What to do about an apathetic Journalism school…

So yesterday in my Branding + Content class we discussed a hypothetical situation about an advertising program at a state university, which is lacking as well as providing many things to its students. In other words, this school has both positives and negatives… This advertising program has a great alumni base and great faculty, but there is a deficiency of money and a proper building for one of the top J-Schools in the nation. Well, this hypothetical J-School I am speaking about is the University of Oregon. Yes, the school I attend.

We were asked to break into groups (my group: Nicole Schultz and Jacob Schilling) and then asked to brainstorm ideas for improvement for the school and we did…

We decided that the best solution for improvement relied on three things: Collaboration, Self-promotion and renovation.

Collaboration: When students come to the U of O they often come for either the Architecture/Applied Arts, Business or Journalism programs each possessing different emphasis’. With these programs the opportunities for collaboration are endless. The sad thing is that besides a few students here and there and a couple of programs this collaboration I speak of is does not exist. Each of these programs offer a different approach that, if combined, could be unstoppable. These programs/majors (not just the J-School) need to use the resources that are available to enhance the learning experience for the students, create relationships and to help the U of O set itself apart from the others in its class.

Self-promotion: What’s up J-School? If you are one of the top in the nation, show some pride. Show that you belong. Show some swagger. I would love to be told that I attend one of the best Journalism schools in the nation, but I often forget because it is so passive in marketing itself outside of our state and to its own students. If it is really struggling right now then take your product and put it out there in a smart and creative way. Not only is the University of Oregon boast one of the top Journalism schools in the nation, but it offers programs that other “top” J-schools don’t offer, for example a Magazine program that doesn’t usually exist at other locations. We should learn from our business school. They do a terrific job at advertising the business school outside of Oregon and it works! Wow, who would’ve thought?

Renovation: Look at the Business School builiding, Lillis. It’s beautiful. It’s sustainable. It is THE symbol of academics at the University of Oregon. Even if the business school wasn’t a respected school in the nation, which it is, it would still attract people to it because of the Lillis complex. So to simply put it, we need a new building. Now that’s a big goal that calls for A LOT of money, but there are many small goals that are attainable. How about we think about simple supply issues? As an advertising student I spend a lot of time in Ballmer (our computer lab), which lacks simple things like a SHARP paper cutter that can cut through one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper or working printers. These things do not cost millions of dollars like a new building would cost, BUT it could boost morale when, to be honest, morale is low.

Something to think about. Improvement is easy, but only if complacency does not exist. Lets go J-school.

So, this Twitter thing…

Basically, I have taken another break from posting, once again falling off the face of the digital world. I am trying to reemerge though, but there are a couple things in my way: This blog.. School.. And Twitter… hmm? I will admit that just now I am getting into Twitter call me behind the times, I probably am. I am TERRIBLE at it. You can ask why, but I won’t be able to answer you. Oh and I guess if you want to follow me, look for: jamisonmerrill.

On another note… This term has been full of Advertising around every corner of my life, business (because of advertising) and fun (59% thanks to advertising & the other 41% thanks to friends and family). Basically I can see how my last four terms of college will be. Full of business and fun. Full of producing, failing, producing and then failing again. I saw that Weiden + Kennedy had a sign made out of thumbtacks that read “Fail Harder,” so I guess I am doing just fine. Keep in touch and hopefully I can put up some awesome stuff soon… hopefully.

Jamison

P.s. I just got a flip camera. Maybe I will be posting some cool vids soon.

Verona: L’arena! Romeo and Juliette and Smoking Gladiator!

Ciao L'Arena!

So… Yesterday, I travelled to Verona, the city of an awesome Roman Arena and the home of Romeo and Juliette. The plan was to stay Saturday night there, but the hostels, hotels and B and B’s costed too much. I saw everything I wanted to see including the colisseum, which was so cool and was in incredible shape. Also, the house of Juliette, or Giulietta in italian was cool. When you walk in there is a tunnel full of sticky notes of LOVE… I thought it was cool even though I am a guy and I don’t like that type of stuff. Duh! Then I walked around the city, visiting open air market after market until I was pretty much soaking wet (it rained all day), then I left for Ferrara. Anyways after a day in Verona, I thought it was an amazing city, beautiful with everything you would want, including a castle, beautiful piazzas, Roman Arena and love.

This guy was there. My favorite photo I have taken in Italy.

Tomorrow, I part for Rome for 5 days. There I plan to see everything. I am not intimidated of those people that say, “There is to much to do in Rome…” I say, “Bring it.” But, I will give Rome some respect, especially the Tiber River because it is flooding right now and I would like it to stop. Anyways, I return to Ferrara on Friday then say some goodbyes to friends and my family here, then head west on Monday.

Ciao. Ci vediamo dopo Roma… Enjoy some photos…

Look a market!

I ate this. Mmm Nutella + Elephant Ear thing.

That's THE Balcony...

Love notes... Settle down people.

Amici, Famiglia, Londra and LOCKETS!

First off, sorry for the lack of posts. If it isn’t obvious, school has picked up… a lot! And, I have been busy with friends and family visiting and of course traveling. Life is still going great, in fact really good. I am pretty much settled right in time to leave. It is hard to believe that this experience is almost over (I only have 3 days of school left). I can’t say I am counting down to return home, but obviously I am counting down for school to end. Anyways if you are ready for a little breakdown of my life then I am…

Arrivo a Venezia!

Well, it seems like just yesterday, but about a month ago my friends Mike Batty, Ben Normandin and Dave Buchanon from up north, Copenhagen to be exact, visited my neck of the woods for a weekend of responsibility… We started off on Friday night in Venice, which was awesome. Venice is basically the most inconvenient place in the world and everything is boats, it’s strange. Boat taxi, boat bus, boat garbage truck… You get the picture. Anyways, Venice was fun, but I like other cities more. Too many tourists again and I strongly dislike pigeons… After Venice they came down to Ferrara for a night. It was really awesome showing them the city that I have been living in for 3 months or so. Especially because I am super biased about Ferrara and think it is a great city and I think they really enjoyed it which was awesome. We basically Lance Amstrong’d Ferrara, including biking to the river Po, which is dirty. biking to gelato, biking to eat and biking to the wall. They saw my house, my city, everything, my Italian lifestyle. JENGA! We played jenga (I do on a regular basis) I wish that I could’ve visited Northern Europe, of course when there was more than 4 hours of daylight, but Copenhagen sounds incredible, cold, but incredible. I guess that will be another trip.

La Gondola!

The next weekend Jacque and Nanno came (that would be my brother and his wife, for those unfamiliar with the Merrill’s). They only came for Saturday and Sunday, but of course it was really fun to have family come join you, especially during an experience like this because I want to share my experience with everyone. Anyways, the visit included a quick tour of Ferrara, there’s a castle, there’s a church, another church, a palazzo and then we were done pretty quickly… Ferrara is pretty small. Then we basically jumped from bar to café to another bar, catching up. It was awesome having them visit. The next day, Sunday, we had a huge lunch at my house, which included “Cappellacci di Zucca” and incredible Tiramisu. If I haven’t said this yet, Cappellacci is the most incredible pasta I have ever had. It is a tortellini pasta with Pumpkin (Zucca) inside and has such a rare, delicious, wonderful taste. I will truly miss it. Anyways, we ate a lot and I sent them away.

The journey continues…

The next weekend, which was the weekend of November 20-24, I traveled to LONDRA (London) to have round two with Felipe and Seena of course we were missing a key part of our crew in Connor Martin. This was awesome and unlike Paris we didn’t have to do everything at 110 mph because I had four days there and I have already visited London. I basically just wanted to hang out, relax, DOUBLE DECKER!, Big Ben and speak English… YES! I had zero goals and I achieved every single one of them… tell me how that makes since. The weekend was awesome and the only thing I would’ve changed was taking a later plane out of London. I don’t know what always gives me the idea that taking a 6 o’clock plane is a good idea. Just pay the extra 20 Euros and leave at 12 o’clock. I guess these are the simple pleasures of traveling, but I should learn by now. It was awesome to see Felipe’s situation and his friends, keep doing big things. London is a great city, very international with a lot of amazing markets. I ate Brazillian food for the first time at this market named, Bricklane. While I was there I also went to the market in Notting Hill, where I also stopped by a few of my houses, they are just ok. Basically, the weekend was filled of hilarious moments, friends, outside markets and pubs. In my opinion that’s a pretty good weekend.

Those are my friends. Felipe (right), Seena (left).

I left London, landed in Venice where it happened to be snowing, and then made my way to Ferrara where school was patiently waiting to STRIKE! That’s where I am now, 3 finals and a paper away from being finished. I have spent the last two weekends in Ferrara, spending time with friends I have met here and focusing on school and I have enjoyed every second of it. There is something to be said about staying home. During these past two weekends I have improved greatly in my language and have continued to create friendships that will hopefully last. The weekend trips, as good as they have been and I wouldn’t change anything about them, they are EXTREMELY exhausting and takes a lot out of me the next week. After school ends, I am spending about two days here and then I leave for an adventure of Italia! If you’re in Italy watch out, not really though I am harmless.

The plans: I am going to Rome (December 15-19) for sure and returning to Ferrara to say goodbye to family and friends after Rome, 2/3 days before I leave, which is the 22nd of December. Rome should be interesting. It is the first time I am traveling by myself and I am incredibly excited about it, meeting people and doing things on my own time. While in Rome, I am taking a day trip down to Napoli to see the capital of Southern Italy. Then the weekend before it looks like I am heading up to Northwestern Italy, Genoa area to either stay with a friend or to stay with the Raschio’s family here. We will see, but I need to decide quickly.

Blurry DOUBLE DECKER!

So, thats an update. I plan on posting a couple of times during my journey after school and getting back on track as school ends.

Ciao tutti! Ci sentiamo tra poco.

See you soon

Uno, due, tre, BUNGEE…

So, I told you all that I had a video of my jump, AND, so for those interested here it is… A little info, I forgot what I was supposed to do after I jumped, so I am hanging there for a while… Kind of funny. Enjoy!

Ciao

KAKÀ! RONALDINHO!

Sansiro!

I feel accomplished. You may ask “Why is that Jamison?” Well, it’s pretty simple, a little sad, but I don’t really care. Finally, I went to a Serie A game, big soccer game in Europe. AC Milan (maybe the biggest team in Italia and Berlusconi’s team) vs. Napoli (a young, promising team). Anyways, Napoli was in first and Milan was a point behind them in second. Before the Milan game, the biggest game I have been to was an exhibition game of Manchester United vs. Celtic FC at the Seattle Seahawks. Which obviously was awesome, but it wasn’t the same as the AC Milan game on Sunday night.

So, the game… It was great, fantastic, everything I expected. We joined the Ferrara Milan Fan Club in a pullman up to Milan. 40 Euros, for the game, food, drink, transportation and a raffle… I won a scarf! Anyways, at the game I witnessed everything you could see… A red card, a penalty kick, a blocked penalty kick and a goal. Milan ended up winning 1-0, which was cool because we were in Milan… but really I don’t support either team. Also, we had incredible seats. Anyways, I am thinking there are one or more games in my Italian adventure future.

Kick off!

That was sunday night. Rewind two days and I was in Florence with Connor Martin. We stayed with a friend of his from school. Thank you Kimmy! Florence was fun, saw the sites and relaxed. In a lot of ways it was a pretty flawless trip. No strikes, no all nighter and no sleeping in a car. BUT, I am still not impressed by Florence. Maybe I can see how it used to be an amazing city, but now it seems dull and lacking Italian culture. I was hoping that maybe an extra day would change my opinions on it, but no. I do think it is necessary to visit there and don’t get me wrong it is a beautiful city, but the amount of english students there is a huge deterrent. Kind of ironic that I say that… … Uhh Il DAVIDE? Truely, the David is one of the most amazing, mind boggling things I have seen yet. He is huge… I could see how he became the symbol of a city. Sorry Goliath, next time.

Il Duomo. Florence.

Coming up… 2 weeks in Ferrara and I couldn’t be more excited. This weekend my friends Ben Normandin and Mike Batty are visiting from Copenhagen, Denmark. Then the following weekend Nanno and Jacque visit (that would be my brother and his wife)! Maybe I will save some money… maybe. Obama. I felt like I should throw his name in there somewhere. I guess there was some type of election… Who would’ve thought? Però, vedremo…

Ciao Tutti

Flames. Hooligans!

Si vive una volta sola…

I have a formula… pretty complex…

Renting a car in Italy + Ferrari Factory + Bungee jumping 500 ft. = Amazing

Here she is. Tallest bridge bungee in the world.

So, this past weekend I did a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have done, for example driving a car across Italy, using the car as a hostel and then jumping off a bridge, but all of these things turned out to create an incredible experience. I started the weekend early Saturday morning at the Ferrara train station, tired, nervous and tired. The plan: Go to Bologna, rent a car and head west. Sound familiar? I don’t know.. Anyways, the plan worked and actually renting a car was maybe too easy. My two friends, Mathilde and Caitlin, and I headed out on our destination once our sweet, beautiful blue Peugot came around the corner (We named him Aslan). Anyways, they had planned a surprise for me, which turned out to be exactly what I wanted. The surprise was to drive to the city of Maranello, the city of FERRARI, where it was created and where the factory is still to this day. We toured the Museum and eat a pizza and then embarked on our next “to do,” which was find a place to stay or I guess find a place where we can sleep in our car. We eventually found that place in the city of Cossato, a small city by our jump site.

Next day: After a full week of talking about jumping Sunday was here… and I was very, very nervous, but I knew 100% that I would do it. Basically before the jump we hung out, touring the town of Veglio and resting. 2 o’clock: We arrive at the jumping point and everything kind of hits me… I haven’t ever had that many butterflies in my stomach. The girls go first because they are doing a tandem jump, then my solo jump and then their solos. They jump and after that all nervousness went out the window and all that was in front of me was a 500 ft jump with 5 seconds of free fall at about 75 mph… It was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. I climbed to top of the stairs, they said “UNO, DUE, TRE, BUNGEE” and just like that, I was falling to the earth. SWAN DIVE! There is nothing like plummeting to the ground, thinking “Man, the ground is coming really fast” and all you can do is scream with excitement. I have never experienced so much adrenaline in my body. I mean I benched pressed 2 cars afterwards… Pretty incredible, huh? Don’t worry I have a dvd and will be uploading the video soon. We arrived in Bologna alive on Sunday around 7:30 pm not even 48 hours later. We turned the car in and headed back to Ferrara… Basically a great weekend. The main goal of the trip was to bungee and along the way, I witnessed the beautiful Italian countryside, I learned how to drive in Italy (actually pretty easy), Ferrari! and I discovered the thrill of BUNGEE!

Mathilde and I with Aslan in front of Ferrari! 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Other things: FYI for people in Italy or visiting soon. Driving here is really nice. It is actually harder not to find the city you need to go to because there are so many signs. We didn’t get lost once. Sounds strange, but true. I am starting to realize how much I am going to miss Ferrara after the end of this program. There is something about waking up every morning, with a 20 minute bike ride ahead of you. A bike ride that consists of passing amazing houses, beautiful countryside, ancient walls and a CASTLE. The past two days have consisted of rain, the first real rain I have experienced in the two months of being here. Among being fortunate for being in Italy, travelling, and maybe learning, I feel pretty fortunate for the weather. But bring on the cold!

Cool things coming up for me… This weekend I am going to Florence, to meet up with Connor Martin again for HALLOWEEN! And, on Sunday I am going to an AC Milan v. Napoli game. Let’s be honest, soccer is the reason why I am in this country, so I am a little excited to go to this game. The Napoli fans have been on a terror lately though, for example breaking stuff in airports and train stations… so I am a little worried.

Ciao tutti

Sac les blu! LES ROLLERS!

LES ROLLERS!

I am slowly getting better at this traveling thing. This time I actually planned ahead for Paris, but didn’t plan for some pleasant aspects of the Italian culture, like a strike of the whole transportation system (Buses, trains, etc.). A transportation system that a whole country depends on, including the American foreign exchange students. If there is one thing I can say about the strikes is that they try to be as courteous as possible by telling you what time they are striking at earlier in the week, but really no matter what if you strike from 9-5 you will most likely screw up a persons plans. This specific strike was beginning at 9 am last Friday, but as a person leaving out of Venice at 1 pm this wasn’t exactly the ideal situation. Anyways, I had wake up at 5, to take the 6:30 am train out of Ferrara to get up to Venice in time. By the time I got to the Venice bus station it was 8:40 and I was late to catch the last bus to the airport. Luckily I found another American and we split a taxi, but considerably more expensive. Good start…

Hours later… I arrived in Paris… A little tired, but mostly excited.

For those of you who don’t know, in Paris I was meeting my good friends Felipe “I am now 40” Simoes, Connor “The Pianist” Martin and Seena “The Director” Haddad. Seena lives in Paris and studies film and for 4-5 months he is living there with his Mom and his little brother, who is going to school there and learning french (lucky kid). They were renting this really nice apartment really close to the Arch du Triumph. Felipe was obviously coming from London, Connor from Madrid and myself from hmmm… for a little international weekend in Paris.

They said they were going/at the Louvre and to meet them there. I don’t know if you have heard of this place before, but it is kind of big. And, FYI… if you are ever in Paris and under 26 the Louvre is free from 6-9 pm on Fridays, so we saw the Louvre for free. At the Louvre I saw paintings from a guy, Picasso and Da Vinci. Have you heard of the Mona Lisa?

(I think she has a crush on me)

She was really excited to see me. After the Louvre we headed back because I hadn’t dropped off my backpack yet. The first night we walked around Paris, headed to the Latin district (I think that’s what they call it) and realized how small the world was. When we were at the Latin district, walking down the streets, I noticed a person that looked vaguely familiar. It happened to be Gavin Halladay, a kid I played soccer with and a kid Connor went to K-12 schooling with. Pretty ridiculous. Needless to say, a scene was made… thanks Connor. We hung out with Gavin for a while, but headed home not too long after that.

2nd day: Slept a bit. Woke up and Connor, Felipe and I went to a pastry shop, which was incredible and spent about 20 Euros for breakfast. Once we were all ready to leave, we headed out on our adventure. So, basically we were either going to go on a free tour or self-tour ourselves. Self-tour won. On our self-tour we witnessed incredible things… A hostage situation practiced on the River by the Paris Police. We also witnessed Les Rollers! If you didn’t know, the Paris Police force has a Roller blade division, instead of bike. I guess bikes aren’t stylish enough for the Paris Police. And gargoyles! The second night we decided to go on a Pub Crawl, which obviously was extremely fun and since I left early in the morning we decided that the best idea would be to stay up all night (not quite sure if this was the best idea). Before I knew it the weekend was over and I was heading home.

My concluding thoughts… Paris was a really cool city. For me, I felt it was really similar to London, but I think I might have liked it more. The weekend was great and cool because it felt like just another weekend with my friends, but transported to Paris. After Italian, French will be my next language. Half because I like Paris and half because I think it would be a lot of fun to speak. And, crepes are delicious, pastries there are amazing, watch out for Gargoyles (they could strike at anytime), Felipes moustache is ridiculous, Connor is good at the piano, and thank you Seena. Oh, and LES ROLLERS!

This weekend: I am going bungee jumping of the highest bridge jump in the world, 500 ft. It is located in between Torino and Milan. And, I am terrified; in fact I am getting butterflies writing this right now.

Allora, a dopo,
Ciao Belli

Notre Dame!

There is some cool tower there. Never heard of it.

Tuscany?

Well, it has been a while and the only one to blame is me. So, I apologize. Between having too much fun on the weekends traveling Europe and these past two weeks in school being super busy, I haven’t posted.

Anyways, two weekends ago I traveled to Tuscany… I think you have probably heard about it. This was one of those trips where everthing went wrong. First my friend Jeff and I decided to go at about four in the afternoon on friday (already a bad start). Our plan was to go to Siena for the weekend, but after all things were said and done we didn’t arrive in Florence until 10 (probably didn’t help that my friend was in Venice when we decided to go). So, we contacted some friends in Florence and stayed with them for the night. First impression of Florence. Great city, beautiful things to see AND the most english I have heard since being in Italy, which wasn’t a surprise because there are so many American students who study in Florence. The aspect of Florence that I really enjoyed was talking with the Italians in Italian… Sounds a little strange, but because there are so many American students studying there who don’t speak they were really grateful when someone made an effort to speak in Italian.

So, the plan for saturday was to go on a wine tour in Siena with a friend that is studying there. Something like five hours for 30 euros. Anyways, long story made short. Her phone wasn’t working, therefore I never met up with her and never went on the wine tour. Awesome! Instead, we gave ourselves a little wine tour, going to every enoteca (wine store) in Siena. Needless to say it was really fun. In one of the enoteca’s a man approached us and asked if we needed any help… in english, which is totally fine. I know there is a lot of tourism in Siena and even though it is hard for me to admit it, I don’t exactly look Italian. It might be the pale skin, or the blonde hair, or the height. Just maybe one of those. Anyways, back to the story… I responded to him in Italian and then proceeded to taste, talk, be wine all in Italian… and buy 4 bottles… oops. This was an awesome experience for me and really tested my progress in the language. Yes of course there were things I didn’t understand, but overall I did, which felt great. After 12 hours in Florence and 2 full days in Siena the weekend was over and I am now in love with Tuscany. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been too. Plus the cities, the food and the wine are just ok. It also helped that weather was in the mid 70’s all weekend and I got a little tan… HA!

My classes are continuing to be challenging. There is something about taking Italian classes for a proficient speaker when you are at the speaking level of a 10 year old that makes it challenging. I don’t know though. Midterms are now over. I am obviously excited, but we will see how I did.

What else? I am continuing to bike a minimum of one hour a day, more or less. It has been awesome and  frustrating at times because I forget I have to give myself time to get to my class, but whatever Italians are late. I might as well truly live the culture. Last week I got my first hair cut in a different language. Awesome experience. I entered a little nervous but 35 minutes later it turned out to be awkward and funny experience. Plus, I don’t look to bad…

Coming up… Paris! Crepes, pastries, EIFEL! Les Rollers! Swat! and one very sweet MUSTACHE!

Io studio giornalismo

So, I am an advertising major in Italy, studying Italian. What am I doing? Well, I still haven’t figured that out, but I have been thinking of advertising quite often, comparing our advertising in the States to “la pubblicità” here in Italy. And, the advertising here is surprisingly good, very entertaining, but I also don’t think that have the laws that we do in the U.S.

Anyways, while I was in Mantua this past weekend I saw a very creative advertising campaign/strategy/promotion for a nearby theater. To recap the scene, it was Saturday at about 3 in the afternoon, the entire city was outside. There were two mimes out in the middle of the square with a briefcase full of small boxes in front of them, which they would hold one in their hand at a time. When I finally got the courage, I went up to them and one of them got up handed me the box and then said, “Io sentivo che ti sarai sposato,” which means, “I knew that you are going to be married.” Anyways, that is completely irrelevant, but I thought it was a little creepy and funny. After I left I opened the box… and this was in it…

Stagione a Teatro

Performers, etc.

Similar to a rubix cube, but a rubix cube promoting a theater. You can twist it around to see the performers, sponsors, etc. Pretty cool… good job to the people who did this. I guess in someways I was reminded of my box monster days and was envious of these mimes.