Interning is hard.
Especially when you aren't getting paid. Especially when you have to get up at 6:00am to make it to work by 7:30am. Especially when you're working with 12 kids all day, who need specific attention in ways that suit each one individually.
But I'm learning. so. much. The experience I've already gained in only 2 short weeks on the job cannot be matched. Honestly- I feel like I could launch straight into the child/family psychology field now and not feel like I'd be doing more harm than good.
There are 2 shifts during the day: The "early shift" (7:30am-3:30pm), and the "late shift" (1:30pm-9:30pm). I only intern Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with class every Tuesday night from 6:00pm-8:30pm. So Tuesdays are full of awful responsibilities. I've noticed my mood gradually decreases around this time of the week.
The children have already started responding to me just as they would to the permanent members of staff. They all call me by name, and ask me for guidance/permission when needed. It's a strange phenomena- being in charge of people. Usually I'm the one confabulating my schedule to adhere with exams and work shifts and anything else thrown at me. It's also very interesting to sit in on the school sessions, from a completely different perspective. It's interesting to see all the theories and strategies actually put to use. I feel old.
Let's take a brief break from responsibility banter, and focus more on how important this place is to the children enrolled. Looking back on my childhood, there's not a single thing I'd change. My family and neighborhood and the opportunities with each was God sent. I always keep this in the front of my mind: It may be taxing for me to go into work every day, but helping those kids just be kids and understand and enjoy themselves is always my central focus.
Because who doesn't want to make a soap mo-hawk every now and again? (My nephew, for those of you that don't know).
Changing gears now, let's move on to the life and times within the city. I've made an absolutely brilliant friend here by the name of Jen (Altheide). You know those people you feel like you've known forever, even when you just met them? Yeap.
A part from work and class, this past weekend (on Sunday), we headed to the beautiful town of Bath to see Stonehenge and the Roman Baths. So, so pretty. Totally worth suffering through the rain and wind and hell that was the hill of Stonehenge.
As promised, here is a tribute to Jen's BF back home, Andrew, who thinks I'm annoyed by the presence of his "hick" accent in the background of my London flat via Skype.
You're like, totally the featured person of this post.
Changing gears again: The rest of the week was work, and late-night walks. Apparently, we live roughly 15 minutes from the Thames by foot. Who'd a thunk? There's a bunch of trails nearby for walking, running, and narrowly avoiding bikers.
Today while downtown, we saw a man on a bike get hit by a van. That was scary/cool. Mostly scary. Then the bloke in the van pulled over, got out, and started (or thought about) verbally abusing the cyclist, who just rolled away. Even though it was the cyclist's fault, we made sure he was okay. --> Good samaritan deed of the day.
Afterwards, we went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. IT WAS AWESOME!
Going out of order a bit- Last night, we went to a club in Soho called "Punk"- One of England's many, many gay bars. At one point, some of the bartenders walked around handing out free fried chicken on napkins. Yeah thanks! I had a drummy. I continued dancing.
I've decided through it all, things are just better over here. The Monarchy and royalty only makes it better. The Queen's birthday was last weekend, and they had an all-day parade in her honor.
What was the name of the dude that Katie married? Hurley? Henry? Something... Bob?
It's just brought me to my final conclusion for this segment:
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