David Stuart, thank you for making us do those vox pops in Queen Street Mall. I felt well practised on my first day at The Courier-Mail when I was sent out with photographer Jono to find people for the The Word on the Street section.

“Do you think you’re healthy enough?” was the question of the day.The weather was wet and grizzly but luckily no one we approached said no. Two days later I was sent on another vox pop mission that needed to be done very quickly. No time for hesitation or self-consciousness.

Later in the week at The Courier, I found myself in the entertainment section, helping with stories for the double-page spread Qconfidential. I started off by interviewing a contestant on a reality TV cooking show. From there it was on to radio ratings and rumours of breakfast line-up changes at the commercial stations. I’m glad now that I know a lot more about how TV and radio ratings work.

Despite not being the most switched on when it comes to celebrities, top 40 music and fashion, I found a little home at Qconfidential for the rest of my two-week stay at The Courier. It was a world of best-dressed and worst-dressed Wives and Girlfriends at the Brownlow Medal ceremony, Downton Abbey down-under release dates and pornography in mainstream films.

One thing I had a great opportunity to practice was writing for small spaces. I saw Nathanael drop one of my stories into the page layout on his computer and I cringed to see it spill out the bottom of my allocated box. There was no such thing as being just a little bit over. I think this has led me to be even more ruthless with my sentences.