| "I'm Going to Disney World!" My Trip to the National College Media Convention in Orlando Florida October 30th - November 4th 2002 |
| Stepping aboard the little plane in Billings on the early morning of Oct. 30th, I was extremely nervous and scared. Leaving Montana�s bitter cold weather was great, but getting on a plane and going to a huge city that I had never been to, was down right scary. Once the plane was in the air, I was able to calm down and relax to the point where I could actually get excited (I think the Dramamine was working). Orlando was the only thing on my mind; the sun, the heat, the people, and the tourist attractions. The whole trip was just too much to think about. The four of us, (Jesse Kester, Amy Whittle, Shaunna Pierce, and I) were off to the National College Media Convention at the Hyatt Orlando for five days of excitement and learning. I don�t know what I expected to happen in the few days we were there, but it was nothing like I experienced. For one thing Orlando is an interesting place. A person cannot go five feet without finding a tourist attraction or a gift shop packed with knick-knacks. People in Orlando also worship their grass, and they expect the same of you, whereas in Montana, we use the grass like we would use a sidewalk or a road. The food there is incredible, and they have strange little restaurants everywhere. They have Shoney�s which is the equivalent of our Perkins and down the block they have a place that has Japanese cooking grills at your table and Chinese food in the same building. Orlando also has a lot of sushi, which I tried for the first time. According to one of my travel buddies, it wasn�t the best sushi, but I count myself lucky I didn�t die from eating it. I am not a fish person, so sushi crosses the line. Orlando is also home to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Bush Gardens, Wet n Wild and about a thousand more theme parks. The four of us would take off in the afternoons to one of the four Disney parks and spend the rest of the day there, then come home exhausted and sleep till the next morning. As for the convention I can say I have learned a ton. I am still in complete awe. I met and listened to people whose college newspapers and annuals (yes they have annuals at most colleges) could easily be professional publications. These people, who put out twenty page papers on a daily basis, are the most dedicated people I have ever met. My experience at this convention was very humbling and it gave me a lot of knowledge to take back to our little newspaper here at MSU-Billings. I know that I came to the conventions with a lot of expectations, but they were instantly blown away by the amount of information I gained and the experience I witnessed through other editors like myself. All in all, my most cherished memories were spent with my companions. I couldn�t have picked a better group of travel partners. Whether we were walking another twenty miles, hanging out for dinner, playing in the Atlantic at Daytona Beach, or just sitting on the plane, we were like a family. |