Morgen bin ich um 8 Uhr aufgestanden, und ich war ganz pünktlich bei dem Focus Gebäude (unglaublich, ich weiß.)
Ach Kwatsch. Genug Deutsch. Ich muß jetzt auf Englisch schreiben, weil dieses zu lange dauert.
So, I woke up at 8 this morning, was on time for meinen Termin um 10 Uhr, but a few things did not go quite as I expected. When I first arrived, I was nervous of course, and initially I went to the wrong building, but once I found the right place, I met Nina—the secretary for the Modernes Leben department—who showed me around the office as some people introduced themselves.
And then, everyone disappeared. I was left sitting on the couch in Stephan Paetow's (the man who hired me) office, but he is actually out this week, literally twiddling my thumbs. Then, after a while, I got up and asked someone if there is paperwork I need to fill out, or if there is anything I can do for anyone, or if I should perhaps come back at a later time. Then Sven (another employee) leads me to the office of another Modernes Leben employee who is also out this week and tells me that Nina will be along in five minutes to show me how to log in. Later, Nina comes in, and informs me that there is a meeting now and I should attend. This part I quite liked because I was actually doing something, and alles ist auf Deutsch, so it's really good for me.I discovered that this week the Modernes Leben section, which ususally has something like 15 pages to fill, only has three this week due to advertising. So that makes it more understandable. Plus, with three people gone this week, there are still 6 people working at the department, including me. So it's definitely comprehensible that they don't have much for me to do. Plus, everyone works very independently around here. They know what everyone is doing and evryone gets their work done in his or her own way. But still, it's quite a change from what I'm used to... True, I used to do everything independently at my old job, but I had a budget due every week so that the rest of the staff would know the exact content of the paper, and my boss definitely kept on me to see how my progress was going.
During the meeting, however, Katja (another staffer) pitched the idea of doing a story on Bruce Springsteen's upcoming concert at Obama's inauguration, and she was voicing that she didn't know why they chose Bruce as an act and why not an African-American performer. So after the meeting I went and put some information together for her about why Springsteen is probably playing—because he is one of Obama's most outspoken celebrity supporters and sang after his speech at the DNC in Cleveland—and I also threw in that Aretha Franklin is scheduled to perform at the inauguration, and that this makes sense as she herself is eine sehr berühmtes afroamerikanische Person.
Katja probably already knew all of that... but at least I feel like I did something productive. But I am in no way discouraged: I should realize that first experiences almost never go the way you expect them to, and that a lot of good came out of this too. For one, my German is going to rapidly improve (my mom pointed out that I will also--hopefully--catch on to German journalism slang, not to mention the ever perplexing Bayerische Dialekt), I am going to learn what it is like working within a huge media conglomerate instead of being a big fish in a small pond, and I will have a first-hand look into the differences between German and American media institutions. Which is why I am here in the first place.
SO really, when you think about it, I have no reason to feel out of place whatsoever. It turns out this first day is exactly what I should have been expecting. Now it's my job to make the most out of it.
And, well, sometimes... that doesn't just happen overnight, now does it?
I'll keep my nose to the grindstone, my ideas fresh and my Langenscheidts in my pocket; and I'll keep you updated every step of the way.
Versprechen.
No comments:
Post a Comment