What I've learned so far

I have been on co-op for six weeks now. Looking at the calendar, I can’t believe it’s already been six weeks, on the other hand, that means I have 20 weeks to go. Here’s to hoping it will fly by.

Anyway, I’ve learned a lot in the past six weeks both in and out of the office.

    My day to day duties are pretty light and only take up about half my day sometimes, so I have a lot of extra time to myself. Of course I’ve fallen prey to the temptation of Twitter and my newest obsession, Pinterest, a social networking site that allows you to “pin” pictures to a virtual board. I’ve never been on Facebook; that is the one thing I won’t allow myself to do. So, you might ask, how do I fill an 8 hour day with only 4-5 hours of actual work?

     I read. I read the newspaper, I read Boston.com and I read stories I find on Twitter. I see this as a way to learn. When I leave at the end of the day, my thoughts are swirling around in my head in the prose of a very well-written journalist. I’ve found that reading is going to make me a better writer. 

    Reading is the foundation we build all other learning on, especially writing. If we couldn’t read, we certainly wouldn’t know what we were writing. Reading and translating a foreign language is always easier than trying to speak it or write it.

   So I’m going back to basics at my job. I’m reading. I’m reading everything from news to business to arts and entertainment. And while the comics are probably still my favorite part of the newspaper, I’ve found a new appreciation for the briefs and articles that stain my fingers with newsprint every day.

I look forward to the hour I reserve for myself at the end of everyday where I can spread The Globe across my desk and read the day’s top headlines.

   In addition to my reading of the newspaper aiding my education as a young journalist, the paper has made me a more educated individual. I think back to high school and even middle school when writing an essay was painful because I could always come up with a claim, but finding the evidence to back it up was the true challenge. Nowadays, I can back up most conversations I have with something I read in The Globe.

   The Globe is an excellent newspaper. I’m not just saying that because I work for them. It is a well run business with many functioning parts. They employ over 1,000 people from the cafeteria workers to the return room guys who sort papers to the payroll people to the reporters. It is a well-oiled machine as I see it from my perspective at the bottom. A machine I am proud to be a part of it, even if my role is small.

So inside the office, I’m learning what it means to work 40 hours a week, be a part of a true business environment and to sharpen my skills as a journalist if not just a well-informed member of society. 

   Outside of the office, I’m learning what it means to be an independent adult. Sort of.

   I am still a college student, highly dependent on my parents financially and emotionally. But in the past month, I’ve come to appreciate myself.

   My time in college has been a bit like a revolving door of chaos that just keeps going around and around. I was stuck in the doors never able to stop outside and breathe in the fresh air, or get into the building and begin what I set out to do. It was always something: friend drama, a difficult assignment, housing problems, more friend drama. I was losing myself, I could feel it.

   But my best friend here moved to New York City for co-op, my roommate drifted away, my best friend from home is over 3,000 miles away and my Boston friends are the kinds of friends you eat lunch with, not really the kind of friends I want to burden with invitations.

   I was worried coming back in January that I would be a solitary homebody. And, in fact, I am. But what I’ve always known deep down is that I’m happy about it.

   I like being alone. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy company. I like eating with friends at lunch and seeing some friends on the weekends, but I don’t mind being alone. I am grateful for this attribute because I think a lot of people find loneliness debilitating. I find it liberating. Just because I’m alone, doesn’t mean I’m lonely. I also don’t feel alone on a college campus and with constant connection with my parents and best friends through email, Skype, calls and texts. I’m an introvert and I certainly have a comfort zone I don’t like leaving. But I’m learning to appreciate the nights I can do whatever I want without anyone judging me or waiting on me.

   I’m learning to live my life as I want to. I’m slowly learning to be myself again.