Eternally Embarrassed

Girls,
I am at CDG waiting for my flight to Milano but I had to write quickly to share the most humiliating story! Our first appointment this morning was at Alaïa (swoon!) and I was running a little late.  I knew it would be a hectic day (we left straight from our Marc Jacobs appointment for my boss' hotel to grab our bags and then on to the airport) so I tried to wear a cute but comfortable outfit.  I opted for a pair of olive green pants, a comfy yet chic choice.  Well, I noticed when I got to Alaïa that there was a small whole in the crotch of my pants (not visible to anyone, thank goodness!) and made a note to get the pants repaired before I wear them next.  I'm sure you see where I am going with this...

After a successful appointment at Alaïa I was hustling to get into the cab to take us to MJ when RIIIIIIIPPPPPPP!  Yup, my pants split!  Not just a little hole, from front to back SPLIT!  The leg of my pant was hanging on by a thread and my little black underwear were on full display!  How I managed to get myself into such a mess is beyond me but there was no time to go home to change!   So, for the entire day, I had to wear my big coat with a fur lined hood!  I looked like a complete nutter, especially since I was overheating all day!  At one point the boss told me to take off my coat because he was overheating just looking at me and I tried to pretend that I was freezing and preferred to keep it on!   Just mortifying!

Luckily I was able to change before we left the hotel for the airport but I am still pretty embarrassed!  I guess it could have been worse... I managed to hide it from my boss!  He would have had choice words for me since he has already commented on my cheese and cookie consumption!  I'm sure he would blame my ripped seams on gluttony!  ha!

I'll write again from Milan!

Bisous xx Ophelia

The Ultimate Ice-Breaker

Ophelia, this all sounds so glamorous and you deserve all of it!  You have waited a long time for this opportunity so enjoy every minute.  Is this a permanent gig or temporary?

Well, things in SoCal are not so bright or so sunny.  I have a pretty big confession to make!  In attempts to spend more time networking with my superiors I have picked up a nasty habit.  I have transformed into a social smoker.  It is amazing how much conversation occurs outside the doors of a work building between the smokers of the office.  I have infiltrated the group and have been inducted into their elite group evolving our relationship to the next level.

Unfortunately for me, the little things are addictive and I now find myself wanting to smoke all the time.  Worry not, my dear friends, I am being strong and refuse to give in!

On the upside, my new filthy habit did allow me to meet a boy!  The possibilities for conversation starters are endless and the one that worked this time was the classic, "Do you have a light?" It probably won't go anywhere, but it is a nice distraction in my anticlimactic life at the moment.  Ophelia, what I wouldn't do for a day in your shoes!

Flora, how is New York City?  Freezing as ever?

xxx Rose

The Fashion Intern

Dearest girls,
I bet you are wondering what has become of your friend Ophelia...  I have been working like a beast!  This job is literally consuming my life!  In the past 4 days we have had meetings at Chloe, Giambattista Valli and John Galliano!  Coming up we have Balenciaga, Nina Ricci, Sonia Rykiel, Marc by Marc Jacobs and more.  And as if that wasn't enough, tomorrow we go to Lanvin!  I pretty much spend the entire time drooling over the gorgeous clothes which I get to manhandle to my heart's content and then purchase vicariously through my boss.  The (wholesale) prices are staggering, but it is mind-boggling to think that in a few months women will be taking the pieces I helped choose off the racks and buying them at insane retail prices!  Oh the world of fashion!

Anyway, I am so exhausted every day (each day is about 12 hours!) and haven't had a second to do anything (no weekends!), but it is nice to be busy again.  How many months did I sit around doing nothing?  haha!  What else can I tell you?  Oh... my bosses!  They are difficult, to say the least.  That said, I work with the most lovely American girl (Ginny) and I am having a blast with her!  We make the most of a mean situation and spend the entire day laughing at fashion related inside jokes!  I'd be lost without her!

Well my lovelies, I must get some rest.  I have a huge huge huge day tomorrow (four appointments compared to our usual two or three!) so I will be on the go until late tomorrow night.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Sending you both lots of love!

Bisous xx Ophelia

PS.  Did I mention that I am off to Milan on Sunday?  Yes, my first business trip is to Milano!  Molto bene!

An Office BROmance

"Bro! You are a legend!"

OMG, if I have to hear the words "Dude" and "Bro" one more time I am going to have a freak out.

So two of the other production interns that I word with have basically fallen in love with each other and can barely keep keep their hands off each other.

If there was an award for best BRO-mance these two knuckleheads would be 1st place, coming in second would be Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth's Bromance in The King's Speech and 3rd would be Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes.

Don't get me wrong, they are amusing and hilarious together, but I need some chick talk in my life.  I am sick of them high-fiving and talking about how they would have their way with Jessica Alba and that playboy model that Hugh Hefner is engaged to!  I would actually put money on the fact that neither of them have seen any action in months if not years.

Far from a legend, mate, you are an epic fail!

xxx Rose

P.S. O, so proud of you!  Will call you tomorrow for details.  Is this short term or a long term thing?  Either way so glad for you xx

The Intern and the Ex-Intern

Hello girls,
Rose, keep your head up!  It will all pay off in the end.  And who needs a boyfriend when you have a local bakery?  ha!   Flora, quelle coincidence that you are always within earshot of good gossip!  You're a gossip vault!

As for moi, I have great news, I got a job!!  Remember last week when I applied to companies randomly before I went away for the weekend hoping for a reply by monday?  Well, I got a call on Saturday and by Sunday I was employed!  What a wonderful weekend!  I had the best time in Honfleur but how funny to leave Paris without a job and to return with one!  I am the Paris-based assistant to a well-known Vice President of a VERY well-known department store.  And en plus, I get to travel for work!  Tis a dream!  I start tomorrow (my first meeting at my favorite Parisian cafe, a good sign, non?) so I will keep you posted!

My celebration was short-lived when I got a call from a dear friend still struggling to find a job/internship.  The guy has a degree from a super prestigious university, is completely bilingual and has work experience in France and the US and still he cannot find a job.  Sound familiar?  To make matters worse, when I got the call saying I was hired, he got a call asking if he was still interested in an unpaid internship he had applied for.  Obviously, he took this to be a good sign until the woman informed him that he will hear from them in two days for an interview IF he had been shortlisted.  If?!  So let's recap:  He expresses interest in the position by applying and accepts that he will not be payed.  He then has to reconfirm his interest in an unpaid position and may not even be shortlisted!  Enough is enough!  Stop making interns jump through hoops!  I am livid for him (obviously!).  Even more depressing, this terrible article landed in my lap the other day!  As if interns (and ex-interns) need to know that selling our souls as unpaid interns is the only way to go!

I am being dramatic, but still, cut interns some slack already!

Ok girls, I am going to step off this soapbox and go about my business!  haha!

Bisous xx Ophelia

Drowning

Ladies!

I only have time for a quick note, but I wanted to let you guys know that I am still alive and well! Sorry for now being in touch lately, but  I am absolutely drowning in work.  Working more than 12 hours a day means I don't go out, I don't drink, I don't even have the energy to hike... 

I am happy to report no annoying drama in my life: there is no man, there is no crazy boss, but unfortunately there is no money either!  At the very least I should be granted the luxury of a little retail therapy, no?

Ophelia, reading your email about bread made me go out and buy a ginormous baguette immediately after!  You know my weakness = carbs!

Love you guys.

xxx

Rose

An Intern Crosses the Line

Hey chicas!

Sorry for being a little MIA, I've been under the gun with work...and my new leash, that is my Blackberry has been ringing day in and day out! Finally today, I was able to put it aside for an hour of peace an quiet at lunch. I've had enough... literally enough! This silly gadget has become a nightmare. I properly went out for lunch this aft, actually with 2 colleagues, 1 of whom is an intern and is soon finished interning here...

Lunch was good and relaxing and as always we got into major office gossip talk! My colleague R. always has good gossip...she's been here for a long time and knows EVERYTHING on EVERYONE! I try to stay out of all the office politics, but was this ever amusing to listen to... That is, until A., the intern got into it... She was clearly enjoying the gossip too, a little too much!

And then and there she started letting all kinds of info out about her boss... I mean A TON! How she hates how he dresses, who he emails, who he speaks to, what he does on weekends...The info she knew about him (and gave out about him) was staggering (impressive!). Almost stalkerish! Had she hacked into his Facebook account? This was entertaining but clearly a little too much...she'd crossed the line between fun and rude. And she crossed it even further when she blurted out his opinion on our colleague who was sitting there!! Yes, yes the audacity this girl has!! I wont go into how he feels about R., but let me tell you it's not all ab fab! And it was super embarassing!

Can you imagine this?? Listen, I've been an intern a long time and now I'm a full-time employee and in either position I know you just DON'T talk trash that way! You can't! There's a line, and she overstepped it...very much so! Even R's gossip was mild in comparison, and never would R. have taken a jab at A.!

I'm no Devil Wears Prada, but let me tell you, from now I will be watching what I say in her presence...This is one intern gone on a gossip rampage!

Flora xoxo

Get it While It's Hot!

Hello girls!
I hope you had a nice week!   I had a great week filled with job applications... and bread!  Yes, bread!  When a young lady is unemployed she finds herself with a lot of free time on her hands!  Don't ask me why - perhaps it was the delicious smell coming from Gerard Mulot on Monday morning - but I set my mind on baking my own fresh bread.  Well, it was a huge success!  I have made bread every day this week!  That said, I wouldn't mind making a pay check instead of baguettes!  Or maybe I can use my new talent to apply to the local boulangerie.  No?  Maybe not. haha!

And now the weekend is upon us and I am hoping to hear back from one of the many applications I sent out this week.  Unfortunately, they are all spontaneous applications (ie not replying to an ad) so the odds are stacked against me.   To take my mind off my unemployment, le boyfriend decided to take me along on his business trip this weekend.  He has meetings in Le Havre on Monday, but after my riding lesson tomorrow we are heading back to Honfleur!   Yes, I know I have been to Normandie numerous times in the past 6 months, but I love it so much!  And Honfleur is so gorgeous!   As I stated in my New Years Resolutions, I vow to take more photos, so the camera is charged and ready to go!  Can't wait!

Hopefully upon my return on Monday afternoon I will have fabulous news in my inbox!  I like to think that if I had a job I would continue baking bread but who am I kidding?  That's what the baker is for!

Bisous from the bread capital of the world!  xx Ophelia

Eternal Intern Movie Awards

Well done with the motivation, O!  I have everything crossed for you.

Work has been really great, but uneventful in the New Year.  I've become quite accustomed and content with the constant angst of trying to impress and just waiting for my day to shine.

Anyway, I have way too many movies to see this month before the Oscar noms come out to be bothered with the lack of excitement at work.  I'm so jealous of my friends that get academy screeners sent to their offices and so they have all the movies that I need to see at their disposal at any time, although technically (and quite frankly, legally!) they are not meant to be touching those DVDs.

This EI's budget could really use screeners right about now!  Maybe we should set up the Eternal Intern international movie awards and demand screeners of the movies as well!  What a glorious world that would be! Flora, our in house communication guru, you should get going on the press release... 'Announcing the first ever Eternal Intern International Movie Awards'.  I think it has a ring to it...

xxx

Rose

Side Note- Is it just me or is it everyone's flippin' birthday in January?! I have my direct boss, her boss, a couple of good friends, a few not so good friends, etc... I pretty much have at least 3 birthday events per week for the next three weeks!  How will my liver cope?

Calling All Contacts

Bonjour girls,
I am back in Paris after a lovely vacation.  Rose, we missed you so much in New York.  It was great having 2/3 of the Eternal Interns in the same city, but we are long overdue for a catch up!   Flora and I had a delicious dinner at Bar Boulud on the Upper West Side (we had the cutest waiter from New Orleans!) and then a low-key drink at Barcibo.  I remember a time when we would have been out on the town until the wee hours of the morning, but times have changed!  I was home in bed by midnight!   I left NYC on Friday night and my flight back to Paris was wonderful, I was upgraded by the good people at Air France! No complaints from this Eternal Intern!

And now, I am back in Paris ready to tackle 2011 head on!  Starting tomorrow, I will begin papering this town with my recently reviewed resume.  I am optimistic that this will be my year!  I have also decided to start calling friends and contacts who may be able to help me in my search for Eternal Employment.  When you think about it, we know so many people who have cut to the front of the line through nepotism and personal contacts!  It really isn't fair!  I was thinking about it on the plane and I have come to the realization that if I lived in New York, I would be all set!  I know all the right people to score a cool job, but I just cannot see myself living there at this point in my life.  Instead, I prefer to tough it out in Paris (haha, yeah, it is real tough living in Paris!) and make my own way.  Well, I have tried to do it alone for too long, it is about time I capitalize on some of those contacts I have accumulated.  Everybody does it, so why not me?  As I learned before the vacation, it only takes "one" meeting, person, encounter to open a door to employment.  And so out comes the rolodex and it is on!

I'll keep you posted but for now it is sunny and mild in Paris today, better take advantage!

Bisous xx Ophelia

The Blackberry: A gift gone bad...

Ophelia! Tomorrow? Drinks? I'm so sorry...it's just I've been super busy at work this week! It's been crazy...and you know me..."Geek by week, Freak by week-end!". So yes, tomorrow we meet! Plus, I have to tell you about the so-called "present" I got at work...or so I thought it was a present!

I got back to work on Monday morning bright and early to learn the news every new-hire, entry-level, twenty-something employee wans to hear: You're getting a black berry!

"Yes" I thought! Whohooooooooooo!! It was like a mini promotion! Seriously, I'm super honored that my boss  has deemed it necessary and clearly I do see it as a plus (not everyone at the office has one!). I got my BB...spread my Pin to all mis amigos...and for about 2 days I fell in love with it...

That is until last night at 11.30pm an email comes in from my boss about an event we'll be running in 2 weeks...And the subject read: Urgent!

What the f**k?? What could be urgent at almost midnight on a Wednesday night...I had been streaming season 4 of Madmen on my laptop in bed! But no, this was "Urgent"...and HAD to be attended to...So with that I spent my night going back and forth with her until around 1am...when the issue was finally resolved and I could finally go to bed!

But since last night it has been the same bloody thing...I woke up this morning to more email...at 7am!! And I just went off to lunch, and basically spent my break attached to this silly gadget responding endlessly to emails...

This isn't a friggin Blackberry, it is indeed a friggin Crackberry! I'm going crazy! This is day 4 and I'm already pulling my hair and loosing any feeling in my thumb tips!

Help!

Flora

Intern in the City

Hey girls! Glad to hear you are back in the swing of things at work, dear Rose!   I am still in vacation mode enjoying my last few days in New York.  I was actually supposed to leave for Paris yesterday, but I decided to extend my stay until the end of the week.  More time to catch up with Flora and my other New York pals!   My trip home has been absolutely awesome!  New Year's Eve was great.  Unfortunately Kate came down with a flu and had to cancel her dinner last minute, but I was able to pull together a small cocktail party chez moi for those without plans.  Lots of champagne and lots of fun!   On Sunday we went to a Raptors/Celtics game which was a lot of fun and on Monday morning we flew to New York.

My time in New York, although short, has been action-packed as well.  Last night I went with my dear friend Ashton Hearley to the premiere of the new Nicolas Cage movie, Season of the Witch.  Now, I am no film critic (I'll leave that up to you, Rose!), but the movie was one of the worst I have ever seen.  Painfully bad.  That said, Ashton and I were completely intrigued by the uber-weird Nicolas Cage (or "The Cage" as Aston calls him!) so we had a swell time!  The after-party was held at a gorgeous church-turned-venue on CPW.  Ashton and I arrived early so we snagged the best table for people watching.  Turns out our table was right next to The Cage's table so as he accepted (fake) compliments on the film, Aston and I munched on delicious canapés and made numerous trips to the open bar and buffet! Most people went to the party for Nicolas Cage, Ashton and I went for the lobster club sandwiches and prosecco!

So what's on the agenda for today?  Flora, you tell me!  When do I get to see you?  It has been ages since we were together in New York, let's do something fab!  Rose, I so so so wish you were here too!

Bisous from the Big Apple,

xx Ophelia 

Back To School... I mean... Work!

Good afternoon, Ladies!

Day 3 of 2011 and already back to work!  I really hate the fact that both Xmas and New Year were weekend holidays this year...and can you believe that we are already back to work?

Well so far so good.  I'm proud to announce that I've stuck to my resolutions thus far, well for the most part at least!  I'm never good with resolutions.  I always make them unrealistic and I attempt to make myself do things that I know I absolutely hate to do!  For example, I know that I will never successfully join a gym and keep that up, so why do I keep adding it to my list of resolutions?  Oh well, I am motivated and excited for everything that 2011 has in store for this Eternal Intern.

To my surprise, I was even excited to return to work.  It felt much like the first day of school!  I packed my lunch and bag and listened to Ryan Seacrest during my 1 hour commute.  Nothing exciting to report yet on the work front.  Still a happily paid intern :)  Although I am always secretly awaiting a promotion, I am pleased that the enthusiasm I have for my job has only grown stronger with the passing holidays, and I am 100% rested and ready to take on the next few months of my internship.

Good luck with the fresh start to your Parisian job hunt, Ophelia!
Flora, are you back to New York, or did you take an extra few days off with your family before returning to work?

xxx
Rose