Journalism Package

Here is another package I created for my video journalism class. This is a non-narrated package using the same footage from my previous package. The non-narrated style is certainly a challenge to edit, because it is up to the subjects to narrate rather than a reporter, but I actually enjoyed editing this style!

Journalism Package

Here is a package I created for my Journalism 14 mulitmedia video class at Hofstra. This is a video package like one that you would see on a news broadcast. Enjoy!

New Article!

Hey y'all! My last article for my internship with The College Tourist is live: 15 Signs You're a Texan Out of State. As a Texas girl in New York I identify with all of these (and more) on a daily basis.

Even though my internship is finished and I had a blast, I am excited to announce I will be freelancing for The College Tourist next semester as a Blue Moon Writer!! I am incredibly honored to receive this opportunity and so many more, and I cannot wait for what is to come!

10 Signs You're a Journalism Major

Here's my latest article for The College Tourist, and I got to write about something I can definitely relate to- being a journalism major. I wrote this article as a Buzzfeed-style listicle with some of the things journalism majors can all identify with. Enjoy!

http://blog.thecollegetourist.com/10-signs-youre-a-journalism-major/

The Mobile Classroom Article

I know I haven't been blogging regularly, but it's a crazy time for me right now! However, since my internship with College Tourist is one of the many things keeping me busy, I thought to post my newest article!

My assignment was to find someone who has studied abroad (of which there are quite a few at Hofstra), so I interviewed my friend Mish about her experience on the European Odyssey. The Odyssey is a Hofstra program where 12 students and 2 professors travel across Europe and Turkey for 10 weeks, hitting 11 countries and nearly 30 cities. The program is open to Global Studies majors and minors, and I talked to Mish about her incredible semester overseas.

Check out my article, and keep reading! I'll be posting more soon!

http://blog.thecollegetourist.com/dialogue-with-mishaina-josephthe-mobile-classroom/

New Article!

Ok, so I know I've been radio silent for a long time (like, a really long time), but I'm back with a new article!

This fall I am lucky enough to have an internship with College Tourist, where my blog posts will be featured on their site. The coolest thing about my internship is that it's virtual- I get to write all my articles from the comfort of my dorm room without dealing with a commute!

My first article for College Tourist is about my trip to the UN Social Good Summit. I feel so lucky to live and go to school in New York and be able to attend such incredible events such as this summit! I wrote about my experience at the 3-day event, but I focused on my favorite speaker- Malala.

I won't talk too much about the summit since it's all in the article, but I had a blast! Take a look!

http://blog.thecollegetourist.com/teen-activist-malala-wows-at-the-social-good-summit/

Fall Internship

Finally! After searching for months (I started applying in June), I scored a Fall Internship! Today, I received an e-mail from College Tourist, an online student blogging website about studying abroad and college life. I had been waiting to hear back for a few weeks, and today I got the good news!

I will be a part of the Fall 2013 Team, writing articles for the website and further honing my journalism skills. One of the biggest perks is that it's a virtual internship, meaning I will be writing and reporting from my dorm room! The age of technology has even changed how internships work.

I'm so happy to finally have an internship for this semester! More updates to come on my internship once school starts in a week!

My Last Daily Beast Article

I've been home for almost a month now, but I still have one more article that I've been working on for The Daily Beast. I wrote about the battle between printed textbooks and e-books, which as a college student is a pretty big deal. I had never considered writing an article with a business perspective, but here you go!

Also, my article is on the homepage of The Daily Beast!!!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/06/print-textbooks-still-dominate-campus-textbook-market.html

The Hunt

It's the first day of August, and I have a little over four weeks until I move back to New York to start my second year at Hofstra. With the new semester comes the search for a new internship, but unfortunately finding one isn't as easy as it was the first time.

My summer internship at Newsweek was the only internship I applied for. I've now applied to a few for the fall, and haven't heard back from any of them. This isn't unheard of- most people are rejected by dozens of potential employers. I have friends who are entering their junior year who still haven't had an internship.
However, I still really want an internship for the fall. I arranged my schedule to have class only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving Monday, Wednesday, and Friday open to intern full-time. Even if I don't get an internship I'll have those days completely free to do homework, study, and possibly work, but I'd prefer an internship. 

I've applied to the French Institute: Alliance Français, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and NBC. I've already been rejected by NBC (or rather, they decided not to "pursue" my application at the time, which only means I'll keep applying!), and haven't heard back from FIAF or CPJ. 

I'm one of those people who will bombard your inbox with e-mails until I get a response, even if the answer is "no." I'm less worried about rejection and more worried that I've been relegated to the spam folder or my response simply hasn't gone through. 

So, I'll keep applying and keep e-mailing until I've exhausted my resources. Time to keep hunting!

Summer Internship

I've been home for a little over a week now, and I'm finally sitting down to blog about my incredible summer so far.

I spent a month and a half as a Women in the World intern for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. In that time, I had 3 articles published (a 4th is on the way) on an international news website. In addition, I wrote somewhere between 50 and 100 cheats for the site; cheats are a summary of a news article that we put up on either Women in the World or the Daily Beast's "Cheat Sheet," complete with a link to the full article. If you don't have time to read 20 news articles, you can "cheat the week" and read 20 cheats.

I spent most of my time putting together cheats for WITW, as well as transcribing interviews, writing actual articles and gaining as much experience as I possibly could.

I LOVED my internship. This was my first one and I couldn't have asked for a more fantastic experience. Most people start off with a few small internships at unheard-of places, moving their way up to more well-known companies. Newsweek was the only summer internship I applied for, and I happened to get the job!

I met so many amazing people and got to do so many incredible things this summer, and it only solidified my desire to be a journalist. While I really want to be a broadcast journalist, print is definitely an option. I loved every part of my internship and I cannot wait to break into the industry with a real job.

I'm currently in the process of applying for fall internships, and I hope I land another awesome one. I've applied to the French Institute and the Committee to Protect Journalists, but I'm still looking, so we'll see where I end up!

I'll be on vacation later this week, so expect a post about that! Other than that there isn't too much going on this summer. I love relaxing at home but I'm kind of ready to get back to school. Hopefully I'll be more diligent with this blog when school starts again!

Also, I wanted to give a shout-out to all my international readers! I hope everyone keeps reading, and I'll try to update more as summer goes on.

Best internship ever! Granted, it was my first, but it was definitely the best first internship ever. I met some awesome people and did some awesome things. Thank you to everyone at Newsweek and The Daily Beast!

My Article!!

I've posted a few articles here before, but I'm finally able to post the one I am most proud of. I've been working on this article for a long time, and it finally ran on The Daily Beast!! I meant to post it yesterday when it came out, but I'm home for the summer and it's been crazy busy (I'm finished with my internship, and you can expect a post about that soon!).

As a (female) college student, safety is extremely important, especially off-campus. After an off-campus shooting happened near my school, I decided someone needed to take a closer look at off-campus safety. And that someone was me.

Please take a look (and by look I mean read it!), this is a really important topic for me and I'm quite proud of this story.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/07/13/can-students-stay-safe-off-campus.html

Internship Update

As usual, I've been neglecting this blog since I started working. But, I wanted to write a little about my internship so far- I had planned to update weekly, and hopefully I can be a little more diligent with this blog from now on (then again, that's what I always say).

For starters, I already have two articles up on Women in the World, and a third one on the way. I can't believe I'm already published as a first-time intern! I also made the Dean's List at Hofstra, which is such an honor and I'm glad my hard work paid off this semester.

I only have two weeks left at Newsweek, and I don't want to leave. I love being in a newsroom and working with real professionals in my chosen career. I definitely love journalism, and I know this is the place for me. This is such an exciting summer with so many important stories developing, and such a perfect time to be interning.

I'm already looking forward to the fall when I can hopefully start another internship. I'm currently looking/applying, so fingers crossed for something as amazing as Newsweek!

My third article should be running sometime later this week, and I'll post it here. For now, here is a link to my story on the business of being a sugar baby, and here's my story on how the business world is changing. Enjoy!

My First Article!

I'm so excited, my first real article went live today on The Daily Beast's Women in the World site!! The subject- sugar babies. Take a look!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/06/21/website-by-and-for-sugar-babies.html

Interview

I spent 5 hours transcribing this interview for one of my editors, Katie Baker, so if you could all read it that would be great! It's a really fantastic interview, Katie did a great job and Shohreh is an incredible person.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/06/10/shohreh-aghdashloo-on-her-new-memoir-the-alley-of-love-and-yellow-jasmines.html

My second week at Newsweek started today, and I still love it. I'm (pretty much) working on a real story, so we'll see where it goes!

Newsweek and The Daily Beast- Week 1

As I try to figure out what I'm going to wear to work tomorrow, I have a little time to reflect on the incredible first week I've had as an intern for Newsweek and The Daily Beast.

I arrived Monday- in the middle of a Manhattan rainstorm- and was ushered up to the second floor of the IAC building in Chelsea, home to Newsweek and The Daily Beast. I reported to Katie Baker, managing editor of the Women in the World section. I'll be spending the next several weeks as a WITW intern along with 2 other girls (WITW is larger than the social media department and therefore needed more help).

Before I started interning everyone asked me, "What are you going to be doing? Making coffee?" But even during my interview, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be doing 'typical intern stuff.' Within five minutes of arriving, I was seated at a computer and told to put together a cheat.

If you're unfamiliar with The Daily Beast, we put together a 'cheat sheet' that has little summaries of major news stories, followed by a link to read the full story either on our website or another news site. There's a cheat sheet on DB, and one on WITW. The other two interns and I are responsible for putting together cheats for one of our three sections; News, Lifestyle, and Call to Arms.

I was put in charge of Call to Arms, and within an hour I had a cheat up on the website. I ended up putting together 3 cheats that day, totaling 16 by the end of the week!

I LOVE my internship. I'm not making copies or doing busywork, I'm actually putting together an integral part of our site and bringing important stories to people's attention. Call to Arms highlights injustice or problems that women face. I've put together cheats on acid attacks in India, the problems that Turkish female protesters face, and campaigns against domestic violence in Saudi Arabia.

However, the most exciting part of my internship was Thursday afternoon, my last day before the weekend (I only work four days a week). Katie asked me to transcribe an interview, which isn't as easy as it sounds.

The interview was with Shohreh Aghdashloo, an Iranian actress who I admire a lot, so obviously I was excited to transcribe an interview with her! It took 5 hours, since the interview was recorded over the phone and Shohreh has a very deep voice and an Iranian accent. While it was a tough job, it was fun in a weird sort of way.

I really love my job, and even though I'm gone nearly 12 hours between my commute and actual work, I can't wait for another week to start.

If you want to read some of my cheats, check out the WITW page and take a look (I'm not going to post each individual cheat because it would take up too much room)!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw.html 

Gone To Texas

I know it's another article, but being a Texas native (Dallas, born and raised) I always love when Texas gets positive publicity unrelated to sports.

Over the last few years, Texas has become one of the best places to do business and raise a family. Technology, music, entertainment, oil and gas, and just about every other type of industry love doing business here. I know you all had at least one TI (Texas Instruments) calculator in school.

The BBC put together a list of the Top 10 reasons why so many people are moving to Texas.

Even though I left it, I still love my home state and I always will. And apparently other people are learning to love it! There's a saying here among new Texans: "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22649624

Note: I don't actually wear Cowboy boots. I made a nod to my Texas upbringing in my Senior Pictures.

Is The Social Media Editor Dead?

Considering I'm starting a social media internship on Monday, I found this article on Buzzfeed fascinating. If you're not familiar with Buzzfeed, they usually assemble humorous lists, such as "Amanda Bynes Calling People Ugly (Presented By Judgmental Huskies)." But they also feature real articles, such as this one by staff writer Rob Fishman, titled, "The Social Media Editor is Dead."

But is it? The article makes a convincing argument for both sides. While social media-related jobs are on the rise (while newspaper jobs are sinking), there is also a growing realization that one person cannot be in charge of all social media. Every journalist needs to be in charge of their own social media accounts, building up not only their own brand but the brand of the company.

Even if you don't care about getting a journalism job, this was a really interesting article.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting to work on Monday and seeing what everyone in my department thinks about this article, and where journalism and social media go from here.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/robf4/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-social-media-editor

Photo c/o of Google images. I do not own any part of BuzzFeed or BuzzFeed.com, nor do I claim to. 

Summer 2013- Newsweek and The Daily Beast

While most of my friends will be laying by the pool or jetting off on vacation, I'm spending my summer in NYC interning at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. This is an incredible opportunity, and I can't wait to start in a little over a week!

I didn't really apply for this internship in the traditional sense. Over my winter break I was bored, and decided to find a summer internship. I found an ad for a social media internship at Newsweek, but there wasn't a lot of information. So, using my social media skills, I sent a tweet to Newsweek asking about the position. They responded with the e-mail address of their social media editor. I sent him a quick e-mail, followed by my resume, and within a few weeks I was in their New York office for an interview. About half an hour later, I had an internship.

I always thought I would start with a few small internships and then work my way up. Instead, I'm practically starting at the top with Newsweek.

I'm so excited to have such an amazing internship, and I definitely don't mind spending my summer in an office. I'll be at a world-renowned news organization, working in NYC, and gaining invaluable experience for my career.

Most of my posts for the next two months will probably be about my job, i.e. what I do on a typical day, what my job entails, etc. I'll post about other things, but this will most likely turn into an internship blog!

I hope you all keep reading, and welcome to all my new readers!

Music Fest VuVox

Here's a VuVox I made as part of our Journalism Final Project (the other parts of the project will be uploaded soon!). Check it out!

On May 4th, 2013, Hofstra hosted their annual Music Fest, with performances by Twenty One Pilots, Joey Bada$$, and Third Eye Blind. Music Fest, held every spring, is a free, all-day, outdoor event for all Hofstra students. The festival features rides, games, activities, free food, and of course, live music.

Hofstra University Spring Music Fest 2013

see more of my photos

My First Infographic!

Here's an infographic I made for my journalism class, with the top ten highest paying majors for the Class of 2013. While I'm sad that Journalism did not make the list, it's still neat to see how much one can make with a certain major.

Birthday in NYC

Friday was my 19th birthday, and Saturday I headed into the city with my suitemate Blaine for a beautiful day in NYC. We hit up the NHL store (where I finally got a Crosby shirt!), Shake Shack (a must in NYC), Pinkberry, and then wandered through Chelsea to reach the Highline Park. The Highline, which runs from Gansevoort Street up to 30th street, is a walkway made from a reclaimed elevated railroad track. The weather was perfect, and the whole day reminded me why I love living in New York.

The IAC building, where Newsweek is housed, viewed from Highline Park. This will be my home for the summer!

People resting on the steps in front of a glass observation window that overlooks the street below.

Yoga on the steps.

In between the buildings, way out in the Hudson, you can see the Statue of Liberty.

Blaine and I.

A couple taking their engagement photos on the Highline.

Sometimes I'm allowed to take touristy photos.

The vegetation on the Highline is inspired by the plants that had overtaken the railway before it was converted into a park.

Man on the Street

Here's a link to my first YouTube video! This is an MOS (Man on the street) interview I did for my journalism class, asking average students around Hofstra whether or not they are worried about North Korea, what they think might happen in the next week, and what they would do to alleviate the situation. 

I would like to thank my suitemates Blaine and Melissa, my RA Louis, and my friend Nathalie for allowing me to interview them!

Enjoy!

To view the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojzbs-m_Wx4

To view the video on my WordPress:

http://ashleymungiguerra.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/man-and-woman-on-the-street/

Spring Break in Los Angeles

I'm an East Coast girl at heart, but spending a long weekend in L.A. for spring break definitely brought out my love for the West Coast. The weather, the people, the culture, the excitement, and again, the weather (it was snowing when I left NYC).

My best friend, Kenzie, attends the American Academy of Dramatic Arts out in Hollywood, so I headed out to the City of Angels to spend a weekend with her. We're used to seeing each other every day, so being on opposite coasts was quite a change. 

I landed in L.A. Friday night, and flying over the city at night is beautiful. As much as I love Manhattan at night, L.A. is spread out and seems to go on forever. We hit up a West Coast necessity, In N Out, then hit the hay in preparation for our 6 a.m. wake-up call to head up to Disneyland. Kenzie absolutely loves Disney, and seeing as it was her birthday, D-land was a must.

I hate roller coasters. But, seeing as it was Kenzie's birthday and I flew across the country, I had to get on. I soon figured out that none of the big rides at Disney are actual roller coasters, which led to riding every single one! This is me before braving Space Mountain, which turned out to be...not bad.

No one looks good on a roller coaster.

Peter Pan! Because you're never too old to take pictures with characters.

We soon found out that putting 5 teenagers inside 1 teacup leads to crazy shenanigans and extreme dizziness.

Again, no looks good on a roller coaster. I personally look like I'm prepared for death (which I somewhat was). 

My new friend!

The parade at the end of the day. 

After a full and exhausting day at Disneyland, Kenzie took me to explore Hollywood. We hit up the farmer's market, Space 15 20 (the coolest shopping spot with hip, vintage stalls set up everywhere), Mulholland 'Drive, and went to get her tattoo!

 

Typical touristy picture of the Hollywood sign.

Oranges at the Farmer's Market in Hollywood.

The view of Downtown L.A. from Mulholland Drive. I didn't even know this place existed; you basically stand at the top of a mountain and you can see most of Los Angeles. It's especially beautiful at night, and if you turn around, Ron Howard is building a house at the very top of the mountain. Now that's what I call a room with a view.

Kenzie getting her tattoo! She's wanted it for nearly 7 years, and finally decided to go ahead and do it while I was still in town. It says, "Think lovely thoughts," wrapped around her wrist, and the script is in her handwriting. I love it and wish I had a better picture of it.

I loved L.A., and even though I'll always be an NYC girl, I wouldn't mind spending some more time out west...

The Kennedy's of Yorkshire

Another post for class! This is from about 2 weeks ago, just after the "Downton Abbey" season finale.


"The Kennedy's of Yorkshire"

If you were lucky enough to avoid spoilers from across the pond regarding Season 3 of Downton Abbey, then Sunday night's finale came as quite a surprise. The sudden death of Matthew Crawley in the last 45 seconds of the episode was unexpected, and ripped the hearts out of every viewer.

Fans are up in arms, taking to Twitter to express their outrage over the season finale. While it seems no one enjoyed the end of the episode, everyone watched- over 8.2 million people tuned in, making Downton's season 3 finale the most-watched show on PBS since Ken Burns' 1990 'Civil War' documentary series.

If you have a soul, you didn't want any more death at Downton this season. After Lady Sybil's untimely death in childbirth, there was enough sorrow for the entire season. However, the season finale led you on for an hour and a half, showing scenes full of joy and happiness, luring viewers into a false sense of security, save for a few hints that something might go wrong with Lady Mary's pregnancy. But after delivering a healthy heir, all seemed well in Yorkshire.

Then the camera switched to Matthew, joyfully riding his sports car down a windy country lane. That is, until his car was hit head-on and he careened off the road, killed instantly. The final image of Lady Mary holding their newborn as Matthew lay dead and bleeding in the road left viewers with a sense of loss and despair, as if creator Julian Fellowes had personally ripped out our hearts and stomped on them.

However, all the blame can not be placed on Fellowes. Dan Stevens, who plays Matthew, had decided long ago not to return for Season 4. So the writers had no choice but to kill him off, though probably not so violently. Stevens said he is "very fond of the show," but at the same time there is a "sense of liberation."

Not everyone is outraged over Matthew's demise. Some have argued that he had to die; after all, Matthew had done his job. He had produced an heir, after suffering some of the most important and plot-driving setbacks of the show; being rejected by Lady Mary, getting engaged to Lavinia Swire, being wounded in the war and paralyzed from the waist down, only to miraculously recover, losing Lavinia, finally winning Lady Mary, and struggling through all of Season 3 to produce an heir while simultaneously saving Downton from financial ruin.

Some people are taking the news of Matthew's death harder than others. Someone is petitioning the White House to force Dan Stevens to return to the show, arguing that "Since PBS is partially funded by the US Government and US citizens tax dollars, Dan Stevens has basically committed a crime against the people of America. As a result he should be immediately deported to the UK and given a choice... either return to the show for at least another two full seasons or be permanently banished from the United States."

While this may be taking it a bit far, we can agree that everyone was shocked and hurt by Matthew's sudden death. While it may seem ridiculous to be this invested in a British television show (clearly you've never been on the Internet), the Crawley family is like a fictional version of the Kennedy's, transplanted from Hyannis Port to Yorkshire.

Turn It Down!

Here's a little piece I wrote for my Journalism class. You can follow the Wordpress where this was originally posted here. 


"Turn It Down!"

We’ve all had that moment, whether it be someone is talking too loudly or you just need to shut out the world, where we turn up the volume, put our earphones in, and block the outside world for a few minutes. However, cranking up the volume may be a hidden danger to your health. New reports have come out claiming that excessive use of earphones at a high volume can cause permanent hearing loss. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders recently stated that prolonged exposure to sound above 85 decibels can cause damage to hearing; earphones, at maximum volume, can reach up to 105 decibels.

While there are other things that reach high decibels in our lives, like motorcycles, lawn mowers, and power tools, we don’t usually listen to these things on a daily basis for long periods of time. Earphones, however, are stuck right in our ears as music blasts against our eardrums. Prolonged exposure to noise at such a high level on a regular basis causes hearing damage in 1 out of 8 children and teens and 1 in 6 adults, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Such damage includes partial or total hearing loss, trouble hearing high frequencies, problems focusing on certain sounds in noisy situations, or an internal ringing in the ears.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is championing the campaign to get people, especially teens and young adults, to turn down the volume. The Health Department recently released a statement saying that they wish, “to better inform and educate New Yorkers,” about hearing loss. In his 11 years in office, Bloomberg has tried to get New Yorkers to kick their unhealthy habits, like smoking, drinking giant sodas, consuming too many calories, and now, listening to their music at a high volume. He’s launching a $250,000 social media campaign (which has already raised $70,000 from an anonymous donor, according to the Wall Street Journal). The campaign will aim to warn teens about the risks of hearing loss as a result of listening to loud music through earphones.

While I’m all for living a healthy lifestyle, there are some things people just won’t change. Kids, especially teenagers, seem to have this idea that what they do now doesn’t affect their health, especially long term. While I personally try to keep the volume low, since you can’t always drown everything out, most people blast their music to the point where I can hear it over my music. While this is absurd, putting out recommendations won’t solve the problem. People are going to do what they think is best, even when they face the consequences.

Snow Day

Well, we still had school, of course, since New York rarely cancels school for snow.

Despite the snow, I'm headed into the city with Alyssa and Blaine to meet Blaine's best friend from Ohio. As if she couldn't be any cooler, she's staying in Chelsea for some sort of art show. We're all meeting up at the MoMA and enjoying the city in the snow.

In an effort to keep warm, I donned my Doctor Zhivago-style furry beret and grabbed the best Starbucks drink ever, aka a cafe mocha. To add a little color, my sparkly manicure is brought to you by Essie 'Turquoise and Caicos' with Essie 'Set in Stones' and OPI 'Polakdot.com' on top.

If you're in the Northeast, stay warm!

OOTD

Today (actually this week in general) has been crazy, so it called for a good outfit. Between a meeting with my advisement dean, a meeting with my leadership mentor, a debate, a presentation, a leadership meeting, and covering a meeting for the newspaper, plus working out the details of my internship, I haven't had much time today. I'm really hoping for a snow day tomorrow, but it's unlikely...oh well.

I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like to, but I'm working on it! Things have been really busy lately, and they're only going to continue up until Spring Break (at which point I will have a LOT to blog about). So stay tuned!

Coffee today was a must (especially drinking from my Texas mug).

Blazer, Forever 21. Shirt, Ross. Peach jeans, Ross. Taxi cab earrings, Betsey Johnson. Necklace, Tiffany & Co. Boots, Ross. Phone case, Kate Spade.

I am now officially a Journalism and Political Science double major with a French minor!!!

A photo essay of my lovely friend Kristen that I made for my journalism class!

http://www.vuvox.com/collage/detail/066f564f86

Weather Report!

If you want to watch me do the most recent weather report for Hofstra Today (our variety news program here on campus) click on the link! We air every Wednesday during the year. You can watch on Hofstra's channel or online!

http://hofstratoday.com/february-27th-2013/

OOTD

Sweater, TJ Maxx. Mustard cords, Ross. Flats, Coach. Wraparound watch, Charming Charlie. Scarf, somewhere in Poland. Earrings, flea market in Texas. Also, look how long my hair is right now (I went natural today, which is unusual, but there just wasn't time to curl it).

Surviving an 8 a.m.

Before I started college, I vowed that I would never, ever, ever take an 8 a.m. class. I am the complete opposite of a morning person, preferring to sleep until noon rather than start my day early. Even after four years of waking up at 4 a.m for debate tournaments, I still struggle getting out of bed before eleven (I know, sad).

This semester, however, I was forced to take an 8 a.m. class. It's a journalism class, and is a pre-requisite for every other journalism class I need to take for my major. Therefore, I had to take it this semester, or I would be behind for at least a semester (and what if it wasn't offered next semester? Then what would I do?).

No matter what time your classes are in college, they're always too early. So, to avoid being miserable for a whole semester, here are a few tips for surviving an 8 a.m.

• Get a good night's sleep. I know that's asking a lot, especially in college, and I don't expect everyone to clock a full 8 hours every night. But if you're going to bed at 4 a.m every night and waking up at 7, you're only hurting yourself. Try to do work between classes and during breaks, rather than trying to rush through ten assignments in a few hours. Also, don't go out every weeknight. It's only going to cause you trouble. 
• Eat. You don't have to wake up extra early for a full-course meal. Grab something on your way to class; most professors will let you eat in class, especially at such an early hour. I usually grab a granola bar and one of those bottled frappucino's, or stop at one of the coffee places on campus. If you don't have time before class, grab something right after. Just make sure you eat so you're not cranky and hungry the rest of the morning.
• Do your work before class. I know sometimes you can put off homework until the day of, but nobody can do work effectively at 7 in the morning. Get your homework, at least for your early classes, done the night before at the latest.
• Get everything ready the night before. Lay out your clothes (especially if you're like me and still want to look cute at 8 a.m.), put everything in your backpack, and make sure everything is ready to grab and go in the morning.
• Pay attention. I know it's hard, but you're still there to learn. Drifting off or staring at your phone will only make you more tired. Listen to your professor, take good notes, participate in discussions, and generally be involved in the class.

As much as I complain about getting up early, I really enjoy my 8 a.m. class. I love being a journalism major, my professor is experienced and fun, and I'm making friends in the class. Try to enjoy all your classes, not just the early ones, and it'll make getting out of bed a little easier every morning.

OOTD

Sweater, Urban Outfitters. Jeans, Ross. Boots, Ross. Scarf, Target. Earrings, Tiffany & Co. Plus, a few of my posters!

Nails, detail- Dark green is Essie 'Stylenomics,' glitter is 'Beyond Cozy.'