Tonight, however, there will be no drunken adventures for me. I'm exhausted and on antibiotics for the first time since I got here. I actually might be running a fever.
Ugh, woke up yesterday and it was a flashback to Loyola graduation. I had the intention of going in to work, but then I curled up and slept for eight hours.
Prudently, I stayed home last night.
And, for my trouble, I woke with a head cold.
I'm three doses of 500mg cipro in, and signs of improvement can be seen but I'm erring on the side of caution and remaining stagnant for the next few days.
Maybe tomorrow I'll sleep again and work from home.
I left my charger at a friend's house so I need to them or I will have no power, so that won't be good.
I have completely lost my train of thought.
Ah.
Yes.
We've been talking about things a lot lately.
Things I've been hesitant to post to my blog lest you think this trip was in vain.
And today I feel like telling you.
I came here to do a business internship. I paid with the expectation that I would be doing an internship.
The website says:
We organize work experience internships in a number of business sectors. These currently include chartered accounting, business consulting, marketing and branding, media/PR, and international development projects.
Interns working on an accounting internship will join a firm of accountants and work on a variety of tasks. Your responsibilities will normally include book keeping, forensic and management accounting, advisory roles including corporate recovery and restructuring, audits, tax assessments, and trustee services.
Interns working in marketing, media, or PR work on marketing strategies, marketing campaigns, branding, various sponsorship deals, events, networking, public speaking, and writing for the press.
We also offer several specific business internships in International Development and Business Enterprise.
As an intern working on one of our Business internships, the actual work you do will depend on the internship and will vary. You could find yourself gaining exposure to board meetings to observe business development plans, attending client meetings, working on set briefs, putting together portfolios, helping with events, and much more. As with all internships, you should be prepared to undertake some tasks such as proofreading, filing, and answering the phone, but provided you show enthusiasm and willingness, your English speaking colleagues will be happy to give you insight into their area of expertise. You'll go home with a new set of skills and a good understanding of how the business world works.
During the internship, interns are expected to be punctual, professional and hard working. You will be required to work an average of 35 hours per week, usually Monday-Friday. When you arrive at work on your first day, you will be assigned a supervisor who will be able to advise and support you during your internship, and of course our Projects Abroad staff are always available to help.
Developing internships in other business areas is always possible - just ask!
But what I was doing here was nothing like what I expected.
They reneged on my original internship days before I arrived.
And when I got here, they had no idea what I was going to be doing.
That reeks of mismanagement and lack of preparation.
The pre-trip is so beautifully arranged and communicated, and pick up is lovely. But project-wise, people are often left to fend for themselves. They are dropped at projects that don't know that they're even coming to work.
When I leave, I'm going to tell them that there's no way I would send anyone here to do any sort of internship. Because I came here to learn and I was put into a place that was neither professional nor very structured and because of it, I wasn't able to learn anything (except how to use a copy machine).
And I'm not learning.
Even now, in journalism, I'm not working alongside real journalists. I'm in an office with other volunteers and I'm setting my own pace. I'm blogging right now when I should be writing something useful.
But selfishly, I feel better for being in journalism, because at least I'm using internet and space that my payment might have paid for instead of being thrown into a strange project that didn't even know I was coming and being used to fulfill a gap that couldn't have been filled.
And if it wasn't for my host mother and my host house, which I love beyond belief, and the friends that I've made here (both Projects Abroad and otherwise), I'd feel as though I had no purpose being here.
Yes, I came here to explore and to live, but I also came here to learn about business. And the only thing I've learned about business thus far is that it takes a lot more than promises to get anything done.
So while both the business internship and the journalism internship are going to go on my resume, I feel as though I'm lacking the true experience that Projects Abroad promised - project-wise.
Projects Abroad says that it's what you put into your internship that matters, but there are matters of materials, etc, that can never quite be sorted out. One girl can't print things for her project because she has to pay for them out of her own pocket.
The projects are mis-managed and lack structure and focus. Instead, there is a sense of stagnancy about the whole thing. Productivity is by the wayside.
And thus I've learned about what not to do, and perhaps that's productivity in itself.
But please don't think that this doesn't mean that I'm not loving it here. I wish to stay here forever, if I could.
I love this place.
I love being here.
I love what I'm doing.
I love the cultural atmosphere, I love the languages, I love everything.
I am learning about myself, and about what I can do and what I'm capable of, and I believe that it's all knowledge in itself.
But I so badly wish I was coming back with actual business experience because I could have taken the money I spent to come here and gone around the world with it.
But for now, the frustrations are minimal. I wake up every day looking forward to spending time with the family I have here. And when we all get home, we sit and cook dinner and talk about our days.
The woman I live with is in HR and is a writer, so I feel as though maybe I have a lot to learn from her.
In other sad news, Dad and Jeanie have ended their relationship after three or so years.
I got the phone call the other day at work.
I didn't think it would upset me, but I spent that entire night sort of in a dark mood.
I know that I'm too old to be upset, but I was. I really was.
I guess I knew it was coming and I should have been prepared for it, but it sort of hit me strangely.
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