Auf'd

Hello and apologies for the protracted absense... ich war mit meiner Schwester in Deutschland. woohoo!

I’ve been back in New York [New Jersey] about a week now. When I got back from Berlin my parents called to say, “We’re so glad you’re home!” Suddenly California doesn’t seem so far from New York; they’re thrilled I’m here instead of across the ocean where they couldn’t reach me by phone, since my Euro phone was a piece of sheisse. At first it was okay, it turned off when I tried to make calls, but all I had to do was carry around the charger and plug it in whenever I wanted to make a call. But by the third week the phone wouldn’t stay on even when plugged in, not even to send a text, not even to give the time of day. I ended up spending tons of money at phone booths in spite of my efforts to keep calls short (“Where are we meeting? what time? no, don’t explain why--”) One night I was supposed to meet up with a Claremont friend studying in Berlin, Tall Rob, and I only had a 2 euro coin on me, and I didn’t want to feed it to the phone because you can buy half a schwarma with that kind of money. I was at a bus stop and I asked a girl in broken German if she had any change on her. She shook her head no and said, “I’m sorry, no, no, I spent it all, I need it for the bus, no money.” I said, okay, don’t worry about it, and then realized she thought I was begging for money, and I felt really uncomfortable.

I broke my watch that same night waiting for the U-Bahn in the train station. You know my watch with the Roman numerals that said IV instead of VI? It’s so sad… I broke the glass trying to dry the water that got inside the case when I got caught biking in the rain.

I was under the impression that it would still be summer in Berlin. I packed mostly t-shirts and three sweaters, and ended up wearing those three sweaters every day. When it wasn’t raining it was gray, and when it wasn’t gray it was Sunday and there were people out dancing at an open-air electrodance party in Mauerpark [Wall Park], where they’d probably gone straight from Saturday night’s electrodance party.

Every Sunday in Mauerpark there’s also a flea market where you can buy anything from bike locks to dental tools…Rachel and I talked about buying a bike for 30 euros and then selling it afterwards, but in the end we just rented bikes. We also talked about getting a weeklong metro pass, but we didn’t do that either. Give me a rainy bike ride in Berlin any day over the U-Bahn. The subway is just too…clean. Plus, it freaks me out the way people are so diligent about paying for tickets that NO ONE CHECKS; you don’t have to swipe or validate the tickets or anything to get on the train. Only rarely do the public transit police come by to check for illegals. I rode for free a few times but felt really paranoid waiting for the Polizei to come and publicly extort me in front of all the law-abiding German passengers and their wide-eyed children. I guess that’s why the public transit system actually works--(1) fear and (2) most Germans are sticklers for the rules. The stereotype does hold true to some extent. I met up with some German friends in Freiburg who counted themselves among the free-thinking minority, but even they made me laugh explaining why they don’t cross the street on a red light: “We have to set a good example for the kids.”

My trip itinerary went like this: Berlin--Heidelberg--Freiburg--Berlin, and my sister was there for Berlin and Heidelberg, and then left for home because she had to go back to school. Most of the time we had fun, but sometimes it was hard and lonely being together just the two of us. I felt like I had to take care of her, make sure she didn’t get into trouble, tell her not to talk to the gypsies who wandered around the tourist areas asking “Speak English? Speak English?” (to which my sister responded, “Yes?”) And I was always the translator (of sorts). But I know she felt out of place, not speaking any German, whereas I could get by with my two semesters’ worth. I made a few funny mistakes though. Like when I asked a bartender who was closing up, “Gibt es noch zeit ein bier zu treffen?” (Is there still time to meet a beer?)

Tall Rob made a funnier mistake. He told me and Rachel that he fell asleep on a cross-country train ride through Germany and woke up in a panic, thinking it was his stop. He threw all his stuff into his bag and then realized it wasn’t actually his stop. So he sat down and announced to the rest of his compartment, “Ich bin sehr, sehr traurig.” Which means, “I am very, very sad.”

“I meant to say I was very very tired!” he said. And we said, “And why were you announcing this to the train?!”

I think the loveliest day I had was in Freiburg, when I went hiking with some friends up Schoenberg [Beautiful Mountain] and picked apples and walnuts and handfuls of grapes from a vineyard, and then hiked back home and peeled all the apples with a knife and baked apfelkuchen, and there were still apples left over so we made applesauce, drank a lot of beer and played a few word games, and that was it.

Now I’m home.

I’m slowly entering the real world again, reading the news for the first time in three weeks (why is it so hard to stay on top of the news while on vacation?) Now I’m extra nervous about looking for a job. It seems kind of ridiculous and irrelevant to be applying for entry level editorial positions when the economy is crashing around our heads.

Plus, my ability to write a cover letter has gone out the window during my three-week hiatus. Read, if you want, the following cover letter I sent in early this morning--without proofreading!! Ellen Reeves, CPC’s own personal CP&R, would’ve killed me. After sending this letter in, I took more time with the others.

To Whom It May Concern:

I learned through the Columbia Publishing Course network that you are currently hiring a fall/winter intern for New York Magazine's Advertising Sales Department. I would love to work at New York; I know and admire the magazine as an voice of the city to which I am only a recent transplant.

I am already familiar with the process of book publishing academic, and I know how to balance multiple tasks while completing a single project. In college I worked with a team of students to research and edit a book called 100 Games & Activities for the Introductory Foreign Language Classroom, published by Eye on Education in May 2007. I saw the project through all stages of production, from conception to publication. At Columbia this summer I served as Business Manager during a weeklong magazine workshop. I worked closely with all members of my team, especially the Advertising/Sales Manager, whom I helped to research potential advertisers for our gay men's bridal magazine, Bridegroom. During this time I developed a real passion for the creative behind-the-scenes work of magazine publishing.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I am free to work three to five days a week, starting immediately, and I would be happy to set up an interview at your earliest convenience. Please find my resume attached.

Best,
Hana S