The Island

Greetings from Bristol. Yes, that is a picture of me taken with Mac PhotoBooth with silly effects. But what does that mean? Well that I'm in a lovely hotel room with a Mac that has internet! So my addiction is served, I could access facebook after staying offline for almost two days. Tragic in a way.

To go through things chronologically, lets start with me getting to Cardiff on Sunday. The day got off to an early start as my mother woke me up at 5.30am thinking that I'd already be at the airport. I then proceeded to make my way to Eindhoven first by taking the train at 7.30am from Maastricht to Eindhoven, then a bus from the centre of Eindhoven to the airport. Then got on my flight and everything was just fine and dandy and on schedule. Then I take the bus from the airport to Bristol only to discover they're doing some work on the rails which leads to me having to take a train, then a bus and then one final train before I'm in Cardiff. Overall about 8 hours spent traveling from Maastricht to Cardiff.

I then arrive to my hotel in Cardiff which turns out to be a quite glamorous affair if slightly aged (picture wonky halls with creaking floorboards) right in the centre, next to the Cardiff Castle. I could actually do my sightseeing from my room's window. In addition it was a really nice sunny day and I did some shopping. All in all, everybody was really lovely and the city seemed really nice, packed with cafes and places to shop at.

Then today I finally had that interview. And picture this, I walked into the building where the interview took place and saw people in suits. I felt under-dressed!! After speaking with some people I find out that

a) they all seem rather young

b) they're all British

c) they all have done internships or written articles to magazines/newspapers/radios.

Someone thought I was Welsh from my accent. And one person heard I study in the Netherlands and started impersonating a "Dutch" accent which was more like a sad attempt at a German/Austrian accent. I then corrected him that I'm actually not Dutch to which he reacted by a sigh of relief (thinking that I'm British) and saying that good because otherwise I must have felt out of place. Weird I tell you.

But then my small group of 4 other people proceeded to the interview process. We had a small test on current events. I know like 6 of the answers (out of 30) and guessed a few more, one of the answers I actually knew because Eoghan had joked about how the UK home secretary's husband charged adult films from her expense account and they had a question on it. I sent Eoghan a thank you text. Then we had to correct the grammar and spelling of one text and then write a news article. All very relaxed, not really a stressing exam situation at all. But throughout the process, the person conducting the interview, who is actually head of the course, kept on emphasizing the need for practical experience in order to get in. Also like previously mentioned, the people had done so many internships already or at least edited their university's student paper or something. One girl had actually taken a gap year to gain more experience in order to get into the course. Oh yea, we were told that over 100 people applied for the 30 places they have and only about 50-60 were invited to interviews.

So by the time we got on to one-on-one interviews I was pretty sure I was not going to get in. As I was the last one to be interviewed I also heard the comments from the others as they came back. None of them were that confident afterwards and a few actually got the impression they won't get in because they haven't got enough experience. So when it became my turn I was pretty relaxed thinking that there's really nothing to lose here and I'll just do my best and if that is not enough then too bad for them.

But to my surprise the interview went on really, really well! She understood that I haven't got experience but then we spoke about the work experience I do have and how I could relate that to journalism. Towards the end she actually commented on how well I "come across" and how professional and determined I appear to be. And then she asked why I chose Cardiff when I could get into any university in Europe I want to. We spoke about my level English which apparently is very, very good but how the fact that I'm not a native speaker might influence my grading in the course. I then said that I know my English isn't perfect at the moment since I've been living in Euro-English zone but it's bound to improve when I move back to the island. But the point is that she alluded to the grading of the coursework, something that would not have come up unless I was being seriously considered for acceptance. Overall, I came out of the interview thinking that it was the best interview I have ever had. If I don't get in then I can at least rest assured I did my best.

They will let me know by the end of the week. I really hope I get in, the University and the city seemed amazing. The course seemed fabulous, exactly what I hoped it would be. In the meanwhile, it's back to Maas tomorrow, have to get up at 5am to catch the bus to the airport...