Today is the first day that I can just relax at home, sit here on the couch in my PJs and not worry about anything. I’ve been chatting online with friends in Mexico Puerto Rico and in my beloved university town, while listening to some of my favourite music, and snacking on popcorn and oranges. I am exhausted after a few busy weeks of travelling, Convocation weekend, and then visiting with family and friends since I returned home 10 days ago.

One of the more interesting happenings in the last month involved the interviews I had for some internships. Now when I look back on them, they make me laugh. Some context: at just after 8am on Thursday May 2^nd, my good friend Claire and I left Sackville, NB on our way to Montréal in a U-Haul truck. We were now done all the work required for our Bachelor’s degrees, mine in International Relations and Claire’s in Fine Arts.

Our Convocation was to be held in 11 days and I was going to take the train from Québec to return to Sackville, NB. I was excited about going to Montréal for the first time—and about life in general—and Claire had to politely ask me to zip it every once in a while. I don’t blame her. Radio Canada helped with those long hours of driving, as did the splendid sunshine.

For lunch, we stopped by Grand Falls, NB and witnessed a breathtaking waterfall, which I had actually just visited 2 weeks prior. We happened to walk right by the high school that a mutual friend had attended (NB is a tiny place). 

Once in Québec, we passed the sign for a city that is actually called Saint-Louis du Ha! Ha! Québec flags were everywhere. After a burger dinner in Québec City and a slightly terrifying arrival in Montréal (city of lunatic drivers) we arrived at her new apartment at about 11pm that night, safe and sound. We accomplished this feat without anything more than Claire’s hand-drawn map (we don’t have cell phones with Internet access) and amazing driving skills.

We met one of her two friendly housemates and, with his help, finished unloading the U-Haul very late/early—so that Claire could bring it back first thing in the morning.

At 10am the next morning I was to have two simultaneous interviews via Skype (what a concept, right?). At around 9:45, I set up camp in Claire’s new bedroom, a between a jungle of boxes and canvases.

I re-read my cover letter to get my head in the right space for an interview, but was still a little nervous. One interview was for an environmental/conservation internship in rural Costa Rica and the other, for a teaching position in a large Peruvian city. Both were organized through an umbrella NGO from Atlantic Canada in collaboration with other Canadian non-profits that would be sending youth to work with their respective partner NGOs abroad for 6 months.

Two interviews at once was…a unique experience, but one I don’t recommend.