First Week

   I'm now officially a university student! I officially started my course on Monday, and despite being a hectic two days, it's made me very excited about what the next year will bring. I've realised that I'm incredibly lucky, as whilst my friends are in 3-4 days a week, I'm only in for two! I have 6 hours worth of lectures on both Monday's and Tuesday's, but then I get a 5 day weekend, and I don't really think you can beat that.
   On Monday's I have Digital Journalism 9-12 and Shorthand 12-3. Digital Journalism is focusing on blogging, and the impact that blogs have had on the skills modern journalists require in order to get into the industry. Luckily, I already have some experience blogging with this, so I have an insider's perspective on what it's like to run your own blog. Obviously it's going to be different from running a high end blog for a newspaper or magazine, but it's still better than not running a blog at all and having to set one up for our assessment with no clue where to start. Having said that though, blogging is something that you pick up and get better at as you go along.
   Shorthand isn't a compulsory lecture, but it's been recommended to all us journalism students that we go, as it is still handy in the industry, although not as much as it once was. It's safe to say that my first lecture in it hurt my brain because it confused me so much! Our lecturer told us that once we've got the hang of the basics it's incredibly straight forward to pick up and understand, so I'm praying he's telling the truth!
   Tuesday's are much more tiring, as I have Law and Ethics 9-12 and Television News 3-6. It's horrible having to go back into uni after having 3 hours off! Law and Ethics completely frazzled my brain. I understand it's important as Political Journalism is one of the hardest forms of journalism to get into, and that we need to know what we can and cannot do as a journalist in court, but there is so much to learn and take in! Hopefully next week will be slightly less intense, I don't think my brain can take much more!
   Television News is exactly what it says, teaching us how to create and present news on television. This is the module I'm most looking forward to this semester, as TV and Radio are the two aspects I most want to get into. As a modern day broadcaster I know the importance of learning not only how to present television news, but also how to film it, choose the stories to be broadcast and put it all together. This is why I'm incredibly lucky to be on this course, as it teaches us all aspects, increasing our chances of getting a decent job and being successful.
   Overall, my first proper days have been hectic but incredibly enjoyable and I am so excited to see what the next year will bring and to be able to study somewhere as beautiful as MediaCity.