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!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Very German, Do You Know Karate and So You Think You Can Dance, eh?
Well it`s been one hell of a week.
It started off in a typical enough way for me - going to cover the kick-off presentations for an international extreme car rally, the Fulda Challenge...that was almost entirely in German. Clearly this is my sort of event lol.
I`ve never regretted my decision to not take Mr. Patterson`s German classes in high school until Monday morning when I was sitting in an auditorium surrounded by German and Austrian competitors all nodding and laughing at whatever the speakers were saying.
Luckily the reporter I was shadowing knows enough German to understand what was going on and there was a handy powerpoint slideshow in English to help me connect the dots.
After the very long and very German introductions we spoke with the only team from the Yukon (and Canada I think) in the challenge. Land Pearson and Sierra Van der Meer are competing in the two week event where they`ll have to drive in crazy conditions to different locations across the territory and then compete in weird sporting events once they get there.
Last night the teams were crossing Miles Canyon by rope...yah imagine pulling yourself across a massive gorge by a couple of strings. Clearly these guys are intense.
Land and Sierra are really nice though and I hope they do well.
Later in the week I went and did another streeter, but this time at the Canada Games Centre.
Now it should be stated that because of the streeters I`ve been assigned I`ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the best cab drivers ever lol.
I`ve had chats about the way Muslims and the Arab world are portrayed in the media, a few conversations on personal stories about how the drivers came to the Yukon, chatted in French with Robert and a little bit of Spanish with a nice driver from Mexico.
It was this last fellow who drove me back to the CBC from the Canada Games Centre.
`Sit back and enjoy the ride please, seniorita,` he said.
`Alright, I will,` I thought.
So Rodrigo (I think that`s what his name was) and I got to chatting about how he`s from Mexico and spends eight months of the year here in Whitehorse working and the other four with his family in Mexico.
`Do you know karate?` he asked me.
`No, why?` I said
`Because when I moved here, I called my mother and said `Mom, everyone here they know karate!` And she said, `How do you know that?` Because, I said `Everyone here they always say Hi! Hey! Yah!`
I laughed and said I understood, but no I definitely didn`t know karate.
The rest of the way back to the CBC we talked about how gorgeous the land is.
`You know the sunrises here? They are so beautiful. When I see them I want to run out and absorb all the energy from nature,` Rodrigo said.
I could understand that - the landscapes are really beautiful as I`ve probably said about a hundred times already (sorry lol).
Once I was back at the station I pieced together the audio from the CGC to get it ready for the afternoon show. I`d also booked one of the interviews for the show that day so I was feeling productive.
It`s really cool to hear something you wrote or put together go to air.
And then before I knew it, the week was almost over and I`d finished up a story on snowmobiling safety, done the weather a few times and it was Thursday - a day that was pretty cool.
It started out like any other day in the news room. But before we went to the morning story meeting I heard Mardy (sort of my supervisor) say something about trying to book Luther Brown for an interview for the afternoon show.
`Luther Brown? As in the judge from So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Luther Brown?!` I said.
Mardy looked down at the information sheet she was holding and then said `Yah that`s him, you know of him?`
Hells yes I know of him!
`Do you want to try and book him for the show?` Mardy asked me.
Hells yes I want to book him for the show!
So I got on the phone and a little while later I was chatting with Luther Brown`s manager and setting up a time for him to talk with the afternoon host Dave White.
As it turns out, Luther is coming to Whitehorse for a breakdancing hip hop marathon being put on by a local dance school. He`s going to do some workshops with the kids and a Q&A session too.
The interview with Dave went really well and I was happy (ok way more than happy) that I`d helped to arrange it. There was some telephone tag for about 45 minutes or so during which I was on the phone with Luther`s manager trying to sort it out. The only downside was I didn`t get to talk to Luther myself...
Now Friday comes along and Mardy says, `Hey Jess, you know this marathon that`s happening on
Sunday?`
Again, hells yes I know the marathon.
`Well if you want you can go and get comment from the dancers and do try to set up an interview with Luther Brown.`
Hells yes I want to!
So after a little bit of squealing, I sent Mr. Brown`s manager an email to see if it would be possible and got a positive response.
Guess who`s interviewing Luther Brown tomorrow? ME!
Ahhh craziness! I`m really excited and a little bit nervous, but hopefully everything goes well.
After that very exciting news and a bunch of other little tasks for the rest of the day (including trying to find Swan noises on YouTube - don`t ask lol) I got to host my second The North This Week podcast. The first one really only went up yesterday thanks to some technical difficulties, but the new one should be up on Sunday. So if you want you can listen to them both in a couple of days :)
And then it was quitting time! I spent the night watching My Life in Ruins and Disc 3 of 30 Rock Season 3...yah I didn`t see `Disc 3` on the box and thought it was the whole season *sigh*.
Despite that though, my week was really good and ended well too!
Speaking of ending I should probably end this post! I`m going to go get ready to walk around town and try to snap some pictures of Main St. and other notable locations...the Edgewater Hotel...S.S. Klondike...Georgio`s restuarant lol...Nothing to do with departures. at all haha.
Anyway, have a great day everyone and happy weekend! I`ll let you know how the interview goes!
Jess
It started off in a typical enough way for me - going to cover the kick-off presentations for an international extreme car rally, the Fulda Challenge...that was almost entirely in German. Clearly this is my sort of event lol.
I`ve never regretted my decision to not take Mr. Patterson`s German classes in high school until Monday morning when I was sitting in an auditorium surrounded by German and Austrian competitors all nodding and laughing at whatever the speakers were saying.
Luckily the reporter I was shadowing knows enough German to understand what was going on and there was a handy powerpoint slideshow in English to help me connect the dots.
After the very long and very German introductions we spoke with the only team from the Yukon (and Canada I think) in the challenge. Land Pearson and Sierra Van der Meer are competing in the two week event where they`ll have to drive in crazy conditions to different locations across the territory and then compete in weird sporting events once they get there.
Last night the teams were crossing Miles Canyon by rope...yah imagine pulling yourself across a massive gorge by a couple of strings. Clearly these guys are intense.
Land and Sierra are really nice though and I hope they do well.
Later in the week I went and did another streeter, but this time at the Canada Games Centre.
Now it should be stated that because of the streeters I`ve been assigned I`ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the best cab drivers ever lol.
I`ve had chats about the way Muslims and the Arab world are portrayed in the media, a few conversations on personal stories about how the drivers came to the Yukon, chatted in French with Robert and a little bit of Spanish with a nice driver from Mexico.
It was this last fellow who drove me back to the CBC from the Canada Games Centre.
`Sit back and enjoy the ride please, seniorita,` he said.
`Alright, I will,` I thought.
So Rodrigo (I think that`s what his name was) and I got to chatting about how he`s from Mexico and spends eight months of the year here in Whitehorse working and the other four with his family in Mexico.
`Do you know karate?` he asked me.
`No, why?` I said
`Because when I moved here, I called my mother and said `Mom, everyone here they know karate!` And she said, `How do you know that?` Because, I said `Everyone here they always say Hi! Hey! Yah!`
I laughed and said I understood, but no I definitely didn`t know karate.
The rest of the way back to the CBC we talked about how gorgeous the land is.
`You know the sunrises here? They are so beautiful. When I see them I want to run out and absorb all the energy from nature,` Rodrigo said.
I could understand that - the landscapes are really beautiful as I`ve probably said about a hundred times already (sorry lol).
Once I was back at the station I pieced together the audio from the CGC to get it ready for the afternoon show. I`d also booked one of the interviews for the show that day so I was feeling productive.
It`s really cool to hear something you wrote or put together go to air.
And then before I knew it, the week was almost over and I`d finished up a story on snowmobiling safety, done the weather a few times and it was Thursday - a day that was pretty cool.
It started out like any other day in the news room. But before we went to the morning story meeting I heard Mardy (sort of my supervisor) say something about trying to book Luther Brown for an interview for the afternoon show.
`Luther Brown? As in the judge from So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Luther Brown?!` I said.
Mardy looked down at the information sheet she was holding and then said `Yah that`s him, you know of him?`
Hells yes I know of him!
`Do you want to try and book him for the show?` Mardy asked me.
Hells yes I want to book him for the show!
So I got on the phone and a little while later I was chatting with Luther Brown`s manager and setting up a time for him to talk with the afternoon host Dave White.
As it turns out, Luther is coming to Whitehorse for a breakdancing hip hop marathon being put on by a local dance school. He`s going to do some workshops with the kids and a Q&A session too.
The interview with Dave went really well and I was happy (ok way more than happy) that I`d helped to arrange it. There was some telephone tag for about 45 minutes or so during which I was on the phone with Luther`s manager trying to sort it out. The only downside was I didn`t get to talk to Luther myself...
Now Friday comes along and Mardy says, `Hey Jess, you know this marathon that`s happening on
Sunday?`
Again, hells yes I know the marathon.
`Well if you want you can go and get comment from the dancers and do try to set up an interview with Luther Brown.`
Hells yes I want to!
So after a little bit of squealing, I sent Mr. Brown`s manager an email to see if it would be possible and got a positive response.
Guess who`s interviewing Luther Brown tomorrow? ME!
Ahhh craziness! I`m really excited and a little bit nervous, but hopefully everything goes well.
After that very exciting news and a bunch of other little tasks for the rest of the day (including trying to find Swan noises on YouTube - don`t ask lol) I got to host my second The North This Week podcast. The first one really only went up yesterday thanks to some technical difficulties, but the new one should be up on Sunday. So if you want you can listen to them both in a couple of days :)
And then it was quitting time! I spent the night watching My Life in Ruins and Disc 3 of 30 Rock Season 3...yah I didn`t see `Disc 3` on the box and thought it was the whole season *sigh*.
Despite that though, my week was really good and ended well too!
Speaking of ending I should probably end this post! I`m going to go get ready to walk around town and try to snap some pictures of Main St. and other notable locations...the Edgewater Hotel...S.S. Klondike...Georgio`s restuarant lol...Nothing to do with departures. at all haha.
Anyway, have a great day everyone and happy weekend! I`ll let you know how the interview goes!
Jess
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Umm help?
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
It happened pretty fast.
One minute I was on the side of snow covered and tree dappled mountain walking along in my snowshoes and the next I was in the side of the mountain up to my waist in snow.
"Ok, don't panic," I told myself. "Just carefully lift your feet out of the hole and move towards the rest of the group. You can do this."
I moved and sank lower into the snow.
Now I was up to my chest and I was starting to feel a bit panicky.
"How deep is this (insert expletive) stuff? And what the hell is this tree doing under here?!" I wondered to myself as I touched the top branches of a prickly pine tree submerged next to me.
I tried wiggling again and saw the snow in front of me give way making my little pit that much bigger.
"Oh this is just fabulous, great...freakin' fantastic," I thought. My first real outdoor experience in the Yukon and I get stuck in quick-snow!
"Umm help?" I called to Annie-Claude and Alain who were standing on their skis about six feet from me.
"Oh!" said Annie-Claude as she glided over to me on her skis.
Oh, indeed.
It had been a tough trek up Log Cabin Mountain that morning and my little predicament wasn't making things any easier.
We'd just spent the last hour or so climbing up the steep slope on a narrow path through trees drooping with snow. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, but I didn't have much time to notice it on the way up. I was more concerned with making it up the incline in my borrowed snowshoes and not getting freaked out by how high we were climbing.
I'd only ever been snowshoeing once before and that was fairly disastrous, but I wanted to try again with more sophisticated equipment kindly leant to me by Annie-Claude.
At first everything was fine. I strapped my boots onto the metal frames and walked around a bit to test them out on the snow at the base of the mountain. "Well this is alright," I thought. "No big deal, feels pretty normal."
Little did I know the fun was about to start.
I'd seen a picture of Log Cabin before we left home and the narrow path we'd be trouping up, but it didn't sink in until I was looking up at the large mountain and the sharp angle of the trail just how hard this little hike was going to be.
The incline started pretty much right out of the parking lot where we left Alain's jeep. Before long we were all feeling the heat as we worked to get up the trail.
At first it didn't seem so bad, but then my heart started pounding and it was getting a bit harder to breathe. I tried telling myself that the climb would be great exercise and not to worry, to just take it one step at a time.
That worked until those steps were getting harder to take. The snow on the mountain was pretty much all fresh powder - not hard packed so walking up the trail was a tricky prospect. I slipped around in the snow holding on to my ski poles for balance and leverage. Frederic, Annie-Claude and Alain's friend, was carrying his snowboard and had just as much trouble keeping his balance.
"Why am I doing this?!" I yelled in my head.
"Because you wanted an adventure and now you've got one." I retorted silently to myself.
"Ugh, shut up," I thought.
I'm not exactly a mountain climbing kind of girl, but I'd decided before leaving London for the Yukon that I would try new things and push myself to experience new activities.
Well mission accomplished and I'd found myself in a nice snow hole to boot.
As I tried to pull myself out of the hole on Log Cabin's side I didn't look down the slope beside me. We were pretty high up - just on the outskirts of the tree line and the view was incredible, but terrifying too. I was seriously afraid that I'd hop out of the hole and roll right down the mountain side.
Lucky for me, Annie-Claude is a great skier and a wonderful guide. She calmly told me how to get myself out of the pickle I was in and helped me get on the right path to start heading down the mountain.
Once I was out of my little snow-cave in the making, I slowly made my way down again to where we'd all have lunch. On my way down the trail I had a chance to really look around and see how beautiful the land was.
Getting back into the tree covered area you could see just how many trees there were on the mountain side and on the land around the mountain. Covered in snow and sagging from the weight, the trees looked tired as I swished by them. Everything was so quiet and muted by the snow I swear you could have heard a pin drop.
I had a great time taking pictures of the view and of the snow-frosted trees and it made all the hard trekking on the way up worth it...including my embarrassing run in with the sinkhole lol.
After lunch with the group I carried on down the trail on my own. I stopped every so often just to take in the absolute silence and breathe in the clean air whispering past me.
It was really an amazing experience.
I don't know if I'd ever climb up a mountain again in the snow, but I think I'd like to try some flat trails. Hopefully I wouldn't run into any snow sinkholes there lol.
All in all though, I'm really glad I got the chance to see Log Cabin and learn a bit about the area. I have pictures, but it might take some finangling to get them on here. My internet connection doesn't seem to want me to post them, but I'm slowly making headway in getting them online.
Aside from the great weekend adventure I had I also had a really exciting first week at CBC North. But more on that in my next entry tomorrow...
Nighty night and safe mountain climbing!
Jess
It happened pretty fast.
One minute I was on the side of snow covered and tree dappled mountain walking along in my snowshoes and the next I was in the side of the mountain up to my waist in snow.
"Ok, don't panic," I told myself. "Just carefully lift your feet out of the hole and move towards the rest of the group. You can do this."
I moved and sank lower into the snow.
Now I was up to my chest and I was starting to feel a bit panicky.
"How deep is this (insert expletive) stuff? And what the hell is this tree doing under here?!" I wondered to myself as I touched the top branches of a prickly pine tree submerged next to me.
I tried wiggling again and saw the snow in front of me give way making my little pit that much bigger.
"Oh this is just fabulous, great...freakin' fantastic," I thought. My first real outdoor experience in the Yukon and I get stuck in quick-snow!
"Umm help?" I called to Annie-Claude and Alain who were standing on their skis about six feet from me.
"Oh!" said Annie-Claude as she glided over to me on her skis.
Oh, indeed.
It had been a tough trek up Log Cabin Mountain that morning and my little predicament wasn't making things any easier.
We'd just spent the last hour or so climbing up the steep slope on a narrow path through trees drooping with snow. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, but I didn't have much time to notice it on the way up. I was more concerned with making it up the incline in my borrowed snowshoes and not getting freaked out by how high we were climbing.
I'd only ever been snowshoeing once before and that was fairly disastrous, but I wanted to try again with more sophisticated equipment kindly leant to me by Annie-Claude.
At first everything was fine. I strapped my boots onto the metal frames and walked around a bit to test them out on the snow at the base of the mountain. "Well this is alright," I thought. "No big deal, feels pretty normal."
Little did I know the fun was about to start.
I'd seen a picture of Log Cabin before we left home and the narrow path we'd be trouping up, but it didn't sink in until I was looking up at the large mountain and the sharp angle of the trail just how hard this little hike was going to be.
The incline started pretty much right out of the parking lot where we left Alain's jeep. Before long we were all feeling the heat as we worked to get up the trail.
At first it didn't seem so bad, but then my heart started pounding and it was getting a bit harder to breathe. I tried telling myself that the climb would be great exercise and not to worry, to just take it one step at a time.
That worked until those steps were getting harder to take. The snow on the mountain was pretty much all fresh powder - not hard packed so walking up the trail was a tricky prospect. I slipped around in the snow holding on to my ski poles for balance and leverage. Frederic, Annie-Claude and Alain's friend, was carrying his snowboard and had just as much trouble keeping his balance.
"Why am I doing this?!" I yelled in my head.
"Because you wanted an adventure and now you've got one." I retorted silently to myself.
"Ugh, shut up," I thought.
I'm not exactly a mountain climbing kind of girl, but I'd decided before leaving London for the Yukon that I would try new things and push myself to experience new activities.
Well mission accomplished and I'd found myself in a nice snow hole to boot.
As I tried to pull myself out of the hole on Log Cabin's side I didn't look down the slope beside me. We were pretty high up - just on the outskirts of the tree line and the view was incredible, but terrifying too. I was seriously afraid that I'd hop out of the hole and roll right down the mountain side.
Lucky for me, Annie-Claude is a great skier and a wonderful guide. She calmly told me how to get myself out of the pickle I was in and helped me get on the right path to start heading down the mountain.
Once I was out of my little snow-cave in the making, I slowly made my way down again to where we'd all have lunch. On my way down the trail I had a chance to really look around and see how beautiful the land was.
Getting back into the tree covered area you could see just how many trees there were on the mountain side and on the land around the mountain. Covered in snow and sagging from the weight, the trees looked tired as I swished by them. Everything was so quiet and muted by the snow I swear you could have heard a pin drop.
I had a great time taking pictures of the view and of the snow-frosted trees and it made all the hard trekking on the way up worth it...including my embarrassing run in with the sinkhole lol.
After lunch with the group I carried on down the trail on my own. I stopped every so often just to take in the absolute silence and breathe in the clean air whispering past me.
It was really an amazing experience.
I don't know if I'd ever climb up a mountain again in the snow, but I think I'd like to try some flat trails. Hopefully I wouldn't run into any snow sinkholes there lol.
All in all though, I'm really glad I got the chance to see Log Cabin and learn a bit about the area. I have pictures, but it might take some finangling to get them on here. My internet connection doesn't seem to want me to post them, but I'm slowly making headway in getting them online.
Aside from the great weekend adventure I had I also had a really exciting first week at CBC North. But more on that in my next entry tomorrow...
Nighty night and safe mountain climbing!
Jess
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Another short note...
Apparently the podcast I directed you to hasn`t been updated yet. Hang tight, I`ll send you deets on when it`ll be the one with yours truly in it.
Will write again today to tell you about the snowshoeing adventure.
Jess
P.S. Thanks for all the comments! It`s nice to hear from friends and family back home and across the country :)
Will write again today to tell you about the snowshoeing adventure.
Jess
P.S. Thanks for all the comments! It`s nice to hear from friends and family back home and across the country :)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Back-Country Snowshoeing? Sure, why not!
Hi everyone!
Just a quick note to let you know I`m still doing alright. This week has been pretty amazing in terms of my placement. But more on that later ;)
I`m going snowshoeing with Alain and Annie-Claude today so I`ll be having a bit of an adventure. Wish me luck!
Also, if you want a little surprise go to the CBC North website and down at the bottom in the right hand corner you`ll see a link for a podcast called The North This Week. Download it and give it a listen. You might hear something (or someone) you like! ;)
Take care everyone and pictures are coming soon!
I`ll write again to tell you about my adventures today lol.
Jess
Just a quick note to let you know I`m still doing alright. This week has been pretty amazing in terms of my placement. But more on that later ;)
I`m going snowshoeing with Alain and Annie-Claude today so I`ll be having a bit of an adventure. Wish me luck!
Also, if you want a little surprise go to the CBC North website and down at the bottom in the right hand corner you`ll see a link for a podcast called The North This Week. Download it and give it a listen. You might hear something (or someone) you like! ;)
Take care everyone and pictures are coming soon!
I`ll write again to tell you about my adventures today lol.
Jess
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
“Hi there! My name is Jess Brady and I’m calling from the CBC…” For real?!
Last night before I went to bed I made sure I did one very important thing – I set my alarm.
And I made sure it would be loud and annoying enough to wake me so I’d get up and be ready for my first day as a shiny happy intern at CBC.
And the plan worked! I got to the station right on time after a very brisk walk in the balmy -28° morning air. No tardiness for this girl anymore!
Once I was in the toasty warm station things moved pretty fast. I was introduced to almost everyone in the newsroom and got a tour of the building. I got my own desk and then it was off to the morning story meeting.
It was a bit of a slow news day, but it was neat to see a professional pitch session.
Afterwards I picked up my Marantz recorder (not at all like the ones at school – I was shocked to see a very large black box with a strap on it lol) and then I started looking for stories to potentially pitch. I didn’t have any assignments for the day, but I wanted to make myself useful.
After running through a few ideas (“Hey Russ, are cougars a problem in this neck of the woods?” = story on a cougar attack thwarted by a family dog, “What do you think of this as a kicker? 1937 Canadian penny sells for $402,500 at auction in New York!”) I eventually found a story that was really relevant locally (H1N1 vaccine surpluses in Nunavut and the Yukon). I ran it past one of the reporters and he gave me some contact information for a source.
And then it was off to the races!
A little while later I was on the phone doing my first interview as a CBC intern and it was pretty cool! I ended up being able to write two versions of the story: a short version with one audio clip and a longer wrap style piece that I get to record myself. I’m pretty chuffed :)
I’m tweaking the writing a bit tonight so the stories are ready first thing in the morning. Hopefully they like my work! I feel a bit rusty and out of practice to be honest, but I just need to get back in the saddle I guess lol.
Anyway, that’s pretty much what my first day was like! I got to meet some more awesome people that I’ll be working with for the next month and got my feet wet too.
All in all, day one was a success.
That being said, I need to go and make myself some dinner that will hopefully be a success haha.
Hope everyone’s doing well out there!
Jess
And I made sure it would be loud and annoying enough to wake me so I’d get up and be ready for my first day as a shiny happy intern at CBC.
And the plan worked! I got to the station right on time after a very brisk walk in the balmy -28° morning air. No tardiness for this girl anymore!
Once I was in the toasty warm station things moved pretty fast. I was introduced to almost everyone in the newsroom and got a tour of the building. I got my own desk and then it was off to the morning story meeting.
It was a bit of a slow news day, but it was neat to see a professional pitch session.
Afterwards I picked up my Marantz recorder (not at all like the ones at school – I was shocked to see a very large black box with a strap on it lol) and then I started looking for stories to potentially pitch. I didn’t have any assignments for the day, but I wanted to make myself useful.
After running through a few ideas (“Hey Russ, are cougars a problem in this neck of the woods?” = story on a cougar attack thwarted by a family dog, “What do you think of this as a kicker? 1937 Canadian penny sells for $402,500 at auction in New York!”) I eventually found a story that was really relevant locally (H1N1 vaccine surpluses in Nunavut and the Yukon). I ran it past one of the reporters and he gave me some contact information for a source.
And then it was off to the races!
A little while later I was on the phone doing my first interview as a CBC intern and it was pretty cool! I ended up being able to write two versions of the story: a short version with one audio clip and a longer wrap style piece that I get to record myself. I’m pretty chuffed :)
I’m tweaking the writing a bit tonight so the stories are ready first thing in the morning. Hopefully they like my work! I feel a bit rusty and out of practice to be honest, but I just need to get back in the saddle I guess lol.
Anyway, that’s pretty much what my first day was like! I got to meet some more awesome people that I’ll be working with for the next month and got my feet wet too.
All in all, day one was a success.
That being said, I need to go and make myself some dinner that will hopefully be a success haha.
Hope everyone’s doing well out there!
Jess
A Guardian Angel and Paradise
I started my trip yesterday with three bags and a stomach full of butterflies.
Two flights and about 10 hours later I was in Whitehorse and while the butterflies were gone so was one of my bags, a common occurrence by all accounts.
Surprisingly though, my suitcase’s decision to stay a little longer in Vancouver to see the sights didn’t bother me too much. I did after all have a pretty good portion of my clothes and necessities in the other bag and I still had my trusty backpack with the real essentials – departures. seasons one and two ;)
Another reason for my relaxed position on the suitcase debacle was that I’d met amazing people during my trip and I had actually made the journey I’d been planning for months.
But even though the end of the story was happy, the beginning was far from it.
The night before and the morning of my departure I was really nervous. The reality of what I was about to do was settling in and to be honest it was scary. Just to review, I was about to fly across the country and then up to the Yukon…in January... And to boot, this would be the furthest I’d ever travelled by myself and the longest I’d been on my own.
On top of all this, I hate saying goodbye to family and friends. When it comes to me and saying goodbye to people I care about, tears always ensue.
So I was working against a perfect storm of anxiety as I got on my plane to Vancouver.
“I just have to get moving and then it’ll be all good from there on out,” I told myself. I knew I was excited about the adventure I was going on, I just needed to start it to take my mind off the other things.
And sure enough that’s exactly what happened.
There were actually a bunch of little things that helped to put me at ease including being on the same flight as fellow J-Schooler Geoff Turner. It was really nice to be able to chat with him during the flight to Vancouver and have a bit of London with me on the first part of the trip. It also gave me the opportunity to hear about his internship and talk about his upcoming month.
But on the next leg of the journey I’d be flying solo – or at least that’s what I thought.
Turns out I met a guardian angel.
Shortly after finding my seat on the northbound plane, a woman came and sat in the seat next to me.
Having the name of an angel, Gabriele was flying home to Whitehorse after a Christmas vacation with her family and I was lucky enough to be her seatmate.
She told me some really useful information about the city and places I should make a point of visiting. Gabriele also shared a delicious lemon cranberry scone with me and made sure I had some water during the flight too. “You’ve been travelling all day, you need to make sure you don’t dehydrate!” she said.
Gabriele even gave me a bottle of contact solution so I could cure my seriously dry eyes!
We talked about all sorts of things including our families, my internship and her former career as a flight attendant for the whole two hour flight. It was really neat to hear her stories and learn a little bit about her life in the Yukon.
It felt like I was flying with family and it was just what I needed – a little bit of the Yukon kindness I’ve heard so much about and experienced first-hand.
By the time we landed in Whitehorse my nerves settled and the butterflies were history. Instead I had a grin plastered on my face and I couldn’t wait to get settled in.
And the scenery only added to my excitement. Flying in I got a bird’s eye view of the Whitehorse area and let me tell you it’s gorgeous! There are rolling mountains covered in snow with frosted trees as far as the eye can see and downtown Whitehorse is nestled in a valley between two really picturesque peaks. It looks like a little slice of paradise…albeit a cold one lol.
I was so taken with everything I saw that I really didn’t care about my MIA suitcase. I was just so excited I was here!
Gabriele continued her extreme generosity and she and her family drove me to my home for the next month. I really didn’t know how to say thank-you enough to her! I got her contact information though so we can hopefully meet up again soon.
I’m staying with a couple named Annie-Claude and Alain in their HUGE downtown apartment. They’re so nice and welcoming and I really feel very much at home already.
They also have a really cute cat named Nikki. She’s not quite sure of me yet, but hopefully she gets to like me.
Anyway, I think Annie-Claude and I are going to go for a drive around the city in a bit so I can get acquainted with the area. We’ll also be passing by the CBC which I’m super excited for! I can’t believe I’m starting there tomorrow – it’s pretty unreal :)
Well I better bounce. I’ll write again to let you all know how my first day goes!
Best of luck to all the other J-Schoolers out there on their first days too!
Jess
Two flights and about 10 hours later I was in Whitehorse and while the butterflies were gone so was one of my bags, a common occurrence by all accounts.
Surprisingly though, my suitcase’s decision to stay a little longer in Vancouver to see the sights didn’t bother me too much. I did after all have a pretty good portion of my clothes and necessities in the other bag and I still had my trusty backpack with the real essentials – departures. seasons one and two ;)
Another reason for my relaxed position on the suitcase debacle was that I’d met amazing people during my trip and I had actually made the journey I’d been planning for months.
But even though the end of the story was happy, the beginning was far from it.
The night before and the morning of my departure I was really nervous. The reality of what I was about to do was settling in and to be honest it was scary. Just to review, I was about to fly across the country and then up to the Yukon…in January... And to boot, this would be the furthest I’d ever travelled by myself and the longest I’d been on my own.
On top of all this, I hate saying goodbye to family and friends. When it comes to me and saying goodbye to people I care about, tears always ensue.
So I was working against a perfect storm of anxiety as I got on my plane to Vancouver.
“I just have to get moving and then it’ll be all good from there on out,” I told myself. I knew I was excited about the adventure I was going on, I just needed to start it to take my mind off the other things.
And sure enough that’s exactly what happened.
There were actually a bunch of little things that helped to put me at ease including being on the same flight as fellow J-Schooler Geoff Turner. It was really nice to be able to chat with him during the flight to Vancouver and have a bit of London with me on the first part of the trip. It also gave me the opportunity to hear about his internship and talk about his upcoming month.
But on the next leg of the journey I’d be flying solo – or at least that’s what I thought.
Turns out I met a guardian angel.
Shortly after finding my seat on the northbound plane, a woman came and sat in the seat next to me.
Having the name of an angel, Gabriele was flying home to Whitehorse after a Christmas vacation with her family and I was lucky enough to be her seatmate.
She told me some really useful information about the city and places I should make a point of visiting. Gabriele also shared a delicious lemon cranberry scone with me and made sure I had some water during the flight too. “You’ve been travelling all day, you need to make sure you don’t dehydrate!” she said.
Gabriele even gave me a bottle of contact solution so I could cure my seriously dry eyes!
We talked about all sorts of things including our families, my internship and her former career as a flight attendant for the whole two hour flight. It was really neat to hear her stories and learn a little bit about her life in the Yukon.
It felt like I was flying with family and it was just what I needed – a little bit of the Yukon kindness I’ve heard so much about and experienced first-hand.
By the time we landed in Whitehorse my nerves settled and the butterflies were history. Instead I had a grin plastered on my face and I couldn’t wait to get settled in.
And the scenery only added to my excitement. Flying in I got a bird’s eye view of the Whitehorse area and let me tell you it’s gorgeous! There are rolling mountains covered in snow with frosted trees as far as the eye can see and downtown Whitehorse is nestled in a valley between two really picturesque peaks. It looks like a little slice of paradise…albeit a cold one lol.
I was so taken with everything I saw that I really didn’t care about my MIA suitcase. I was just so excited I was here!
Gabriele continued her extreme generosity and she and her family drove me to my home for the next month. I really didn’t know how to say thank-you enough to her! I got her contact information though so we can hopefully meet up again soon.
I’m staying with a couple named Annie-Claude and Alain in their HUGE downtown apartment. They’re so nice and welcoming and I really feel very much at home already.
They also have a really cute cat named Nikki. She’s not quite sure of me yet, but hopefully she gets to like me.
Anyway, I think Annie-Claude and I are going to go for a drive around the city in a bit so I can get acquainted with the area. We’ll also be passing by the CBC which I’m super excited for! I can’t believe I’m starting there tomorrow – it’s pretty unreal :)
Well I better bounce. I’ll write again to let you all know how my first day goes!
Best of luck to all the other J-Schoolers out there on their first days too!
Jess
I`m Here!
Just a short note to let everyone know I’ve arrived safe and sound – a bag of clothes short, but I’m here none-the-less.
The apartment I’m staying in is absolutely AMAZING! More details and pictures on that to come in the next few days. I’ll probably be posting this later with a longer entry so you’ll get a blog double whammy :)
Hope everyone’s well and that you all had a great New Year!
Talk soon,
Jess
The apartment I’m staying in is absolutely AMAZING! More details and pictures on that to come in the next few days. I’ll probably be posting this later with a longer entry so you’ll get a blog double whammy :)
Hope everyone’s well and that you all had a great New Year!
Talk soon,
Jess
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