Today we met for the first time Prof. Kauschik and the Indian students. We introduced ourselves to the other students and talked about our wishes in that project. We decided to make three groups where we can work together. We decided on photography, music and podcast groups and could choose between those. We talked about our first tasks and ideas how to create results together. I chose the music group where we decided to make our own song in English.

At Tuesday we were a little bit nervous because the exercise of producing a whole song within a week seemed a lot of work and a lot of us never did music by ourselves. But the Indian students already had a group discussion and a plan, so that they were confident about it and calmed us. Also, we could get help through our professors. We discussed on whether to compose first the lyrics or the music track. We decided to write down at least ten sentences of our own culture and values to mix it together for the song lyrics. And we decided what the samples should sound like, which type of song we would want to create.

On Wednesday we composed the lyrics for our song that mainly incorporates the food culture of both our societies- Indian and German along with the traditional values we share. We were working with the music roughly and record. Also, we discussed on our next steps. We decided to make small videos during our cooking for the music video. And we wanted to rewrite the lyrics. Many students from India were already trying to record and work on the refrain of the song and shared their results to us for our feedback.

The music group of the Virtual Exchange programme at Don Bosco University had a productive day. They began by recording the music track for their collaborative song. Next, they recorded the first half of the song, including vocals and harmonies. The group then received videos showcasing traditional German food from students at Frankfurt University via WhatsApp. The students from Frankfurt University also did some writing about their cultures which was a moment of appreciating cultures.

A general meeting was held with all members of the Virtual Exchange programme to discuss progress and upcoming tasks. After the meeting, the music group completed the recording of the second half of the song. Finally, they edited and mixed the final song recordings.

The next steps for the music group include finalizing the song editing, creating a video which will be done tomorrow to accompany the song, and preparing for the virtual presentation with the Frankfurt University students.

The day was filled With different feelings and experiences. Feeling worried as to whether the recording would go on well and feeling motivated that they can do it. The experience they had was also a moment of new learning. At the end of the day they did it and that brought them joy and satisfaction.

Reported by

James Gilbert Marbaniang