LONDON: Days 25-28

My job:
Not much has really happened so far this week.  Because I didn't have to work at my internship last week (my boss Tom was on holiday) I volunteered to work 2 extra days this week.  This means I am working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday with a day of class in the middle.  SO BUSY!  This is technically against the rules because it goes against my VISA limitations of working a maximum of 20 hours/week, but I don't mind.  It's a lot of work though.  I'm not just a stupid intern who gets assigned one or two clerical assignments and then spends the rest of their time checking their Facebook.  My boss gives me a lot of assignments which keep me very busy all day (sometimes I even forget to take a lunch break and he has to remind me) and he even told me that he is going to be away again towards the end of October but he wants me to come in and take over ALL the responsibilities of his job.  This is incredibly scary to me.  But I have about 3 more weeks of practice before I have to do that. 

Some information about my internship:

• I work from 9:30am-6pm.
• I have a 1 hour lunch break, which usually involves me buying a sandwich/coffee and sit on some benches by a local park and read.
• I mostly respond to emails, fill out spread sheets, run errands, watch submitted short films and give my opinion on them, manage parts of the website, and make phone calls (I HATE MAKING PHONE CALLS.  Tom had me make a phone call to this film company asking for the rights to show a film of theirs in our upcoming film festival.  I practiced what I was going to say and had to learn how to dial a European phone number.  I felt very prepared yet put on the spot but in the end when I made the phone call the woman who answered only spoke a sentence of angry German to me and then hung up!  WOMP WOMP.)
• The boss of the entire company, though not the person I work directly for, was just honored with being #98 out of 100 of the most powerful people in film in the UK according to The Guardian.
• The company, according to Tom, is in great economic danger and so most of the people who I met when I first started have since been fired.

I also really like the people I work with!  They are all pretty young and really nice and they occasionally ask me to join them at the pub after work for a quick drink.  I mostly go out with Dan and Tom, and twice now a quick drink has turned into a 3 hour drinking session which always seems to get me a bit drunk!  It's so embarassing to get drunk in front of your boss who doesn't get as drunk as you.  I always think that beer is like water and I drink as much as everyone else around me (especially when they buy you rounds and the beer is free!) which is never a good idea.  I don't do anything crazy like stumble or pee on myself, but I definitely just don't ever stop talking.  So, I don't plan on drinking more than a SINGLE beer with them from this point forth.  I need to be a classy American.


Non-work related item of relevence:
Some maintenance staff came over today and told us that we have a mold problem in the flat.  This is not something we find shocking.  Our flat is disgustingly damp.  My towel never dries and even this morning I had it on my head swami style to dry my hair and I smelled something funny.  Turns out it was the towel!  It smells like moldy body odor.  And I only have the one towel thanks to my limited packing.  I may have to buy a new one while I'm here.