Guy, Girl, Human?

An entry that blogger did not let me post on 6.19.2008:

I have a really hard time trying to figure out guys from girls here, more often than not. Some of the guys here are very feminine looking, while most girls I have seen dress very boyish and cut their hair very short.

While European fashion and haircuts are classy, I'm not sure I could ever fall into a style that seems very plain to me. I like to wear my personality on my sleeve, literally. And I love to have fun with my hair and style it differently. On the positive side, the simplicity allows for more sleep time, and less hassle when it rains since it rains a lot here.

Speaking of which, today was another beautiful day. Sunny, warm, perfect. It was not too hot, nor too cold - I could walk in my work outfit and not sweat to pieces.

My first day was good. When I was being introduced to the internship, it reminded me of Advertising Campaigns - a class I took this past semester. Since I am working for a small agency, I will get to do both writing (more along the lines of PR Writing) and strategy. The strategy aspect consists of marketing research, positioning, media planning and budgeting. I am excited for this because I will have a chance to broaden my advertising skills so that in case I do work for a small agency in the future (or even myself), I know how both fields function and provide input for both.

Unfortunately (and obviously), I cannot talk details about the projects I am working on, but I am looking forward to the two that I will be doing work for. The first project I am working on is writing a newsletter. I am setting the mark for this newsletter because they have never done one before for this project. They are giving me free reign and it's my time to shine. Too bad I’m not fantastic at the strategic and marketing aspect.

I went to lunch with my boss and a guy that I will be working on the second project with. I learned that my boss lived in the US for a little while, when she worked for Mercedes-Benz. Her English is almost perfect. She just forgot the word for "overstatement" and "croissant." But I couldn't even tell you how to pronounce 90% of the words I have seen since I've been here, so props to her for being that fluent in two languages! Thanks to the automated voices on the bus, I am learning how to pronounce most of the German vowels. I'm even finding myself reading English words and adding German pronounciations to them. For example, Switzerland: Svitz-err-lahnd. Maybe I'm a little bit off, but I tried!

At work, I have my own laptop. Mac, of course. The problem? The entire operating system and all of the programs (except for Mozilla) are in German. And the keyboard is German as well. I've been doing a lot of hunting and pecking.

After work, my dad and I drove to Neuchatel. It's in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, about thirty minutes from Bern and sits on yet another gorgeous lake. Again, it's picture perfect. We ate dinner at a hotel restaurant that sat on the lake so we got a nice view while we ate. Except some drunk football (soccer) fan kept blowing his airhorn. I felt like throwing my two tiny bites of tuna at him (yes, that's the portion we got there). On the way back to the car we saw more football fans watching the Germany and Austria game, hootin' and hollerin'. I can't do anything but laugh when I hear all this.

Tomorrow, for my birthday, we are either going to a fondue restaurant or we are going to this restaurant on top of a mountain (or pretty close to it) with a breathtaking view. I haven't decided which I wanted to do yet.

What I learned today:
- China blatantly copies everyone else's advertising. Concept for concept. Word for word. Picture for picture. End result? They produce everyone else's ads in Chinese.
- 'Z' is more important than 'Y' in the German language. Their positions are switched on the keyboard.
- The Swiss transportation system is awesome. The buses are extremely clean and always on time.
- Most Swiss people I have met drink the non-gas water.
- Since the Swiss are big energy-conservationists, all lights are timed. If you don’t turn off the light in a given amount of time, it goes off.
- The trash bags are so expensive because, the government is encouraging everyone to recycle and waste less. Of course it was political!
- I can celebrate my Switz birthday in about forty minutes, and my US birthday again when I get up at 6. Hup, Jessica! (Honk to Jessica, even though I won't hear you!)


Love,
Jessica