The Irony of Life by Daniela Rodriguez – SU Newhouse

Daniela Rodriguez intern for SeeTen Film Production and testimonial for “It’s All About You” the final two week events

Going “abroad” for me was, from the beginning, wanting to go to Los Angeles to exercise my skills of my major. As a television, radio and film major, I thought there was no better opportunity in my career than to go intern in Los Angeles with well-known film/television companies. When I found out that my application was not approved, my life,
plans, and expectations turned upside down. Things are not always what you think they are. One can find opportunities across national/cultural boundaries and that destiny becomes what you make it to be.

After finding out that I was not going to be able to go to Los Angeles, I went to the Syracuse Univeristy’s abroad office to attempt to apply to go somewhere else abroad. I could not stay in Syracuse, I wanted more. Wanting more meant to have other experiences; practice and put all of the skills I learned throughout the two years of my career in practice. With that in mind, I went to the abroad center with determination to apply for an abroad program; even though I knew the deadline to apply had already passed.

I came in and talked to the work-study student, and asked her if I could speak to the person in charge of the Florence abroad program. Without even thinking it, my subconscious already knew where I wanted to go. Throughout my whole life, I have been obsessed with the Italian everything: culture, language, food and people. The student told me that Gael was about to leave and I begged her to please let me speak with her for five minutes. She called Gael again and she agreed to see me. When I start speaking to Gael, she knew how much I wanted it simply by looking at her face. She immediately noticed my desire, drive, and commitment to go to Italy. When I explained to her what had happened, she did not say anything but, “just bring me the application tomorrow.”

Daniela Rodriguez receives the “Best Intern Award” from Prof. Debora Spini – Internship Program coordinator during the “Awards Ceremony”

A few weeks later I received a big envelope, I knew immediately that it was good news. Usually when one receives a big envelope during college applications, is because the person got the congratulation’s letter and some booklets about the university. I opened the envelope and indeed, it contained my acceptance letter for the Syracuse University Program in Florence and some to do booklets. I started crying feeling proud of myself. At that point I knew that even though I was not going to do anything associated with my career, I was going to live a real life experience.

January came along and I was all ready for my departure. Tears from my family and anxiety were all I could notice. I try to support my mom and I told her I was going to be fine. Inside of me however, I knew I was feeling even worst than her, I was deadly scared. Of course I moved earlier in my life, but it was with my family and I was never alone. When I went to college, I was by myself, but I knew home was so close that if I ever needed to escape, I was always going to be able to take a bus and see my family in five hours. This however was my real grownup experience. An experience that was going to teach me so much about life and about my character as an individual.

I have now been in Italy for four months, and I can affirm that Italy has taught me a lot, more than I could have ever imagined.  I applied for an internship. With the help of Professor Deborah Spini, I found the perfect internship: the production of a series movie . This internship involved the three aspects that interest me the most of my career. The first is writing, I translated the Italian script into perfect standard American language, I created the characters and brainstormed the title. I worked with another collegue, and this cooperation has been very important for many reasons: the different ways, in which we think, made me realize that in the future I will be working with people taking different approaches everyday. In order to be successful, one needs to be open-minded and accept constructive criticism. In this profession one needs to listen in order to be listened. .

Daniela Rodriguez and students at the Awards Ceremony

What I learned from this experience is that there is a tremendous amount of competition on this field. That every person is always working towards the same outcome, but only, usually, very few will succeed. Those that triumph, focus in their creativity instead of concentrating in other people’s work. At the end of the day, “the boss,” will have the last word.

             This has been my production experience in the country of art. When I look back and think about how upset and disappointed I felt about myself when my Los Angeles application got rejected, I stare at my self in the mirror and laugh. This experience has been one of the best and most gratifying experiences of my life. It not only molded me as a person, but it also, gave me the opportunity to practice my production skills that I so much desired to do. It even busted my confidence by winning the best intern award. If I accomplished so much in a few months, what is, that I can accomplish for the rest of my life?