A Weekend Trip to Montreal Proves Beneficial for ESU Students

BY COLLEEN RUPP
SC STAFF WRITER

On Saturday, October 14, twelve ESU students left for a two-day trip to Montreal, Canada.

The trip was led by Dr. Rob McKenzie, a Communication Studies professor, and advisor to the 90.3 WESS radio station who stated, “The trip had two purposes: to expose the students to a culture that is different from theirs in the U.S., and to expose students more specifically to Canadian Media.”

Dr. McKenzie had planned the trip the first week of the semester.  Students were provided with hotel accommodations for two nights, a three-course meal in a French restaurant, and two different tours for a less than $200 cost.

A detour caused the students to miss A CBC studios tour planned for  Saturday.  So instead, upon arrival the students went to the hotel and had free time for the night.  Most went out to dinner and toured the city a bit.

On Sunday, the students met in the lobby for a three-hour walking tour of Montreal which was led by a local tour guide.  The tour was just the right amount of time. After the tour, the group went to CBC to see if they could attend a filming of show in place of the tour that they missed the day before.  The studios wouldn’t allow the replacement but instead provided a 90-minute tour the next day.

The next time the group got together was Sunday night for their three-course meal at a French restaurant.  The main course options were, pasta, duck, and halibut.

After dinner the group went their separate ways.

On Monday, the group attended their last adventure to the CBC building, where they finally received the tour.  The tour provided a view into the vast differences between the Canadian media industry and the U.S. industry.

As Dr. McKenzie stated, “The Canadian media is characterized by more government support, less commercialism, and strong attention paid to securing French culture within the overall media Landscape.”

After the tour, the students once again got into the vehicles and drove for another six and a half hours back to ESU.

The weekend trip, though short, provided an insight into the culture, media, and city of Montreal.

Most of the students would agree with LaShondra Cherry in saying, “I loved the city, the architecture, the business, and the French influence.  The trip was great!”

Email Colleen at:

cer1810@live.esu.edu