I don't want to spend a whole post nerding out, but living in Washington, D.C. is awesome.
I can walk to the Mall, watch motorcades fly past my window, and gaze at the Washington monument, lit-up every night, right from my living room. I live between the State Department and the White House. I walk past the IMF and the World Bank on the way to work, not to mention a couple of demonstrations.
Living in Washington is a unique experience. It's a big change from New York State, where I'm from. It's a lot lazier down here. Trust me, you have to be--the heat and humidity won't allow for anything else. Things move a lot slower down here in general; you won't find someone yelling at you if you take more than five seconds to order your fast food.
But I digress. Let's get back to basics and stock introductions: Hi, my name is Conor Hale and I'm a journalism major at St. Bonaventure University. I want to work in television and broadcast news. Not sure where and/or how yet. I'm interning at the BBC's Washington bureau. More on that later.
If I had to talk about my first impressions of this program, my internship, and my summer, I would say this: sometimes your professors will say--if you're not sure about what you want to do--take an internship, experiment, dabble; and if you find something you like, you're golden. And if you don't, then you know what you don't want to do.
This is not one of those programs. This is far from a waste of time.
I can walk to the Mall, watch motorcades fly past my window, and gaze at the Washington monument, lit-up every night, right from my living room. I live between the State Department and the White House. I walk past the IMF and the World Bank on the way to work, not to mention a couple of demonstrations.
Living in Washington is a unique experience. It's a big change from New York State, where I'm from. It's a lot lazier down here. Trust me, you have to be--the heat and humidity won't allow for anything else. Things move a lot slower down here in general; you won't find someone yelling at you if you take more than five seconds to order your fast food.
But I digress. Let's get back to basics and stock introductions: Hi, my name is Conor Hale and I'm a journalism major at St. Bonaventure University. I want to work in television and broadcast news. Not sure where and/or how yet. I'm interning at the BBC's Washington bureau. More on that later.
If I had to talk about my first impressions of this program, my internship, and my summer, I would say this: sometimes your professors will say--if you're not sure about what you want to do--take an internship, experiment, dabble; and if you find something you like, you're golden. And if you don't, then you know what you don't want to do.
This is not one of those programs. This is far from a waste of time.
Amos, the big cheese of the program, really helped me find a place right for me--and so far he's been right every time. And I'm not being paid to say that. (Which reminds me: be wary of the district's 9 percent sales tax. And if you can score a paid internship, all the best.)
But if you're looking for journalism-- I really hope you're not doing it for the money. And if you are looking for journalism-- there are few places as media-savvy as Washington.
Working at the Beeb (what insiders call the BBC) is a lot different than anything else. It's not your dad's TV station. The BBC is the largest Newsgathering operation in the world. Newsgathering, where I work, supplies two domestic UK channels, a 24-hour news channel in the UK, a 24-hour international news channel and an American nightly news broadcast, not to mention the BBC's 5 radio channels and the BBC World Service, broadcasting in over 35 countries and languages. Yeah, it gets a little crowded. But the best part is that there is always so much to do--I’ll never be that intern getting coffee.
But if you're looking for journalism-- I really hope you're not doing it for the money. And if you are looking for journalism-- there are few places as media-savvy as Washington.
Working at the Beeb (what insiders call the BBC) is a lot different than anything else. It's not your dad's TV station. The BBC is the largest Newsgathering operation in the world. Newsgathering, where I work, supplies two domestic UK channels, a 24-hour news channel in the UK, a 24-hour international news channel and an American nightly news broadcast, not to mention the BBC's 5 radio channels and the BBC World Service, broadcasting in over 35 countries and languages. Yeah, it gets a little crowded. But the best part is that there is always so much to do--I’ll never be that intern getting coffee.
