Tale of a Runaway Intern.

It is a weekday. And I was supposed to be slogging my guts out at my internship company. Instead, I am sitting comfortably in my study.

I quit. Three days of hell in my internship company. I started out enthusiastically and anticipating the wealth of financial knowledge that I would be acquiring every minute from this internship.

Not. Instead my job scope would be washing cups, plates, cleaning tables, cupboards, vacumming the floor and opening the door for people. I couldn't believe my ears when the secretary told me to do this. Afterall, I am an undergraduate intern, not a cleaning lady.

Not that I was not told to do anything proper. The only proper thing that I learnt was doing some basic data entry. The other SMU student was worse than me. She was asked to run to the other side of Shenton Way to buy socks. SOCKS. Can you believe it? She spent 3/4 of the time sitting there sifting through newspapers to while away the time with only the occasional scanning and stapling of documents. Crap.

I had it after the first day. I called the Office of Career Services on Tuesday morning demanding to quit. The manager was sympathetic but asked me to continue for two more days because she did not want to give the company the upperhand of saying that this would be only for the first day. I almost cried when she said that. Perhaps you may think I was overreacting.

But as Atticus Finch says, "put yourself under their skin", you might have understood better.

It was outright degrading to ask an intern to do such manual chores. Besides, it was toturous having to sit through every ten minutes of counting down towards 6pm.

This morning, I was bubbling with anticipation as I called OCS again. I grumbled to the lady about my job scope and she decided to take me and the other girl out. Oh, and she is going to ban the company too!

My mum and dad were absolutely irate by the irresponsibility of the company. Eliz was absolutely speechless.

For me, I am just contented that I got out of a rogue company.

Dreams are my Reality.

Happy 21st Birthday, Chao Chia and Tze Chia!

This year there will be alot of happy 21st birthday wishes on this blog. Most of my friends are from the 1985 year, so more birthdays to come!! Whoopee!

My exuberance about the prospect of leaving for EBS for a semester have not really balanced out. I even think about it in my sleep. Just the other day, I dreamt that I was on my way to Frankfurt. I was not supposed to take a plane there. Instead, I was supposed to arrive there on a car. Halfway on the journey, I realised that I forgot to bring my ricecooker. My RICECOOKER. Then, we hurridly went home to collect the ricecooker. After which, we set off again. When we reached Frankfurt, I realised that Frankfurt looks exactly like Sentosa. I saw a few SMU people playing soccer under a coconut tree.

Despite being ridiculous, I remember waking up in a snap and noticing how palpable it felt. It was only after I gave it much thought and realised that I had to take a plane and there was absolutely no way that anybody could drive to Frankfurt from Singapore that I realised that it was only a dream.

Whoever said dreams are a reflection of reality. Haha.

Frankfurt. The World is Mine.

End of exams. I am freeeeeeeeee..

My newfound freedom will last only for two more modest days before I begin my internship. Speaking of internship, nobody has given me any details about my internship. Hello? What time am I supposed to report for work? Am I really supposed to start my internship on Monday? No. Nothing. Zilch.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Despite the internship opportunity offered to me, I find myself feeling disconsolated and forlorn at the prospect of spending four months in Shenton Way. As I start ticking the number of days towards my loss of autonomy in doing whatever I like and sleeping at whatever time I want, I realised how much I actually dread working. Maybe fast tracking through my SMU education is not such a wise idea afterall. Considering one and a half years more, I would have to enslave my youth and sparkle to work. Doesn't this sound outright depressing?

Anyway, I have a piece of really exhilarating news. I will be leaving SMU during fall this year for Germany! Whooppee! The thought of this never fails to send electrifying shivers down my spine.

I will be spending a semester at European Business School in Frankfurt. According to the EBS website,

"Ebs is located in a beautiful whine growing region with lots of small villages surrounding it."

This is Oestrich-Winkel, the town that I will be living in. Beautiful, ain't it.

Doesn't this sound amazing? But I still haven't figure out what whine is? Is it some kind of wheat or grapes? Or does it mean whine as in protesting in a high pitch manner? If I stay in Oestrich-Winkel long enough, does it mean that I will start to become whiny? Haha. Let me know if you happen to know what whine is.

Everybody that I mention Germany to will start babbling on about World Cup 2006. Yes. World Cup in Germany. But I will be leaving for Germany two months after the much anticipated World Cup. There wouldn't be any opportunity to join in the bustling celebrations when Germany wins. Yes, I said Germany wins because they won in World Cup 2002. And Germany rocks.

There will be plenty of booze around. Beer is very cheap in Germany. Also, because tap water is relatively unclean, most people substitute beer for their staple of water. Plus, I will be in Germany in time for Oktoberfest. Beer drinking, sausage and pretzle gorging. I like.

Going on an exchange would mean the perfect opportunity to promote cultural awareness. How politically correct that sounds. Ahem. Read: Around Europe in 80 days.

Eliz will be travelling with me to Frankfurt before school starts. All our plans are still in the works but here are some of the more definite plans.

I will be visiting Eliz in beautiful Prague, in Czeh Republic. Probably will travel to Krakow too. Prague is well-known for being beautiful and from what I know, there are alot of beautiful young people there. Czeh is super cheap. Rent for a double room in the school hostel is only, guess what, S$90. Whereas I have to pay 400 Euros, which is equivalent to S$800 per month for my apartment. Goodness.

Another must-visit country will be Italy. Vanessa says,

"Italian guys are sooooo hot. Even their road-sweepers and bus-drivers are hot."

Haha. Isn't it funny? Imagine drooling over their bus-captains. Anyway, I am hoping to see more Stefano look-alikes. Stefano is the only good-looking Italian Professor (or male species) in SMU. Apparently, he was featured in Urban as the best-dressed Professor in SMU and wears Ermenegildo Zegna. Wonder what it sounds like when he pronounces that, though. Heh.

Eliz and I will be going chi-chi ladylike in France. Champs-Elysee, here we come. Even though we shall be poor students on budget and highly unlikely to be able to afford anything along the high-fashion street, I think we shall still visit and sing "Champs-Elysee" as we skip along the streets. Oh, yah. Not to forget. Eliz and I will be eating sandwiches and drinking hot coffee along the beautiful River Seine. Still, I am apprehensive about France because most of the seniors including the one in my home (my sister, lah!) have had horror stories to tell. When I say horror, I don't mean horror as in ghosts or spirits. I mean conmans, break-ins and being chased by a dubious man in the underground station. Scary.

Before I end, I just want to give my Oscar speech of thanks to people who have helped me through my decisions.

Thank you so much, Chao Chia, Tze Chia, Vanessa and Eliz! You guys helped me through my tough period of decision towards selecting Germany. I was really in a wreck. Couldn't make up my mind as to even to go on an exchange anot and if I did, where I should go. Thank you.

CC and TC, enjoy yourselves in New Zealand, okay? Do a bungee jump for me! And search for hobbits in the Middle Earth. Bring them home if your luggage permits, and if they don't bite. Haha

And I wanna thank my Daddy and Mummy for sponsoring my trip to Frankfurt.

I LOVE YOU!

More to come. I am a citizen of the world!