Hello! As you might (or might not) know, I was given the golden opportunity to be in a one-month internship with The Star newspaper at the end of the year, around a week after my last SPM paper. Ten out of all the students around Malaysia writing for the weekly stuff@school pullout in Monday's The Star newspaper are chosen annually according to their performance for the internship. I was a stuff@school writer in 2014 but didn't get selected for it, so I tried out again in this year, my last year as I'm in Form Five now. Initially I was not selected, but as one of the interns couldn't make it due to personal reasons, I was next in line for the internship! I've decided to jot down my memories while in here (with some parts omitted) and.. have fun reading!
Day One, Tuesday, 8th December 2015
So I went in Menara Star with my best attempt of i-come-here-everyday / dont-look-too-much-like-a-deer-in-the-headlights look to conceal my anxiousness and nervousness. I had to wait for the other three batch two interns so I sat at the lobby, reading Reader's Digest, putting on my best disinterested look. Then I saw Ashley and Serena (who I didn't recognize) and remained where I was, until Janice came in and told me to sit together with them while she accompanied us until Jerrell came. When he did, Serena called Rowena and we all went up to the HR headquarters. And we waited. Until around 10 something. Let me remind you that until this point, it was very awkward and quiet among us, not knowing where to look in case we made eye contact. Some random questions were asked among us and the quietness resumed. After we got the tag Rowena sent us to our respective departments, Jerrell and I at Newsdesk while Ashley and Serena at R.AGE. Someone named Kak Liyana brought us to introduce ourselves to the other journalists and then asked an intern (a real one who was a graduate) Rahim to tell us how to use the computer programmes and all. Afterwards, Jerrell and I had nothing to do so we just read the other newspapers that were there, except the OC (the editor in charge of newsdesk, it changes every day) told Jerrell to list down the headlines of that day's Chinese newspapers.
Btw in the end that article didn't have our names included hahaha it's here http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/12/09/new-room-to-let-scam-scheme-now-targets-people-looking-to-rent-places-to-stay/ .
Day Two, Wednesday, 9th December 2015
"Rule number 1 in the corporate world, don't disturb your senior when they're busy," said the OC of the day (who I will call Miranda based on Miranda Priestly because I don't remember her name!) when Jerrell and I approached her to introduce ourselves. Everyone was verrryyy stressed out because of the UMNO general assembly (GA) and all. So we went back to our places. There's no fixed spot, anyone can sit anywhere but we sat beside Rahim's place. Then after a while Miranda asked us all to spin our chairs so that we're all facing her as she briefed us what's happening on that day. She said something along the lines of,"This week is all about UMNO. Don't tell me you don't know anything about them or what's happening." When she found out about my age and Jerrell's, she just smiled sweetly and said, "Do you have your own transport? No. What is there for you to do?"
So Jerrell and I were asked to do Malay views (basically translating a few selected Bahasa Melayu articles from Malay newspapers) and sent it to Rahim. Then Miranda gave us instructions to write about students doing special things like volunteerism during holidays. In a state of panic, I hurriedly messaged all my friends if they were doing those activities. Throughout the day, I also saw Joceline Tan whose political analysis articles are my parents and my older brother Amzar's favorites. She's one of the few journalists who get to interview the Prime Minister (she actually ate breakfast with him that day in a casual interview published the next day). But yeah when discussing about which reporters to send to the GA, she just looked at us and said, sighing, "They're too young."
During Zohor, I was surprised to see lots of people in the surau. Turns out that there was a doa selamat and ceramah because Kak Liyana will be performing the umrah so we did solat berjemaah beforehand too. In the lobby, people were lining up because there was a Starbucks van (yes, like those Milo vans) giving out FREE STARBUCKS. Back in the office, I continued with the volunteerism article and managed to finish writing it in an hour. Thank you so much Valvet, Khairina and Shuva for replying to my messages! Miranda went up to me and said ,"When you're done send it to Royce." Then she looked at Royce and said, "If her article's bad just drop it." Gulp.
The Malay views article came out the next day: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/12/10/more-than-just-singing-karaoke-centre-believed-to-be-providing-sexual-services/
Day Three, Thursday, 10th December 2015
Nothing much. There was a Christmas bazaar in the building happening, so all of us Starstruck interns went. We all did matching star hennas!
Then, I was left alone as Jerrell and Rahim went out to cover this award ceremony for the famous girls who helped this woman deliver her baby in Sunway Pyramid. It was so pressuring, having everyone around you typing out stories while you have nothing to do. I was a bit traumatized from yesterday's event that I didn't introduce myself to the OC of the day, until Cayssey who I was chatting with online forced me to, which was around.. 2PM? Terrible. This is bad behaviour really, do not set this as an example. I asked for work and she asked me to just sit down first. After some moments she suddenly slapped this paper on my desk and said, "Process this." I tried to keep a calm face but in my head it's like WHAT WHAT WHAT IS PROCESS WHAT IS THIS???? So basically it was a press release from the Dutch ambassador, and all I had to do was rephrase the sentences. If you ask for the word limit, the typical reply will be "____ paragraphs." This is because here in News, each paragraph has one sentence, to ensure each sentence is focused. By the end of the day, I introduced myself to another reporter and because I refused to shake his hand he called me a conservative and asked whether I belong to 'that' kind of people. Kind of irritated that I couldn't have thought of a great comeback and just gave out this image of pious-kampung-holierthanthou-tudung-non-Englishspeaking girl. If not for that incident, I would've thought of him as super cool and his sister used to be from SA too. Cayssey told me that a majority of last year's interns had a crush on him, funnily. Even Jade was attracted to him when she started in news. So when everything was done I went down to meet the other interns as it was Jo Yean and Tian Huey's last day as interns annnddd we took pictures.
Day Four, Tuesday, 15th December 2015
Miranda's the OC again. It was also Raziq's first day. Miranda told us to find out whether there are any Malaysians involved in the Typhoon Melor/Nona happening in the Philippines. Had to Google the Foreign Affairs ministry (Wisma Putra) to get their number, get the numbers of the Malaysian ambassador in the Philippines and the Philippines ambassador in Malaysia, and CALL THEM. It was my first time calling someone overseas using a landline phone. A few hours passed and well, there was still zero info. I even called the Red Cross Association of Philippines to get at least something, but to no avail. And if you're wondering, nope, everyone does their own tasks, you do yours alone. In the end, no article about it appeared because there was no material. So I helped Raziq get in contact with the viral little girls who were selling sandwiches for 20 sen as he had to interview them the next day and the day after. The office was pretty hyped up about the new Star Wars movie, they were shouting stuff about the characters and all, it was amusing.
Day Five, Wednesday, 16th December 2015
Last day in Newsdesk! It was the only day where there were 5 Starstruck interns in news at the same time, since Ashley and Serena were done with R.AGE. In the morning, we had breakfast with a special guest, Ashvin! He was an intern last year and he talked about his experience.
As Serena got to go out to Wisma MCA with Rahim, Ashley and I had to type out the biodata for the judges of an award and go to the photographers downstairs for mugshots of them. And then, we had to inform the graphic artist about it, but we kept on mistaking the graphic artists with the video editors. The only bright side of the day was when a lady appeared and asked if anyone wants free tickets to Comic Fiesta. I almost screamed because just a few hours ago I was looking at the website longingly. So when I said yes, I had to follow her upstairs to level 6, aka to R.AGE, where she's from. I told her that I'll be starting there the next day and she kindly announced it to the others in R.AGE when we entered. THEY WERE ALL SO FRIENDLY AND NICE AND CHILL. Oh, and Miranda asked me about the volunteerism article and I told her that I sent it to Royce already days ago. He might have not sent it to her so I sent it to her email and she said that she'd send it to the Metro section. By the end of the day, all 5 of us interns at news stopped by at R.AGE as Jerrell and I will be coming in tomorrow and we introduced ourselves to everyone.
Here's my Christmas volunteerism article that came out on the 23rd of December -
http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2015/12/23/students-spend-holidays-giving-back-to-society/
Conclusion -
It was a memorable experience, albeit a highly stressful one to start off the internship with. I never knew I could be so panicked and nervous for not having any work. It feels like... I don't know how to explain it. Scared as if I'm doing something I'm not supposed to? And I don't know I just feel inadequate or shy whenever someone asks where am I from which COLLEGE am I from and I have to reply oh ahahaha I just finished SPM :DDD. I noticed that everyone who works here just.. stands out naturally, whether it's their accents or manner or clothing, like all hair colors are present here, we have women with mohawks women with tattoos, flamboyant and stylish people everywhere etc. Amidst all that, no one commented about my height. Anyway. That's all for the first five days. Here's a song that matches my emotions somehow:
Read: Day 6 - 10 (R.AGE) , Day 11-16 (Features) , Day 17 - 22 (Metro)Day One, Tuesday, 8th December 2015
So I went in Menara Star with my best attempt of i-come-here-everyday / dont-look-too-much-like-a-deer-in-the-headlights look to conceal my anxiousness and nervousness. I had to wait for the other three batch two interns so I sat at the lobby, reading Reader's Digest, putting on my best disinterested look. Then I saw Ashley and Serena (who I didn't recognize) and remained where I was, until Janice came in and told me to sit together with them while she accompanied us until Jerrell came. When he did, Serena called Rowena and we all went up to the HR headquarters. And we waited. Until around 10 something. Let me remind you that until this point, it was very awkward and quiet among us, not knowing where to look in case we made eye contact. Some random questions were asked among us and the quietness resumed. After we got the tag Rowena sent us to our respective departments, Jerrell and I at Newsdesk while Ashley and Serena at R.AGE. Someone named Kak Liyana brought us to introduce ourselves to the other journalists and then asked an intern (a real one who was a graduate) Rahim to tell us how to use the computer programmes and all. Afterwards, Jerrell and I had nothing to do so we just read the other newspapers that were there, except the OC (the editor in charge of newsdesk, it changes every day) told Jerrell to list down the headlines of that day's Chinese newspapers.
awkward awkward awkward
Major broadcasting news channels behind the OC's seat.
So... nothing else to do until a senior journalist named Baiti called us to follow her to a press conference in Wisma MCA. We talked a bit in the car and we learnt that she was from UiTM. It was a small audience at the press room. It was just us, five other reporters, Datuk Sri Michael Chong and two women who were victims of this scam. We were at the Public Services and Complaints department. Then in the car again Baizura told us that we should call up the victim and write an article about it for practice. When we reached back, I prayed and went for the photoshoot for the interns cover of stuff@school next year. There were 9 of us, with only Raziq missing. I bet the photographer was so done with us, we were so uncooperative and awkward at posing! Then Jerrell and I went back to Newsdesk where it was almost full now, and called the victim from the press conference earlier to get extra info and wrote an article each at around 3 something. When we were done, we emailed it to Baiti (who was just sitting beside me haha) and she checked how we did. Thank goodness I read The Star online beforehand and somehow got the writing style and all, which she noticed and I got complimented hehehe. Then she copied some of our texts to be put in her article and added our names in the byline and I went home happily.
Btw in the end that article didn't have our names included hahaha it's here http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/12/09/new-room-to-let-scam-scheme-now-targets-people-looking-to-rent-places-to-stay/ .
Day Two, Wednesday, 9th December 2015
"Rule number 1 in the corporate world, don't disturb your senior when they're busy," said the OC of the day (who I will call Miranda based on Miranda Priestly because I don't remember her name!) when Jerrell and I approached her to introduce ourselves. Everyone was verrryyy stressed out because of the UMNO general assembly (GA) and all. So we went back to our places. There's no fixed spot, anyone can sit anywhere but we sat beside Rahim's place. Then after a while Miranda asked us all to spin our chairs so that we're all facing her as she briefed us what's happening on that day. She said something along the lines of,"This week is all about UMNO. Don't tell me you don't know anything about them or what's happening." When she found out about my age and Jerrell's, she just smiled sweetly and said, "Do you have your own transport? No. What is there for you to do?"
So Jerrell and I were asked to do Malay views (basically translating a few selected Bahasa Melayu articles from Malay newspapers) and sent it to Rahim. Then Miranda gave us instructions to write about students doing special things like volunteerism during holidays. In a state of panic, I hurriedly messaged all my friends if they were doing those activities. Throughout the day, I also saw Joceline Tan whose political analysis articles are my parents and my older brother Amzar's favorites. She's one of the few journalists who get to interview the Prime Minister (she actually ate breakfast with him that day in a casual interview published the next day). But yeah when discussing about which reporters to send to the GA, she just looked at us and said, sighing, "They're too young."
During Zohor, I was surprised to see lots of people in the surau. Turns out that there was a doa selamat and ceramah because Kak Liyana will be performing the umrah so we did solat berjemaah beforehand too. In the lobby, people were lining up because there was a Starbucks van (yes, like those Milo vans) giving out FREE STARBUCKS. Back in the office, I continued with the volunteerism article and managed to finish writing it in an hour. Thank you so much Valvet, Khairina and Shuva for replying to my messages! Miranda went up to me and said ,"When you're done send it to Royce." Then she looked at Royce and said, "If her article's bad just drop it." Gulp.
The Malay views article came out the next day: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/12/10/more-than-just-singing-karaoke-centre-believed-to-be-providing-sexual-services/
Day Three, Thursday, 10th December 2015
Nothing much. There was a Christmas bazaar in the building happening, so all of us Starstruck interns went. We all did matching star hennas!
Nope not some star cult but why were we so obsessed?
Christmas carols down at the lobby.
Left to right: Lamp, Tian Huey, Janice, Serena, Ashley, Jo Yean and Jerrell
Apologies to the security guard who had to be our photographer of the day.
With the cute Jo Yean.
Day Four, Tuesday, 15th December 2015
Miranda's the OC again. It was also Raziq's first day. Miranda told us to find out whether there are any Malaysians involved in the Typhoon Melor/Nona happening in the Philippines. Had to Google the Foreign Affairs ministry (Wisma Putra) to get their number, get the numbers of the Malaysian ambassador in the Philippines and the Philippines ambassador in Malaysia, and CALL THEM. It was my first time calling someone overseas using a landline phone. A few hours passed and well, there was still zero info. I even called the Red Cross Association of Philippines to get at least something, but to no avail. And if you're wondering, nope, everyone does their own tasks, you do yours alone. In the end, no article about it appeared because there was no material. So I helped Raziq get in contact with the viral little girls who were selling sandwiches for 20 sen as he had to interview them the next day and the day after. The office was pretty hyped up about the new Star Wars movie, they were shouting stuff about the characters and all, it was amusing.
Day Five, Wednesday, 16th December 2015
Last day in Newsdesk! It was the only day where there were 5 Starstruck interns in news at the same time, since Ashley and Serena were done with R.AGE. In the morning, we had breakfast with a special guest, Ashvin! He was an intern last year and he talked about his experience.
Ashley, Jerrell, Serena, potato and Ashvin.
Jerrell somehow transformed into Raziq while Serena transformed into Janice.
Wow much candid.
Do you know that The Star owns the radio stations Red FM, Suria FM, Capital FM and 988 FM?
http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2015/12/23/students-spend-holidays-giving-back-to-society/
Conclusion -
It was a memorable experience, albeit a highly stressful one to start off the internship with. I never knew I could be so panicked and nervous for not having any work. It feels like... I don't know how to explain it. Scared as if I'm doing something I'm not supposed to? And I don't know I just feel inadequate or shy whenever someone asks where am I from which COLLEGE am I from and I have to reply oh ahahaha I just finished SPM :DDD. I noticed that everyone who works here just.. stands out naturally, whether it's their accents or manner or clothing, like all hair colors are present here, we have women with mohawks women with tattoos, flamboyant and stylish people everywhere etc. Amidst all that, no one commented about my height. Anyway. That's all for the first five days. Here's a song that matches my emotions somehow:
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