Last May, I decided that I want to see and experience something other than my home country of Finland and my home office at a local newspaper. I decided that I want to travel someplace warm, and I was eager to improve my English, so I decided to travel to San Diego from my hometown of Nurmes, about 310 miles east of Helsinki – a Finnish friend said it is the nicest city in the U.S. so why not give it a try. With help from the German-American Chamber of Commerce, I started to plan my trip and my internship – and after six months and an 11-hour flight on Jan. 6, here I am, at San Diego Community Newspaper Group, starting my four-month internship. I’m excited, and hope I can learn a lot about journalism and the United States. I graduated from the University of Tampere (second biggest university in Finland) last March and wanted to improve my knowledge of what journalism is like abroad. The U.S. is a great place for comparison, because freedom of speech here is quite equal to that in Finland. I’ve been a working and student journalist for 10 years, and I truly think I have found a career that I really enjoy. The best part of the job is meeting people with different backgrounds and trying to understand why they see world as they do. I also love writing and want to develop my style so that in the future people would also like to read my novel(s). Journalism in Finland is in the same kind of adolescent phase as in the U.S. and all over the world. If I knew how to get people under 30 to read news and pay for it, I would have millions of dollars. Somehow, we journalists have to burst the bubble of not-so-modern and inflexible journalism and make something so amazing and super-fun that people simply can’t live without it. I personally love news that includes video, because videos give so much more information about the subject. You, dear reader, can help us. Tell us: What do you want to read about in your community newspaper? What excites you and makes your blood flow faster? Whose interview would you like to read? Tweet, post an Instagram photo, email or send us a card or call. We want to know. I will continue having a nice time in San Diego and hope to meet you all in my four-month adventure! Tavataan pian (“see you soon” in Finnish)! (Editor’s note: Hanna Laukkanen is a winter-spring intern at San Diego Community Newspaper Group. Her email is [email protected].)
