Working is its own reality
One phrase about sums it up right now: TGIF!
Made it through week number two of my internship. It's crazy how work weeks seem like the longest, most painful thing in the world when you're right in the thick of things, and as soon as you get to Friday night, you look back and think it went by in a flash. Or the weekend will, anyway, but I'm kind of a pessimist in that way.
Sometimes, when I stop and think about it, I can't believe the lawyers and fellows at the Center are entrusting me to do research for a shadow report to the UN. It kind of freaks me out, as if it's the ultimate test of my Googling ability. My research duties also call for many, many coffee breaks (bathroom breaks count too) to preserve my sanity. Sometimes, I'm on a roll and printing out documents and articles like no other. Most of the time, I have to go back to square one and brainstorm the right search words. Then there's the whole bit about actually reading the documents, organizing them, and creating a hellishly long lovely bibliography for 30+ articles. And that, folks, is about my week in a nutshell.
But I'm liking the work environment more and more. At first I thought these two assistants nearest to me were giving me the cold shoulder (or maybe they liked the previous intern before me, who knows) but it turns out they just had three court briefs due one after another. They were in the office well before everyone else arrived, and left well after. It must suck to be a real paralegal. If there's one crucial thing I learn from all my internships, it's the fact that you really should like what you do for 8+ hours of the day--because that's a huge chunk of your time. Before my internship started, I used to think: Oh, I get out at 5:30, that's still plenty of time to go out. Heck no. Maybe for an hour or two, but I need to make my 11pm bedtime, thanks.
Made it through week number two of my internship. It's crazy how work weeks seem like the longest, most painful thing in the world when you're right in the thick of things, and as soon as you get to Friday night, you look back and think it went by in a flash. Or the weekend will, anyway, but I'm kind of a pessimist in that way.
Sometimes, when I stop and think about it, I can't believe the lawyers and fellows at the Center are entrusting me to do research for a shadow report to the UN. It kind of freaks me out, as if it's the ultimate test of my Googling ability. My research duties also call for many, many coffee breaks (bathroom breaks count too) to preserve my sanity. Sometimes, I'm on a roll and printing out documents and articles like no other. Most of the time, I have to go back to square one and brainstorm the right search words. Then there's the whole bit about actually reading the documents, organizing them, and creating a hellishly long lovely bibliography for 30+ articles. And that, folks, is about my week in a nutshell.
But I'm liking the work environment more and more. At first I thought these two assistants nearest to me were giving me the cold shoulder (or maybe they liked the previous intern before me, who knows) but it turns out they just had three court briefs due one after another. They were in the office well before everyone else arrived, and left well after. It must suck to be a real paralegal. If there's one crucial thing I learn from all my internships, it's the fact that you really should like what you do for 8+ hours of the day--because that's a huge chunk of your time. Before my internship started, I used to think: Oh, I get out at 5:30, that's still plenty of time to go out. Heck no. Maybe for an hour or two, but I need to make my 11pm bedtime, thanks.