When I was first looking for courses to apply to for university, I was drawn to the units that offered the “full hands-on experience” of the industry I was going into.

Journalism seemed to tick all the boxes and balance both my interest in writing and socializing with new people. Until I completed placements throughout my course, did I truly understand what I wanted from it and what I was going to pursue after graduating.

Placements themselves are hard to come by especially as a Journalist. Before I even sat down for orientation, I was late to submit my CV to news organisations for placement responses for the following academic break.

When I finally got a reply from my first placement with The Staff Canteen in September 2017 I was over the moon to work with an organization that brought together my interests in Journalism and food!

Beautiful pictures of Michelin starred dishes and interviews with chefs decorated their homepage. I expected to walk into lavish restaurants and ask to speak to the chef who would welcome me into his frantic kitchen in a Parisian accent and share his secrets to perfecting pastry or that butter is the answer to life. Sadly, I did nothing like that.

Instead, I sat at a desk and looked at pictures of food while sipping on a cup of coffee… there was an excellent Nespresso machine which I became very familiar with between coffee runs and scheduled posts on tweet deck.

While I thought I was making the baby steps to become the next Anthony Bourdain – I found myself looking into the back door of social networking instead. I learned how to market and maintain The Staff Canteen name and really understand what consistent content meant to an online organisation.

The following summer, I was offered the opportunity to work with a multimedia company in the south of Portugal. Now, since I live in Portugal the idea of going back home to work didn’t need a lot of thought.

The placement required me to shadow the CEO of the multimedia organisation, Comunicame. We worked with a charismatic team of directors, actors and camera operators to create a docu-series around eco tourism in the Algarve.

To some degree, it was like the basic training stages to becoming a Bear Grills camera man. In the scorching July heat, I am responsible for holding a blinding light reflector that could parachute me over a cliff edge in order to make the interviewee look flattering while she talks about pollution. It was amazing.

We hiked up into what seemed to be the clouds and found private paradises. While my language capabilities may be limited in Portuguese, I felt that my self confidence in speaking and working in a foreign language developed naturally overtime. We met a range of amazing people who felt the changes of the environment around them. It was an exceptional work experience.

The two placements heavily contrast with each other but have given me an understanding of what i want out of my career and what I need from myself to follow that path. I would recommend everyone to consider some form of work experience in addition to their university curriculum just to understand what you can get out of your degree.