It is wonderful to enter 2023 without the COVID-19 boundaries that wrapped up early 2022. I’ve just returned from a music festival teeming with people, and it was something of a 2020 fever dream! The festival was a fitting way to celebrate after finishing my first degree (Journalism and Media Arts and Production), which was completed mostly in lockdown.
Hopefully, everyone felt the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, and saw some of the best parts of life re-emerge, surrounded by people and new places.
I started the year with travel in my own beautiful state, New South Wales. A few months later, our next-door state of Victoria finally opened up (after notoriously long lockdowns)! I was honoured to be selected for an internship in Melbourne with the academic news organization The Conversation.
From the state next door to the country next door, I did my first bit of international travel since the pandemic in New Zealand.
Not only did I get to travel, but many of my family friends from around the world could visit us down under! I grew up in the tech world, so conferences like NDC (the Norwegian Developers Conference) feel like family reunions. It was such a joy to help out on the SSW TV team.
I also attended the beautiful wedding of Troy and Charlotte Hunt in the Queensland hinterland!
In 2022, I spent the majority of my effort finishing my journalism degree, and I really loved working on a fascinating diversity of stories and covering the Australian election.
As part of finishing my degree, I completed my first short documentary – Charging the Red Desert! The film followed my adventure travelling through the Australian outback in an electric vehicle (short range Tesla Model 3) to test the new charging infrastructure. It was a mammoth effort and took about 15 hours a week for 12 weeks – in research, interview planning, safety checks, filming, editing, producing and more! I’m in the long process of entering it into a range of film festivals, so until then, it’s under lock 🤫
At the end of the year, I was ecstatic to place 1st in the final subject of UTS journalism.
And it’s been a summer to celebrate, despite wet La Nina conditions here in Australia.
This year will be my last year of university, finishing my second degree – the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation. I’m looking forward to my last year of campus life, with lots of travel, before entering the workforce!
Wishing you a Happy New Year and time to celebrate in our more free world. I hope everyone can find a bit of joy this holiday season to give us the energy and motivation we’ll need to meet the demands and adventures of 2023 🌱