To my relief it was all fake - a 'crime scene' scenario activity related by tutors for students on some of the University's emergency services courses. Arriving at the University's Putteridge Bury campus (an old manor house!) on the outskirts of Luton, surrounded by tall trees and the intermittent flashing of ambulance lights was certainly intimidating, A but it made me adopt a sense of professionalism. Is this what my future would look like? A bubble of police, photographers, and press? It made me even more driven to make it in the industry.

My main goal of the evening was to be nosy. If you don't know already, journalists are meant to get as muchinformation about the details of the incident as possible. We tend to stick to a guideline of these six questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

There was a lot happening at the scene, and it was all fast paced. I trudged across a muddy field and wandered through some bushes to find paramedic students dealing with a an' having a cardiac arrest. There was also an incredible actress, who played the convincing role of an intoxicated woman (and 'possible witness or assailant). She continued pestering the paramedics about whether they could provide her with a fix, and repeatedly insisting that she had nothing to do with this incident.

Everything that took place that night was so surreal. If I'm honest, the privilege of being at the crime scene did get to my head. I was on a high horse labelled 'I'm a journalist, I can be here', but in reality, journalists can sometimes have a tough time at crime scenes when it comes to gathering 'of the moment' information and statements.

Of course, I didn't expect everything to be handed to me, but I certainly was taken aback by the amount of times I heard 'we refuse to make a statement at this time' by the Policing students. So I had to adapt. How was I going to create a whole article out of nothing? The forensics team was conducting a search of another field, so I decided that the best thing to do was tag along and try and gather more information that way.

Before they conducted the search, they had a briefing. I remember a list of instructions being issued to them; things like 'look out for X', 'don't be afraid to search for Y', but the one instruction that made my journalist ears perk up was: 'Do not feed any information to the press!'

Although quite a tricky one, it was a really interesting experience – to get first-hand insight into the type of situation I could face if I decide to enter a career as a crime journalist. Resilience is vital in any career you enter, so I encourage you to stick it out until the end.

This type of activity isn't a daily occurrence on the Journalism course, however, the course does offer a plethora of opportunities like this once in a while, so it is most definitely in your best interest to take up any opportunity thrown your way – no matter how crazy the opportunity may seem!