#92 | Internship Updates + Art-A-Fair
Finally back with an update!!!
It's been a month since internship started and
I guess this is the best time to update on how things have been thus far?
One Word: Bad
Remember when I said I found out my internship centre I was being posted to but not the exact location of the centre since there were so many branches in Singapore?
I got posted to a centre 1.5 hours from where I'm staying.
There I was, thinking that my school would have enough common sense to allocate a centre that was near my location. But nope, they lacked common sense. So many things have happened in the past 1 month that further proves that my lecturers (especially my supervisor) lacked basic common sense.
Where do I even begin oh.my.god.
oKAY, first things first, they have not uploaded anything assignment related up on the school blackboard. The first submission was a few days back and we had to submit it on another platform coz the usual one wasn't ready yet. The lecturers haven't even uploaded the internship module onto the school's blackboard lmao. and they say students are not prepared wtf.
My supervisor was supposed to come down to the centre for a visit to check up on me and another intern (my classmate) but she decided to be fucking lazy and just conducted an online meeting with my centre's mentor instead. Also, it's not that visitors are not allowed in the centre. My centre mentor actually asked when my supervisor (lecturer) was going to visit.
Nevermind, I'm just gonna let it go because that lecturer is pathetic. She has been my module lecturer for the past 2 semesters and all the students whom she taught, have all come to a conclusion.
She bought her PhD.
How else would you explain her idiocy and lack of common sense? When you ask a question, instead of going straight to the answer, she goes one whole round explaining god knows what and then, doesn't even answer your questions in the end.
Did I also mention, she made us all meet on a weekend just so she could brief us in-depth on our tasks. It's the weekENDs. The time where I REST after a 5 day long work week. Okay, to be fair, she did ask whether we wanted to meet on Friday at 7pm or Saturday. She knows that I stay 1.5 hours away from the centre and end my shift at 6pm but still asked whether we wanted to meet at 7pm.
See what I mean when I said she lacked common sense?
So yeah, met up online at 9am on a fucking Saturday for her to go through our tasks "in-depth" (honestly, the briefing was no different from the one the coordinator did with us. It wasn't in-depth at all. It was a waste of my time. I could have been sleeping on that Saturday, after having to wake up at 6:15am every morning to get to work.
She also told us to rest early on weekdays so we have enough energy when working. Sounds very nice of her right? Nah. She then told us to do our internship tasks during the weekends.
Hi, I didn't sell my soul to the school ya.
Just saying, in case you thought I signed a contract to sell my soul away.
Moving on,
Centre Updates.
The first 2 weeks was horrible. Like freaking horrible, more horrible than the internship and practicums I have been through. The kids are a spawn of satan :))) They bullied and ignored me. One of them even talked back to me when I "scolded" him. I'm guessing it's because they saw me as a newcomer and therefore, a pushover.
Sorry kids, your own teacher is more of a pushover than I am.
Istg the class teacher has no control over the class. Either that or she doesn't bother coz she is not interested in this field. But, everything is getting better. It's been a month now and I guess the children have adjusted to me and know that they can't bully me. I bonded with most of the children and most of them remember my name as well *_* things are so much better now compared to the first 2 weeks (it took longer for them to remember my name compared to my previous internship and practicum).
The kids are great but the staff there, not really. I was told to work overtime almost 3 times this week because they lacked staffs. My mentor told me to just use those extra time as make up hours etc. I honestly think the reason why they asked me to work over time was because they don't have to pay me for the extra hours. If they asked their own staff, they have to pay them for the extra hours.
Mentor even asked whether I could report at 7am for one of the days instead. I told her no. It's way too early and the bus near my house doesn't start early enough for me to reach in time. If I was staying near the area, I would have agreed but hello?
I stay 1.5 hours away.
This means that I have to get up at 5am to shower and have breakfast and then board the 1st bus near my place to get there in time. Worst part? I'm not getting paid extra. Most, if not all the staff that work there, stay nearby/around the area. For the past 1 month, they have ended their shift earlier than me (reporting time similar to mine). Why don't you get them to report earlier instead?
Because they need to pay those staff for the extra hours. That's why.
Even the centre cleaner found it ridiculous that the centre actually told me to report that early especially when I stay that far.
She even told me that the centre should hire more people or just ask their current staff there since one of them already stay upstairs while another, stays in the next block.
To sum it up, the place sucks but internship is starting to get better.
Next Up: Art-A-Fair
Last weekend, there was an event for local artists to sell their works (like a booth event?? idk the exact terms). Prior to that, I have never went to these kinds of events but I did see some of the artists works and I guess that was what made me want to head down and get some merchandise for myself. Cleared up my weekend schedule just for the event!!
I went down there thinking I'll just get a few items from my favourite artists but I spent over $100+ on so many things (sticker mostly) and now, I wanna stab myself because wtf am I going to do with so many stickers??? I planned on "pasting" it behind my phone but I procrastinated and still have not done anything with it despite it being a week since I bought the stickers.
Definitely overspent last weekend. After overspending in September, I made a bet (kinda) with myself. For every non-essential transaction I make in October I'll have to pay a fine of $2. At the end of the month, take the "fine" money out and deposit it into my bank account. So far, I haven't spent on anything so I'm all good but, there's this artist who is doing a shop update tomorrow and I'm super excited (might cart out some items) because her works are similar to Korean artists???? Let's see how much I spend on that store tomorrow...
I'm praying for better days to come as internship goes along.
