Weekend in Brussels / Internship

Okay....so since i have not posted in a while I am going to do this in two parts!

The week was crazy. It was full of interviews for internships. When i first recieved the list of places i would be interviewing, I was really excited. However after going to the interviews i realized that NONE of these were what i wanted. First of all, really none of the options were ANYTHING like what I had indicated i wanted, what my resume showed i could do, or what my academic skills were geared towards. They were totally unfit for me not to mention, 4 out of 5 had NOTHING to do with the EU! I didnt come to Europe to do something i could do back home. Needless to say, as my family will surely understand, I had quite a tantrum about this....but I took it to the top. First I had quite a row with the internship coordinator and after her absolute incompetence was proven i went to our director (and professor) Jerry and complained to him about all the interviews. It may sound as though i was being too picky but remember---i get GRADED for this---so if i cant give a company what they are looking for, then they cant give me the grade I am looking for! However, in the end (and i would like to believe my complaining had something to do with it) I got the ONE internship out of the list that i did like. Surprisingly it was at first glance the one i thought i would hate. But i am very happy now. (See below for more!----i am attempted chronology here lol)


So last weekend (the 14-16) i stayed in Brussels because i wanted some time to actually enjoy the city, rather than just have it as home base on my never ending Eurotrip. SO, I accomplished NOTHING on Friday and Saturday i slept almost all day. BUT Sunday I went to the famous antiques market at the Grand Sablon with my host mother. It was awesome! I wish i could have brought mom and nanny there. There was alot of silver, but also some really original looking things. VERY expensive, obviously everything was for serious buyers but it was still cool to see and it was nice to do something with my host mother. Later, I went around the city with one of the girls which was really nice. We had lunch at the Grand Place, and then went to the Royal Park (across from the official Grand Palace) to do our reading for class which was very nice and relaxing. We tried to go to one of the large art museums, but it only had a few exhibits open on Sunday---none of which were very interesting.

This past week i started my internship with the EU REPORTER. They are an online news source and a monthly print journal about all the goings-on of the EU. If you want to check it out their website is www.eureporter.co.uk . My boss, Cillian (pronounced with a hard K sound) is Irish and is REALLY nice. He is really accessible, honest and extremely helpful in explaining to me parts of the EU that i dont understand. They dont have an official office, but we work out of the EU Parliament Building in the Press Room. It is so cool! First of all, EU institutions are so much more laid back than the U.S. Congress. When i interned on The Hill, i never saw a congressman walking through the regular hallways, but at the parliament they are everywhere! There is a bar/cafe on every floor and you can just approach them! Every day so far Cillian and I have met up with HIS boss (the publisher) Chris, to chat. Baisically we sit around sipping coffee in a parliament cafe for the first two hours chatting politics and discussing new story ideas. It is so relaxed and really nice. Chris is a 60 something English man who is absolutely off his rocker. But i love him, and he is really interested in my ideas and stuff for the paper which is really cool. He is going to be giving me alot of projects directly, which is something he has never done for an intern before, so i am really flattered that he wants to be involved in my learning experience there. I must present myself well, because on my second day Chris wanted me to go BY MYSELF to talk to a parliamentarian and forcefull convince him to write an opinion for the journal! I didnt get the chance to because the Member was in a meeting, but what a compliment!

SO. Now see above for all the new developments....