Try at Texas State. Today's episode is part one of a two-part series focusing on a group of Texas State students who are traveling to Europe this year for the 2024 Paris Olympics. I got to speak with Professor Jenny Buschhorn and student Mac Blackwell before they took off for their adventure. Hi guys, how are you guys today? I'm really excited to meet with y'all. If you could please introduce yourselves. We'll start off with Jenny.

Jenny Buschhorn:
I'm Jenny Buschhorn and I'm an Associate Professor of Practice at Texas State in the Advertising Department.

Giselle Kowalski:
Awesome. And what about you, Mac?

Mac Blackwell:
Got you. So my name is Mac Blackwell. I am a public relations major, a senior here at Texas State. I'm going to Paris, that's what I know about me right now.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yes, that's amazing. So Paris, you guys are going to Paris for the Olympics this Sunday. How nervous, excited are you both?

Jenny Buschhorn:
I'm both. I'm super excited. I am nervous more than anything that I'll get everything packed and ready to go. But yeah, I'm super excited to be over there and get it started. We've been talking about this for a really long time, so it's really great that it's finally here.

Giselle Kowalski:
And so you're taking a class to Paris. How many students will be coming with you?

Jenny Buschhorn:
We are taking 25 students to the Paris Olympics.

Giselle Kowalski:
And are they all underneath the mass communications department?

Jenny Buschhorn:
All of them are in the School of Journalism and Mass Comm. We have five different majors on our 25 person team and we've actually been in class for the last couple of weeks prior to going, kind of getting ourselves ready, doing some kind of initial research and some of the things that we're going to be doing over there. It's been great though because we have some people, electronic media majors who are really into film and putting things on video. We have advertising majors who are all about branding. We have PR majors who are all about what story are we telling. We have DMI majors who are keeping us up to date with all kinds of great new technology and bringing cool stuff with us. And we have one single journalism major and she's been writing articles for us. So it's been a lot of different... It's been great.

Giselle Kowalski:
I did some digging, and this is not the first time Texas State students have covered the Olympics. Back in 2018, a group of mass comm students embarked to Pyongyang, South Korea with former communications Professor Michael Burns to do an internship with NBC for the Winter Olympics. OK. And so can you walk me through what the students will be doing at the Olympics? Because in my mind I just see you guys going to events, but I know that there's a lot more behind the planning for this.

Jenny Buschhorn:
Yeah, actually we're kind of combining Paris and the Olympics together. So we are going to do some of the regular touristy Paris things. So we're going to Versailles, we're going to the Louvre, I'm sure we'll make it by the Eiffel Tower at some point. That's not a specific thing because we do have an event there and I'll tell you about it in a minute. So we're combining that with also learning about careers in mass communications. So we are going to the Paris Media Center, which is where all the accredited journalists for the Olympics are going to be housed, not housed, but where they have an office and they can find information and things there and information center. So we're going there and interviewing people and touring it and talking to different people there.
We are going to go to an artist exhibit in Paris, his name is Yousef, YSY, and he's done different branding opportunities as well as art himself. And he does a lot of sports art so he is done some collabs with people like Novak Djokovic and things like that. So we're doing a presentation with him where we can do a Q&A and talk to him about what he's doing. And then one of the coolest things that we're all super excited about is that we have a connection with The Today Show. So we're going to a live taping of The Today Show at the foot of the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel Tower. We're going to be standing there and our new best friends, Hoda and Savannah, are going to kind of tell us about what's going on at the Olympics. Seriously, we're going to go watch them do their jobs and then we're going to talk with some people who work for The Today Show and help put it together in the Olympics venues.
So we're doing all of that, plus we're going to Olympic events as well. So we're going to the football/soccer match in, we're taking a high-speed train to Bordeaux to watch Spain who just won the Euro and the Dominican Republic in a soccer match there. And then we are also going to watch a couple of the medal rounds of the swimming competition at the swim center there in Paris. And then our students themselves have some time off and they have each chosen some other Olympic events. I think Mac and some of his friends are going out to Monet's house in Giverny. We're doing a lot. We are packing a whole lot into 12 days.

Giselle Kowalski:
12 days, wow. I was just about to ask from what time to what time you'll be there, but that is a lot to handle.

Jenny Buschhorn:
It is, it is.

Giselle Kowalski:
In just a little under two weeks. Wow. So Mac, how have you been preparing for such a high-energy environment?

Mac Blackwell:
I'm a spreadsheet guy, so as she was talking about what we were doing, I have my spreadsheet with what we're doing pulled up next door. I've been doing a lot of the planning for the groups and all that, making sure we're all on the same page. So for the free day, I put together our trip to the Monet house and then that group, a lot of us are also going to a night game for beach volleyball, which is directly underneath the Eiffel Tower, we're super excited about that. But as for how I manage everything, it's spreadsheets, I take a lot of notes and I write a lot of things down.

Giselle Kowalski:
That's really exciting and I'm very proud of you for being so organized. Whenever I travel, I am very much figure it out day of so I would be very, very lucky if I was in your travel group. Is there a specific event, sporting event that you both are most exciting for to see whenever you're there for those 12 days? Because I know you can't see it all, but is there one that's piquing your interest the most?

Mac Blackwell:
I'm very excited about the volleyball because that's something, like I said, we all sat down, we did that together because we just want to see beach volleyball. But also for the swimming, I didn't know we were doing medal rounds. That's going to be really cool because especially with all the Australia versus America beef going on right now, I want to see us win, I really want to see us win.

Giselle Kowalski:
Oh yeah, that clip went viral.

Mac Blackwell:
Yes.

Giselle Kowalski:
If you're at all curious, Google "America versus Australia rivalry swimming" or something like that in the query and you'll see all the beef. It's kind of intense.

Jenny Buschhorn:
I am most looking forward to swimming too. When we chose the events, we wanted to choose not only events that we thought would be high profile and things that we would really enjoy, but when we chose swimming in particular, we chose it because we thought there might be the chance that an American would win one of the medals while we were there because there are three different medals being given out the night where it's swimming and we hoped that an American would win because we all thought about that moment of being able to watch the flag rise up and sing the national anthem and it's just like that quintessential Olympic experience. And so that was what when we chose swimming, that's why we chose swimming. And so that's what I'm hoping for, fingers crossed, that the swimmers pull it out and we get to have that moment. So we're taking flags, we're ready to go.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, you're representing from all the way across the world, I love that. And we will be watching from back home. So Jenny, you guys will be interacting with a lot of different cultures while you guys are out there. What's your best piece of advice for students as they navigate their way through such a intense kind of environment?

Jenny Buschhorn:
I think we have said from the beginning of this program when we started talking about it, we had two words that we are all focused on and if you ask any of our students what our two words are, they will tell you, it's patience and flexibility. Knowing that everything's not going to go right, everything's not going to be perfect. We're going to arrive late at some places, we're going to be early to some place. There's going to be a lot going on. I mean, there's supposed to be 15 million people in Paris and we're going to be 27 of them if you count all of us. So knowing that, I think that's the biggest thing.
We've done a little, well, quite a bit of studying, Mac would probably tell you about the differences in cultures as we're going over there. We've talked about why people behave the way they do and how they communicate differently than we do and how that looks and what it feels like. And quite honestly, we had an assignment where we put different students on different countries and then they're teaching us about those countries so that we know that for instance, Americans behave this way and French people behave that way and these are the reasons why. So that we understand that there's a difference in cultures and we understand the reasoning behind it and not just, "Why are they acting so different?" We are able to really look at the cultures from a different perspective and particularly how they communicate across all the kind of media that we're looking at.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, that brings me to two separate questions, it was a perfect lead-in, Jenny. Mac, have you ever been abroad?

Mac Blackwell:
I have, yes. So I've traveled quite a bit. Off the top of my head, I know I've been to Mexico, Paris, I've spent time in Italy, Spain, and England. I've done traveling but never France, never France.

Jenny Buschhorn:
But Mac is the exception.

Mac Blackwell:
Oh yes, I should say very much the exception. I know most of everyone else has not traveled before, so that's partially why I'm like, "Hey guys, this is what we're doing, this is who we're working with."

Giselle Kowalski:
That's awesome. OK, so this is kind of a good territory for you then. That's awesome. So how does the French media compare to the media that we're used to here in the US? Is there going to be a huge difference for y'all as you're learning as mass communication students?

Mac Blackwell:
Ooh, I'm not too sure. I haven't had a chance to look at the French version of the media, mainly I don't understand French, so I haven't been looking at too much. But from what I understand, in America we have a very superlative and very positive outlook on things. We don't have a good breakfast, we had the best breakfast. The French have kind of the opposite of that. Instead of saying something was the best, they'd say something isn't bad, which for us doesn't sound quite right, but for them that's the same thing. So in the media, that's kind of what I'm expecting is to not have that same level of superlative, everything's the very best, the very top and just almost more relaxed, I guess, is what I'm expecting.

Giselle Kowalski:
So outside of the Olympics, are there any foods or sites that you guys are really, really pumped for?

Mac Blackwell:
So I know there's three groups of us actually, probably it might be the majority of us, that on one of our free days have arranged to go to a fondue restaurant. They serve alcoholic beverages in little baby bottles so I know I'm buying one of those as my trip souvenir, I'm very excited for that. But it's France, I'm excited about the bakeries. I'm going to go have a chocolate croissant every morning.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, and for the people that would not be on the Zoom call, you are with a background of Ratatouille, which I absolutely love. You're very much involving yourself in that French spirit. That's amazing.

Mac Blackwell:
Jenny is too, we're coordinated.

Giselle Kowalski:
Oh, you are.

Mac Blackwell:
She's a scene from the kitchen.

Giselle Kowalski:
This might sound like a silly question, but you guys won't be staying in the Olympic Village, will you?

Jenny Buschhorn:
No, we are actually staying in a 900-person capacity youth hostel in Paris. But it was described to me when I first started talking about it, it was described to me as the Ritz-Carlton of youth hostels. So it has restaurants inside, we have breakfast every morning. It's a very nice place, but like Mac and seven other male students will be staying in a room together with bunk beds and things like that. But it's very nice bunk beds and things like that so it's very efficient and effective for us.

Mac Blackwell:
I'm also very excited about it because the company that we're working with, Siegel, they rented out the entire hostel for American college students. So everyone around us who's going to be people I could actually go and talk to later. In terms of networking, it's nice to know someone in France but doesn't necessarily help me a ton. Knowing someone in America who I could hit up later would be, is going to be actually, not would be, is going to be super cool. So I'm excited to meet some of those guys.

Jenny Buschhorn:
Well, in speaking of networking, one of the events that I neglected to talk about is we are doing a networking event. The University of Illinois and Arizona State are on similar timeframes as we are and so they're over there. So we are having a networking event with them and with about 80 French students who have gone through a study abroad to America through the same travel company that's working with us. And so our students are going to get to meet the Arizona State and the Illinois students, but also a whole bunch of French students. So there's a great opportunity for them to connect with people and we're doing that early in the trip so that the French students can help our students, "Hey, don't go to the tourist place, go here," that kind of thing. So we think that'll be a really great fun experience for everybody.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, man, I'm so jealous I'm not going. Do you have room for 28 maybe? I'm just kidding. Wow, that sounds like a fantastic time. Well you guys, I hope that this is just like the trip of the lifetime, it sounds like it will be. I send you with blessings and safety and just a bunch of excitement. I'm so excited to hear about how it goes and I can't wait to talk to you guys once you get back to hear about all your stories. Texas State is supporting you from afar.

Jenny Buschhorn:
Well, and if you'd like to follow our trip, we have an Instagram site called TXST Paris Olympics.

Giselle Kowalski:
Perfect, I will be following you.

Jenny Buschhorn:
So feel free to follow us there.

Giselle Kowalski:
Awesome, thanks guys. So good luck to Jenny and all the students joining her on this fantastic journey. By the time this podcast has come out, they will have already been there for a couple of days. We hope you all have been enjoying the Olympics thus far and stay tuned for part two.
And thank you for listening to this episode of the Try at Texas State Podcast. Make sure to tune in next time to learn more about something else you can try on campus at Texas State. And also remember to follow us on our social media at TXST. This podcast is a production of the Division of Marketing and Communications at Texas State University. Podcasts appearing on the Texas State University Network represent the views of the hosts and guests, not of Texas State University. Again, I'm your host, Giselle Kowalski, and I'll see you next time. Bye y'all.