I wasn't even interested in journalism when I came to Georgetown. But somehow four years later, here I am.

Unemployed, true, but with a handful of internships under my belt, a list of professional contacts and the sort of experience that makes me know this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

My first run-in with journalism at Georgetown was move-in day 2000. My dad and I were inching along in the heat to Harbin when an uber-enthusiastic student approached the car, offering us a copy of The Hoya. I grabbed one, but since writing for a newspaper didn’t fit into my grand plan to major in Spanish and join Georgetown’s dance troupe, I tossed the paper in the back seat.

After my plans to make the dance team fell through (i.e., I was rejected), I decided to sign up for every club and organization possible at SAC Fair.

I'll be honest, I sauntered over to The Hoya table because of the free candy. Later, I followed a cute boy to my first news meeting. A few sleepless nights and a dozen stories later, I was promoted to the position of editor.

By the end of sophomore year, I was still working for The Hoya. Its office in Leavey is known for sucking people in and never letting them escape. But I survived -- sanity intact -- and started thinking that maybe journalism was more than just a pastime.

I put my Hoya experience to practical use that summer as an intern at NBC. My first day on the job, I followed a reporter to Rock Creek Park where police had just uncovered Chandra Levy's remains. I also enrolled in my first journalism class at Georgetown, where along with fellow aspiring journalists, I learned about the ethics and responsibility that come with the profession.

With a lot of persistence, I got a reporting internship at the D.C. bureau of the LA Times junior year. There, I covered the IMF/World Bank protests, the D.C. area sniper and after a coin toss, beat out the other interns for the chance to cover the glamorous Kennedy Center Honors.

Before I graduated, I would write stories for a national audience at USA Today. The experience I gained during my internship there would help me get a newsroom job at the Washington Post as a senior.

I wouldn't be lying if I said everything I've learned about journalism, I learned during my four years at Georgetown.

At The Hoya, I stumbled through the basics with a group of people who came to be some of my best friends. None of us really knew what we were doing but as long as we were having fun, things seemed to fall in place. My journalism teachers -- most of them involved in the profession themselves -- helped me make the transition from the classroom to the beginnings of a career. And through my internships, I learned by doing, working alongside the best of the best.

There's a reason they call Washington D.C. the political and media center of the country.

If journalism is your calling, go out there and take advantage of it.