First Day as an Intern

Today was my first day at the Burma Center-Prague, and I know that I'm going to love it there. Now, my morning didn't start out ideally, because while I got to the yellow metro line with no problem, got off on Palmovka, and found the tram that would take me to the stop right in front of the building I'm working at, I most certainly did not get on the tram headed in the right direction.

This was my first time in Praha 7, which is a more industrialized part of the city, so my sense of direction was thrown off. If I had gotten on the tram headed in the right direction, I would have had 2 stops, crossed the street, and I'd be there. Needless to say, I rode the tram all the way until the end of the line (about a 30 minute ride), expectantly waiting to hear my stop called, and just assumed it was towards the end of the line.

I had one of those moments where the tram stopped, I looked uneasily around, and realized that I was the only person on the tram and I'd reached the end of the line. The driver, who only spoke Czech, and I, who only spoke English, managed to figure out my mistake through lots of hand motions and nodding, and I eventually got to the right place after riding all the way back in the direction I had just come. Ah well, my supervisor was great and completely understood my new-ness to the city. But c'mon, I had been feeling so proud of my public transit abilities, I guess I needed to be knocked down a peg or two.

My projects as an intern are going to be multi-faceted, but today, I was working on setting up a photo board for a booth that the Center will have at the One World Film Festival. I'm going to researching grants (that class I took back home on grants will actually come in handy!!), getting the Center on the road to being fair-trade certified so that they can sell more of the handmade Burmese products, finding micro-loans to distribute to refugees here, and more. I got to listen in on a meeting on a budget meeting...I'm loving this! My supervisor told me that it's okay if this isn't what I want to do and I want to find another internship, but this has just been a complete and perfect blessing. I'm staying! =)

Also, I find my apartment for March, April, and May. The one I'm in now is only for the month of February (I'm subletting from a friend of a friend of a friend, hooray for connections!), and the place I will have after this is really cute, and with nice roommates, a guy and a girl. Best part: the awesomely low price. I'm living all 4 months here in Prague for about $850 in rent!

I miss everyone back home! I love it here so much, but I also can't wait to see my wonderful friends and family back home again =) I am so much busier now than when I first came here, but at night in my room, or especially when I wake up in the morning, I'm so conscious of being in a new city with new people, thousands of miles away from home. But I've loved realizing these past weeks that all of that stubborn independence I've always had is still there, and although I have a boyfriend, and I rely on family and friends for things, I'm still able to move away all by myself without knowing a soul here and find my way and be happy! It's a beautiful thing to know that I still can hold my own.