This is what I want to do.

Holy shit. I can't sum it up better than that. Really. Reporting breaking news is the best rush I've ever had.

I just got back from a total of about seven, maybe even eight, hours or reporting this huge protest on campus. There were news choppers and associated press reporters and cameras everywhere, and me and my fellow campus reporters darting around trying to get everything that was happening. It was nerve-wracking and scary and exhausting and the absolute most exciting thing I've probably ever been directly involved with. I learned so much today. I feel like I'm already a seasoned reporter, even though I know I have way more stuff to learn.

Even though protests here are by no means unusual - in fact they're pretty much a daily, or at least weekly, thing to some extent - this one was bigger than most. I was literally coming out of class in one of the main buildings on campus when it started. Seven students protesting budget cuts tied themselves together on the fourth story ledge of this building, and refused to come down until their demands were met. I saw my editor talking to an older reporter, went over and asked what I could do, and that was it. They were depending on me for updates and quotes from the scene for the rest of the day.

Demonstrators on the ground bellow held a rally the entire time, chanting about the fee hikes at the university and comparing us to Egypt and Wisconsin(a little melodramatic maybe but hey, they're passionate about this stuff). Riot police showed up to close the doors of the building, and a bunch of people got pepper sprayed and hit with batons. I got to talk to a bunch of those people, including one of the protesters who was chained up on the ledge after they came down later when the administration agreed to meet most of their demands.

It was just incredible. Calling my editors up every few minutes with updates, talking to such passionate people, getting advice and directions from older reporters, seeing my name on the byline for the coverage, and just being there in general. If there was ever a time when I doubted whether or not I wanted to go into journalism, today pretty much put an end to that. I'm sure there'll be times in the future when I'm covering something difficult or super boring when I start to get discouraged, but hopefully thinking back to today will help me get past it and remember what it's like to be a reporter on the front lines of breaking news that truly matters.