Internship Blog

DALLAS, Texas — Well, I survived the first day.

It started out routinely enough, I left way too early in the morning to make sure I wouldn’t arrive late. Driving on 635 in Dallas can be slow at best during rush hour so now I know how long it takes to get to work about 15 minutes early and not almost an hour early (unlike today).

I met mostly everyone in the bureau and was happy to find that my colleagues have good senses of humor.

—Newsrooms can be intense and it’s great when people can find a little humor in the small stuff.

Just as I was getting the ball rolling on some routine posts to the wire, breaking news hits.

It’s a strange process when you are on your first day and you realize you are in the midst of a big news event. Luckily for me, the professionals are at hand to make sense of it all. Since it was my first day, I did my best to help out the seasoned reporters by gathering contacts and listening for any changes while they wrote several updates. It can sometimes feel as though you’re a little turned around in situations like that.

I also can’t help but feel a little rusty after editing all year for The Prospector and Borderzine.com when it comes to writing fast and getting back into the reporter swing of things. But I can see that that rustiness will quickly disappear as the days go by.

There is really no choice in the matter.

I’m happy to be with the AP for the summer and I intend to make the most of it. There are great reporters to learn from and many stories to be written.

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Editor’s note: This blog was originally published on UTEP Communications.