And another week bites the dust....and another one pops up.

The view from my office Thursday afternoon

SO! I started work at the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Monday. Went in obsessively early (of course) and waited for awhile until people actually showed up, then went to my office. Now, the first day is, I think, a little nerve-wracking for everyone (right? right?!), so I feel confident that I will not be judged by saying that I was nervous. And when I showed up to my office, finding it empty except for two massive desks and two computers (at which point I realized I would be sharing my office. Which only helped my nerves a little.), I was still nervous. What was I supposed to do? I had an orientation meeting at 10 (it was 8:40), but what to do until then? Well, just turn on the computer, I supposed. And when I tried to log in....nothing. Nope. I checked my login again and....nope. Still nothing. (Yes, I was a little concerned.) Then my focal point (who's the logistics lady of my internship, for future reference) showed up, and explained that my office computer wasn't correctly configured. And then that my supervisor was on vacation. Ooooooookay.....

So we go to visit my temporary supervisor (who is actually team leader for my team within the department), who has just returned from vacation, and so is subsequently going through emails about what he missed. Sure. So. Just go sit in your office and...do something for awhile until your meeting, then I'll see you this afternoon. Cool. Well, I eventually got to my meeting, and was given another supervisor. But still had no computer. Which meant that anything actually resembling work? Not doable. Okay.

More of those office views

Are those the Alps? Why yes, yes they are.

And are there ponies in that field you can't see? Yes. Yes there are.

And then, of course, those two massive desks? Not actually supposed to be in my office. So I was kicked out while they were moved to the office they were supposed to be in, and we (my officemate and I) got new, smaller desks. By the way, my officemate is a former Cornell student who also did the same program I am currently doing. Which is kind of cool. But, moving on.

So. Now I have the right desk. No computer. It's not until the afternoon on Tuesday I got a computer that worked (YAY! Also, it doesn't seem like a long time, but when you have to be there 8 hours a day and can't actually do anything? Wicked long time.), and an assignment (Double YAY!)!

I'm not sure if you guys know this, but I kind of like having work. I don't like sitting idle, especially if I'm in a place where I actually need to do work. I like having goals and things. It makes relaxing that much sweeter. So those first two days were especially torturous. But all is well, now, and I have a computer and assignments! My team is currently wrapping up several large projects, so there's not a lot of really big things that I can contribute and work on, mostly I'm just compiling lists and references and such and reading/editing (Which as my family/friends will tell you, I do all the time and have not a bit of a problem with. Yay OCD.). But soon, I hope, there will be, and I can at least get one complete item or article or something finished before I leave. That would be nice. But I'm not complaining.

Next weekend, I'll be traveling to Venice and Florence, Italy, with some of the other interns, so...be jealous. ;)