Archive for Jillianne Hamilton

If you’re looking for work experience, consider going somewhere new

As a part of the Journalism program at College X, students go on four-week internships during their first year (for the second half of March and the first two weeks in April). Second-year students have always done a six-week internship in January and into February.

This year, they’ve changed the rules a little bit. Six weeks has been shortened to four weeks. And frankly, I’m delighted.

I guess Instructor A and B were getting some freaked-out students. (“I have no family out of the area. I need to stay here in City X.”) Well, there’s 11 of us and only one newspaper in the whole town and three radio stations.

As for me, I dished out $1,000 so I could stay at a nice bed & breakfast down the street from the news office, in Town X where I’d previously attended high school and had a couple friends. Generally, I got great stories: people stories, which is the best kind (to me) that a small town newspaper can offer. Although my experience at that news office was a good one, I always felt very out-of-place. There was only one other full-time reporter there who was a woman and she worked evenings so I didn’t see her much.

Otherwise, I was in an office of men. The editor? Male. Both the copy editors? Male. The other two full-time reporters? Male. The sports reporter? Male. Male, male, male. Which makes it look so strange to me that I only have three males in my journalism class.

I had assumed I’d be going back to the same news office this year. I knew the place. I knew some of the people, although several of my friends had since gone to university. But I decided to take a chance and look into accommodations in another town. I do know a few people there and yes, my aunt works in that town… but mostly, I know very little about this town (which I will refer to as UniTown X). But Instructor A once told me, “There’s no better way to learn about a town than being a reporter in it.” So, I’ll keep that in mind while working there.

UniTown X is a university town — and not much else. The newspaper is a weekly instead of a daily, which will likely be a bit different. There is an editor and one other reporter- and she’s a she! And guess what: I’ve found a tiny place to rent for the month of January- only $325 per month! It’s not the Ritz, by any means, but as long as I have Internet access, I don’t even need much else. (Although food is a necessity.)

This post, albeit lengthy, does have a point, I promise. If you’re in college and looking for a place to do your internship, consider going to a town you don’t know much about. If everyone just stuck to their hometown, nobody would go anywhere! Nobody would live anywhere else! Life is too short for that.

- photo by rabbleradio

Some people play “20 Questions”. Some people play “I Spy”. I do this.

You’re sitting in a hospital emergency room, waiting to see a doctor about that furry lump growing on your foot. You’ve already read all the magazines (twice) and there’s no TV. You look around at the other patients around you. Your first thought, besides “Is the ‘sleeping’ man beside me actually dead?”, is obviously “I wonder if there are any college students here.” Here are some tips for picking a college student out of a crowd.

1. The college hoodie. Look around for a college emblem. That’s usually the first give-away. This hoodie will also likely be stained because most college students own no clothing besides their college hoodie. They sleep in it. They go to class in it. They drink in it. They puke in (on) it.
2. Sweatpants. If there are no college hoodies in sight, look for a college-age person in sweat pants. They would probably be wearing jeans but the food at the cafeteria is so good and “I’m paying a lot of money for it anyway so I might as well eat all I want!” and now their jeans have all shrunk. (Stupid magical shrinking jeans!)
3. Catching some Z’s. If the clothes aren’t a dead giveaway, the droopy eyelids should be. This is sometimes accompanied by earphones on the head of the aforementioned snoozer.
4. Socks. Of course they’re wearing sneakers. This is an obvious one. Mismatched socks give you five points. Ten points if the kid isn’t wearing any socks. (Doing laundry is uber-lame.)
5. Did you say “free”?! Nobody loves free food more than a starving, broke student. I once saw a freshman wrestling with a homeless guy for a package of Mr. Noodles. (***) Go to the nearest vending machine, purchase a chocolate bar and then ask if anybody wants it. Before the words are even out of your mouth, that person you thought might be a college student will be shoving that Snickers down their gullet.

And there you have it. Tips for spotting a college student. Have fun! Feel free to comment and add your own tips for this ever-amusing game!

(*** OK. Didn’t actually see a freshman wrestling with a homeless guy. But I think it would have been a little funny to see a homeless guy giving a freshman an unexpected elbow-drop to the face. Yes, no?)

- photo by Robert S. Donovan

Thou shalt read these rules and obey them – or I shall smite thee.

The summer before I started college, I spent the summer working part-time at a local convenience store. From that experience, I wrote an article for my college blog called 20 Rules for the Convenience Store, which then went on to be published in the American magazine, Convenience Store Decisions.

Anyway, this summer I’m back at the same convenience store. And, to be quite honest, I think I’ve learned a few things. Following are 10 commandments to be followed by college students working ye olde summer job. Please add your own if you’re so inclined.

1. Thou shalt not work too many hours. Having too many hours will usually affect how much the student loan folk hand out. Only go for a full-time job if you aren’t looking to get a student loan. (And, in that case, sucks to be you… right now. Not so much in 15 years when the rest of us are still trying to pay off our loans…)
2. Thou shalt not work for a family member. Working for a family member can be either evil or great. It’s great when = you get to slack off and still get paid. But it’s evil when = they make you work and you try everything in your power to get fired because they’re being so mean and they won’t just go ahead and fire you already because you’re family. It’s a double-edged sword. Best thing to do is ask a former or current employee for their honest opinion of your relative as a boss. You might get lucky. Or, they might lie to your face so that you too are sucked into the Summer of Doom & Despair.
3. Thou shalt not expect to be paid much over minimum wage. You’re only around for the summer and you suck at your job anyway. It’s laughable that you would even expect a raise after those first disastrous 2 weeks.
4. Thou shalt not work at the same job as thy boy/girlfriend. We show a different side of ourselves at work. Besides, seeing too much of a person can be unhealthy for a relationship, especially in such close quarters. (Besides. Your co-workers don’t want to see you two making out in the broom closet. Gross.)
5. Thou shalt probably have to wear a dorky uniform. Suck it up, kid. You’ve been assimilated into the collective.
6. Thou shalt not spit into the hamburger of thy nemesis when they come to Wendy’s and you’re working in the kitchen. This should be fairly self-explanatory.
7. Thou shalt not be caught smelling marshmallows by thy boss, co-workers or customers. I love the smell of marshmallows. But seeing the cashier shoving a package into her face and inhaling deeply seems to make people uncomfortable.
8. Thou shalt pretend to love and not quit thy job at chic downtown coffee house. You may hate your job and have a knack for spilling hot beverages. But you still get tips and working as a barista looks a lot cooler than being a fry cook, so appreciate where you are and- more importantly- how you look while you do it.
9. Thou shalt not get distracted from your job when your crush comes by. “Don’t mess up. Don’t mess up. Just try to look cool and attractive. Sure, you’re wearing a shirt with a fast food label on it but it’s cool. They respect you. It’s fine. Just don’t make eye contact and maybe they’ll go away… Crap, they’re coming over. Oh, crap. They just saw you. Don’t mess up… And there you go, spilling fries everywhere. Wow. Impressive.”
10. Thou shalt make plans to have a kick-ass job next summer. This could include book store clerk, amusement park employee, summer camp counselor or, if you’re looking to be creative, lifeguard at a nude beach.

(Photo courtesy of quinn.anya.)

Again, I’d love to hear any suggestions for other summer job commandments. (Keep in mind, this article is meant to be humorous and not to be taken seriously. By all means, ignore what you’ve read here.)

* * * * *

And on a completely different note, I’m inserting a shameless plug here. Please visit my new website for East Coast music, East Coast Overture. Thank you smuchly.

That’s right, I said it. I actually miss learning stuff. Go figure.

♫ Joel Plaskett - True Patriot Love

1. My dorm roommate. She’s not going to be living on campus next year but she plans to live close by. Good. ‘Cause I have a feeling my new roommate isn’t going to just make me chocolate chip brownies whenever I’m feeling blue. Like Roomie did for me this year. (I know, right? Aww.)
2. Classes. That’s right, I said it. I actually miss learning stuff. Go figure.
3. My instructors. I saw those guys – the Teddy Bear and the Cactus, as I call them – every day for nearly eight months. I miss the former’s sensitive encouragement and the latter’s sarcastic humor.
4. My classmates. Well, a couple of them. The ones I talked to regularly, anyway.
5. My dorm family. This consists of Jenn, Roomie, Caitlin and Canning. You get comfortable with a group of people and then leave them for 4 months. It’s weird.
6. Drinking. I know, that sounds horrible. But if anything good would happen at college (the end of exams, Christmas, birthdays, Tuesdays), we’d all got out for cuatros margaritas at our favorite downtown restaurant. I miss the laughter that goes along with drinking, not the liquor itself.
7. City X. Gahd, I miss that town. I miss the music scene. I miss the old buildings. I miss the restaurants. I miss the one-way streets. I miss the culture. I miss the unreasonably high ratio of hipster kids to white gangsters. *le sigh*
8. Ordering in. As you might guess, Nowhereville doesn’t have an East Side Mario’s. So, I can’t just call them up and have them bring me my favorite meal. Dammit.

(Image by Mel B.)

If you’re spending more money on booze than food, you have a problem

I love having some spare money in my wallet.

But more than that, I love spending money on dumb stuff I really don’t need- but just simply want.

Here are some money-saving tips to follow- in or out of college.

1. Monitor your accounts. I started doing this soon before starting college and it’s really helped me out a lot. Keep a word document on your desktop marked “BUDGET”. (Even though I’m the only one who uses my laptop, I still have that bad boy password-protected. Just in case.) Record how much you have in your bank account, PayPal, how much is charged to your credit card, how much anybody owes you, reminders of upcoming expenses (phone bill, etc.). Update your budget every week or two. (You’ll thank me later.)
2. Before making a big purchase, ask yourself, “(Insert Your Name Here), why do you want this?” And if the only thing you can come up with is “Because it’s cool,” you may want to think about your purchase a little longer.
3. Eat out/order in no more than once a week. Think of it this way: that one time you get to eat out or order in is your treat to yourself for not eating out the rest of the week. This is what I tried to do during my first year in college.
4. Rent movies in groups. The cost of a movie rental seems a lot less expensive when you’re splitting it 6 ways. Also, rent it for one night for cheaper, rather than keeping it for a week.
5. Monitor your Booze Spending To Everything Else Spending Ratio. I had a friend this year who would get $100 bucks every week from his mom so he could buy groceries. He would then spend all of it on booze. (He was/is quite dumb.) Simply and plainly: don’t do this. If you are spending more money on booze than anything else, there is a problem.

Have any money-saving tips? Let me know!