It’s been a long two months since I updated this blog, but it’s also been one of the most stressful, exciting and progressive few months I’ve experienced.
First and foremost, since my last post, in which I indicated my worry about having a job lined up after graduation in May, and expressing my desire to work at the epicenter of journalism in New York City, I am happy to announce I’ve secured a post-graduate internship at NearSay.com. It’s a hyperlocal news site that covers all of the city’s boroughs.
After months of searching for jobs and internships, in addition to gaining more experience through my current internship, I am finally able to say I’m embarking on a journey to a lifelong dream of working as a journalist in NYC.
Since February, I’ve worked through my final classes before graduation in May, took a much-needed trip to Las Vegas with two of my good girlfriends and covered Austin’s South by Southwest festival for my internship with the Austin American-Statesman, which made for the best Spring Break I could ever experience.
My last semester of my undergraduate career could not be progressing any better. It amazes me that I have just five weeks before I can call myself a “Texas State alumna,” and even more so that I can say all of my work — with the help of my family, friends, co-workers, professors, internships coordinators, editors and peers alike — has led me to the start of a professional career that I know will go far, beginning in the one place I have long wanted to be.
This is not to say everything has been all sunshine and rainbows. Discouragement, breakdowns and confusion ensued for a long while at the beginning of the semester before I finally took the opportunity to examine my options and reflect on my journalism experience. I know I’m still young with much to learn about the world, but the most important thing I’ve learned this year is that you have to make your own opportunities, and that comes with hard work and a little bit of luck. You can’t rely on luck to get you anywhere, but you can rely on your work ethic.
These next few months leading up to my departure from the only state I’ve ever lived in will be bittersweet. I’m looking forward to the future more than ever, with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ahead of me, but I’m also going to miss much more about Texas than I originally thought. This decision is exciting, scary and risky, but most of all, it’s right.
