Developments in the Internship

Internship today.

Attempted to help Noortje with several tasks, but two of the three times I didn't have the correct computer program.  We attempted to work around this, but it just didn't happen.  Finally, I addressed envelopes for her.  Yippie.

Spent the afternoon doing just that for Adrianna after lunch.  I asked her a few small, picky questions and it's lucky I did.  For one of them, I went up to her the same time Leo did.  They started speaking in Italian to each other and I just sat there wondering what they were saying because I didn't recognize anything (not speaking a word of Italian myself).  Then Leo noticed me two minutes later and said "Oh, sorry!" and continued the conversation in English for my benefit.  I didn't say anything.  I may have had an uncomfortable look about me, but I still appreciate the fact that he switched languages for my benefit.  That was nice of him.

Somewhere down the line, I was waiting for a web page to load.  Then a little animation at the bottom of the screen caught my eye.  It showed a cartoon guy lifting weights.  When you hovered your cursor over him, text appeared in place of the animation that said "working on it!"  I thought it was so cute. 

During lunch, I checked Facebook.  Jessica from Madison and I had previously planned to take a certain class together.  But when the roster came out, we couldn't find it anywhere.  She finally found it under Literature in Translation (LIT) simply titled "anime".  I know you just face palmed, Mom.  And it's probably up in the air whether I get credit for it or not, but Jessica is also an English major.  If she's getting credit for it, then I can too.  (We're just not going to mention her certificate in East Asian studies . . . )  But, with that class and the other classes I have previously planned, I have 17 credits, a part-time job, and at least one extra-curricular I'm not giving up (Working Title).  As of now, the class that would be sacrificed is the fourth class I took on because I couldn't find this anime class.  But now that looks really interesting.  I'm not giving up my English classes, which leaves my ComArts classes:  Intro to Media Production and American Film since 1970 are the two I adopted.  While one is practical, the other is theory.  I've also been thinking about my two English classes (Intermediate Fiction Workshop and American Literature) and how one is a practical and the other is a theory (only essay writing in American Lit).  This Anime class would be a theory class (as in, no hands-on work), so I am more inclined to drop the American Film since 1970.  However, the Intro to Media Production starts at 8:55a Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So there's an argument for either way here.

Also, Pheobe told me that she would like a writing sample from me to see what I can do in that area.  This excites me!  I asked what kind of writing, and she said any kind.  Marianne took me aside when I was about to leave and mentioned the writing sample as well.  She also said that it could be more than one i.e. a flash fiction and a poem and a short essay, or something.  I don't know if I should submit that much, though. 
So maybe just a flash fiction and a poem?  I already know which poem: Kabuki Switch because so many people seem to like it.  And Amy Quan Barry, my creative writing professor last semester, really liked it as well.  So it's gotta be good, right?  Also, there's a piece of flash fiction that I usually default to when it comes to submitting something short and demonstrative of my writing capabilities.  However, I have yet to look over that within the last three months, so maybe it's high time I do that again.  (With the help of Jessica through Skype because she's the one who collected the critiques from Working Title's first meeting this semester.  Those will be helpful.)

There is also something I wrote while in my creative writing class over here that I quite like.  So I'll eventually digitize that and edit my heart away until it's something I really like.  I'm thinking this thing will be my next Souvenirs submission. 

I've also been thinking about freelance writing.  Or at least doing something of the sort just to test it out and see if I can handle it. 

In other news, I found ways to check train fares from Oslo to Stockholm.  Will be looking more into that later on.  Meanwhile, I attempted to hunt down and book one night's accommodation for Brussels, but found that anything that looks decent is booked and everything else is really sketchy and not very good.  And I may be a solo traveler, but that means that my standards are a little higher than usual.  So now I'm thinking of taking an overnight bus to Brussels and an overnight bus from Brussels on that same day.  So I'll leave Friday night and come back really early Sunday morning.  Which is only a day in Brussels, but it's much better than doing nothing all of November.

Was asked to see Flashdance on Monday but that'll mean skipping class.  But still, it's veeeery tempting.  So I decided to go.  Opportunities like these don't pop up often enough!

Been missing my old phone.  Oh, American phone with your glorious sliding keyboard and your camera and your better calendar and alarm clock settings!  How I miss you so!!!  (This brought about because I'm charging it again.  What can I say, the time doesn't work at all but I still like playing with it.  I miss it.  It still feels awesome against my ear, especially now that my current international phone comes directly from the ghetto.  Piece of cheap crap phone . . . )