| home
town: |
eugene, oregon (the hippie town of the nation) |
| education: |
lane community college |
| current
job: |
retail sales
the roundup, jackson hole, wyoming |
| dream
job: |
director/owner of a health and wellness retreat |
|
typical
day:
|
My summer job involved retail work in a large gift shop called The Roundup on Broadway, the main street in Jackson.
I worked 40 hr weeks and had 2 consecutive days off in order to have some play time. I took trips to Yellowstone, hiked to Hidden Falls in the forest surrounding Jenny Lake, river rafted, and various other activities. After 2 months of employment as a sales associate, I was promoted to a cashier and boy, did my shifts fly by afterwards! I worked with a crew of about 12-18 people, mostly women my age. About half of the sales associates at The Roundup were foreign students working abroad. It was such a unique experience to have everyday contact with people from Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Russia. You begin to realize how different cultures are around the world with anything from the main staples in their diet to the fact that people in eastern Europe rarely are given a middle name at birth. The Roundup sold all sorts of merchandise and I am now knowledgable in how to maintain cowboy hats, boots, and some jewelry. |
Random
Thoughts |
Through this experience. I really believe I have come back 10x more self confident and my family notices a positive growth in me as well.
Being able to communicate with a broad range of people has always come easily to me but it was neat to talk to people from all over the world and after a while I would catch myself thinking, " Okay, based on my last 5 conversations with people from the east coast, I should/shouldn't do this, they don't generally do well with this specific kind of humor, etc.
You learn to keep your personality intact while still morphing a bit in conjunction with the specific, unique person you are talking to.
I have experienced the roommate quarrels in full and now have a much better idea about how to set boundries with my money, food, and other belongings when living in a house of young women. I have learned that we are taught that sharing is nice for a reason, but too much sharing does exist and you can easily be taken advantage of long before realizing it.
I have learned to budget money! I am so much more aware of what I buy, the amount that I will actually need, and if I will have enough money left over for the rest of the week afterwards. A HUGE lesson!
I have learned that wanting to hold onto the neat people you meet is natural in each stage of your life, but you must come to realize that that is almost impossible. They came into your life for a reason and by making the best of the time you have with them, looking back will be all the more meaningful. You can keep them with you by using the lessons you learned either from them or with them everyday you wake.
For my future, all that I have learned this summer has led me to believe that my possibilities in this life are endless! I believe seasonal work is almost necessary to do in your older teens/early twenties in order to grow as a person in an environment that is safe, yet freedom encouraging.
I believe I can do just about anything now and it is so liberating to wake up with that outlook every morning :) |
|
aricha