Well, today was the first day of my internship. Last night my flatmate, Marianne, helped me figure out the route I would take to get there and the time I should leave to make it to the museum with time to spare.
I live in Prenzlauer Berg with a German girl (Marianne), whom I found via Studentenwerk. It took a lot of searching but quite literally the night before I left for France, I secured my housing. The place is absolutely adorable, too. There are so many windows, which makes the space nice and bright. I have my own room with a comfy bed, closet, large desk and television. I share a kitchen and bathroom with Marianne and then she has a room of her own. Last night she made me dinner, too, and it was delicious! She also made coffee for me this morning and let me tell you, German coffee is--hands down--the best. She said she makes it strong, which is A-OK by me.
OH! One of the first things Marianne asked me was if I wanted to speak in German the entire time and I answered with an excited, "Ja!" Hopefully now my German will become even that much better!
Okay, so my internship. I arrived at the museum around 9:20 (normally I would have arrived a ridiculous hour or so early but--thanks to the clear directions both my flatmate and my boss at the museum provided for me--I felt confident enough that I would find my way fairly effortlessly and I did.
I buzzed and was let in to the building and met my boss right away. She is super nice and told me that her English is not so good but that my German is really good. While I disagree, it is really nice to be getting this continued confirmation of my German speaking abilities.
Basically all I did for the first hour was get an overview of the museum and get introduced to the various Mitarbeiter. There are so many people who work at the museum that the names of only a few stuck. Currently, too, there are six other Praktikanten, all of whom are from Germany. I was surprised by how young some of them are, too! Two students have this internship through their school and they are only 14 and 15 years old! The 15-year-old is named Anna Maria and when she found out I was 21 her jaw--quite literally--dropped. I explained to her how I get that ALL the time. I know I look young for my age. It was kind of funny, though.
Afterwards, I got a tour of the museum, received a packet and then folded flyers and stuffed Umschläge for the rest of the day (all while listening to nonstop German). The most interesting thing I overheard was a relatively extensive conversation about Der heilige Geist. Suffice it to say, I did not comprehend that entire conversation.
As for my duties, I don't know everything that I will be doing yet but Britt (my boss) did tell me that some days I will be im Büro, while other days I will be in the museum. I will have the opportunity to assist with birthday parties, summer programs, special weekend Fußball events usw. She also told me that if I want to work an evening or weekend day, I would be able to work less the following week. I might keep this in mind when my friend, Gracie, comes to visit me in July.
Last but not least, I just wanted to say that I think I will be purchasing my lunch every day in the cafe below the museum offices. For only one Euro, I got ein halbes Käsebrötchen and it was delicious. It had butter, super fresh and crispy lettuce, three slices of cheese, a sprig of some herb and freshly cracked pepper--all for just a Euro. The people in the cafe are going to get to know me very well in just a very short time.
Sorry for such a long post. It might be advisable to skim, although if reading it is really interesting, by all means, don't let me stop you.
Bis später!
There are, apparently, two more of these galleries, located in London and New York.
