MIchael living beyond hopes and expectations

Michael

This trip has been pretty amazing for a lot of reasons. Right now I can't really stop thinking about how this trip has given me the ability to experience things I have always wanted to do but never thought were real possibilities. I generally do to well of a job of managing my expectations and writing off things that I would like to do as impractical for one reason or another.

For one, I have always thought it would awesome to be a journalist, but I thought it was so awesome that it was impractical because it is one of those professions that everyone wants. I saw it as akin to every other girl in high school wanting to be a marine biologists or National Geographic photographer. When people told me that is what they wanted to be when they grew up I was like well yeah who wouldn't but you're also not 12 and need to get in touch with reality, and that is what I told myself when I thought I wanted to write for a living.

Now, thanks to Vernon and Marita, I am doing something I never thought would be a reality. I am writing at Cape Town's daily newspaper, The Cape Argus. I am six days into my internship their and have gotten to go out on stories, make calls, conduct interviews, research, be a part of the newsroom, and this past week two stories I wrote were in the paper. Oh yeah, seeing my name, “staff reporter,” and then a story I wrote in a major city's newspaper was such a trip, I still have not wrapped my head it.

I also never pictured myself going to an “exotic” country. The beaches and mountains that I have been to in the past month are prettier than anything I ever thought I would see in person. Growing up I never went on cruises or anything like that. I used to see pictures of friends on white sand beaches, was jealous, and thought about how awesome it would be to be there; I never thought I would be in that position.

I like to think of myself as a realist, which makes it a little strange when things that I prevented myself from hoping for, expecting, or even believed as a possibility actually take place.