I have been living in the Highlands since 2013 and I can say I fell in love with this place.

In February I undertook an internship at the Southern Highland News. 

This was a great opportunity to learn the basics of journalism and how a newsroom operates.

It was a valuable experience and I learnt a lot about the industry.

The writing style was different to the anthropology essay writing style, however I’m glad that I’m improving everyday and there is still a lot to learn. 

Two years ago I wrote a piece regarding the ascending price of soccer registration fees in the Southern Highlands.

I could not believe how expensive it had become to play amateur soccer in the region.

This led me to think of how expensive and unaffordable it could be for a single mother of three kids or for a student.

I asked my friends what they thought of the sudden increase, and many said there had been a sudden drop or loss of interest in the sport.

So I decided to write a story about it. Before this I had written personal thoughts, songs and ideas.

I later returned to Auckland to continue my Anthropology and French studies. Sometimes I would still edit and make changes to this piece.

Anthropology and French have given me a different perspective of the world and society, and it allowed me to understand objectivity, subjectivity, social facts, ethnocentrism, race, racism, gender, cultural relativism and sets of values within cultures and societies.

The idea of judging other cultures based on your own ethnic culture and the belief that it is the right way to look at the world often leads to making wrong assumptions about others’ behaviours and cultures.

We are often unintentionally ethnocentric in our interpretation of the world, and in our incorrect assumption about people and different cultures.

My appetite for journalism has long been present in my desire to express myself or voice my opinion. My anthropological perspective has fuelled it further in the domain of culture, race and popular culture.

I hope to continue journalism after I graduate later this year.

We all have different paths and different stories. Therefore I encourage you to share your thoughts and stories with the newspaper to inspire and encourage others.