How did you end up in Rome?
I knew I always wanted to study abroad somewhere, probably in Europe. I go to Texas Christian University and me and three of my best friends all kind of narrowed it down to Rome. I didn’t have a strong preference and I had never been there or really anywhere in Europe and so we kind of just made that decision and it’s been great so far! I’ve been there for three weeks now and I am studying journalism and I have a double minor in business and English, so I have been taking some of my journalism electives and I manly am studying it because I love writing.
How are your journalism classes?
The classes that I am taking aren’t just basic reporting, they aren’t typical boring journalism stuff. I am taking a lot of interesting classes like global media classes and so that’s really interesting. I don’t know if I am going to be a reporter in the future, but I feel that just with writing in general, hopefully, could take me to a specific direction. I really don’t know what it is yet.
How is your writing style?
The main thing is like not writing from a boring angle because usually, the kind of stuff that I had to write about for the classes haven’t been the most exciting stuff, so just trying to find a way to make it enjoyable to an audience, no matter who your audience I,s and I think since I am studying news and media journalism my minor in English gives me a different kind of wiring background, so more like creative writing because they don’t really teach you that in journalistic writing. So I tried to take what I have learned in that spectrum over to the journalism writing styles.
Do you pick up newspapers at the stands?
I wish I could say that I do but I don’t. I pay a monthly subscription for the New York Times and the LA Times and so I have those on my phone. I have the regular Apple New App but I need more than that. My professors will just require that we are always just up to date on whatever is going on in the world, so with those subscriptions, I am constantly getting updates on my phone so I’m able to have more than just short snippets of articles on random media websites.
If you had the power to change the world of journalism what would change about it?
I read this tweet or meme and it was so stupid and it really pissed me off. It said that it was pointless to study journalism and that literally now anybody can be a journalist because of blogging and stuff, which is true, but the reason people think that, is because there is such an unethical name attached to journalism.
I feel that no one really trusts journalists anymore and everyone talks about how the media is so skewed and so biased. It’s so frustrating because it shouldn´t be like that. If I could change something, making it credible and ethical again would be my main focus.
How is Rome shaping your view on Culture?
It’s early, it’s been a couple of weeks but what I am excited for knowing that I am literally in a completely different environment than I have ever been in. I already have been meeting so many different people and from my classes at John Cabot University. I already have been hearing different insights from my professors. One of my professors was telling me about an internship opportunity in London – my professors in Texas would never offer that-, they also have been giving me ideas of other potential industries that I can get into and it’s making me realize that I am not limited, which is really good to know especially when I am very unsure about what exactly I want to do.