Long Overdue...

Hello there folks!

Well I'm finally back on the blog - my apologies for the wait. The last few weeks of my internship were a crazy ride. They were filled with streeters, weather reports, a couple of live hits from a Haiti fundraising breakfast AND reading an actual newscast on my last day! I think doing the news was probably the most terrifying thing I'd done in the whole four weeks, but it was certainly the most exhilarating. 

I did two newscasts and right before starting the first one my heart was pounding so hard and so fast that I thought the mic would pick it up. I've never had that feeling before - it was amazing. Some people jump out of planes or go on rides for the thrill, but I think this is the way I get my adrenaline fix lol. There's just something about hearing the ping of the intro music and then saying "This is CBC News. Good afternoon, I'm Jess Brady." It was so neat to be able to bring the news of the day to people over the airwaves...and the online waves too I guess!

Being live to air felt like a dream and really that's what my entire internship felt like. Working at CBC Whitehorse, I got to do so many things and I learned a hell of a lot. I don't think I would have had the same opportunities had I gone anywhere else. I also had the privilege of working with some of the nicest and most knowledgeable people in the North. No idea of mine was too small for consideration and if I ever had a question there was always someone there to help me out.

I'll tell you right now, I'd love to go back and work there again.

As I said though, the month of January was like a dream. Unfortunately all dreams have to end and that means my sojourn in the north was coming to an end. 

It was really weird to leave the station on the 29th. I handed in my massive Marantz and my key card and took one last look at my desk. Then it was off to say goodbye to everyone over a drink. I was sad to say goodbye, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing those friendly faces again someday.

As I walked home to the apartment through downtown Whitehorse I tried to soak up as much as I could from the scenery. There was some light snow falling and the streets were fairly quiet, just a car or two passing every so often. It was just an ordinary night in Whitehorse, but it was special to me.

When I got home it was time to tackle the daunting task of packing - oh joy lol. I'd already handled my laundry so all I had to do was pack up my cool vacuum bags (they're pretty sweet!) and my backpack and I'd be set. It took me about an hour and a half to assemble everything. I made sure I had the valuables in the backpack (departures. seasons one and two lol) and then I was good to go. I spent the rest of the night hanging out with Annie-Claude and Alain and the friends they had over.

Lots of laughs and excellent food was had by all ;)

And then it was time to hit the hay because my flight was at seven the next morning. And if it hadn't been for Annie-Claude I may have missed it!

Let's just say trying to grab two hours of shut eye isn't worth it when you sleep through two alarms and wake up 15 minutes before you're supposed to leave lol.

Typical, Jessica...*shakes head*

Anyway, I made it to the airport with time to spare. Thank God for "Yukon time"! After shedding a few tears saying goodbye to Annie-Claude and Alain, I went through security and got on the plane. I slept for most of the two hour flight from Whitehorse to Vancouver so I caught up on some of the sleep I'd missed.

While I was sitting at the gate for my flight to Toronto, I looked up and saw some people who looked really familiar. "Is that who I think it is?" I thought to myself.

Sure enough, standing in the middle of Vancouver airport were all three cast members of .... the Trailer Park Boys! (You thought I was going to say departures. didn't you? If only boys and girls, if only! Don't think I wasn't looking for them lol).

As it turns out, Julian, Ricky and Bubbles were on my flight to the T-dot. And guess who got to sit next to them? Yah, it was me lol. Ricky was in the seat next to me, Bubbles was a row in front and Julian was a row to my left and up one. They were pretty chilled out and not in character - although I'm pretty sure Julian did have a beverage with rum in at one point lol.

Anyway, it was a pretty long flight and I was glad when we landed in Toronto. What would be a total of thirteen hours of travel time were starting to get to me.

I walked around Pearson for a little while just trying to keep myself occupied. I was grabbing some dinner when I bumped into fellow J-Schooler Geoff Turner. He was booked on the same flight home to London so we ate together and chatted about our experiences over the past month. Geoff was at CBC Radio Vancouver and he had a great time working there by the sounds of it. He did an awesome job with them :)

It was nice to see him though and kind of funny that we were making the last legs of our journeys together when we started the month flying out to Vancouver on the same flight. It's funny how things turn out.

After we caught each other up on how our internships went it was pretty much time to board our little dash eight plane to London. And let me tell you, I think that was the fastest flight I've ever taken between London and Toronto. It seriously didn't take longer than 20 minutes to get to the Forest City. Ridonculous.

When the message came on over the intercom to prepare to land I thought "Why? Did something happen? We can't be in London yet!" I thought we were going to land in a corn field or something lol. But no, it was tarmac we touched down on thankfully.

And when we landed I officially woke up from the dream of being away. The month I'd spent living away and working felt like it had passed in the blink of an eye. For me, a month has never passed so quickly.

It's over now though and I'm back at school in classes again. We've finished the first week and it's been really nice to see my friends and hear all about the work they did and how much fun they had. It's a bit of a culture shock though to go from a working newsroom to a classroom all in the space of two days.

Another shock is that we only have 10 weeks of classes left before we finish our program. Oh Emm Gee. Needless to say the class of 2010 is excited about finishing this year, but graduating also means it's time to get into the real world which is more than a little daunting. We'll just have to take it one job application and cover letter at a time.

Well that brings us to the end of my great trek to the Yukon Territory. It was an absolute blast. It's an amazing feeling to know that in a lot of ways I pushed my limits and stepped out of my comfort zone a lot. If you know me well you also know that I'm a Chicken Little. And while I'm still a scaredy cat, this experience has taught me that I can do things that scare me *cough, climb up a mountain, cough* and be the better for it.

And before I sign off, I just want to thank everyone who followed along with my entries, left comments and/or talked with my parents. Knowing family and friends were tuning in was really wonderful. Thank-you so much!

All the best, everyone and take care!