First Week, First Article, First Hot Dog!

The first week of my co-op at the Boston Globe is officially over and can I just say, that training definitely helped. I started to grasp everything on sports desk quicker and easier than that last week in December. Thank you to everyone to had to answer my 150 questions, but hopefully it pays off over the next six months.

Overall, it was a great week. I'm still adjusting to the new city, but I've accomplished the important concepts. I know my way around the transportation system and I've found the best places to have Chinese food at night and a great donut in the morning. Those last two things are essential in my line of work.

Monday was an early morning for me with getting into work by 7:30 a.m. to turn in my feature story and start working on players of the week for the paper. I was excited and stressed to get my first story in because I was getting closer and closer to having my work associated with the Globe, but also wanting the editors and copy editors to enjoy the piece.

Luckily, the copy editors enjoyed the piece, but they, of course, had edits for me which was great. I'm always looking to improve my writing and being able to sit down with an experienced copy editor from the Globe was an great opportunity to learn. Now I'm looking towards my next feature article with a different mindset and set goals to not repeat any of my prior mistakes. Hopefully I can continue to polish my writing skills with the help of these copy editors.

After a busy couple of days, I was able to travel to Duxbury High School to start my interviews for my next feature article. I'm not going to give away the story. I guess you'll have to read about it next Friday online or next Sunday in the paper. I know it's so far away, but it'll come sooner than you think.

While in Duxbury, I was able to travel to the shoreline and took in this view of the ocean with the sun setting behind me. It was absolutely beautiful and gave me another reason why this city is great. Back home in Minnesota, I had the ability to watch suns set on lakes, which is amazing, but nothing beats the ocean. I can't wait for more of these views in the future and hopefully when it's warmer.

On my way back home from the Boston Globe that evening, I ran into a hot dog vendor on the street. He was selling a hot dog and chips for one dollar. That's right. ONE DOLLAR! The poor college student told me that was a great deal for dinner, so I decided to give it a try. I was walking away form the vendor when I took my first bite of the hot dog. I stopped and turned around. I ran back to the vendor because I had to buy another one.

These hot dogs were amazing. I don't know if it was because I didn't have anything to eat since noon that day or what, but these hot dogs were better than any hot dog I've ever tasted. I'm really hoping he comes back to that area again because I'll be the first in line next time.

Friday was an amazing day. It was the launch day for my first story to appear on the Boston Globe website. Every happy emotion you could think of was going through my body and, fortunately, I've been receiving good comments from everyone. Hopefully everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

If you haven't seen the story yet, please take some time and read it.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2017/01/06/boosted-brother-young-wrestler-shoots-high/YYTYUTC2vHAG6xjPCGs9OP/story.html

After a busy week, I had the weekend off to relax and also explore the Boston area. Luckily I had the day off on Saturday because I didn't move from my bedroom. Let me rephrase that. I couldn't leave my bedroom and house.

On Saturday, the Boston area got hit with a huge snow storm. Places south of me had close to two feet of snow. Luckily for me, we only had one foot of snow. That's right. ONE FOOT! LIKE 12 INCHES! It was a huge storm that lasted most of the afternoon and evening, but fortunately for me, football games were on which is all I needed.

On Sunday, the storm had passed and it was time to explore the city before heading into another week of work. I decided to meet a friend at Tony C's, which is right next to Fenway Park, to watch some of the football games and enjoy a couple of beers. It was a great way to relax after a busy week and it was much needed. Now, it's time to work on the next feature story for next Sunday's paper, so I better stop writing.

I hope everyone had a great start to the new year and to those friends of mine that are starting the new semester tomorrow, that sucks. I'm just kidding. Enjoy the first day back at school and hopefully you get back into your routine sooner than later. As for the others, I hope next week is enjoyable and I'll be sure to update everyone next weekend. Until then, I want to leave you with a quote that I read early last week and has been stuck in my mind this entire week. I know it's a journalism quote, but it's something I hope to bring to my readers by the time I'm done with this co-op in June. Enjoy the upcoming week!

"Obviously, in journalism, you're confined to what happens. And the tendency to embellish, to mythologize, it's in us. It makes things more interesting, a closer call. But journalism taught me how to write a sentence that would make someone want to read the next one."

-Amy Hempel