Blast

There are youngsters like myself at BBC newsrooms across the country doing the same thing. We have all had a short training course in Bristol and will meet up again at the end of our experience to share our stories.

My name is Nick Rowland and I'm twenty years old. I am now an Ipswich local, having lived in Witnesham for fifteen years, but I was born in Shoreham, West Sussex. I have an older sister and two younger brothers and my mum and dad both work in Ipswich. We share our home with two dogs, a cat and a rabbit.

Working at the BBC is allowing me to combine my passion for all sport with an invaluable experience in broadcast and online journalism. I have just finished my first year at The University of Leicester where I'm reading International Relations with a keen ambition to go on and become a foreign or war correspondent. However, if I could spread my wings across both sport and international news I wouldn't hesitate to do that.

Marcus Stewart scores at Anfield

My first passion is football and Ipswich Town. During the last thirteen years, I have had a season ticket at Portman Road and travelled to many away games. My favourite away match was the UEFA Cup tie with Inter Milan at the San Siro stadium. The result was disappointing, but it didn't spoil what was a great travelling experience. Oh, and Marcus Stewart goal in the 1-0 at Anfield in 2000 wasn't bad either! I have an addiction to watching any live sport on television and I love the Olympics.

My interest in international affairs was born whilst spending a year between my A-levels and university living in Sri Lanka working with The Project Trust which is a British educational charity. I was teaching English to children, adults and Buddhist monks in a rural village called Embilipitiya in the Rathnapura district working with project partner Bob Webb. I managed to hook up my wind-up radio to the BBC World Service to hear the live 2012 Olympic decision. I was over the moon when London was announced as the winning city.

Nick in Sri Lanka

I was in Sri Lanka at the time of the 2004 Asian Tsunami. With the exception of Indonesia, Sri Lanka was the country worst-hit in terms of lives lost and infrastructure ruined. On that day, I was staying just around the coast from where the train was overturned by the waves at Peraliya, killing 1500 people. Following my own narrow escape, my project partner Bob and I spent the next few months distributing aid and building houses along the coasts of Sri Lanka.

This Blast section of the BBC Suffolk website is mine to share with you all of the reporting that I will be doing with the BBC team. I will have a weekly report on BBC Radio Suffolk's Matchday Preview (6-7pm Fridays) which you can listen to live on this website and Listen Again to until the following week's show.