CTV and CFMT Correspondant Rubina Ahmed has seized an opportunity and is now in Islamabad covering the issues making news in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She has agreed to share her perspective as a journalist and as South Asian from Toronto. We look forward to more her and wish her the best!

PART THREE: THOUGHTS FROM THE FLIGHT HOME

I am back home after three months on the "front lines" É..as my most of my friends prefer to call it. Islamabad is hardly the "front line", but if it sounds good then why not.

The truth is, the second I got on the plane back to Canada i realized what a wild and fulfilling experience I just had. I knew you had to be dedicated to your career to do this stuff but never had I seen it so well put in perspective as I'd seen in Pakistan. This business of media can be ugly. Journalists work hard, that is the simplest way I can put it. Many people I met have been on the road for years and years, covering stories all over the world but it comes at the price of spending months away from family.

As a journalist there is always a need inside of me to tell a story, whether it be about what I did that day or what I think is the best solution to a certain political problem, it always comes down to one thing, I want to tell the story.

That is what keeps us journalists going when we're on foreign assignments, because the closer you are to the story the more to tell. Once you've hopped on a plane and taken the familiar elements of home out of the equation all you can do is live the story. The sacrifice actually comes unconsciously, it is not until you get home that you thinkÉMy gosh I was gone for so long.

Journalism is an ongoing learning experience, there is always someone else you should talk to or another book you should read, or a different article you should refer to. I can never say "I am as experienced as I can be". Going to a place where an international story is unfolding helped me as a journalist understand all this. I came away having met so many reporters and journalists that were wiling to teach me something. They tell you their stories and how they got to where they are now and you learn....learn from their mistakes and take what you can from there advice. But naturally, my path will be my own.

What did I learn from this experience, as a Canadian South Asian journalist working in Pakistan? I love my job, and all the stress that comes with. This experience brought me closer to understanding why my teachers in J-school, would always get a twinkle in their eye when they spoke about the career we were getting into.

As a South Asian woman my experience was unique, because I found myself working in a country that made a me a foreigner. But rather then my colour it was oten my age that counted against me, I was the youngest person working at any network I came across. You can imagine how hard it is to be taken seriously by a person who's been working longer than you have been alive, but you learn to adjust and keep it all in perspective.

If I was to give any advice to anyone who wants to travel in their job, I would say do it, donÕt think about it too much just go and explore, it will always be worth it. Glad to be back! Rubina

Part One: Adrenaline
Part Two: Special Tea and a Protest
Part Three: Thoughts from the Flight Home