For the last couple of months, I've been a bit starved for a topic to write about because I've been so busy with uni and my internship - but ironically, this in itself gave me a topic to start writing about on my blog! I just need the time to do it, but that's another story...
My internship's a 10-5 weekend job, but the coolest part of it is that it's in a gaming shop. Not one of those video game stores where you stand behind a counter and sell stuff, but an actual board/card gaming shop - a wargaming shop, so to speak. Promethean Games. This means that I actually get hands-on experience with the games played and am able to introduce new people to the games as well as sell them. The job also utilizes (and will utilize) some of my favorite areas - web design, graphic design, advertising, social networking and retail. Nor only this, but I'm also able to play my favorite games whenever I want, and this helps me practice them at the same time, allowing me to become better. It links very well with my university Games society Treasurer position too! If it sounds like a lot on my plate at once, that's not even half of it.
To give you an idea of how an actual week pans out (despite the hecticness described above), I typically have 5 hours of lectures on a Monday, then Games Society in the evening for three hours. A Tuesday is mostly free, but I tend to use it to catch up with uni reading, cleaning, general home maintenance, that sort of thing. On Wednesday, I sometimes pop into the shop to help out whilst the owner goes to the after-school club, thereby allowing the customers to stay in the shop during that time. I also update the general inventory of the shop such as the card binder (where specific valuable cards are sold from).
Wednesday evening generally has Dungeons and Dragons going on, but being deaf, it's quite hard for me to keep up with all the things the players are saying besides the Dungeon Master. I'm slowly getting used to it though, wreaking havoc against all the enemies with my Intelligence 18 Wizard!
Wednesday evening generally has Dungeons and Dragons going on, but being deaf, it's quite hard for me to keep up with all the things the players are saying besides the Dungeon Master. I'm slowly getting used to it though, wreaking havoc against all the enemies with my Intelligence 18 Wizard!
Thursday has some lectures in the afternoon and morning, but thankfully my friend has the same lectures so we can both talk in the gap between lectures. Not much usually happens on this day, so it's an opportunity for me to do an occasional job like sorting the emails and having a lie-in!
Occasionally on Friday, I go to the shop to do more sorting out and join either the Magic or the D&D events on that night. Since Games Society started up on their Friday meetings again, I've not actually been into the shop on Friday as much. This means I don't have to commute, but I can still sell the shop's products at the society.
Occasionally on Friday, I go to the shop to do more sorting out and join either the Magic or the D&D events on that night. Since Games Society started up on their Friday meetings again, I've not actually been into the shop on Friday as much. This means I don't have to commute, but I can still sell the shop's products at the society.
But the weekend is when it really gets hectic. I walk into the shop at about 10am, and immediately start cleaning, sorting the stock and creating posts for the weekend's events on Facebook. When visitors start milling in for the afternoon, I'm selling products, teaching them how to play games, answering questions, and so on. Then in the evening, there's also the Magic events that they run that I stay for. I'm running a Game Day for Magic in the weekend coming too, so wish me luck on that!
Then I go home, have dinner and go to bed. A much-needed sleep. Then I repeat the hectic day again for the following day - Sunday - and gasp in shock when I realize how many hours of lectures I then have on the Monday!
In the end, it's quite an enjoyable internship, given that there's lots of variety and the subject material of the shop's products appeals to me, so I'm able to sell them with insider knowledge of the products themselves, and from a player's perspective. I'll soon be learning about the website too, so there'll be even more variety on top of what I already have. This means that I'll have a lot to put on my CV in terms of experience and team co-ordination.
Then I go home, have dinner and go to bed. A much-needed sleep. Then I repeat the hectic day again for the following day - Sunday - and gasp in shock when I realize how many hours of lectures I then have on the Monday!
In the end, it's quite an enjoyable internship, given that there's lots of variety and the subject material of the shop's products appeals to me, so I'm able to sell them with insider knowledge of the products themselves, and from a player's perspective. I'll soon be learning about the website too, so there'll be even more variety on top of what I already have. This means that I'll have a lot to put on my CV in terms of experience and team co-ordination.
Sadly, this on top of my degree and Gamesoc (which runs very well hand-in-hand with my internship!) I have had little time to make graphics and post on this blog. I should have more time in the future as I get into the swing of things, though, and I plan to post some in-depth information on what I actually do on a daily basis.
Thanks for reading, and apologies for the long gap between this and the last post! The next gap won't be so long, I promise! :P
Thanks for reading, and apologies for the long gap between this and the last post! The next gap won't be so long, I promise! :P