In other news, I have heard back about one of my internships! To make a long story short, I got it! Over Spring Break, I freaked out and searched for internship opportunities. It was 11 pm on Wednesday night of Break, and I was tired because I had been searching for a few hours. I was sitting at the end of my kitchen table, and my Mom sat at the other end. I told her that I was going to apply to this internship in on a whim. My mother encouraged me to do it. “It can’t hurt to apply,” she said.
With that much foreshadowing, I sent in my cover letter and resume about a week later, on a Tuesday, and then by Thursday days, I had received an e-mail. They wanted to interview me! I had no idea what I was doing, so I scheduled the interview for the following day, Friday. In trying to stay on top of my schedule and all the other things I had going on at that time, I barely had enough time to ask my college’s Career Planning and Resources office how to respond. They gave me a few quick pointers, made sure that I had questions to ask the interviewer, too, and then sent me on my merry way.
Friday morning, I set up camp in my dorm’s study room, monopolizing the entire space. I nervously shuffled the index cards I had prepared and skimmed the previous night’s Facebook posts, waiting to receive the call. At 9:10 am my phone buzzed, and the conversation started. My legs were shaking too badly for me to stand, as I had been instructed, and I forget to smile over the phone so that my interviewer could know how enthused I was about the prospective opportunity to work with their company. Apparently I didn’t bungle the interview too badly, because at the end of the interview they offered me the job! I was reeling. My breath had been knocked from my chest: they wanted me. This internship is in Madrid, Spain.
It should be noted that I cannot speak Spanish. However, the company I will be working for is a small startup with international employees. They run a website that is basically a how-to guide to living in a given country; instead of a travel-guide to countries, I’ll be writing and editing living-guides to various countries.
I asked for a week to decide on the internship, and after talking with numerous family and friends, notably MomAndDad and Aunt E, I felt that accepting the internship would be the correct decision to make. I had my parents’ support in this endeavor, as well as my aunt’s advice to rely on. It is incredible how support can change someone’s attitude. I was not sure about going at first because Spain is far away, I don’t speak the language, I don’t know how to get around. But as Cousin Kimber said on Facebook, “This is the time in your life to do it. Even if it is horrible it will be an amazing experience you will remember for the rest of your life with increasing fondness.” I don’t quite know what I’m getting into living abroad, but the parameters of the internship align with the skills I would like to develop. I want to push myself and live in a foreign country, as well, and grow personally. Whatever fears I have about going abroad are nothing in comparison with the experiences I will have there. I almost let my fear get the better of me by entertaining the idea of refusing the offer, but even in accepting the internship I grew. I’m growing. It was wonderful.
Since then, I've figured out my visa situation and gone to the FLRC (Foreign Language Resource Center, pronounced "flurck") with Morwen to learn Spanish with their Rosetta Stone software. I can say, "Ella tiene una manzana roja," "Que' esta' haciendo ella?" and "Ella esta' comiendo una manzana." As you can see, I like apples.
I’m working on housing in Madrid now – I hope to be with either an LDS family or share an apartment with LDS roommates. It would be neat to have that experience; I did not want my entire undergraduate experience to be one at BYU where undoubtedly my roommates would have all been LDS. It would be nice to live for a summer with people who share my values, people with whom I don’t have to explain what I believe or what I do. They already know, they understand, and they do the same things I do.
Also, to all the companies that did not accept me as an intern, I must say that you’re losing a special intern. Especially you, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.
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