On the radio (uh oh!)

It was Wednesday, and I walked in a conversation already in progress at my school.

¨...and I met this journalist at orientation who really wants to interview international students.¨ Jen, a girl in my program was explaining.

¨Really!?¨ I cut in, excited at the prospect.

¨Yea, you can come if you want. Friday at noon, but you can´t miss it. If you say that you´re going to be there, you have to be there.¨
Veronika looked at my skeptically. She did not believe that I was going to be in any shape to be awake, let alone speak coherently, the morning after the tango party the school was throwing for us.

¨Count me in!¨ I smiled, having no real idea what I was getting myself into.


Friday came and my alarm went off at 11, but I had already woken up, ate tostada and had a few cups of Mate. When the time came, I left my house and walked to the radio station.

It´s probably important for you to know that everything we do here is an adventure or an opportunity to make a fool of yourself. As students, we really have no idea what´s normal, and sometimes, just going to grocery store turns out to be exciting. You have to buzz in the doors and they don´t take bills over $50 (13 dollars) and things have to be weighed, and you can´t understand the cashier´s accent and the man by the dulce de leche is really excited that you´re from the states and wants to invite you out to meet his friends who will show you around and you end up spending an hour on an errand that would take 10 minutes at home.

So. As I walked to the radio station, I had no idea how this interview would play out. I didn´t know what they were asking us. I didn´t know what language it would be in. But whatever happened, I figured it would probably be funny later.

The woman who greeted me was strikingly tall and beautiful. Her English was flawless, and as she welcomed me into the station, she asked where the other girls were.
¨Oh, um, they were supposed to meet me here.¨

Turns out, the other girls that had warned me not to miss the meeting, had slept through their alarms.

¨Well,¨the woman seemed perplexed. ¨I´ve already advertised, and we have to record now. So, would you mind if I just interviewed you?¨

Twenty minutes later I sat in the recording studio of the station, earphones on, leaning over the microphone, attempting to explain how FAFSA, scholarships, and loans work into the US college experience. University is free here, and the woman was really interested in finding out what a ¨1st world country like the United States makes recieving an education so difficult.¨
We talked for the whole hour, easily navigating through a whole range of topics. When we would break for a commercial, we talked about journalism and how she defiently saw a future for me as journalist because I ¨have the face for it¨. What does that mean? Hell if I know. But, at the end of the interview, she invited me back for a live show next week.

It was so much fun. I said a few comments that were probably not the most well thought out, but when I left the office with a smile on my face and a new assurance that maybe this journalism gig,this idea that I´ve been mulling over in my head for months, is actually something I could do. A reality. A real tangible job with a real future.

Well, we´ll see. But for now this is Elizabeth Falconer, radio station 107.1 signing off. Have a beautiful Sunday, America.