Recently, I completed my studies in law (hurrah!) and decided to try something a little different. So, I packed my bags, moved overseas and started working in legal communications/ marketing.
I’ve been here for almost a month now and so far it has been really interesting. Firstly, the biggest change has been working 5 days a week. Having been a uni student for such a long time, now I kind of understand why working people tell me “university is so much better.” What do you mean I only get 15 days annual leave? What happened to my 3 months of summer holidays?
Another big change has been the slight culture shock. Now, I have in the past traveled to this country frequently, but the oddest things throw me off a little bit. In my first week, I noticed a tin of abalone on someone’s desk. I thought, “that’s a bit odd,” but put it down to an ‘odd mid-afternoon snack preference.’ However, over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed more people have tins of abalone hidden on the desk somewhere. I still don’t know what it means, but it’s not something you expect in a legal office.
Also, I saw an ad for McDonalds - is anyone keen to try Wasabi Filet-o-Fish? I actually am, so I don’t know what that says about me.
When I started preparing to work full-time, I initially thought: “this is fab, in the evenings, I can do whatever I want and dismiss all study guilt because I won’t have any study to do! I can go the gym, read lots of fictional books, watch movies and telly... (insert evil laughter)” But honestly, by the time I get home from work, I just want to veg and not really do anything. Yes, I do watch TV but not much more than that. All the reading I’ve been doing in my spare time has exclusively been trashy celebrity magazines. Also, I go to bed really early - how lame is that? What happened to that cool student, up all night studying (well, Facebooking)? Now, I can’t really function past 11pm.
The one big thing I learnt working this month? You can never write too many emails in one day.
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