Summer’s here, well the weather anyway, but lately I’ve been too busy to notice. Being an aspiring journalist student, experience is the ingredient needed on one’s resamay no matter what course a career takes.

I’ve got to say that the last four weeks of my student life have been incredible at throwing me whether I like it or not into the jaws of the national media.

Closer to home, I was privileged to be able to attend a landmark day in Winchester’s political calendar, that of the final parliamentary count at River Park Leisure Centre deciding upon the new Member of Parliament for Winchester.

Three or four years of spirited, relentless and unforgiving campaigning boiled down to that Thursday evening into morning, where as we well know Conservative candidate Steve Brine edged ahead of Liberal Democrat candidate Martin Tod in what was an honourable tussle between the duo.

Throughout the night, I was primed with my laptop in the press box sending live broadcasts with interviews via Skype back to Winchester University, as myself and fellow journalism colleagues were covering the local elections in the South.

I revelled in the position of being at the forefront of information. People were relying on me to tell them what was happening, this coinciding with the live buzz and energy of technology meant I was fully entranced in the atmosphere of the evening.

As it turned out, when the count concluded at around 5:30am, I battled it out with other press organisations to get as close to ceremonial proceedings as possible.

Charged with holding my laptop, in addition to a webcam I began to commentate on what was happening back to our University studio.

This did not all go to plan however, as murmurings ‘sshh’ and looks of disgust greeted me from those stood nearby as the volume on my laptop was too loud, hence putting a grinding halt to my commentary back to University for a few spilt seconds at least, whilst it was muted.

Moments later, nevertheless it was hardly the deafly silence of Wimbledon’s Centre Court as the final count was announced giving me the chance to grab the microphone and at a canter explain what was happening and who had won.

In a frenetic football esc commentary, which since I’ve received the inevitable stick off of my colleagues, I deciphered the verdict into a few words.

Well, that was that, job done. On the walk home, I strode through my front door at 7:12am, to be precise feeling overwhelmed about the experience I had just gained.

If this didn’t set my appetite fully, the starter’s gun was certainly shot the following week. Being a local news reporter this year, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many local wintonians as I familiarize myself with the city as a whole.

Forget Winchester, for a second at least however, as Westminster became my next port of call. After being in contact with Winchesters newest politician, I travelled to the home of British politics to interview Mr Brine on the famous college green itself.

The interview, a personal one at that gained insight into Steve’s personal emotions following his election triumph, his new role at Westminster and a succinct message to his followers and people who did not support his campaign.

Preceding this, myself and my colleague were caught up in a couple of media scrums with college green and Westminster as a whole swamped in the national media, as it was the day the new Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition was announced.

I was able to get right in the thick of things, where John Prescott, among others was one of the famous political faces in the midst of the media frenzy.

The main experience I took from the day was being exposed to a live broadcasting environment, with organisations like the BBC and Sky besotted around me, making me aspire to be in the position they are.

To round off a special few weeks of reporting I attended a local council meeting where I produced a news item on a new housing project in Stanmore. This was great as I had the opportunity to meet more local councillors, find out some inside knowledge, in addition to talking to local people whom the proposal concerned.

Contacts are of the highest order in journalism and I can now see why I have been constantly taught this throughout my learning career thus far.

It’s hard to believe but my second University year here in Winchester is drawing to a close, all too quickly.

Low and behold though I hope to be involved in and around the city as much as possible over the summer. Personally, here’s hoping to the more experiences the better.