Keep Buggering On
Man, I really can't keep this thing updated.
I have an spot for my internship. Sadly not at the office with the cats. The woman who owns that office called me to say I hadn't made it (but I was a close second). It was hard to be dissappointed when she just sounded so sad and heartfelt about being sorry I didn't get the job. She gave me some great tips as well.
I'd gotten an e-mail from the third company I had applied for, and they sent me a test-translation. It was pretty tricky, especially the into-Dutch one. (Lots of semi-official standardised language.)
The monday after my first interview I had my second interview at company number 2. This was the bureau that was really my first choice. The only downside was that it's in the middle of nowhere. It takes up to four hours just to get to the trainstation in the town from my parent's house.
When I finally got there (after a bus and four different trains, because someone decided to jump in front of a train just before I got to the first station) the woman who runs the translation firm started telling me all about the firm, what they translated, how they worked. When she asked me if I had any questions, I asked: erm, aren't you supposed to be asking me questions?
It turned out that I already had the job and she just wanted me to come so we could sort out the details and I could meet the team. It's an amazing team, with people all over the world and, hilariously, none of them ever got a degree in Translation. Which just goes to show how full of shit my school is for telling us there's no way to get a good job as a translator if you don't have a degree in it.
The woman also arranged a room at the local (and as far as I can tell, only) bed and breakfast in the town. It's not an ideal situation: I can't stay during the weekends, I don't have a permanent room (every weekend, she'll check which one is free and I can have that one) and the kitchen doesn't actually have a stove, just a toaster, a microwave and a microwave-oven.
It's taken me the better part of last week to convince the B&B owner that yes, I really do need to have the room Sunday as well, because I can't be at work on time if I have to travel on Monday morning. And no, that did not mean I would be staying Sunday-to-Thursday-morning, I would still also need the room on Thursday night.
I think I have it arranged now, so finger crossed.
Other than that, life has been meandering on. I'm enjoying my Professional Writing minor, even though sometimes I really want to bonk people over the head. I'm staggering on with getting my liscence. I think my driving instructor is slowly giving up hope, because I don't seem to be able to actually do what I know I have to. Theoretically, I know when and how to use the stick-shift, how to steer and break, where to steer, how to read the signs and who has the right of way. But knowing and applying what I know all at the same time... not happening yet.
At least I can go over a roundabout without mind-numbing panic now, so I think I'm still improving.
Next up is the Christmas holiday. Officially, we should get our thesis grades back on Friday the 17th, the last day of school this year. Somehow, I doubt it, though. Christmas holiday is going to be spent redecorating my room (the 22 year old vinyl on the floor is being replaced, walls and shelves are being painted, more bookshelves and storage is going up and I'm getting a new bed), working on my driving theory, writing a first draft for my Prof. Writing project and spending whatever time I have left being creative.
Chances are that at the end of the holiday, I will need another holiday.
I have an spot for my internship. Sadly not at the office with the cats. The woman who owns that office called me to say I hadn't made it (but I was a close second). It was hard to be dissappointed when she just sounded so sad and heartfelt about being sorry I didn't get the job. She gave me some great tips as well.
I'd gotten an e-mail from the third company I had applied for, and they sent me a test-translation. It was pretty tricky, especially the into-Dutch one. (Lots of semi-official standardised language.)
The monday after my first interview I had my second interview at company number 2. This was the bureau that was really my first choice. The only downside was that it's in the middle of nowhere. It takes up to four hours just to get to the trainstation in the town from my parent's house.
When I finally got there (after a bus and four different trains, because someone decided to jump in front of a train just before I got to the first station) the woman who runs the translation firm started telling me all about the firm, what they translated, how they worked. When she asked me if I had any questions, I asked: erm, aren't you supposed to be asking me questions?
It turned out that I already had the job and she just wanted me to come so we could sort out the details and I could meet the team. It's an amazing team, with people all over the world and, hilariously, none of them ever got a degree in Translation. Which just goes to show how full of shit my school is for telling us there's no way to get a good job as a translator if you don't have a degree in it.
The woman also arranged a room at the local (and as far as I can tell, only) bed and breakfast in the town. It's not an ideal situation: I can't stay during the weekends, I don't have a permanent room (every weekend, she'll check which one is free and I can have that one) and the kitchen doesn't actually have a stove, just a toaster, a microwave and a microwave-oven.
It's taken me the better part of last week to convince the B&B owner that yes, I really do need to have the room Sunday as well, because I can't be at work on time if I have to travel on Monday morning. And no, that did not mean I would be staying Sunday-to-Thursday-morning, I would still also need the room on Thursday night.
I think I have it arranged now, so finger crossed.
Other than that, life has been meandering on. I'm enjoying my Professional Writing minor, even though sometimes I really want to bonk people over the head. I'm staggering on with getting my liscence. I think my driving instructor is slowly giving up hope, because I don't seem to be able to actually do what I know I have to. Theoretically, I know when and how to use the stick-shift, how to steer and break, where to steer, how to read the signs and who has the right of way. But knowing and applying what I know all at the same time... not happening yet.
At least I can go over a roundabout without mind-numbing panic now, so I think I'm still improving.
Next up is the Christmas holiday. Officially, we should get our thesis grades back on Friday the 17th, the last day of school this year. Somehow, I doubt it, though. Christmas holiday is going to be spent redecorating my room (the 22 year old vinyl on the floor is being replaced, walls and shelves are being painted, more bookshelves and storage is going up and I'm getting a new bed), working on my driving theory, writing a first draft for my Prof. Writing project and spending whatever time I have left being creative.
Chances are that at the end of the holiday, I will need another holiday.