podcast practice SL2

Curtis and Ava have a conversation about their backgrounds and experiences at Indiana University (IU). Ava is a freshman from Downers Grove, Illinois, and Curtis is a senior. They talk about their experiences in Greek life and their majors (journalism for Ava and law for Curtis). Ava is interested in broadcast journalism and Curtis shares his experience in a broadcast news class. They also discuss their future plans, including job opportunities and graduate school. Ava's dream job is to be a news anchor. Hi, everyone. I'm Curtis and I'm here with Ava. And today we're going to be talking about a few different topics. I first want to start off and get a general idea of who Ava is. So, Ava, if you'd like to tell me what grade are you? Okay. So I'm Ava. I'm a freshman and I am from the Chicago suburbs. Awesome. What suburb? Downers Grove. Okay, cool. I'm from Glen Ellyn. Oh, that's super close. Yeah. What high school did you go to? Downers Grove North. Glenbard West. Oh, okay. So that's awesome. What year are you? Senior now. Oh, okay. Unfortunately in Story Lab, too. Yeah, exactly. I left it for the end and now I'm regretting it. Fair enough. That's all right. So how are you liking your time at IU so far? It's been pretty good. Yeah? Yeah. What's your favorite part? Oh. That's a good question. Honestly, I haven't really gotten that. Like last semester, I only spent one weekend here. Oh, really? Okay. I was constantly going to different schools. So it's been nice this semester to kind of get more settled in and stuff. Yeah. What were you doing at different schools? Visiting friends. One of my best friends goes to Miami of Ohio. The other goes to U of I. And those are like the closest. They're like back and forth between the two. That's so funny. My freshman year, my best friend went to Miami of Ohio. No way. And I did the exact same thing. It's so fun, isn't it? It is. It kind of made me like regret. A little bit. Me too. Like I went there and was like, holy shit, that was probably the most fun I've had in a weekend in a long time. Yeah, that's a great school to go to. Same with U of I. Both very fun. Yeah. I think it's also very different at U of I. Like you can get into bars at 19. I know. And go out and like here you're kind of forced to join a sorority. Exactly. Are you in a fraternity? I used to be in a fraternity. I dropped senior year. Fair enough. Just because I didn't want to pay anymore. That's fair. I knew friends already. So it was like, what's the point? That is fair. How about you? Yes, actually. I'm in a KIONA. Oh, awesome. How did Rush go? It was good. It was really good, actually. I was not expecting to like the experience so much. But I love talking to people. So I was like, oh, this is fun. Yeah, I'm glad it worked out because I feel like it's either really good or horror stories. Like no in between. There was a lot of people that I was talking to and they were like, I hate Rush, like whatever. And then they'd be like, how was your experience? I was like, oh, it was like, oh, it was okay. Like, you know, it's all right. I loved it. Like it went great. But I was like, oh, you know, everyone had their own experience. So I didn't want to like be that guy. But I liked it. No, that's good, though. Because like my freshman year, a couple of my friends actually like would like break. There were a couple of girls that didn't get their first choice and then got like deferred to somewhere else. And like, we're actually like in tears. Yeah, there's a lot of girls that I knew that it just didn't quite work out the way that they wanted it to. And I felt really bad. And I feel like this is a school where it's like, I don't know. That's another reason why I left. Because I felt like first semester was kind of like really slow. Okay, like there's nothing tying me here. Like next semester will be a different world. That's why I left. Yeah. What were you? I was in Alpha Kappa Lambda. Yeah, it's it was okay. I enjoyed I'm I love the people I met. That was the biggest thing for me was I didn't really care about the party aspect of it. I enjoyed it. Yeah. But for me, it was just like, I had friends coming into you. Like, obviously, we're from a suburb of Chicago. Everybody I've ever met goes here. So I kind of wanted to just find different friends and not kind of be stuck in high school. So it was nice. And like, by first semester, sophomore year, I kind of already had my friend group, like everyone I hung out with. And it was nice. So, yeah. What's your major? Going back to basic questions. I am a journalism major. Like I'm interested in broadcast journalism. I have a focus in news editing. Yep, that's mine. Okay, awesome. Do you have anything to do with that? Honestly, not newscasting or broadcast. I want to go into law. Oh, yeah, I did poli sci when I started. But then I took like the same class six times over just different numbers next to it. Got so bored. Yeah, like this is actually like I've done the same thing in school for two years now. So I've switched to journalism just because it's broader. Right. Will give me more options depending on what I want to do. So I like it. Have you taken any of like the broadcast classes yet? I have not yet. No, I'm really excited. I really want to take I'm really interested in Ann Reiter. She seems like she knows what she's doing. I had her last semester. Yeah. Did you like her? She was so nice. Like, actually, so nice. I was I was a senior in her broadcast news class. And there were a couple of other seniors. But like, I will say most of the broadcast kids like know each other. Like, I kind of felt like it was a little culty, you know, like I walked in like first semester senior and everyone's like younger and know each other. And it's like, okay, like, yeah, exactly. I'll get in where I fit in there. So it was good. She was a great teacher. It will be a good amount of work, like a lot of outside the classroom, probably the most I had for a class. But it wasn't like sitting there doing homework, like going out, finding stories, like recording stuff, which was cool. I'm so bad with technology, though. That's what I'm nervous about. Like StoryLab one, when we had to like edit any videos or do any of those like projects, I was so stressed. I did not figure out how to work those freaking laptops in the Photoshop and the addition. Oh, yeah. It's a lot of Adobe audition. Perfect. And you will have to learn how to edit. But Alan, who we just met, like she for the first month of the class, you do like overviews of that stuff. So by the time you actually sit down and do it, you'll somewhat know it. I kind of didn't, but one of my friends had taken the class. So anytime I had to edit something, I'd just be like, hey, I want to take my computer and do it for me. So, yeah, she's a great teacher. Definitely got me outside of my comfort zone. Like I did. I did my like final project about the homeless community. She said she wouldn't give me a good grade unless I got an interview from a homeless person. And I was terrified. Yeah, because I did not want to walk into people's park and just be like, hey, everyone, we really care. You don't want to offend anyone. That's a really awkward. Exactly. And she sat me down and kind of gave me this pep talk and was like, you have a charm to you. Just walk up. You'll be fine. So I did. I walked into the park with a camera. How was that? Scary. Yeah, a little bit scary. I got told to go off a couple of times and then I found somebody. Yeah. So it all worked out. I really liked the class. Yeah, it definitely forced me to do a lot more than I wanted, but you'll enjoy it. And if it's what you want to do, I'm sure it'll work out. Fair enough. Do you know what you want to do when you graduate? I'm in between taking a job in Chicago or going to grad school slash law school. I'm still waiting for my results back. Okay. Where'd you apply? I applied to Northwestern. Oh, my God. That was my dream school. Was it really? I was so excited. Okay. I was like kind of like Northwestern would have been cool, but like I don't want to be that close to home a little bit. That's fair. And also like I feel like this sounds kind of bad, but like all the kids that I thought were super douchey that I disliked went to Northwestern. Yeah. And I was like, oh, cool. I don't really want to hang out with them. No, that's fair. Oh, sorry. Expand your horizons. That makes sense. So when do you get your results back? Should be March. Oh, my God. So I still have time. That's so exciting. Congratulations. Yeah, it's exciting. Thank you. I'm excited, but at the same time kind of nervous. Yeah. I really like that's the thing is I've been sitting in class the past month just like I am so tired. Yeah. Like very, very much so. And you know, it's like I get through it. I'll always put in the best effort that I can. But like, do I really want to go to another three, four years of school? That's a lot. Instead of still not making money. Yeah. Wait, so what job do you have lined up in Chicago? It's with the Illinois Policy Institute. Okay. So I would be doing a lot of like writing about different legislation that was passed in the state of Chicago. Wow. Okay. They're very big on like limited government, kind of like more about the individuals and like supporting like lesser communities. So I'd be doing a lot of like focused writing and beat writing about like these smaller communities that don't usually get their voice out. That is awesome. Yeah. To me, like I really like that mission because I think one of the biggest things that like I've always thought is like when it comes to journalism and writing, I kind of hate like how it is right now. And I like the publications and places that will tell those stories that everyone else doesn't. Very hard to find good journalism that is. That is awesome. Yeah. I wanted to work for Vice because I think they do a lot of like YouTube stuff and a lot of stories about like underprivileged communities, like stuff you never hear about. They were like, yeah, unless you have like a 50 video portfolio and are like 25 years old, no chance. Okay. So got to start somewhere. You got time. Yeah, exactly. Work your way up. That is really exciting. Yeah. I know you're a freshman, but what what's your dream job? I want to be a news anchor. Really? Yeah. Yeah. You're in the good. You're in a good place to do it. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Hoping that it all works out. Yeah. Ann Reuter is definitely the person to get in touch with. She would tell us stories like last year of a bunch of different students she had that she had like kind of like reference to different places and like put up in good places. Okay. Good to know. Yeah. She I think she's definitely one of the people you should start to if you can get in her class. Yeah. Definitely try to. She's been fantastic. She came in for like I was in story lab one last semester and she came and did like a guest. She was a guest speaker. Yeah. She was fantastic. Oh, yeah. She like tells her she's. Yeah. You can tell you can tell she's done it for a while. Absolutely. Yeah. I think she was a news anchor in Indy. Yeah. Like 40 years. I did not know that. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. She knows. How old is she? She does not look that old. I want to say like 60. Wow. I might be going a little bit over. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I could not tell ages. You could show me like a four year old kid and I'd say 12. Yeah. Fair enough. All right. Well, I'm trying to think of other questions. All right. I got a good one. If you could be any animal, what would you be? OK, that's a good question. I, I hate snakes. I genuinely think that they're the scariest animal ever. So maybe that could get over your fear. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. I like the reasoning behind it. Yeah. I know nothing about snakes is natural. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. Have you ever seen snakes? Yes. Where? Not in Illinois. OK. Funny you say that. I was like, oh, Illinois is safe. And then the other day I was talking about snakes with my friends and he was like, oh, my gosh, check out this picture I took of a snake in Naperville. And it was really large, disgusting. It was like black and had like red in it. Oh, my God. That's not. I was like, OK, there's no way. Yeah. I've only ever seen a snake once in person. It was on a golf course in Bloomington. Yeah. Oh, my God. What kind of snake? I have no clue. Was it like a baby one or was it like a snake? But it wasn't like, I don't know. We just kind of all looked at it like, all right, I'm just going to get away from you as quick as I can. I cannot do that. When I was in Florida once, we were by this lake. I don't know. I was like, brilliant. I remember there was like all these snakes. I was like, hell, no, I can never live in Florida. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Oh, thanks. Um, I don't I don't know. Honestly, I asked the question not knowing my own answer. I probably go with I feel like maybe a penguin because I feel like penguins have like, OK, OK, not because like I don't I feel like a penguin or something like that. But like, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. If you ever watch like nature documentaries, the penguins are always like all together. There's like 400 of them, like all turning up in the same place. I feel like that would be so fun to like be in that little community, like on some like ice. That is my favorite answer I've ever heard. I want to take that. Yeah, I like that. Next time you ask that question. Oh, if you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be? Hmm. Dead or alive? Yeah. Hmm. Oh, that's a really good question. I feel like my idea of like who my favorite like I don't really like celebrities. I don't really pay attention to celebrities. And then I feel like my idea of like who my favorite like athlete or public person is changes like every week. That's that's. I'll go with your person of the week. Yeah. Person of the week would be John F. Kennedy. Oh, yeah. OK. I'm reading a book that has to do with his assassination. So maybe, you know, it's OK. Is it like an assigned reading? Yeah, it's I like to read. I spent like the last five months on Instagram and was like, you know what? Like, I was like, I used to love reading. I do it all the time and was like, now I just scroll on reels instead of reading. So I deleted Instagram. Oh, wow. And I want to I want to start to my goal was like, I'm going to finish three books that I have on my checklist and then I can download it again. OK, that's a good goal. I like that. I don't know. I just felt like it. It was like January 15th. I'd done nothing to start the month. And I was like, oh, my God, I feel like such a bum. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah. All right. How about you? You could sit down with anybody and have dinner. I'm the same way. I kind of like changes. But lately, I've been willing to see Yvonne. I think. Oh, yeah. He's really funny. He is so funny. Like when I think of podcasts that I would sit there and watch, he's probably one of the only ones. I'm not a big podcast person. Me either. I just kind of feel like they're like I like crime junkies, if you know what that is. OK, I've heard of it. I've never really gotten into it. OK, like I'm not a serial killer, but it's like murder mystery. You know what I mean? Yeah. I like it. It's kind of like a weird topic. But like if I'm on a long drive and I just need to zone out to something like I'll just throw that on and be like, oh, you prefer podcasts or music and a long drive? Towards the end of the long drive. OK. I would turn on the podcast, but I'll definitely just blast music for the first like four or five hours. Yeah. OK. Where have you road tripped to? I drive to Georgia every year. OK. From Illinois, which is my friend has a house there from high school. So fun. So we've done that every year since eighth grade. That is so fun. When do you guys go? Start in June. That is so fun. So it's like every every time summer starts, like that's our like the kickoff. Yeah. That's so great. Yeah. It's like nine of my friends and I, we have like this beach house to ourselves. That is incredible. That's literally a dream. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then you have to come back to reality after that and be like, OK, cool. Nothing is this great. Yeah. That is awesome. Yeah. And then I've driven. I did Indiana to Florida and that one, Fort Lauderdale for my sophomore year. Oh, wow. You drove. Oh, my God. It was the worst car ride of my life. Yeah. I think it was 22 and a half hours. OK. We were going to drive. So glad we're not driving anymore. Did you get a flight? Yeah. Are you going anywhere this year? We're going to Punta Cana. OK. That's the evolution. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You have to do Fort Lauderdale. Yeah. You have to do Fort Lauderdale because it honestly is really fun. My trip started off a little bit interesting. What happened? I was out at a nightclub, you know, doing that. Naturally. Got my first drink. Woke up the next morning. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And all my friends were like, yeah, we've never seen you like that. Something must have been in your drink. That's horrifying. So my trip kicked off. Did you get it right from the bar? Yeah, I got it right from the bar. And the thing was we it took her like my friend and I were standing there. It was a she? Yeah. He and I both got the drinks together and it took her like six minutes to make a vodka Red Bull. And my friend was like, what? Like, what just took her so long? And then immediately spills his drink. So I was the only tester of those drinks. You're kidding. I was the one that immediately just like woke up the next day. Okay. So I would say try to keep an eye on your drink. There are going to be a lot of people on the beaches just walking up giving you wristbands. Okay. Take them. Okay. Get you into the clubs for a cheaper price and we'll get you like inclusive drinks and stuff like that. Sounds good. Okay. Because they were, they sent up this like package thing. And so I'm going with all my best friends from high school. And I was like, oh, guys, like they sent up this package. Like, I think it's worth it. Like, if not for like, at least like covers. Like, it's like they're going to upcharge you like crazy just for cover. So like, this seems worth it. Like, oh, no, I'll figure it out as we go. Like, okay, whatever. Like falling on a budget, keeping as cheap as possible. Maybe we can. I'd bring at least like 200. How long are you going to be there? Oh, okay. Well, so I'm going with some of my friends for five days. And then, so we bought like, whatever, that's like settled. And then my other girlfriend, so she's my best friend. She goes to Miami of Ohio. She has a different spring break. So then I was like, you've got to come and she doesn't have class on Friday. And my class, this is the only class I have on Thursday. So we should fly out Thursday. You can overlap with us and then you go home Monday. So you and I will get two days. Our whole friend group will overlap for two days and then whatever. That's awesome. So we found, I already like paid for flights, but then we found really cheap flights on Spirit, $28. Yeah. And so we're like, okay, we could stay here. We could stay in a crappy hotel. Have you flown Spirit before? Never. I'm flying Spirit to Punta Cana. Okay. And it's a seven and a half hour flight. Good luck with that. I am terrified. Okay. And all my friends have like, sorry to cut you off. All my friends are like, oh, we've flown Spirit so many times. Like, the flight is fine. Like, everything else sucks. But the actual flight is fine. My biggest fear is like, my biggest fear is dying in a flight. I kid you not, growing up, like growing up, I was terrified of 9-11. It was like, I kid you not, like every time I would get on a plane, my mom would have to give me Benadryl so I'd just fall asleep because I'd get like shaky and I'm not an anxious person at all. But that just like got deep down to my core. And so by the time like I grew up, I was less scared of 9-11 and more scared of like, like the taking off and landing. That is a rational fear. I am not like an easygoing flyer. Like, I freak out. Like, I'm like, you know, it's like, whatever, I'm chill. But at the same time, I'm like, okay, like, we can come down in any minute. Like, when are we landing? But I've never flown Spirit. My mom has and she's like, don't do it. They canceled my flight last minute. They screwed everything up. That's exactly what my friend said. That would be my only concern. We still did it. Yeah. It was like $400 cheaper. And if I'm paying for it, absolutely. We're going to go with a cheaper option. That's totally fair. Yeah. I like Kate Lynn is her name and she's flown it before. She's never had an issue. And so I was like, okay, $28 flight. Are you kidding me? You have to pay for like more for the bag. Yeah. Isn't it like 50 or something like that? Probably. But what I was thinking is I'll bring like a little bag and then somehow if I can get my friends to like bring my other bag when they go on our, cause we're flying American for the other one. So it's like somehow you take my bag. I'll bring a little, I'll bring a drawstring bag, like whatever can fit under my like seat so I don't have to pay extra. I feel like I can maybe finesse the system. Yeah. But I don't know. We'll see. Did you have to convince your parents to let you go? No, not at all. My parents were, um, I kind of barely ran it by them. I was just like, okay. That's how I was about Fort Lauderdale. Yeah. When I was like, Hey mom, I need my passport. She's like, where are you going for spring break? I'm like the Dominican Republic. Are you kidding me? Oh my God. Yeah. And at first my friends wanted to go to Cabo in Mexico. If I had told my mom Cabo, she would have like, here's my passport and not let me leave. Have you ever been to Cabo? I haven't. I've heard it's fun. I've heard it's a lot of fun. It's so fun. We went, oh, nevermind. I went to Cabo with my family. We went to Cancun for like senior trip. It was so fun. I'm excited for like, it was so fun. It was like my whole friend group. And then I feel like our school was really unique. We're like, there weren't like, it wasn't very like click. Like everyone had like their own like kind of thing, but like everyone hung out together and stuff like that. And like, or even just like, Oh, like what? I don't know. It's really like, we're all very interconnected. And it's, it's funny. Cause ever since we left for college, we've all kind of been closer. We're like, we were like, our friend group is called the cult because we only have, we'd be invited to things. We don't hang out with each other. And so they came like this big joke. And then once everyone left for school, we'd come back for breaks. And now everyone is like, it made everyone realize that we like genuinely like each other and like miss each other. So it's actually like expanded, but that's why Mexico is so fun. Cause even if we didn't like hang out with them every weekend or like all the time, like everyone came together and it was like, that's really cool. So fun. My high school was probably the complete opposite. There was like a group, like my, my group was okay. So like my friends from the private school that came into, I wasn't from the private school, but I had a bunch of friends that went to a private school. And it was like my soccer friends, we were the soccer group. It was very like groupie. Yeah. But then like the only time that everyone would hang out together was like, if someone had a party and it would be weird, like the dynamic would definitely be weird, but it was definitely clicky. And there were the kids that like tried to point themselves like the cool kids. And everyone was just like, you guys are such too. Yeah. That is so interesting. We, I felt like we had like a really, I realized I was just like, Oh, this is awesome. And then I realized that that like how unique it was. Cause other people would like, you know, like friends I had from like Ford's from other schools and stuff. And I was like, Oh, like we really do have a special thing, I guess. Yeah. What time is it? Uh, 10 40. Oh, okay. All right. Well, it was great talking to you. Great talking to you.