reality CheCK When most students think about making international connections through bel- larmine, they probably don’t think about belarus, the former soviet republic. and they certainly don’t imagine becoming reality tv stars in belarus. but that’s just What happened to john brennan, a senior music major from fort thomas. In August, John and his father, Bob, spent 10 whirlwind days traveling around Belarus while a TV crew filmed their every move. The program, “Добро пожаловать вбеларусь,” or “Welcome to Belarus,” also flew in families from China, Korea, Germany, France and Spain and filmed their tours around the country. The Brennans represented the United States. The goal: to show a national audience a little bit about each family’s home nation as well as their views of Belarus. Each family had a translator and got to work with the program’s host, Ivan Podrez, whom John Brennan called “Belarus’ Ryan Seacrest.” The opportunity arose when John’s friend Dzmitry Miranovich, a Bellarmine senior accounting major from Minsk, got wind that the reality show was looking for Americans to take part. He immediately thought of the Brennans, who applied and won. Their adventure took them to the 12th-century towns of Mozyr and Toure, the Gomel Palace, Pripyatsky National Park, large farms, numerous churches, businesses, war memorials and castles. They even had an audience with President Alexander Lukashenko. John Brennan, who plays percussion, piano and trumpet, promised President Lukashenko he would write a song about Belarus, and the president in turn offered John an ambassadorship in return – perhaps not entirely in jest. The tour ended in the capital city of Minsk, a fast-paced, modern city that is home to 1.8 million people, scores of parks, castles and museums, excellent cuisine and some of Europe’s best sports teams, according to Bob Brennan. Along the way, the Brennans rode horses, fished, camped, played music, hammed it up for the cameras and gave their impressions of a country they came to love. “Belarusians are tenacious, hard-working people who have rebuilt their country from the ground up after suffering huge destruction after World War II,” said Bob Brennan. “Nearly one of every three people in Minsk were killed during World War II and most buildings were destroyed. You would never know that now, as everything has been restored to former glory in its original architecture.” About their unconventional way of touring Belarus, the younger Brennan said this: “Being on a reality TV show in Belarus was absurd and incredibly fun.” 34 BellarMine Magazine
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