Oh Hail, St. Louis!

Going to the city of St. Louis with a sore neck and back isn’t exactly my idea of a day full of sights to see and things to learn. Unfortunately though, as I was whipping out my camera from my pocket to capture the famous arch and medium-sized skyline of this city from the window van, my neck and back were already complaining about my position. But, of course, I wouldn’t let a simple physical nuisance ruin the rest of my day in this city. The downtown area of St. Louis literally gave me the genuine feeling of being in America; all thanks to the tall and breathtaking buildings which towered all over the place.

Anyway, I’d like to stay faithful to my pseudo-promise. I did get to realize a few things in St. Louis. And with that, in the deepest hour of this night, I would like to hold these three things about my American experience to be true:

1.) Media institutions, both large-scale and small-scale, require a non-stop work mechanism from all over the place. Whenever the local TV news back at home would boast their tagline that news never sleeps, boy, I guess it’s only logical to assume that people who are working for the news must do the same exact thing.

2.) I’m proud of myself for being a new media student here in SIU for this summer institute. However, after weeks of being bombarded with things about journalism and media, I just can’t see myself in the future with a pen and paper. Moreover, the unpredictable breakout of a particular event in which I have to probably squeeze all the words out of my head is going to be too swift for me to even cover it with accuracy, patience, and professionalism. I can write, yes. But to write for a living? That is definitely a different story for me.

3.) Chinese people, like Filipinos, are everywhere. Okay, this point might be a little bit uncalled for but how can I not remember this when in fact I was generously fed, in spite of the time pressure, by a Chinese buffet table in downtown St. Louis? So here, it’s a good time for you to insert a few images of crabs, dumplings, fried rice, broccolis, and fortune cookies. Ohh, the monstrous appetite!

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Another set of realizations for you to know and for me to ponder again and again. I’m keeping my pseudo-promise, I’m telling you.