Three Days To Go...

Only three days to go until I jet off to Denmark! My flight is at 10am on Monday morning and right now it doesn't feel very real. I'm feeling both terrified and calm at the moment. Terrified when I realise how little time there is to go and calm in the moments when I pretend that I'm not actually going anywhere.

It's taken me a while to sit down and write this post because I've been in a bit of a strange mood for the past few days, I sit down to write it and end up watching BBC iPlayer or recommended videos on YouTube instead. I think there's something quite daunting about writing the words 'Three Days To Go...' because it confirms that yes, this is going to happen. Also I keep crying at little things, like sentimental moments in 'Celebrity Masterchef' and silly things like that. But one thing that really made me weep this week is this video about an elderly man who entered a song competition with a song he wrote about his wife who'd passed away just a month earlier. I'd advise everyone to watch it because it really tells you to enjoy life to the full, but you'll probably need a whole box of tissues.

I've had a really busy time since my last post, which is probably why time is going so quickly. Last week I visited my grandparents in Bath for a couple of days which was lovely. Then I had a busy Bank Holiday weekend which involved the 21st birthday party of one my best friends, a family day trip to the beach and some time spent with my boyfriend. This week I have worked two long shifts, waitressing close to my house. To be honest I haven't had all that much time to pack or to even think about leaving next week.

Spending time with family and friends over the past week has been especially enjoyable as they have all offered so much support. My grandparents asked about the course and assured me that it will be an amazing experience. On Saturday night I was surrounded by some of oldest friends who I've grown up with and we had a wonderful time reminiscing about the gigs we used to go to and all the memories we've shared. My friends are all excited for me which means a lot but I'm going to miss them all. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun at Christmas though.

On Sunday I went on a day trip with my family to the beach, I woke up early despite having partied quite late the night before. Did my brother or sister get up? No. My sister did eventually but I had to wake my brother up. Despite the fact that I was quite annoyed at the time I think that I will miss my brother and his fluctuating moods. One minute he's all chirpy and speaks to me and the next he has his headphones in and you have to shout to get any kind of grunty reply. I spent most of the car journey feeling quite mixed up because we don't go on many family trips anymore and when we do the day starts off with someone being in a mood. The day got better and better though and we had a fantastic time.

We had lunch at a pub in the middle of the New Forest. Then we went to the beach and we all went swimming with my dog who jumped in and out of the waves. When we'd finished, we all got out, dried off and got into clean, dry clothes in bright sunshine and suddenly the heavens opened. We didn't have any anoraks so we all ended up standing underneath the picnic blanket which was waterproof on the bottom. It was a bit of a squash for the good five minutes and it must have looked and sounded quite funny because someone would always pull the blanket away from someone else so there was a lot of shrieking as the rain pelted down around us.

After we'd made it back to the car we drove a small distance and came face to face with a Castle and decided to get out and have a look around. It was only small but it was built in a striking Gothic style and you could see the sea from the garden. Although I sometimes get annoyed at my family's lack of organisation, it is moments of spontaneity like this which I love. We have gone on trips before and Dad has said 'hey, what's that?' or 'let's all get out and look at the view' and whilst my siblings and I may have moaned and groaned sometimes like the grumpy young people we are I know that we really do appreciate it. It's funny that I find myself doing the same when I'm out and about. I'm sure that I'll do this when I get to Aarhus, there's going to be so much to explore.

First things first though, I have to pack my bags, which is proving quite difficult. I found out last week when I looked up my University accommodation which is in Borglum Kollegiet, a private Halls complex, that I will not have a duvet or pillows when I get there. This meant that I then got very excited about the prospect of taking my duvet with me, and even began to think about substituting clothes and shoes for more suitcase space for my duvet. However, that would most likely mean that I have to wear my duvet to lectures next week. I'm even thinking of making some arm holes in my duvet to make it more practical. Surely it's better than going to lectures in my onesie?

This is acceptable outerwear right?

I have come to a compromise, I now have a vacuum storage bag for my duvet so I will have more space for clothes! So this blog will not turn into 'Ellie's Duvet Adventures in Aarhus', sorry guys. The next task is to decide which shoes to take and whether six pairs is really acceptable... I also need to work out how many photographs I can take and all the sentimental pieces. I need to do as much packing as I can this afternoon. Tomorrow I am going out with my best friends from home, we are hitting the town and so on Sunday my ability to pack could be severely affected. In my post-night-out state I will probably end up packing too many packets of painkillers and my duvet, fluffy blanket, hot water bottle etc. because I feel attached to them when in fact I won't need them. So, yes, I will pack more this afternoon to prevent that packing debacle.

My packing attempt so far

There's one last thing that I needed to talk about in this blog post. Last post I mentioned that the Wessex Scene, the newspaper and magazine for which I was Editor last year, had made it into the Top 8 Student Publications in the Country. Well, on Sunday I found out that we'd made it into the TOP 3 for the Ones To Watch Student Publication of the Year award!!!! It was a public vote, so I am extremely proud that we had a following big enough to get us into the final stage of the competition. We technically got our Publication of the Month award for May which is the month when I handed over, but the award covers the whole August 2012-August 2013 period so my efforts as Editor have been recognised. The news couldn't have come at a better time, I now feel fully assured that I am on the right path. Also despite the constant criticism and trolling I was doing the right thing with the publication, the whole time!

So I'll finish on that high note for now and post next week when I'm in Aarhus. It's the Aarhus Festival next week and I will be really busy with Introduction lectures and meeting my coursemates, so I'll have a lot to share with you.

Two Weeks To Go- Thoughts on Journalism

Two weeks today I will boarding a one-way flight to Aarhus, Denmark. I have a feeling that it'll be pretty emotional but only because I'll be stepping into the unknown and won't be taking everyone I love with me. However I am feeling a lot better about the prospect as I was added to the Erasmus Mundus Journalism 2013 group on Facebook last weekend. I have been chatting to my course-mates and learning more about them. The most exciting thing is that they come from so many different countries. I think there are only 4/5 British students amongst the group of 100. There are people from Brazil, Guatemala, the Caribbean, Egypt, Cameroon, Russia, Lithuania, China, the list goes on and on. I actually cannot believe that I have been selected for this programme and keep wondering if the organisers made a mistake. I mean, what an opportunity!

Yet just as I began to call my selection for the course into question, I was given some consolation in the form of a nomination for my former publication, the Wessex Scene, for the 'Ones To Watch' 'Student Publication of the Year'. I found out last weekend and it popped up on my iPhone just as I was making some toast for my brother and I. I got so excited that I burnt the toast!

I was Editor of the Wessex Scene last year, so from June 2012-June 2013 and the nomination is for the August 2012-August 2013 period, thus whilst I was in charge. This is a huge achievement firstly for myself, my deputy editor Jo and our editorial team but also for the new Editor Sam and his team which took over in June this year and secured a nomination for Student Publication of the Month in May during exams. The nomination is truly the result of a huge team effort and it is a huge honour to have been placed among the top 8 student publications in the country. Voting has now closed, I'm afraid so I should have blogged earlier really but I've spent the past week pestering all my friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to vote for us. We will find out next Sunday whether we have been placed in the Top 3.

My year as Editor was extremely tough and there were times when I really questioned whether it was worth it. But it really was, on so many levels, the experience taught me so much about journalism, student politics and about myself and I now have a real drive to make it as a journalist.

The Wessex Scene for whatever reason had fallen out of favour within Southampton University's Students' Union, with many students preferring our rival paper The Soton Tab, by the time that I took over. It took many months of hard graft: publicising our content online and on campus, redesigning, relaunching, re-establishing our goals, reworking our relationship with the Students' Union and learning from mistakes to get it to this point where it is now placed in the top student publications. The 'Ones To Watch' website features the best articles from student publications nationwide and has featured a lot of articles from the Scene over the past year, thus our content must have been of a high standard and of a national interest. Their Student Publication of the Year award is not something that we nominated ourselves for, we were selected. There is still much that can be improved with the Wessex Scene but I hope that we have put some strong foundations in place and put in a springboard from which the publication can reach new heights.

On the 'Ones To Watch' article about the 'Student Publication of the Year' the Wessex Scene was the only publication out of the eight nominated to receive negative comments. This trolling on social media and from our rival publication was our biggest problem last year. Not a day went past without us being slated for something. Obviously there were times when my judgment was rightfully called into question due to mistakes made by myself or members of my team but I always admitted wrongdoing when appropriate and stood up for myself and the team. One thing I really tried to encourage was that my editors give their writers good feedback so that we could assist them with their writing. This had two benefits, firstly we were able to ensure that all articles were of a consistently high quality and secondly the writers weren't fed to the wolves and could be proud of what they'd achieved. There were times when this did not happen but I am happy to say that in the majority of cases it did. I see no use in allowing a piece to be published which is badly written and will just attract the attention of internet trolls who show no mercy.

Trolling within the media must be a relatively new problem but it is a plague which threatens to poison a lot of very good work especially that of writers who are just starting out. But looking back over the past year I realise that though they tried to get me down and to poison my publication their comments have made me a stronger person and journalist and actually I face the future with a strength which I might not have acquired had my editorship been plain sailing. Also these comments have helped the Scene gain a lot of exposure and get a lot of people talking about us so in essence their attempts to bring us down have in fact done the opposite.

Also I realised today, that journalists have far more to worry about than anonymous comments written by a handful of bitter and twisted people, regardless of what these trolls might think. A good example is found in today's Guardian in Greenwald's article about the detention of his partner under anti-terrorism laws. Greenwald describes this as an act of 'intimidation' and 'bullying' linked to his writing about the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ. If this is true then it shows that anti terror laws can be manipulated in an attempt to silence the media. This in itself is scary, especially since it happened in our country. In my opinion, journalism is the pursuit of information and the relaying of this information to educate, inform and assist consumers in making decisions about their own lives and by extension shaping the core values of this country. British journalists should, as Greenwald states, be defiant against such acts and be emboldened in light of this incident to continue in their work.

I have a feeling that these opinions might change during the course of my MA course and I am very excited to find out what my course-mates think about journalism and why. I know that my views are heavily influenced by the culture in which I have grown up so it'll be interesting to see how different cultures have impacted on journalism from other countries.

Please comment about any of my ideas but once again I urge you not to be a troll. :)

Friends

Last time I posted I spoke about how I am lucky to have the support that I have from my friends, family and boyfriend. Then this weekend as if on cue I was shown the full extent of my friends' support in the form of a surprise 'Good Luck' party.

You know how sometimes you can have very little in terms of plans for weeks on end and then suddenly it's everyone's birthday or party on the same day, that happened to me on Saturday. A couple of weeks ago my friend Becci texted to ask if I'd come to her surprise birthday party for her boyfriend Mike on the 3rd August in Southampton and I made the arrangements to go. Around the same time, my friend Cait who was my housemate throughout my time in Southampton, invited me to her birthday celebration on the same day. I'm the kind of person who will always try to fit it all in especially seeing as it was for two people who are important to me. So Cait organised her birthday lunch and theatre trip for the day time and I said to Becci I'd be in Southampton for the evening thinking that we'd be going out somewhere.

On Saturday morning I didn't really give myself enough time to walk my dog, eat breakfast and drive to Teddington station, so it was all a bit of a rush. I did make it into London just about in time to meet Cait and Harriet at around 12. Harriet was my housemate in my first year of uni. We walked through Covent Garden looking for somewhere to eat and ended up in a really nice restaurant. Lunch was really nice and the conversation was even better. I love meeting up with my friends from first year because we don't meet too often so when we do we have a lot to talk about. Both Harriet and Cait really inspire me. Cait is studying Physics and going into her final MA year and Harriet is studying Accoustical Engineering also entering her final year (but might take a PhD). Cait recently sent a teddy bear into the stratosphere with the help of her Space society and a weather balloon. They made the BBC News and the University were very pleased to promote their achievement. Harriet is currently on placement at Oxford University and she is excited about future opportunities there.

The Teddy Bear in the Stratosphere that Cait sent up

They are both very strong and confident and I have every faith that they will both go on to do great things within Science and out. I love Science but the maths side of it has always let me down, probably the most important part, so these girls are a real inspiration to me and I hope that we will continue to be great friends in the future.

We then went on to the Theatre to watch 'Top Hat' which was fantastic. There was lots of wonderful singing and tap dancing. I took tap classes when I was younger but I was terrible at it, I'd go into the exams and the examiner would say, 'Ok, begin' and my mind would just fail me, right at the crucial moment I would forget every step ball change and every tap so the tap dancing on stage really impressed me.

After the show, we walked back to Embankment and I got my train back. I then had to drive to Southampton which was a bit of a nightmare because there was a lot of traffic. I'd told Becci I'd be in Southampton at 6ish which was probably a bit optimistic, but then I thought that it was Mike's birthday and that my friends would be excited for me to arrive but I'd just join in the party when I got there. Little did I know what they had planned! So whilst I calmly made my way through the traffic singing along to Black Keys, everyone was in fact waiting to surprise me.

I finally rocked up at about 7.45. I jumped out of my car, grabbed my bag and went to knock on the door. I rang the doorbell and heard a bit of giggling and shuffling about but I didn't think much of it. Then the door was flung open with a huge shout of 'SURPRISE', a cake was pushed towards me with sparklers on and sitting on the stairs and crowded in the doorway were most of my best friends from University. Needless to say I was completely gobsmacked. I think someone took some photos of that moment, but they all said my face was brilliant. I had not expected it AT ALL. I think I just said 'What?!' 'What have you done?' I was blown away by the effort that they had all put in to surprising me.

I was then shown into the kitchen and given a huge bunch of sunflowers, my favourite, and a handmade card. The cake they'd put sparklers in had a huge photo of me on it and 'Good Luck Ellie' written around the side. There were also cupcakes with the same photo of me on. AND they had even printed out hundreds of photos of us all and pinned them on the washing line and put them on the coffee table. Alex also gave me a bottle of wine. I was still in shock. They had already surprised Mike, Becci's boyfriend earlier in the day at around 2pm for his birthday so it was a joint party which was lovely.

We had a bit of a party at the house and then the group split up, some to go to the pub and the others to a gig. I went to the pub and another of my friends, Karan joined us. It was great just laughing and joking with everyone. We then headed to Lennons, our favourite bar and club in Southampton. Lennons is where we've had all our best nights out. It plays indie and alternative music which we love. The other group rejoined us and I was surrounded by some of the people I love the most.

It was an absolutely fantastic night, I couldn't tell if I was drunk or euphoric, probably both. Knowing that my friends had organised this for me and knowing that they support me made me unbelievably happy. So happy in fact that I ended up getting a bit teary towards the end of the night, just looking around and seeing all their faces and knowing that we'd had the best time at uni together and that we will continue to make the effort to have more good times together was all a bit much. Becci cried a bit with me. And then when it came to leaving Becci set me off again.

I'm really going to miss all my friends when I leave for Denmark but I know that they will be here and I hope that some of them will come to visit. It's strange really because I feel like this is the perfect time to go, everything at home is great, I have great friends, a great relationship and my family are happy so I know that everything is stable for the time being. I have the funds to go and I also have the love and support I need to go and do it. I'm also looking forward to making new friends. It's certainly going to be an adventure, but not one that I have to face all by myself. That's one thing I realised this weekend, I'm not alone and I can share my experiences through this blog and through skype chats and visits.

It's going to be great, but if it does get tough all I have to do is remember that moment when I opened the door to a huge shout of 'SURPRISE' and saw my friends grinning and laughing. That moment told me everything I already knew but needed to be reminded of, about my friends, that they're fantastic and I should never take them for granted.

To all my friends, you know who you are, you are all wonderful in your own way and I am inspired by you. Thank you for your continued support and I promise I will do my best to support you back. Thank you!

Preparing for lift off

This blog post is for those moments when I ask myself, how the hell did I get here and why have I decided to move abroad to study for the next two years? It's times like these that I have to say to myself, hey girl, pull yourself together this is a massive, life-changing opportunity, which sometimes makes me feel sick with nerves and other times fills me with pride and excitement. To ensure that the latter happens more often, I'd like to look back at my journey to this point.

I applied for my Masters course in January of this year, after discovering an advert on Facebook. Who'd have thought that Facebook advertising might actually turn out to be a good thing, and in this case life-changing? The advert was for the Erasmus Mundus Masters degree in Journalism, Globalisation and Media so I clicked on it and what I found, ticked every single box for what I wanted in an MA course.

I've known that I wanted to take a Masters degree for the past two years and had been searching since the summer of 2012 to find a course either in English or in Journalism. It was not until I took on the role of Editor for my university newspaper and magazine, the Wessex Scene, in July 2012 that I realised I wanted to pursue journalism as a career and there were times when I severely questioned that decision, believe me. Having now come out the other side, relatively unscathed and with the skin of a dragon I now firmly believe that I have made the right choice.

I sent my application off in the first week of January after a very quick turn-around. I didn't really rate my chances as I'd had to rush the application to get it in on time and I thought that there would be many more applicants who'd had far more experience than I had. My experience included some work experience with my Auntie at her magazine called 'Sportsister', a year as Sports Editor and then a year as Editor for the Wessex Scene and presenting a radio show with my friends for two years. However,  I applied for the 'Journalism Across Cultures' specialism and for that I had a wealth of experience including many trips to Germany including work experience there and a month-long Government funded trip to China for 'Study China'. I really played to my experience of living in different countries and learning about culture and I think ultimately that helped me to gain a place.

I found out I'd got the place in March. I was walking down Portswood High Street in Southampton, with my then Deputy Editor Jo, when I found out. The email popped up on my phone and for a few minutes I just could not contain my excitement, much to the amusement of everyone sitting in Costa or Sprinkles. It was lovely to find out the news in the company of one of my long-suffering friends and it was euphoric to discover that I was one of only 80 people selected out of 400 applicants. I need to hold on to this initial excitement and sense of pride because it really was all-consuming and will be a powerful force to get me to Denmark.

It's now only one month until my flight to Denmark and I have to keep reminding myself that no, it's not a one-way flight, and that Denmark is only a short 1.5/2 hour flight away so really it's not that bad and not worth the worrying. But I think it's just the idea of moving away and the definitive opening of a new chapter in my life which is pretty daunting.

Lately I've been walking my dog a lot in the mornings and evenings. In the glorious, hot weather we've had lately, these walks have been especially enjoyable and a nice moment to myself to think about what lies ahead. A few times in the evening sunlight I have walked through long grass, following my dog Honey, and watched the butterflies fly around. It is times like this that I feel extremely excited about the future and about my career. Other times I have walked out of the house feeling really stressed and the walk has helped to clear my head and help me feel more relaxed. I only feel stressed because I am stepping into the unknown and leaving my family, friends and boyfriend here. In essence it's quite a selfish move but I think at this point although it doesn't come naturally to me I need to be selfish.

I laid all my clothes out yesterday and worked out what I still needed to get for my trip. Everyday I move closer to the day I leave and I feel a bit like I'm running out of time. I am very lucky to have the support I do from my family, friends and boyfriend and will strive to make the best of this trip for myself and for them.

Honey, my dog

What's in a name?

It took me a long time to figure out what to call this blog. I've been thinking about starting it pretty much all summer but I was unsure what to call it. This is my blog about perhaps the biggest step of my life so far, my move to Aarhus, Denmark to begin my MA degree in Journalism, Globalisation and Media. So I wanted the title to reflect the fact that this is a blog about culture, about a journey and about learning.

My dad came up with a few very funny suggestions like 'Aarhus, in the middle of our street', 'Nightbus to Aarhus' and similar Madness inspired titles. I'm not sure that any of those quite described the blog I was going for but it was funny all the same. I could have named it something to do with Vikings, something like 'Longboat to Viking land' but I don't think that quite fits either. I know there's a lot more to Denmark than Vikings as I am yet to discover.

My boyfriend inadvertently came up with an interesting idea for a name last weekend. We were talking about my trip and how I might get the opportunity to visit California, at which point he joked that American men might take a fancy to me, I said that I was not exactly an 'All American Girl' to which he replied 'no, you're a British Fruitcake, because you're nuts'. So my blog could have been entitled 'British Fruitcake Abroad' or something similar. Although I think that 'British Fruitcake' is quite a fitting description of me, using that in the blog title gives the impression that this blog is all about me being a bit crazy and eccentric abroad, which I promise you will feature a lot but it is not the main premise.

I want this blog to assist me in my journey to Denmark, with the preparation, settling in, subjects I will study and observations I make. In my second year I will specialise in 'Journalism Across Cultures' so I think that this blog will help me to record my own immersion into the new culture of Denmark and help me to think about the challenges facing journalists and journalism across the international community.

The title 'Wanderlust' evokes everything that I want to write about. Wanderlust is a loan-word from German which became a British word in 1902. It literally translates as a desire to wander or travel. This is how I feel at the moment, I have a desire to go out and discover new cultures, learn about how the world is changing, and how journalism fits into that. Also the fact that this is a word that has travelled across cultures, from German to English reflects how I will lend myself to different cultures and pick up different meanings and ideas along the way.

I'd love this blog to be an interactive experience for the readers too, I'd like to be challenged for my ideas so would encourage anyone and everyone to comment and to ask questions. The only thing that I will not tolerate is personal abuse, please by all means attack my opinions and ideas, attack the things I can change but please don't turn that into maliciousness.

It'd be great if you could follow my journey and share in my desire for new experiences and challenges.