It's not for the faint-hearted

I remember my mother said, one could be super genius in school - but as soon as one enters a university his brilliancy dims. I strongly believe that there are a number of your friends who got straight As in nearly all school subjects and won school competitions, but ended up struggling in university. This, I have seen a lot - and this has happened to me, as well.

I was doing pretty well in school. I don't have any intention to brag at all, but this was the fact. My grades were okay and I joined lots of school competitions. But what happened after I enter university was beyond anything I had ever imagined.

I didn't fail my subjects (Thank God), but I was struggling very very hard throughout the year. When I thought about choosing journalism as my major, I was thinking, "Unless I will have to do a live report in a battlefield I won’t have to worry about anything!"

Wrong. 

This major is utterly ferocious. Journalism has made me drown in my tears, blurting words I'm not supposed to say and acting beyond my capacity. It's been dragging me further, further, and further away from my comfort zone - my very own precious crib, where I had been nurturing my cowardly guts and short-lived zeal.

Only once in a blue moon you could get a D. You would not even dare to set your hopes high up and dreaming of getting an HD. And I’ve learnt now, that journalism is pretty much subjective. What you consider as your best work would not even appear the same to your tutor. Thus, I am happy to conclude that grades and marks could not be used as the standards of merit in journalism.

Studying journalism, I’ve also learned to be versatile. The whole nature of journalism—the news values, media, sources, stories—is erratic, cause we are faithful to the whimsical culture and personality of people. Just like how unpredictable our life is. Even though us journalists do not know what is ahead of us, we have the duty to report it.

This is just a glimpse of what has happened in year 2012; particularly highlighting my time in university, where I’ve been pursuing my dream to be a journalist. Mind you, journalism is not for the faint-hearted. I’m a timid girl myself; unfortunately I’m headstrong as well. Well, now you figure out what comes out from this odd equation:

girl + timid + headstrong = a journalist?