The story of how an energy and power company impressed a group of communications students. Or was it the communications students that impressed the company?
Out of all of our scheduled media visits, initially Enel was the one I was least interested in. But there was a reason for it! You might wonder, what does an electric company have to do with communications other than powering the devices? Well how do you think they communicate with their employees?
Most of the presentation was about Enel’s internal communications and that included all efforts needed to inform and obviously communicate with their employees. In place they have their own intranet database, television station, radio station, and newsletter publication. The company prides itself in also having events that help boost the morale of their employees and make everyone feel welcomed to work with Enel.
As part of our visit we were also able to participate in an interactive experience, that being the opportunity to use their television and radio studios for casual interviews. Because Kayla and I had our own radio show back at WPPJ Radio, we wanted to be part of the radio group. They only let 4-5 people join in for the radio group, whereas the rest split up to be part of the television group.
We got to tour both studios and they seemed to be as professional as it gets. They have a small team of editors and equipment technicians that help to make sure everything in running smoothly. Almost similar to what Point Park offers with UView and WPPJ Radio, but with professionals since both UView and WPPJ are student-run programs.
As part of the radio group we went into the radio studio and were interviewed by one of our hosts, while the actual radio channel host translated our responses. The experience was really cool. Kayla recorded the whole session on her camcorder and we even got the chance to plug our show, the K-Day Radio Show. When are we not plugging our show everywhere we go?
Our experience at Enel ended with lunchtime in their cafeteria. Their espresso was 50 cents which I couldn’t believe and it was pretty good! I wish all food was as affordable as Enel’s cafeteria 🙂
The day didn’t even end there!
We were supposed to have more free time before our special dinner that night, but taking public transportation back to our hostel cut that time by a lot. I was still in need of a travel SIM card to use on my phone so I could use Google maps to navigate so we asked for assistance from one of our tour guides and went on a mini quest to find a SIM card. Before asking our tour guides for help, I did try to do some research on my own, but I had a hard time finding a shop that actually sold travel SIM cards. It turns out that in Italy, most SIM cards should be purchased from a phone service provider like Vodafone, TIM, and Wind.
We ended up finding a Vodafone in the Trastevere train station. The SIM card was 30 Euros and the service was valid for 1 month, including free social media browsing and Google map usage. There were a certain number of texts I can send and phone calls I can make, but I was mostly concerned about the data plan. The sales representative told me that I couldn’t use my phone for 2 hours and that I’d have to unlock the SIM card using a code after those two hours.
So now I have a travel SIM card and an Italian phone number. What happens next?
I’m pretty sure I took a nap after finally going back to the hostel, but our special dinner that I mentioned before was through a cooking class. Tonight we learned how to make ravioli and gnocchi, while preparing the food in the underground ruins of a church. There’s also an apartment on top of the building that was once owned by American actor, Marlon Brando.
After making the pasta we got to enjoy dinner, featuring our pasta creations, in Marlon Brando’s apartment!