JWR A Long Way from Home
News and information for EIU students in the Department of Journalism November 2013 Vol. 1, No. 1
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International student Laura Hamlyn chose EIU for her journalism studies. Photo by Stacey Catterson
Australian study abroad student immersed in journalism during EIU stay By Stacey Catterson Journalism student Laura Hamlyn will take many lessons and memories home with her when she returns to Australia in January. Laura Hamlyn, who spent this semester as a study abroad student here at EIU, is a student at UQUniversity in Rockhampton, Australia, studying professional communication. Hamlyn said she found out about the Eastern study abroad program through a friend who came here in the spring of 2012. “When I actually looked into applying I compared all the journalism departments and schools we had programs with, Eastern seemed like the best, so I decided to come here,” she said. Hamlyn said the biggest difference between our university and her university is the fact Eastern offers journalism as a major. “For my degree I’ve done communication, I’ve done PR and I’ve done journalism,” Hamlyn said. “So I’ve covered the three of them rather than just specializing in say a bachelor’s of communications.” Hamlyn said CQUniversity does not have a student-run newspaper, but they have two newspapers in the Rockhampton area. “There’s really no need for a newspaper or anything like that,” she said. “There’s only one sort of residence hall, its not like everyone is living on campus and is there all the time.” In high school Hamyln had worked with the Rockhampton newspaper. During her time working at the Dai-
ly Eastern News, “It’s been really good to work on it and see how it all works and cover different things. I’ve had to really research,” she said. “I’m always busy, but I’m not at the same time and that’s totally different for me. At home I would be working full time. I’d work 40 plus hour weeks and then I would be fitting in Uni between that and I’d be coming home after Uni doing my assignments so it was really non stop.” Hamlyn’s class schedule included Multimedia, Intro to Copyediting, Advanced Reporting and Journalism and Democracy. Hamlyn said her favorite class is Intro to Copyediting. “I’ve always liked editing other peoples’ work. I’d edit when my brother was in high school and I’d read his assignments for him to check them.” Hamlyn said working at the copydesk in the newsroom has allowed her to realize her interest in editing rather than reporting. Her biggest struggle in class has been the American and UK spelling differences. “One of my teachers likes to throw in UK spelling into the quizzes occasionally to trip me up. I’ve gotten most of them so far,” Hamlyn said. Hamlyn said the best thing about her study abroad experience at Eastern is having time to travel while studying. She is planning to visit California, Nevada, Florida and New York before returning home in January. “Its sort of a big thing I think, I will appreciate the fact that I did it while I was young not everyone can say they
“One of my teachers
likes to throw in UK spelling into the quizzes occasionally to trip me up. I’ve gotten most of them so far,
”
— Laura Hamlyn traveled the world let alone lived in another country,” she said If she could have done one thing differently during her study abroad time at Eastern, Hamlyn said, she wished she could have joined a sorority and gotten more involved in other organizations to meet more people. “I go in the elevator and people are like you’re the one from Australia. And I’m like yeah, they all know who I am, but I don’t know who they are,” Hamlyn said. Hamlyn will be graduating from CQUniversity in March 2014 with her bachelor’s degree in professional communication. After graduation Hamlyn said she plans to go back to her old job, have another gap year, earn money, pay everything off from her trip and save. Hamlyn said she has met many “lovely” people here. “In a way its been good that I sort of have some down time to relax before going back home and getting into work,” she said.