Excitement

Hello everybody! My name is Alex, and I am a student at Kent State University. I chose to come to Washington, D.C. and to do the Semester in Washington Journalism program because of my passion for politics and journalism. I am enjoying the program and D.C. life very much so far, and I can't wait to blog more about it throughout the semester!

I am interning at NBC News Channel which is a branch of NBC News that produces packages and provides other content for NBC affiliate stations all over the country. It's definitely a unique division a of news organization, but it's very cool to be in a place that covers Washington for stations all over the country.

We get all the NBC feeds in my work, so I spend a lot of time watching House and Senate sessions, press conferences, stakeouts of politicians inside Capitol Hill, and events involving President Obama. I have also helped interview people throughout the city and attended events on Capitol Hill. Two of my favorite experiences so far were when I got to interview Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinan for the NBC Miami affiliate and when I got to see the new Illinois governor, Pat Quinn, both of the Illinois senators, and some members of the Illinois congressional delegation give a brief press conference inside the Capitol building.

I am enjoying D.C. life and am quickly becoming way more independent. There are many ADORABLE shops and cafes in Georgetown, and that definitely became an instant favorite of mine. It has become hard to not take things for granted while being here such as having the freedom to walk around Capitol Hill and the National Mall whenever I want to.

SIWJ has already taught me a lot about journalism. We are being taught how to do multi-platform stories - a must in today's journalism world. We are also hearing from many important journalists including reporters from the AP and the Washington Post. My favorite branch of journalism is broadcast, so you can guess how excited I was when we toured CBS News' Washington bureau.

While being in D.C., I've been asked what type of journalism I'm into. I find that a difficult question because every part of journalism and reporting is very important to me. I have started to define myself by a term I heard being thrown around while at KSU - Multimedia Journalist.

It's very easy to become a Multimedia Journalist at GWU. The School of Media and Public Affairs building gives students the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art equipment to shoot, edit, and produce videos as well as create websites. I am actually spending my day at SMPA tomorrow to become proficient at great programs such as Photoshop and LiveType.

That's all for me now! Happy Valentine's Day! =]

- Alex