Hoarding material memories

My room has been an absolute mess recently as I prepare for my holidays.

My summer promises to be an excellent one this summer, especially compared to spending two months working as a cleaning lady last year. It all started with my internship, followed by a little weekend discovering Brighton, and is about to take off for an incredible two weeks as I a) continue my journey exploring Britain by heading up North for a long weekend, b) attend Glastonbury for the first time ever, and c) take a week off from life to lay on the beaches of Sardinia and show the boyf around Paris.

You'll hear more about all that soon, but today I want to focus on the mess.

My room has always been full of stuff. Bits and bobs piled everywhere, dozens of old postcards stuck to the walls, boxes after boxes full of books and old school notepads... It never stops. My mum was always — and still is — amazed at how much stuff I could collect and never throw away. She had this way of looking around my room with a half judging, half amused look, which I could very well read as "How can my daughter be so different from me?" (A much larger problem with many, many examples that I won't dare try to solve today.)

You'd think I would have matured and grown out of it, and this especially since I found out in the meantime that I'm actually allergic to dust! Stacks of trinkets and old things don't do well for me.

But ey, looks like I'm a hoarder through and through.

Committing to things makes me feel more grounded. I get to look around my room and see the things I have loved and still do, and the things that have changed. It's a sort of who I was, where I've been, how did I get there. My collections are material memories of every single little part of my life.

I have loads of earrings, boxes filled with old photos, stacks of books I will never read again and notebooks I barely even open anymore. I keep clothes I used to love and cards I've been given and have a recipe book collection that's been going out of control. And that's only things I can categorise.

Throwing away things breaks my heart a little because it feels like letting go of the memory.

As long as I've got a material reminder for it, I know I won't forget about it.

So I've kept the Macbar macaroni-shaped tupperware I got in New York last summer, and the letters my cousin sent me when I was 8, and the ticket for the terrible opera I went to with my housemates a few months ago. (Now that I think about it, I should actually probably throw that one away...)

Problem is, I've had a thing for moving recently. Remember that one time I had to fit all of my stuff in the boot of a car because I was leaving France for the UK? My dad sure remembers.

Plus, there's also millions of new memories waiting to be made. I need space for these.

This is a pledge to get rid of stuff. I've had the urge to throw away things recently; a consequence of my closet being 'cannot fit any more hangers/three shirts on one hanger' full. I am going to do it. I will empty boxes and fill bin bags and eBay the shizz out of my dust catchers.

Then I'll replace old memories with new ones and fill my room all over again.

How to make the most of your internship (and get one!)

Someone needs to re-motivate themselves to blog, ey?!

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently interned four weeks at Company magazine, hence the lack of posts. The experience was fantastic and I did my best to make the most of the four weeks there, and after spending my days writing web stories and researching the Interwebz, I have to admit blogging was the last thing I wanted to do.

But since it's now finished, I figured I'd share a few internship tips from my work experience on the Features desk at Company... Who knows, some of you might be interested?

- Make sure your CV is free of spelling mistakes and up to date. Simple but necessary.

- When writing out cover letters, always adapt them to whoever you're sending them to. That includes the person you're adressing, but also the company you want to intern with. Do some research, show you know what they do and insist on why you are the right person for this particular placement. I'd also advise to be a bit audacious with the letter if the company allows it: make jokes, send a hand-written letter, make a video... Something to get you noticed, without going past the limits.

- Yay, you got the internship! Now, make yourself heard. You want to make the most of your time there, be useful, and hopefully be remembered. So if you have an idea, share it! If you have an opinion that you believe to be interesting/critical/original on an issue, speak up. Ask if you can be credited for things you did. Be polite and remember you don't know everything, but show you're not just a plant pot.

- Always do something. If you're at a loss for things to do, let others know you're available. They probably could use some help, and it would be a shame for you to waste your internship by staring blankly into nothingness.

- When given something to do, take notes. It'll help your figure out where to start, and will avoid having to ask people to constantly repeat stuff...

- ...But do ask questions if you don't know how to do things! Better ask once and do it than try a million of things that don't work and waste everyone's time.

- Internship over, sad face! Still got ideas? Keep in touch with the company, make yourself available and suggest things you could do for them.

- Get your hands on the July 2013 issue of Company and read Alexxsia Elizabeth's feature 'How to be a good intern.' Pretty much sums up what not/to do.

Some of these might be more applicable to internships in the media than in other domains, but I think the general idea is valid. One thing's for sure: by doing that, I definitely made the most of my internship and had an absolute blast while learning a lot. You can have a look at some things I wrote for the website here, here and in here. And you can even see my face on the website! :)

And finally, the ultimate piece of advice...