Singin’ Sweet Home Alabama All Summer Long…

Ah, summer. Popsicles, going swimming, staying up late and sleeping til noon, eating outside, vacations and no homework!

Well, at least until you have to get a summer job. This is something I’m sure almost all of us can relate to. There you were, enjoying three glorious months of carefree activities like the ones listed above and BAM! Suddenly, mom and dad aren’t paying for things anymore and you need to come up with some form of monetary compensation. Then the real challenge arises: how can you find a job and still enjoy your now limited summer vacations before you’re stuck working… (Dare I say it?)… All… Year…Long…?

Luckily for me, I devised a solution that has served me well over my past 3 summers: I’m a nanny.

For me, nannying is the perfect summer job. I (literally) get to play all day long, I have a flexible schedule, I have countless “soft” benefits like free lunches and snacks, the ability to drive the kids around on someone else’s gas money, and a comfy attire of t-shirts, shorts and flip flops, and best of all I always love going to work!

Here is a picture of me “hard at work”:

Up until June, I didn’t even have to drive to work! I just walked across the street and into my neighbor’s house- pretty nice commute, if you ask me! But when the ever-growing family of 7 finally outgrew their 3-bedroom house, it was time for them to move. Now my 5-minute commute gives me enough time to wake up before chasing after the 5 kids all day! Between the 13-year-old, 10-year-old, 7.5-year-old, 5-year-old and 2-year-old, I’m kept plenty busy but I wouldn’t trade a thing. I’ve bonded with each of these kids in various ways and have come to love them dearly. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of coming to work and having the toddler sprinting towards you for a hug, grinning from ear to ear shouting “HI TOOZIE!” (Toddler talk for: “Hi Susie!”)

Now don’t start hating me too much. This summer I decided I also needed some “real world” experience, and I was able to get an intensive one-month internship at Kroll Ontrack, Inc. This internship allows me to nanny part-time yet I can still devote 20-30 hours a week to Kroll Ontrack. Here at my “real” job, I serve as an administrative assistant to the Head of Strategic Development, so I do things like file and track expense reports, make copies, and I’m going to be doing some language translation work for the President! I was a bit apprehensive at first because I wasn’t sure if I could handle being in a cubicle all day, but I’m actually really enjoying it! (I also really like the new work wardrobe I got to buy!) Here are two pictures of my office at Kroll:

I was so surprised to walk in to my first day of work and see that I already had a name plate on my cubicle! Working in an office is definitely a new experience for me, but it’s one that I’m glad to have. It’s helping me see how a global business runs and my cubicle is steps away from the offices of the company President, the COO, the CFO, and (my boss) the Head of Strategic Development. So you can imagine I’m learning a lot simply by being in such close proximity to these successful people!

Not only will this experience help boost my resume, it’s even better that this opportunity arose before graduation. After Stonehill is over, I’m hoping to move back to Paris (where I studied abroad in the fall of 2007) and work in an office there, so this experience will hopefully help prepare me for the corporate world. I’m still not quite sure how my psychology major will fit in, but my French major will definitely pay off!

The rest of my summer will be a balancing act: nanny some days, intern the others. But it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to. I enjoy the contrast of working alongside educated adults some days and spending others reminding the 2-year-old to say “please” and “thank you”.

And hey, before you know it, August 24^th will be here and I’ll be moving back to Stonehill, ready to start another academic year. As excited as I am to move back to school, I can say that my summer situation does have one perk over Stonehill: no homework!