BRAT-ish Papz experience

Ahh…. Just back from Brats camp and I’m feeling half-dead. Don’t get me wrong… they didn’t really torture us. It’s a wonderful experience and I would really want to share about it. Initially, I thought of joining this camp just to see what exactly journalism is. When I took a look at the schedule and the rules, I thought it was going to be very academic based and serious. Yea… it was clearly stated that mp3 players are strictly forbidden and mobile phones must be switched off all the time. The schedule was quite tight and hectic too. And I thought to myself, “This will be quite an adventure”.


Somehow, it was totally different from what I had imagined. It started with 39 teens (minus the seniors and the journalists) gathered from all over the country in the homely city of Ipoh for the camp. We stayed in Heritage Hotel throughout the workshop. I was quite reserved at first as I found it hard to break the ice. The number of guys is like 1/3 of the girls. But in the matter of hours, 39 strangers became friends. And I quickly found what Brats is really all about. It’s not just about the inside scoop of journalism but also about making new friends. It’s about mixing with teens from a different background, sharing ideas and point of views, getting you out of your own circle, learning to think with a different perspective and also enjoying life.


--------------------------------The BRAT-ish Papz------------------------------

The camp is conducted by Niki, Pui Yee, KW Mak and Sam who is the hebat hebat photographer. There were 4 seniors too who came from previous Brats camps and they are Julian, Jonathan, Yun-Ni and Josephine. First of all, we were separated into groups of 10. My group members are Karyn, Su Faye, Diyana, Yu Joe, Joanna, Hui Ling, Jo Ann, Satya and Claudia. When it comes to group naming, we named ours’ BRAT-ish Papz……… It’s the best we can find and it’s catchy though.

Josephine, Sam, Hui Ling (Hiro Nakamura), Julian, Yun-Ni, Jonathan

--------------------------------Li-Ann and me-----------------------

It’s interesting how some of us ended up knowing each other. Joanna goes to the same tuition as I do but I never knew who she was until Brats. Gabriel seems to be very familiar but I don’t know where I met her before. Jo Ann and Hui Ling are my AMC friend’s junior. Hmm.. Besides that, some don’t even look like their age. I’m so convinced that Julian (one of the seniors) is at least 19 until he shown me his license. He's 17. Sorry, man. I feel bad for making fun of you lar. Li-Ann who looks like a Form 4 student is actually 18. Another irony thing is that there are some stars look-alike too. Hui Ling is like the female version of Hiro Nakamura and my roommate, Srijesh reminds me of a taller Mr.Bean.


-------------------------Hui Ling (Hiro Nakamura look-alike) -----------------


----------------------------Srijesh (Mr. Bean look-alike)-----------------------


---------------------------------------Teddy-----------------------------

The first day was quite amusing. As we just finished discussing about our group, we had our first press conference. Believe me, we didn’t prepare for it at all and we just asked what that comes to our mind. Our interviewee is a famous blogger who covers stories on Hollywood celebrities. I’m personally quite annoyed by her behaviour at times as she kept on saying the ‘whatever’ word and she’s being very fussy when answering. After that, some of us took turns to complain about her but only to find out that she’s standing at the back of the room all along. She’s a Star reporter. Of course, I felt like a noob but it’s funny thinking back.

-------------------------------The many faces of Jonathan----------------

Journalism is not as easy as I thought to be. Some may think it just involves writing but it’s actually more than that. Before you write, you’ll need facts. A lot of research and interviews are to be done. You’ll need to decide on which angle the story should be. The story must be written with a neutral mind with no bias or prejudice towards anyone. You need to think of a catchy headline and a suitable photo to match the story. To think of it, it’s actually quite a hectic job. But throughout the camp, I think I’m fine with it though..

Being a Brat is one of my best experiences and I will not trade it with anything. May hope that the camp was much longer but time flies and everything must come to an end. Will blog more some other time.
Jiawei signing off now.