Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Internship category.
The Hardest Part
There is a song lyric, I believe by Tom Petty, that says that “The wai..ai..ting is the hardest part.” At this point I’m inclined to agree. I’ve have been waiting for more information on two potential jobs for over a week now. The first is an Adjunct position at NOVA and the second is at my former internship site, as I mentioned in a previous blog.
At first I thought NOVA wasn’t going to work-out because going down to Manassas just isn’t feasible. Then the head of the Psychology Department contacted me again about teaching online classes as an alternative. Score! I was excited. This is a job that Dr. Doll said I’d be great at. I love academia, being around students, and I’ve always loved teaching, both formally and informally. With all my former Marymount professors willing to be references for me I feel confident that I might be heading in the right direction here.
With the internship site position things are a bit trickier. The work is lot more likely to show up in my dreams, as I know from prior experience. But I also know that it gave me a sense of satisfaction like nothing else I have ever experienced. Knowing I made difference, and not just in a superficial way, in the lives of families was amazing.
I truly hope you all leave your internship with a similar sense of satisfaction because your internship is one of the things that make Marymount, Marymount. Be careful when you select your internship site, and apply for a bunch so you have options. And hopefully, maybe, it will turn into something long-term. I hoping mine does, even though it has taken awhile for it materialize. Gotta love the government financial situation. Sigh…
Besos!
Action on the Job Front
NOVA Manassas was interested in taking me on as an Adjunct for the Spring Semester. I was ecstatic! I would get to be a professor! It would be freaking awesome. Then, I realized Manassas is kinda far away from where I live. Actually it’s really far. It would be a 2 ½ hour commute each way, probably only teaching one class while I was there each time. Five hours of a commute for one hour of work just didn’t seem sane.
This potential offer was both encouraging and slightly disheartening. I want to find my career job so badly and to have this put in front of me, and then almost yanked out from under me killed me. But, I have to look at it as though it is a sign that people are interested me; and that makes me feel a little better.
In other job news I have applied for a position where I completed my internship. My former supervisor gave my resume to the department head in person. Yay for having people on your side! I’d be doing very similar work to what I was doing during my internship, which should help make my case as a potential employee. Also a plus? The bus to the site picks up right in front of my apartment and drops me off a block from the building about 25 min later. Easy commute! It would be amazing to have my Marymount internship turn into my job. When I was graduating in May they were on a hiring freeze (sadness) but there just might be potential right now.
For now I just have to keep believing in myself and my education. I know I have the skills to be a valuable employee, and someone will recognize that. Okay, self-pep-talk over!
Life With The Gov
I can’t resist sharing this with you all…I got this via email from a coworker at my internship.
The Six Phases of Being Employed with the Government:
Phase 1
You are listening to jazz — Your first day at work is great. Your fellow co-workers are wonderful, your office is cute, and you love your clients!
Phase 2
You are listening to pop music — After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you’re coming or going anymore.
Phase 3
You are listening to heavy metal — This is what you feel like after ONE month.
Phase 4
You are listening to hip hop — You become bloated due to stress, you’re gaining weight due to lack of exercise because you are so tired and have so much work to do and, when you do get home, you feel sluggish and suffer from constipation. Your fellow co-workers are too cheerful for your liking, your clients don’t understand a word you say and the walls of your office are closing in.
Phase 5
You are listening to GANGSTA RAP — After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch and you forget what a ‘good hair day’ feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.
Phase 6
You are listening to the voices in your head – You are going to be furloughed for 2 weeks w/o pay, and will not receive a raise for five years, so …You have locked your office door to keep people out. You wonder WHY you are even here in the first place and WHY you became a government employee!
The Big Stuff. The God Stuff.
Sometimes it is easy to forget the big stuff. The God stuff. It’s just so easy to be consumed by school, and work, and wondering if you who love, loves you back. He doesn’t forget about us though, He’ll send us a shout out when we need it the most, which is precisely what happened to me earlier this week.
Monday morning I caught the 10 A in front of my apartment at approx 6:30 am, already a mess thanks to a sleepless night spent stressing out over getting the necessary hours at my internship. I had discovered the previous night I had three less weeks than I thought to complete my hours. But I hopped the bus, headed to my internship, while carrying my copy of the DSM. I was planning on catching up on some reading on my lunch break. About 30 minutes later I got off the bus, without my DSM.
The DSM, as some of you all know, isn’t just a book, it is the Bible for Psychologists and Psychiatrists. So losing mine was bad. It had year’s worth of notes in it, plus I needed it to study for my Psychopathology exam in two weeks. Oh! And did I mention that it is kind of expensive?
I ran into my supervisor walking towards the entrance to the building who initially suggested I call Metro and ask them to have the driver pull my book so I could claim it from lost and found later that day. Yeah. That didn’t work. Metro’s phone people are not friendly. Then she suggested I go back down to the street and stop a bus going the opposite direction and ask if they would radio my driver and ask him to pull my book. About 30 seconds after I got to the bus stop a 10 B pulls up, and the bus driver stops and asks, “Did you leave your book on the bus this morning?”
“Yes!”
Oh my gosh. In that moment I knew God was sending me a message. He has my back. And I am grateful.
You have to listen to this song. It is CCM at its best. The song is Awake and Alive by Skillet. Tune in around 2:30 if you want to skip of the singer’s introduction.
Ya Know What They Say About When The Boss Is Away? Lies!
My internship exploded this week stress wise. My supervisor is gone for a week, leaving me flying solo for the most part. The workload is crazy; I am doing my normal work, plus the extra work for my supervisor that is still coming in. I walked up to my cubical today and saw my in-box (the one for folders and other documents-not email) and I was in shock. I had about 3 inches of “stuff” waiting for me to deal with. I muttered more than one explicative as I gathered all of what would be my mornings work and cranked up the volume of the song “Happy Ending” by He is We to make myself feel better. Then I opened my email and that certainly did nothing to reduce the stress I was feeling.
It’s going pretty well though, and that is a confidence booster. I know I have grown as an intern in the past two days. I have learned methods of finding information that allows me to be more self-sufficient, I am handling more types of materials and accomplishing a greater variety of tasks.
I know when my supervisor comes back I will be a greater asset to her because I have learned to do so many more things. I also know I’ll want to tell her never to leave again because this is just a bit more than slightly crazy. Honestly though, I am glad she did. Not because I wanted to get rid of her, I enjoy working with her. Never-the-less, I am grateful for the learning experience. However, who knows what I’ll be saying Thursday when I leave for the weekend after another two days of wondering if I am going to end up committed. I might try for a short update here at the end of the week with how things ended up when all is said and done.
Speaking of all things being said and done, graduation is fast approaching, which possibly means the end of this blog. So, this is your chance. Tell me what you want me to talk about. If you don’t, I’ll keep rambling, I’ve been doing it over a year and I doubt I’ll suddenly run out of things to say. However, if you don’t speak up, then I won’t know if there is some facet of being a grad student at Marymount you want me to address that I haven’t.
Very Cool Gorilla
And, on a completely unrelated note I am closing with some photos from a recent trip to the Zoo with my parents.
He reminds me of my brothers old ferret, Oscar
Big Lizard!
Elyse's Blog 