The Search for an Internship 2011

Well as some of you may know, I'm finishing up my freshman year of college at the best public university in the WORLD (yup, University of California Berkeley, that's us!) so I've been frantically trying to iron out some plans for summer.

Usually my summers go like this:
1) Hang out with my family (10%)
2) Sit around and watch TV. Usually go through one or two seasons of some show each week. (30%)
3) Sleep (20%)
3) Occasionally see my friends. Usually in the capacity of going to see a movie or eating some kind of delicious food. (5%)
4) Hang out with my cats (20%)
5) Babysit for a couple of weeks in order to keep up with my astronomical spending on Starbucks coffee and tea as well as my insatiable desire to buy clothes (10%)
6) Write/do other productive things (5%)

So, awesome in terms of my laziness/relaxation, not so awesome in terms of like, my future and general contribution to society. This summer, I decided, would be different. I was going to do something. I was going to get a job. I was going to have a PLAN.

This was all about half a month ago. Immediately after this, I got an e-mail from my old college counselor at my high school with a list of 74 PAID summer internships in the arts. WOOHOO! It was a dream come true! But -- I didn't have an up-to-date resume. I've never done anything awesome enough to get me an internship! There were probably a million more qualified, more awesome students applying to the EXACT SAME THINGS. What was I to do?

What I did was this: I made my resume. I made it super nice and awesome looking and amazing. I reminded myself of all the worthwhile, productive things I'd ever done in my life. There were more than I thought! I wrote cover letters. I wrote more cover letters. I went to see the Dodos play in Memorial Glade (wait...). I read Overqualified by Joey Comeau to remind myself that I was by far not the first person to get frustrated with the whole applying-for-jobs process.

I sent my applications. I waited. Two hours after sending them in, one organization got back to me. They wanted to have a phone interview with me. An interview! I was excited. I was nervous. I convinced myself I was one charming motherfucker and they'd be lucky to have me.

Apparently it worked, because the next thing I knew I was getting an e-mail saying that out of all the interviews they'd conducted, I was the best fit. BEST FIT! They wanted me! It took me, oh, about two seconds to accept their offer, and there you have it. I have an amazing opportunity waiting for me in LA when I return for the summer. I could not be more thrilled.