All posts tagged: storytelling

My experience working in a hotel and why I loved it.

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Everyday would feel like a vacation. These were my first thoughts when I first considered a career in the hospitality and tourism sector, especially in a beautiful resort situated on the coast of Kuwait’s Arabian Gulf Sea. I remember walking into the gorgeous lobby of the multinational world-class hotel and wondering what it would be like to actually work there — great atmosphere, great perks! As a Kuwaiti female, it’s pretty uncommon if not common at all to work in a hotel in Kuwait. The tourism industry is not as advanced and progressive in the country making it an unpopular career choice. People also have this misconception that if you do work in a hotel then you’re either a receptionist, doorman or a housekeeping attendant which are all absolutely false assumptions and merely stereotypes. Being in the PR & Marketing field, I was eager to start off my career promoting a hotel. If people were opting for the banks and oil companies, I was heading the opposite direction. The deciding factor mostly had to do …

My Portuguese Inscriptions: Sintra’s Royalty Retreat

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Royal summer places, fairytale castles, and gardens made for romance. This is Sintra, Portugal. Mostly unheard of by travelers. During our stay in Lisbon, we decided to take a day trip to the compelling town of Sintra. In the majesty of this Shakespearean-like town, we were surrounded with romantic Portuguese architecture while making our way through ruins quilted in moss. The air of history and mystery echoed around us. Moreover, what makes it’s history fascinating is that it was purely a retreat for Portuguese royalty in the past! Nestled on top of Sintra Hills is the extravagant Palacio De Pena (Pena Palace). We had our fair share of ascending Portugal’s steep hills, so this time we decided to board a bus to take us to the hill on which one of Sintra’s dreamlike castles is perched. I have sort of an obsession with castles. Maybe it has to do with being a symbol of the Middle Ages, a period of history for which I have a deep fascination. Perhaps it’s the romantic and fairy-tale aspect and …

Video Games are an Exciting New Step for Storytelling!

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Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of video games. The adventure and role play genres are my favorite. And because of my enthusiasm for video games, I believe they are far more than what people define them these days- that they are a waste of time and promote lack of productivity. The first thing that comes to some peoples’ minds about video games, is that they are merely about mindless shooting and that only boys/children play them (don’t be surprised that I’m a female who enjoys playing ps4 and Grand Theft Auto!). But in fact, video games are an imagination engine and can even be inspirational, much like a book. What video games have reached is a middle-ground between books and movies, borrowing elements from both sides to intertwine narrative and visual storytelling. Unlike movies and books where the story is told as a sequence of events, games give you an avenue to discover the story on your own path. There’ve been endless debates about games in general. Common debates revolve around the …

In Defense of Journalism and Journovation

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Remember when people would say that journalism has reached its demise because print was considered dead with the advent of the internet? It’s either that or “what are you gonna do with a Journalism degree in Kuwait?” These are the two most common questions that come up during conversations about my future career plans as a reporter. Gone are the days when people would see journalism as a prestigious and hard-working profession, and gone are the days when peoples’ eyes would light up when you told them you studied journalism or worked as a journalist. Maybe its just me, but I noticed that such reactions are a handful in Kuwait, and most of them have now been substituted with with looks of confusion and even disappointment as if its something that is a thing of the past and doesn’t exist anymore. This itself is such a pity, and I always brush off this negativity. Journalism is not over nor will it ever be. What is happening is that journalism is adapting to the ever-changing world …