To the Four Corners: Looking Outside the Box in a College Town

The best advice (and perhaps simultaneously the worst) anyone ever gave me when I arrived in Tucson was "hop on a random bus and see where it takes you.'

It came from my Spanish 102 Professor, after discovering that no one in her freshman class had ever dared to step foot off of campus before, myself included.

Sure, for a 130 pound freshman with a face that just says "mug me," the idea of wandering into the oldtown barrios, the scorching desert, or even the back alleys of downtown sounded downright suicidal.

Yet I took her advice, said a few "hail mary's" and jumped on a bus bound for Reed park. Anyone who has ever taken the Tucson bus system is no doubt in for a shock... lets just say it's a good place to people watch. And while my Professor's "method" may have been a little risky, her intentions were only for the best.

It is her advice I'm passing on to the next generation of U of A students, especially those in the field of journalism. Sure, you can find stories, do interviews, and pass classes all from the safety net of the UA campus, or you can do what you came to college to do and expand your horizons.

If I had never gotten on that bus, I very well may have never have experienced any of the things I most treasure about college. For instance, I never would have stumbled to the corner of Ft. Lowell and Campbell for what would be my first 4 a.m. breakfast burritos from Nico's

I would never had had the high elevation realization that I could freeze my butt off at the top of beautiful Mount Lemon in the middle of September

I would never have met Harvey Brooks, bass player for the Doors and owner of the amazing 17th Street Market, or Yuri Makino, UA Professor and filmmaker whose film "Alma" challenges conventional stereotypes of the Southwest.

Granted not every experience has been a good one. Take for instance the jacket ruining parrots of the Reed Park Zoo.

The point I'm trying to make is that, as journalists we can only present the world accurately if we get out into it. So leave the internet research in high school journalism where it belongs, stuff your pockets with a notepad and a few pencils and "hop on the bus" so to speak. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.