Reflective essay

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”

 

This summer school has been one of the most fruitful experiences ever for me. I have grown up sheltering myself from things that make me anxious, but with maturity I have realised how important moving out of my comfort zone is. My commute to this course was a leisurely 36hr trip: a couple of plane rides, some questionable airline food and a whole lot of nerves. Travelling all this way for a three week course was a big commitment, however it was the ideal step out of my comfort zone, whilst it was still a daunting task, it wasn’t totally throwing me into the deep end.

 

I was very nervous on my first day of the course. I didn’t recognise any Australian accents, I started to doubt whether I was good enough to be there at all and I felt the furthest out of my comfort zone I have ever felt. Thankfully those emotions and doubts were short lived. Once we got into content and the writing, I was reminded why I had travelled all this way in the first place. Even though everyone in the class were from other parts of the world, I was able to see that we are all connected by this one common idea. It was really cool to think that the industry I want to be successful in isn’t restricted by borders, and it is a skill I will be able to take anywhere.

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Being in my last semester of a journalism degree, a lot of what we covered in these three weeks weren’t new concepts to me. However, it has consolidated my knowledge in a way that puts me in a really good position to graduate with confidence and conviction in my writing skills. I have been writing and getting my work published since high school, however I have never been proud enough to share my work beyond the eyes of my adoring family. This changed during this course. Sharing my work on my Facebook account was daunting, but the positive reception it received confirmed to me that writing is my calling.

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The course structure was very thorough, and was taught really well by all of the tutors. I really enjoyed the constructive criticism and the way feedback was so readily available. It was really beneficial for me that we spent time on the specific mechanics of different types of writing. Each piece of work we produced consisted of a different structure, which isn't something I am used to. In all of my internships, I have been required to just produce one type of writing at a time. Having to produce multitudes of article structures tested my skills, but has helped me understand and compare the different requirements for each piece. 

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I have used Infogram and Premiere Pro before (to make infographics and multimedia pieces), but it was valuable to receive a refresher on the programs. I was reminded how effective infographics can be in communicating information and data, and I'll definitely be employing this skill in the near future. 

 

Developing story ideas was one of my favourite parts of producing my portfolio. Being in a new place gave me this new palette of ideas to choose from. Although Melbourne and London are very similar in ways, their respective cultures are very unique. In Australia ‘football’ means something very different. I get irritated at home when people refer to soccer as football, because for me the only football I acknowledge is AFL. However being in the ‘home’ of football, I had to swallow my pride and immerse myself in the London experience. Sport is one of my passions, so it made sense for me to write about the World Cup while I was here. Writing my explainer on the ‘Three Lions’ song was as challenging as it was rewarding. I had to do a lot of contextual research, but I ended up producing a piece I was proud of, and my friends and family back home were appreciative of the explanation of what this ‘it’s coming home’ business was all about.

 

I am very proud of the work I produced over the last three weeks. The course was taught in a very comprehensive fashion, even though all of us students had different levels of journalism experience. I was given great feedback on areas I can improve, like some of my word choices and the tone of parts of my writing. It has benefited me greatly to get another perspective on my writing skills.

 

Not pushing myself out of my comfort zone is one of my weaknesses. I am so glad that I took the leap with this summer school, and I am grateful for the confidence it has given me going into the final semester of my bachelor’s degree.