internship craziness.

Back in May, as I reported to this blog, I applied for an internship. I thought the interview went super well, but I didn't get it and was super bummed. I wanted a second job for the summer (it was a paid internship) and it would have been perfect for my resume so I could get some experience in my field, even if it's mostly just office work.

Fast forward to two Mondays ago--July 9. I am pretty much always job hunting, even if not seriously, so I decided to hop on the U's career website and have a look around. Guess what was reposted? The internship! I know what it's like to be rejected by something (jobs, student gov positions, etc.) when you really wanted them, but I also know that persistence goes a long way too. With that in mind, I reapplied for the internship and went to work at my normal job for that day.

15 minutes before I was supposed to leave for the day, my boss emails me saying, "Hey, let me know when you're leaving." I let her know that I was leaving at five. In she comes five minutes later, says that our department isn't doing what it should be numbers-wise, that they don't have enough for me to do, and that her boss told her to let me go today. I was shocked, sort of the I-just-got-laid-off, did-that-just-happen?? sort of thing. I let her know that I thought the way she handled the situation was very unprofessional and that she should have given me some notice so I could be looking for something else. The way she talked, they might have seen this coming. She told me she was sorry--it was lukewarm at best, and that she thought I was looking for other jobs. Well lady, that was at the beginning of the summer, before I decided to just have one job and study for the LSAT/GRE. Anyway, lame excuse. Not impressed. We work closely with two other divisions, so I asked her about transitioning to one of the other ones and she said I could talk to her boss about it. I went down to his office, he was interviewing an MBA candidate and I was upset and didn't want to wait any longer. I left him a note telling him to give me a call and left. He called me about an hour later, and I told him what I wanted to do and he said he would think about it over the next few days and get back to me.

The next day, a girl from the office calls me back and tells me that they hired two new people, so there's not anything for me to help with there either. In all honesty, that is completely fine. It is the WAY they handled things that made me mad. 1) they probably did see the numbers decline and expect this lay off in the near future; what I don't understand is why they didn't hold off on hiring new people and let me transition over. 2) why the guy didn't have the gumption to call me back rather than have the girl from the office do it and better still, why he didn't just tell me when I talked to him the previous day. He probably knew that that wasn't going to work. ugh! Needless to say, I was disappointed, and stressed about finding another job.

The silver lining in the cloud:
Wednesday, I get a call from the internship people saying that they wanted me to come in for another interview! I was excited :) Thursday, I went for the interview, and felt that it went really well but was careful to not get my hopes up like I did the first time. They told me that I would know by the next day.
Later that afternoon, they called me and OFFERED ME THE INTERNSHIP! Yay!! I was beyond ecstatic! Good experience for my resume/30 hrs/week/paid, what more could I want?? I started this last Monday and I really like it so far :) the people in the office are so fun! I really love listening to them chatter in Spanish and being able to understand most of what is said. I also love to hear about their cultures and similarities/differences to here. I've always been interested in culture like that, so this is perfect for me! Two of them are from Colombia, one is from Peru, one is from Italy and there are usually 3-4 more native Spanish speakers in the office too. Love it!

The point I mean to get to with all of this, that was made to me throughout all of it was that things just work out. They really do. This may sound cheesy or insignificant, but I don't think this was coincidence at all. It was meant to be! I guess that goes to show, just keep trucking, busting your butt and you will get to where you want to be :)

In other news, that same week, I bought a car! A silver Honda Civic! It is super cute and I love driving it. It is in super good shape and I got a great deal, so I am pleased. It's funny, at the beginning of the year, I filled out a questionnaire to kinda gauge my desires for this year, and one of the questions was, "What are some things (material and otherwise) that you hope to have in 2012 that you didn't have in 2011?" I had two answers: a silver Honda Civic and another thing (not material) that I won't list here. 1 out of 2! It's only mid-year--I think that's good odds for the other thing too!

Life is good! If only my dating experiences could improve a little {or a lot}, that would be fabulous! But that is a story for another time (so many weirdos, so little time). Baby steps hahahah.

xoxoxo,
ash