It's the start of something new!

How do I even begin this blog post? It has been an absolute whirlwind of the last few months from attending the annual Region 4 and 5 SPJ conference in Chicago to finishing my junior year of college to living in Spain for three weeks and getting a double ear infection from said stay to moving into my new apartment and to now finally starting my internship. I can officially say I am an intern for Trib Total Media, specifically the print side which is The Tribune Review, in Greensburg, Pa.

This week was quite the adjustment, as I have about an hour commute each way. My driving experience in the Pittsburgh area and downtown has been very limited up to the point. I am not in love with driving this much, but it looks like I will only have to do it about two to three times per week, as the office works remotely on Mondays and Fridays. In two weeks, I will start working Tuesday's at the North Shore office, which will give me a nice break from my commute.

As far a work goes, I got started right away on Tuesday with two stories on the upcoming Taylor Swifts concerts, one on the top five things people need to know before attending the concert and one on locals' favorite Taylor Swift songs. I spent the majority of day trying to get through to Acrisure Stadium and finally got a voicemail system the next day. I also set up interviews for the rest of the week for the favorite songs story.

On Wednesday, I continued to work on my two stories from yesterday, as well as looked into a potential feature on a Westmoreland County Court Administrator being inducted as the president for the Office of Administrative Courts at the state level. I also researched two story ideas I have and reached out to some potential sources, even setting up an interview for the end of next week. Then, I had to leave early for the Pittsburgh Media Partnership's first summer intern meeting. I am very grateful to be able to intern through the partnership, and it was great to meet the other interns. It looks like it is going to be a great summer!

Thursday was kind of a waiting game kind of day, as I finally was able to contact someone from Acrisure Stadium for one of my Taylor Swift stories but said they would talk to Swift's team and get back to me later by email; as this was the last piece of my story, which was due at the end of the day, I enacted plan b, contacting the city public safety, which also led me to a bunch of voicemails and emails. For such a simple story, it has been so hard to contact sources. I was able to talk to a local concert promoter for my other Swift story, which is also such a simple story that has taken longer than expected. I then got in touch with the Westmoreland County Courts Administrator and wrote a short story on her recent appointment to a state court management program. I then left messages with the Whitehall Historical Society because they are holding an old sign auction and am hoping to do a story on it. I also did some background research for an event being held next Tuesday and a potential feature story and set up a photo and interview opportunity at a local knitting club event for next Thursday.

My first day of remote work ever, if you do not count online school at the beginning of the pandemic, was Friday. I had a few phone call interviews, finished stories from the week and set up some interviews for next week.

All in all, it was a busy, but good week. Lots of things to get adjusted to, but lots of things to look forward to.