Chasing stories, both written and lived, fuels an insatiable passion for travel

SAN FRANCISCO ““ I love datelines.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, a dateline comes before the start of an article, and it signifies the location of where the writer is. In this instance, I put San Francisco because that’s where I’ll be for at least the next three months.

But back to the reason I love datelines.

Prior to the start of every away game I cover for the Daily Bruin, I go through a set and time-tested routine.

It begins with getting to the arena and looking at the piece of paper that tells you where your seat is. After I sit down, I take out my old computer that has been infected by almost every computer virus imaginable, and that’s when the fun begins. I open up a Word document, type out my name, “Bruin Sports senior staff” and e-mail address.

And then I type the dateline. For some strange reason, typing out that location is both exhilarating and rewarding. I feel a sense of privilege in knowing that I have the opportunity to travel across the country in order to bring the UCLA student community news from the road.

In my four years with the Daily Bruin, I have traveled to every Pac-10 school, in addition to a number of other places, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that those road trips made not only my experience with the newspaper, but in college overall, meaningful and worthwhile.

There was the time when I traveled to Arizona State to cover a men’s basketball game and promptly was banned from the campus along with my colleagues Nik Lampros and Derek Liu for climbing a mountain, which I found out later everyone is allowed to climb. (I believe the words were, “If I ever catch you doing silly things on the ASU campus again, I’m going to arrest you.”)

There was the time when I went to the EagleBank Bowl with my good friend Blair Angulo in December, and it was so cold in the open-air press box that my computer would not work.

These are just a few of the memorable trips I have had during the past four years. I came into college wanting to be a sports journalist. However, as the newspaper industry has hit a rough patch, I adjusted my career path and now wish to pursue a career in media relations.

This summer I will be interning with the San Jose Earthquakes in media relations. If things go as I hope they will, I may get a similar job with the San Francisco 49ers.

It may not be a career as a sports journalist, but hey, I still get to travel.

Howard was an assistant Sports editor for 2008-2009 and a senior staff Sports writer for 2009-2010.