Starting a Blog and YouTube Channel
"Write what should not be forgotten"
Isabel Allende
Overview:
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A few months before I left for my semester in Denmark, I started a blog to keep a record of the experiences I had while abroad. I started my blog before I left so that I could post about what I’d been learning about Denmark in my Danish class, as well as some pre-departure reflections. I also started a YouTube channel and made a few vlogs of trips and excursions that I took. This experience was valuable to me because I ended up becoming a much stronger writer and I learned how to successfully manage my own project.
The main page of my blog
Personal importance of work:
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I originally started my blog and YouTube channel just for fun because I really like to write and make movies. However, I ended up becoming much more engaged with my blog and YouTube channel than I originally thought I would. I actually enjoyed writing posts and setting deadlines for myself with my blog. For me it ended up being a creative way for me to stay completely engaged with my host country and the experiences I was having while abroad. I ended up learning so much about Denmark from the research I did for my blog. I am also really glad that I have a written record of my most fond memories from my semester abroad. I copied and pasted all of my blog posts onto a word document and that document is 137 pages (single spaced, size 12 font). I can’t wait to read through all of that again in 30 years!
Tasks accomplished:
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Created and managed my own blog to document my experience abroad.
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Developed my writing skills by publishing posts 6 to 8 times per month while overseas.
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Created YouTube videos for some of my experiences and improved my video editing skills. (I got a little behind with my editing and will be soon posting more videos from my semester abroad)
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Researched information on Denmark and had discussions with locals in order to create educational posts on Denmark.
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Brainstormed ideas for blog posts and created “deadlines” for those posts to be completed.
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Learned how to build and edit a WordPress website.
See my blog and YouTube channel
Some of the videos from my YouTube channel
Leadership Competencies:
Research
I wanted to create informational posts about Denmark to not only help my friends and family learn more about Denmark, but so I could also learn more about Denmark. When I decided to study abroad in Copenhagen, I’ll admit that I did not know much about Denmark. Before I left the U.S., I read a few books about Denmark and tried to learn to speak a little more Danish. When I arrived in Denmark, I was able to learn more by talking with the locals and experiencing life there. There were some interesting contrasts between the research I did before I left and the research I did while I was there (for instance, when I arrived in Denmark, I did not expect virtually everyone to be fluent in English). I used the most reliable information that I could to write informative posts for my audience.
Reflection and Application
Many other posts that I wrote were more reflective, rather than informational. For instance, a little over a week after I arrived in Denmark, I wrote a post about the differences I had noticed between life in the U.S. and life in Denmark. I eventually became accustomed to life in Denmark and nothing seemed to “stand out” anymore. However, when I went back to the U.S., I experienced reverse culture shock because I had gotten used to the differences in Denmark. I also wrote reflective posts about each of the other countries I visited during my time abroad.
Goals
My goals for my blog were to provide information on Denmark to my audience, as well as personal commentary on what I was up to during that semester. My original goal was to just post semi-regularly. I had tried to keep a journal in the past and had never been devoted enough to write in it regularly. Because of that, I worried that I would initially post a couple times after I arrived in Denmark and then forget about the blog. However, I ended up staying devoted to it because I had ideas for posts and set small goals for myself every week to get those posts written.
Plan
As the semester went on, I started creating small deadlines for myself to have posts completed. As I became more devoted to my blog, I wanted to keep posting regularly and providing new and interesting content to make it appear more professional, even though I was still ultimately doing it for fun. I also made a plan to publish certain informational posts on certain days to ensure I had a consistent posting schedule. Though I never had specific days of the week that I would post on, I still posted at least once per week on all but 2 of the 19 total weeks I was abroad.
Personal Contributions
My posts certainly involved a lot of personal commentary. Whenever I was presenting information or an observation in a post, I always made sure to also add my own commentary that could support those facts. I added my commentary because not only were my friends and family not in Denmark, but my own experience in Denmark was not the same as the experiences of the other exchange students I met.
Writing
I became a stronger writer by keeping a blog while I was abroad. I wanted to keep a blog just for fun, but my goal was to also stay on top of it throughout the semester. To be honest, my biggest fear was that I would write two posts at the beginning of the semester and then completely neglect it for the rest of the term. Nonetheless, I was more diligent with keeping up my blog than I thought I would be, and I ended up publishing 5 to 9 posts per month. At the end of the semester, I copied and pasted all of my blog posts into a word document. That document ended up turning out to be more than 140 pages (single spaced at 12 point font). Keeping my blog made me enjoy writing a lot more and writing blog posts was something that I had fun doing. I also discovered that blogging and making videos is something that I really like to do, and I hope to continue it in the future.
I also created an Instagram account for my blog and posted on it once per day.
Lessons learned and future oriented statement:
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As I mentioned earlier, I certainly did not expect to enjoy keeping my blog and YouTube channel as much as I did. Now that I am back in the U.S., I actually miss keeping a blog and I am thinking about starting one up again in the future. I am also hoping to improve my video editing skills so I can create more movies for my YouTube channel. This made me realize that I enjoy creating media content and I am hoping to spend more time developing that skill this year.