5:00 p.m., searching “Ewha Womans University” on the Web site Naver or Google on Friday night, 11-sized letters with Times New Roman font, any call from a phone number starting with 3277 and Kakao Talk. These are the things that I grew tired of after two and a half years of life as the Ewha Voice reporter.
For the last two and a half years, I spent many hours  meeting the deadlines, finding news items on the Internet, staring at a blank white screen with a black cursor in front of me to fill in, calling school institutions or offices, replying to Kakao Talks sent by the editors or my fellow reporters. But the end has finally come. On this June 22, I would say farewell to all those things, as my life as a Ewha Voice reporter will officially end.
How do I feel? I have never been to the army and I do not dare to say I know how it feels like to be there – counting the day of discharge or liberation to enjoy the world. I hate using this analogy but it seems being discharged from the army is the best way to describe how I would feel on this June 22. Even my friends and family members also welcome the news saying I would spend more time with them or enjoy my pastime freely. I am already happy that I would not receive as many Kakao Talk messages then I used to.
But the Ewha Voice has not just offered me memories of being anxious, worried, frustrated, angry or sad due to stress coming from publishing a newspaper or working with people who have different personalities.
Writing articles and reporting, which sometimes seemed so tiresome, made me learn about the world not only from text books but also from real life. Writing interview articles, I could meet people and learn their wisdom directly from whom I could only watch on the television like Rah Seung-yun (’91, French), the spokesperson who played an important role for Pyeongchang-gun to hold the Winter Olympic games in 2018 or Han Bi-ya, an emergency relief worker who has been considered as a mentor for the youth. When I reported on Ewha students who taught teenaged single mothers as volunteers, I learned how poverty continues along generations, by listening to stories of teenage single moms.
Also, I could learn news and useful information of Ewha faster than other students like the results of the Student Government Association elections, staying up a night in the Student Union Building with another reporter. I know the long story of heated debate among school officials behind this year’s 3.5 percent tuition cut. To add, I know how to get out of the Ewha Campus Complex even when it is locked after 12:00 a.m.
If someone asks me then what the biggest blessing I earned from the Ewha Voice is, I would confidently say friends that I can trust no matter what as we managed to endure the harsh Ewha Voice schedule together. We have spent so much time together writing articles, making mock newspaper during summer vacation, taking a summer course on journalism, selling cheese sticks and chicken nuggets during Daedong Festival in 2010, cramming for exams in the Ewha Voice office, having heavy night snacks after item meeting on every other Mondays and so on. Having friends who are so humorous that they can make me laugh every five second is incredible.
My life as an Ewha Voice reporter is almost over. “Bitter sweet” would be the most appropriate word to describe my feeling. As I feel so liberated by the fact that I would be free to make some appointments on Monday 6:30 p.m. or plan for my summer vacation without worrying about the Ewha Voice schedule, I feel so grateful – I gained real knowledge from reporting and life long friends whom I can only meet after two and half years in the Ewha Voice.
저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지