Sunday, June 5, 2011

Internship woe!

Back in March, I got an interview with a Funeral home in Ottawa.
I was very excited mostly because I was one of the few in my class who didn't have an internship and the school year end was approaching quickly.

During the march break, i made my way to Ottawa and met up with the Funeral director at that place. The interview went smoothly and I got them to hint on the fact that they wanted to hire me.
I was thrill, but just like any other jobs, they had other candidates.
I waited a couple of weeks and then called to see how things were going. Unfortunetly, the boss wasn't there, he had left on vacation and would be back only by the end of the month.
So I waited some more.
Meanwhile, my class and I went on a field trip in Toronto.
Where we visited this company that takes care of all the international shipping and receiving of bodies and funerals for the canadian army. It was very interesting, they mainly focused on the embalming part, and dealt with all the funerals for the Army.
 It had everything i was hoping for in a job.
Since I am more interested in the embalming aspect and I love to travel and meet people from different country ; this job had it all.
Unfortunetly, my dream job wasn't taking interns.

At the end of March, I finally got hold of the boss from my Ottawa interview. Only for him to go on and on about how much he liked me and how much I would be a great asset to their company. BUT they couldn't afford to take on an intern for the year. I was devastated, my only hope was gone. We had 20 days left until the end of the school year, 1 month until internship had to start.
I was just about ready to give up.

I then received an email saying that the place of my dream job was now accepting resume from interns! I was sooooo excited, and applied withing the first 30 minutes of getting that email. The next day, I got an email from them saying they were very interested on meeting me and asking when I could go to Toronto for in interview. I told them, that I was starting my exam week , but I was free on the weekends to meet up with them. And I waited...no replies back. I was ready to give up....again.

Then we went to visit this funeral home in SF, and my teacher put in the word that I was still looking for an internship. The boss of SF said he would be willing to take in an intern but he was a bit apprehensive because he had had bad luck with previous interns.
I contacted him and on my last day of exam, I met up with him and he offered me the internship.
Not having anywhere else to go, i accepted right away. Afterall, the internship would be in a small town only 2 hrs and half from home, in a french community. And there would only be 3 funeral directors including myself, so lots of room for learning.

I went home for 2 weeks, and spent time with my family before moving up to SF. On that same day of my interview, I went and saw 2 appartments and choosed my future home. A nice 2 bedroom appart. only 2 minutes away from work. Everything was falling into places.

then a few days before moving, i received an email from my dream job saying that they wanted to see me on the weekend for an interview. I was sad to email them back saying I had taken up an offer already and was about to move.I told them, that once I have my license, i may re-applied to them because i was still interested on working there in the future.
They replied back immediately saying how disappointed they were in themselves for waiting so long before contacting me. They wanted to wait before meeting me, so that I could concentrate on my final exams and now they couldn't help but see that they missed out on a big oppurtunity because I seemed like the perfect candidate. And they urged me to please re-apply in the future.

It was a bit bittersweet, because I wanted that job so bad. It was THE dream job for me...but I had to pass it for now.

Now it's been a month since I started my internship in SF and I'm loving it!
There is only 5 employees (including myself) and they are all great.
I am threated like an employee and not an intern.
My boss is very strict though and a bit scary at times. But he is also very good at what he does and I feel like i'm learning a lot from him.
He trusts me and let me do things wihtout constently supervising me.
After only 6 labs, I was left alone to to embalming from beginning to the end. I am also known as the cosmetic lady (since i'm the only girl there and the only one who seem to know how to do hair and make up).
I'm not always sure if i'm doing a good job or if i'm just running around like a headless chicken....but sometimes, my boss tells me how appreciated my work is and how good i'm doing, so that feels good (more like a relief).
I like the town, it's small, friendly, has everything you need within walking distance and it's all in french. Everyone is bilingual, but everyone speaks french mostly ahaha.
I am thinking on joining a choir in september (they stop for the summer). Things are good.
I love my appartment, it's big enough to have people over, but small enough for 1 person to not feel lost in a big house. I'm good.
I still don't know anyone here, but it's ok. I don't feel alone lol.

So things are working out well.
I love my job. It's a lot of work and my feet are killing me at the end of the day but I wake up in the morning happy to go to work.
11 more months to go in my internship!!!

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