Just Another 15ish Hour Day

It started at approx. 5am. My eyes fluttered rather slowly as the realisation of another early morning hit me. I struggled to turn off the third classic Apple alarm jingle and pull off my warm sheets.

I was in for another big day at Uni with an expensive train ride, two lectures, several bus trips, a pointless two hour tutorial, a delicious Caesar wrap and a Walkley networking event.

The initial train ride was like any other (I still fell asleep and tried not to dribble) apart from the fact that I caught it from Beerwah rather than Caboolture. It's kind of nice to see the hinterland from the train tracks but not something that needs to be added to your bucket list.

Once I had successfully made it to Uni, without tripping on the stairs, (trust me I still have internal bruising from those untrustworthy steps at the QUT Kelvin Grove bus station) I headed for the smell of coffee beans.

The majority of the day was filled with live tweeting lectures, going over upcoming assessment and paying for overpriced snacks.

The real excitement started when I had to make my way into South Brisbane for the Walkley's Storyology event with the Panama Papers investigative journalist Gerard Ryle and Channel Seven's Kay McGrath.

That bus ride was certainly an experience.

Although I would consider myself a bit of an expert at the whole public transport thing, I am still one of those people that likes to make sure I know exactly where I am going. Let's just say I checked Google maps quite a few times and went over the bus timetable twice or three times.

As I was heading south I realised we had to go through the busway tunnels. Normally, tunnels don't terrify me all that much but I kind of started having a panic attack after we were wedged between two impatient drivers for about 10 minutes.

I was reminded of another terrifying bus/tunnel incident from our family holiday in New Zealand. We had done the typical 'let's get a Maui Van and sightsee the South Island' and had found ourselves in a slightly precarious situation. Picture the Dwansters on tour, struggling with pretty much everything to do with an oversized van, in a tunnel trying to navigate a bus that had attempted to pull over. Dad also stalled it as we were passing the fuming vehicle and I think it was only luck that ensured we kept our mirrors.

Anyway, I managed to get myself to the event only to find an open bar and free nibbles. For a bogan in the big city that is what I call, WINNING! Honestly though I refrained from the free bevies as I had already started yawning.

The actual experience of going to a professional networking event and meeting real journalists outside of QUT was quite daunting but very exciting. Speaking to Kay McGrath about the relevance of the online world and technology was also pretty cool. I feel like a complete journo geek but I really do love learning about the industry, especially when it means getting the information straight from the horses mouth.

And there we have it. A massive day that didn't end until my wonderful Dad drove me back to Beerwah and I tucked myself into the same sheets.

#ashleighdwan #beyondthestory #journalism #storyology #kaymcgrath