Surprise!

I'm back! (Not sure for how long, probably only very sporadically) 

So I got that job I posted about all those months ago. And it was really not for me and I spent my evenings and weekends tired and in a bad mood and definitely did not fancy writing about it. I didn't move thousands of kilometres away from my family and friends to be miserable. So I quit.

That was scary. After five years of being officially a student I couldn't cope with being a call-centre robot for a billion dollar company that considered 7 minutes per day adequate for "personal" time (but would then pull you up if you used all of this allocated time).  We were given "positioning statements" for almost any situation so that we could promote the company's position. I didn't necessarily feel that this was in the customers' best interests but the company assured us it was. I think the moment that really did it for me was the lecture on tones of voice and how to use different tones for different call types to make the customers trust us. 

I quit because I wasn't happy and the search for a job more suited to me had ground to a halt since money started being deposited in my bank account. Now, after several weeks of writing letters to companies that interested me (whether or not they were advertising a position), meeting people, demonstrating enthusiasm and independent thinking and as many skills as I could come up with, I may just have found something very interesting and well suited to me.

I'm supposed to start tomorrow and I don't want to jinx it. I'm being a bit cautious because during these weeks of unemployment this is the third job I thought I was getting and the other two haven't come up with any work yet. I'm also feeling uncharacteristically superstitious as the way this job came about seems very much to have been some sort of fate. Just as I was starting to think I might have to give up on trying to start a career and seriously look for another just-a-job (funds running low) I got a call, for a job I applied to in November. I met with the executive director (ED) yesterday. This morning I bumped into an employee who said she was looking forward to working with me (my mind is going "I don't remember being offered or officially accepting a job offer"), I met the ED again today and she bought cake to celebrate my joining the team.  She also felt like it was fate (her words) as she very suddenly needed someone just about exactly like me and I just happened to be available. From the news I'd had leading up to this week, I had been expecting to have other work at this point but the people promising the mythical work didn't come through. 

The job is all sorts of things that interest me and is for a non-profit organisation (unlike the billion dollar telecoms company of before). This means the pay is less but the guilt is non-existent. The ED is also a Lindy Hopper. This makes everything more awesome.

Wednesday

Was supposed to be researching and writing up of articles, however, we weren't all allowed into Berlaymont so we were sent into town to find our own way.

Mulitilingualism was my choice of topic (because I'm totally into it) and we happened upon and language school so I had a little chat to them, in French, whilst being videoed for the journalism department website.

Also talked to a couple of interpreters hanging about the EC before my brief interview (that really wasn't much of one as he just ignored what I asked and said what he wanted) with Pietro Petrucci, spokesperson for Multilingualism.

It is an area that hasn't really been written about much because it is still pretty new but I can't find and interesting angle.

Caught up with a couple of our group inside and then went to find food and drinkies in town. Waffle! Before getting back to the hotel for 4pm pile. We were supposed to get there and leave pronto for the station. Some didn't arrive until 4:30 (sans apology).

The rest of the day was really just trains and camomile tea.

It fair wore me out.

Bruxelles, ma belle

Geoff Meade (my new hero) disapproves of the blogging/facebook/twitter culture where everyone wants their thoughts to be public, their voice to be out there - yelling along with everyone else in the enormous clamour of the internet.

Yes, it is highly self-centred and most people have nothing noteworthy to say. I include myself within that grouping yet I will continue for I need to practice my English. I should say that I am English but after a year in France I've lost a lot of my linguistic capabilities in my mother tongue.

I really ought to sleep mais j'ai fait la grasse matinée so I'm not overly tired and I want to YAY a bit about Brussels before I forget it all.

Monday - Bus at 8am, Train at 9:15, arrive in London at midday. Brief introduction to the European Commission (EC), everyone started talking to each other and got very excited at the free sandwiches, quiche, party sausages and such like.
Took Eurostar to Brussels that evening, hadn't taken reading material as whenever I do in such situations it remains unread - I nicked the G2 off one of the guys I'd just met.
Arrive about 9:30pm in Brussels, get to hotel sometime after 10pm and go out looking for food/drink. Not greatly successful (but not greatly hungry thanks to fruit pastels).

Tuesday - Forgot to change the time zone on my phone/alarm clock so woke up when Fiona bashed on my door at the time when we were supposed to be going down to breakfast. Got ready VERY quickly. Still, I wasn't late for the meeting of the European Journalism Centre (EJC) rep at 8:15am, others were.
Had little intro bits to the EJC and the EC - one by Jean-Paul Marthoz (dude).
Went to the EC (Berlaymont Building) to check it out a bit, see their AV services, go to a press briefing and meet with a spokesperson for Competition.
Lunch at a fancy restaurant (l'Atélier) - three course meal plus aperitif plus wine - with the head of Press & Public Affairs of the UK Permanent Represenation to the EU.
Back to EJC building to be talked to by Simon Taylor (European Voice) and Geoff Meade (Press Association) and then bother them a bit after, supposedly about the challenges of EU reporting.
Quick coffee break before "European Current Affaires" with Jacki Davis (ex-journo, works for a think tank, married to Geoff - I wish I was related to them) Philppe Ricard (Le Monde, very French) and Hajo Friedrich (Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung, very German).
Dinner at another fancy joint (La Manufacture) - seated next to a journalist for Radio France and opposite one of the main guys for the European Parliament Press Room.
Wandered aimlessly for a bit in the rain after and then ended up at an Irish bar. Ah well. Back to the hotel about half past midnight.

Wednesday - tbc I'm going to bed now