Written by Asell Yusupova
It’s 7 in the morning and it’s time start a new day regardless of how sleep-deprived I am. First rule of student life is to have filling breakfast that will keep you up through the day full of project work, brainstorming sessions, presentations and group discussions. That’s why I always make sure I have fresh orange juice in my fridge and a nice croissant to go with it.
While eating breakfast:
- I check my e-mail (there are already 20 or so messages from my project group – these guys are big spammers)
- Express my early morning feelings in my Facebook status
- Watch a new hottest video on Youtube
- Read Brand Republic to know what’s up with in the world of advertising
- Check who viewed my LinkedIn profile in the last 24 hours
Once I finished my breakfast, I would frantically start packing my things because I only have a few minutes to catch my train. Did I take my umbrella? Did I take my project plans, my agenda and notebooks?
While in the train from Amsterdam to Arnhem, I enjoy listening to conversations of Dutch fellow commuters (which really influence positively my knowledge of the language) and read a book. In times of self-planning crisis I would finish up the schoolwork I didn’t have time to do or read school material I haven’t read.
Time goes fast in the train and it’s already station Arnhem Presikhaaf. Me and the gigantic flow of fellow students try to find their way off the station and get to the class before the lecture starts. I always get a cup of fresh coffee and after that I am ready to explore the world of branding and communication.
Our communication lectures are always interesting. Teachers are very outgoing and explain the complex subjects in an accessible way. Their classes are normally filled with impressive visuals and good examples to illustrate a brand or a company. Moreover, we always challenge them with various questions and our own view of the problem. However, we would leave the class with multiple assignments for next week and suggestions to improve our current work. So naturally we meet with our project group after the lecture to discuss what has to be done, when and how.
After that, I normally have a short lunch break and run to the meeting for another school project. This week we had to present a brand assigned to our group for branding class. Normally, communication presentations have to be really fascinating and full of visual material, they have to “WOW” the teacher and the class. So my project members and I spent two and a half hours brainstorming on how we could visualize personality of our brand and transcend its brand values. After discussing it for an hour, interrupting each other continuously and coming up with various “awesome” ideas we all finally came to a consensus and found a way how to present the brand.
But school meetings didn’t end here. I ran to yet another meeting to discuss the action plan for Communication Game project, where we get to work for a real company. Again we had many questions: what is the main goal of our plan? What communication strategy we should use for this company? What are the target groups? And so on and so forth.
Once I am finally done with all the meetings and lectures, I run to catch my train to Amsterdam and while commuting, I think of the ideas for branding presentations and questions for our research. In the meantime, I will update my Facebook status one more time and check again who viewed my LinkedIn profile.
Eventually I get home, have dinner, watch an episode of Sopranos or go to movies. The day doesn’t end here though. I still need to check various advertising agencies and corporate giants for vacancies for my graduation assignment/internship. Once I found some interesting internship positions open, I would review my CV and cover letter and send a couple of applications, hoping to get a quick answer and a ticket to a wonderful career in communication.
The day doesn’t end here either, as I still have to do couple of things for my self-actualization. I make a cup of green tea and write for my blog. What has inspired me recently? Oh, it was a new flick by Robert Rodriguez “Machete” – a wonderful tribute to 70s exploitative film. After all, the most important thing for communication professional is to have a culture, taste and intuition for new trends. So we have to keep up with today’s world of art and entertainment. Once this is checked on my list, I can go to bed or read a book and then start yet another day of communication adventures.
Communication Studies
Kyrgyz Student
