The First to Leave

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This morning was sad because two girls out of our group Erika (one of my roomies) and Stephanie were leaving early due to prior arrangements back home. We all headed down to breakfast earlier than usual to be able to wish them farewell before going to El Pais one of the local newspapers.

Once we had said our goodbyes and filled up on enough breakfast we followed Jennifer to the subway. El Pais wasn't too far away which was nice for Emily's ankle. It was a lot hotter out that day than I had expected and was disappointed when I realized that there wasn't air conditioning in the meeting room we were in at El Pais. A young woman came into the room and spoke to us a little bit about the history of the newspaper and told us some basic facts about it as well. In the beginning she introduced herself in English but then asked us if it would be ok for her to give her tour in Spanish and have Jennifer translate for us. I was able to pick up some of the words she was saying throughout the tour, however the hardest thing about Spanish is how fast it is spoken!

She took us around what seemed like most of the business and we were able to see a lot more than I thought we would have. We were able to see the newsrooms where the different sections of the paper are written and explained to us where the sections were placed within the newsroom and why. She also showed us several different mechanical rooms where they assemble and print the newspapers. One of the best parts of the tour was when she showed us a room where they print copies of the newspaper in different colors on metal sheets (so they look like metal blueprints with a white background). In the end she actually gave each of us a metal sheet to keep which I immediately started wondering where I would put it/how would I get it onto the airplane through security. She also gave us black t-shirts that said El Pais on them, as well as a copy of the newspaper itself. I was glad to get these souvenirs because they were far better than anything I could buy that said "Madrid" or "I Love Spain" on it.

One of the prompts that Jennifer gave us was to examine the copy of El Pais we were given and to compare it to a newspaper we regularly read back home. Even though I don't have a subscription to any newspapers I often pick up the Seattle Times and the Olympian when I am visiting family. And usually if I have something to look up or do want to read some news I visit the Seattle Times online. While flipping through the pages of El Pais I noticed several similarities and differences. For instance it is in Spanish which made it harder to read than the Seattle Times, however I was able to pick up some words and phrases. Some other differences were that El Pais is mostly black and white and the title of newspaper stands alone at the top of the page without any graphics or headers to accompany it like other newspapers do and also there weren't any sections that you could pull out of the newspaper. All of the sections are in one newspaper fold and the fold is actually vertical so you read each page and flip it to the next like a long book. Each section in the newspaper is written at the top corner of the page in different colors but they do not have a main front page that starts the section from the next. Some similarities were the layouts, the use of advertisements, graphics and that the sections covered the same kind of news: international, local, economics, social news, culture, obituaries, entertainment, and sports. Another striking difference I noticed was that the sports section was one of the longest sections which included twelve out of the thirteen pages on just soccer. This makes sense for Spain because that is one of their biggest sports and with the World Cup going on right now it provides the most information for sports coverage. However, I have to wonder if their sports sections shrinks after this or if they begin to cover other sports more. In this edition the las page covers half of the page with tennis and the rest are small paragraphs about golf and bicycling. Overall it is interesting to see how similar and different the same type of medium can be from across the world. I think that El Pais is well organized and probably works well for the country of Spain and its readers.

After we left El Pais we headed back to the subway with Jennifer who constantly kept turning around and counting us like her little ducks. This is how she got the name "Mama Jen" on the trip and even became part of a joke: ("Why did the little ducks cross the road?"... "To get to Mama Jen on the other side!"). We were glad to have her around because she knew the city well, was fluent in Spanish, and always remembered to check that we were all there not getting pick pocketed! She encouraged us to check out the bull fighting ring because it was only one stop away right up the stairs so we decided to check it out. It was a lot larger than I had anticipated it to be and looked impressive and historic. I still didn't want to go to an actual bull fight however because of what happens to the bull in the end. That's just the animal lover in me though.

Later that afternoon we met back in the meeting room again to listen to Dale Fuchs talk. She was born in New York but has been in Spain since 1998. So far she has worked for the New York Times, Herald Tribune, the Guardian, El Mundo and the Independent (UK) as a journalist. Before talking to us about her work as a journalist she began asking us what we wanted to do with our lives and whether we were having any difficult figuring it out and asking ourselves questions. I found this interesting and helpful because she spoke about the questions she began asking herself when she tried to figure out her life when she was our age. I found her to be very relatable and likeable right away. One of the things I remember her saying is that it is important to do what you want and to make sure you're what makes you happy. In addition to this she mentioned the "Old man/woman syndrome" which is when you ask yourself if you were 75 and looking back at your choices what would you change/wish you would've known or done. Moving on to journalism and the media she gave us some advice even though all of us were PR majors except for Deanna. Despite this, her advice was still useful for anyone that is pursuing a career in communications. Specifically in journalism she said that you must go to the right story and know which one is the right story immediately. For instance you should most likely go to a murder scene for a story rather than a cat stuck in a tree. The pointers that she gave the rest of us were simple but true: 1. Follow the money 2. Get cell phone numbers and make contacts/build relationships 3. Get a thick skin 4. Not everyone will like you or what you do/write so you have to keep your head up and keep working.

After giving us advice, Dale began talking about her experiences in journalism and actually handed out a lot of her published work. We began asking her questions during this time which she gladly answered. It was interesting to see her work published in several different newspapers and how wide a range of stories there were. Overall, I found her to be an interesting person and enjoyed listening to her speak about her life, our lives, and life in general. Even though I'm not going into her field of work it made me realize that people in PR and journalists can get along if they have a better understanding of each other. Everyone says that PR and journalism are enemies but in reality they have to work together to fulfill both of their jobs.

Now that we were two short, the rest of us decided to go to dinner to keep hanging out as a group since the trip was coming to an end. We found a place that was only a block away from the hotel, a victorious choice compared to last night's trek around downtown to find a suitable place. The restaurant was called The Spot and featured mostly asian cuisine varying from sushi to stir fry. They also had salads and a couple different dishes and I ended up choosing chicken tacos which were really good. They weren't traditional in terms of taste, it was almost like they had an asian flair to them but I didn't mind because my plate was empty by the time we left.

We got back to the hotel relatively early and all decided to hangout in our hotel room as a group for some last minute bonding. After talking and joking around for a couple hours everyone went their separate ways and called it a night. I was excited for tomorrow because we had a lot of free time to explore and were planning on spending most of the day outside in the sunshine at the park. I knew I needed to purchase a couple more souvenirs, but other than that I just wanted to spend my last full day in Spain enjoying the weather, the smells, and the people I was with. I really don't want this trip to end. Buenos Noche Amigos.

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Photos

Assembly Line
Where they assemble the newspapers.

Our Group
Us at El Pais!

Bull Ring
The bull fighting ring we stopped by to look at.