a journey of jobs

i've had jobs on the brain a lot lately, given my desire to find a new one in the interior design world. as i was falling asleep a few nights ago, it occurred to me that i have had some weird and interesting jobs. i think some of them might surprise you...

my very first paid job was cleaning out stalls at the barn where i took riding lessons. i remember my first paycheck was $45, and i had to shovel a LOT of crap for that $45!

i spent two summers as a camp counselor at hazelwild farm camp in fredericksburg, virginia. the first summer, i showed up thinking i was going to be a junior counselor who just helped other counselors. but thanks to a counselor shortage, i had to teach 3 classes of archery and 2 classes of tennis all by myself. i had one hour off a day, and when i wasn't teaching, i was the head counselor in the cottage for girls 6-12. did i mention that i was just 17? and that i'd never shot a bow & arrow? ever?? i worked for 9 weeks without a single day off. but i loved that camp, and i didn't care one bit! of course, my favorite thing to do was sneak into the fields with friends some nights with halters and ropes, jump on some poor horses who desperately needed sleep, and haul ass across the fields. sigh...such fun times.

after my junior year of college, i turned down a paid internship for the summer at blue cross blue shield to work at a wilderness camp for free. it was part of young life's windy gap up in weaverville, and it was hard core wilderness! instead of running water, we diverted a stream with troughs over a wall of stone to take showers:

(yup, that was my shower for two months!)

we used outhouses - no toilets, afterall. i cooked for everyone on a wood stove. and where do you think that wood came from? we cut down trees with two-man saws, lugged them down the mountain with these huge claw things, then split them into kindling and logs for fires.

(got this from facebook, but i totally did the same thing!)

we also grew vegetables and had a lovely garden full of sunflowers. the part that i dreaded the most each session was the solo...we would hike along a 4-mile trail in silence, drop participants off at various points along the way, and then spend 24 hours in silence by ourselves. overnight. without a tent. in the woods. i'm pretty sure i cheated once and brought a headlamp. talk about getting out of your comfort zone!

while at UNC, i managed a computer lab in the health sciences library, worked at an ice cream store, and worked in the North Carolina Collection at Wilson Library. i also spent a year working at the outdoor education center sending people down zip lines, helping them across balance beams 40 feet in the air, and teaching them silly games to help build teams. i'm pretty sure i had other jobs while at UNC, but i can't seem to remember them at this point.

for my internship, i drove out to colorado and spent the summer at a girl scout camp running a ropes course.

(pretty, isn't it? the red building is the barn.)

once again, i was up in the trees, helping girls walk across balance beams up in the air, saying funny phrases like "on belay" over and over. at girl scout camps, counselors use nicknames instead of real names, and my nickname was "dutch." i slept in a tent, and summers nights in colorado are NOT warm. i also got to take a group of girls on a 5-day hike in the wilderness. one girl managed to sprain her ankle about halfway through. since we had no radio, no cell phone, and no other form of communication, i had to hike out with another camper, get to the nearest phone, call the camp director, get a ride back to camp, get on a horse, ride back in with three other people, and let the ankle-sprainer ride my horse back out. then i had to hike out again.

then there was the absolute worst job i've ever had. i would rather have spent three months mucking stalls than doing what i did...i worked at an outdoor education center in luray, virginia, in the heart of shenadoah national park. (side note: directly on the other side of the mountain was sperryville, and every august they had "cooterfest" to honor cooter from 'the dukes of hazzard,' complete with general lee's. cooter has since closed up shop. sad.) not only did i live in a tent well into november full of walking sticks and other bugs the size of my hand, but i also went caving in some very wet and very muddy caves:

(from the website...don't know the kids, but i've definitely
been covered in mud like that before!)

i climbed mountains using a map and compass (and not the easy way up the switchbacks - we went STRAIGHT up), and i fell off of a 6 foot wall onto a sink which promptly broke off and sprayed water all over me. in my defense, it was pitch dark outside. i was horribly out of place, i didn't have any friends, i missed colorado terribly, and i left about a week after the fall-off-the-wall incident.

finally, i've worked at starbucks.

(FYI...that's not me.)

i started in colorado when i realized that there was no way i was going to be able to make rent and save money on my lone girl scouts salary (that was when i worked at the girl scout council in denver, not at the camp). i loved coffee, i thought it would be fun to learn, so i applied at the store closest to my house. they weren't hiring, but the one in historic lower downtown (LoDo) was. my first day was during the christmas season, and it was NUTS. the store was packed with people, including a group of carolers dressed in costume who thought it might be nice to entertain the rest of people crowded in the store waiting for their 'decaf triple grande non-fat with whip two pump vanilla one pump cinnamon extra hot lattes.' i almost gave up right there, but i stuck it out until i left colorado. when i moved to durham, i worked at the store closest to southpoint for almost two years, and when i moved to raleigh, i tried to work at a store in cary...until i realized that i don't really like cary. still, i'll remain a loyal starbuckian as long as the funds permit. don't forget to tip your barista!

sometimes i just can't believe the wacky stuff i've done. i feel like i was a totally different person 10 years ago. somehow i ended up in residence life, and i've been here for 8 (EIGHT!) years. now i have an interior design degree...how did THAT happen? i went from living in a tent and crawling in caves to dealing with boys and alcohol while looking for a job in interior design. that's quite a crazy journey i've taken. hope you enjoyed the ride!