First of all, a few weeks ago I decided to come up to Canada for the rest of the summer. I had been trying to decide what to do with my summer for quite a while but I was getting no where. My options for a long time were either stay in Utah and take classes, stay in Utah and try to find a job for 2 months, or come to Canada and try to find a job for 2 months. None of my options sounded too appealing, and the chances of finding a job in either place were low, so my plan was to just take classes and see if anything else came up at the last minute. About 3 weeks ago my dad called me and asked how I would feel about coming home and working for his company. I thought about it and finally decided that when I weighed all my pros and cons it would be kind of ridiculous not to take advantage of the opportunity. About a week later I checked out of my apartment early and almost exactly a week ago made the drive up to Canada with two of my uncles and one of my cousins for my cousin Jenna's wedding!
I felt a little bit apprehensive about leaving Provo for the summer, especially since I had been making plans and such with people that now I had to miss out on. But to be honest, as soon as I left I didn't really miss it. My cousin's wedding was in Cardston but the first night we stayed in Waterton, which might be one of the most beautiful places in the world. For example, here is a picture. We stayed just below that hill with the hotel/castle on it where there's this really cool town down there right on edge of the lake.
The wedding reception was pretty fun. Jenna grew up in the same ward as me and went to the same high school, so there were a lot of people there that I hadn't seen in a really long time. It was fun to see them.
On Monday I started my job/internship. This is the best job ever. Seriously. It's kind of intense, but I love it! I never really understood what my dad did before, but now I understand why he loves his job so much. I don't know if you guys care at all about it, but I'll give a brief description of what I'm doing because I think it's really cool. If you don't care, feel free to skip the next paragraph.
About 10 years ago (maybe more) my dad and his partner Ian started this firm. It could be described as a venture capitalist or private equity firm, although it's an interesting variation of those. Usually venture capitalists invest in already existing companies that are just getting started, but this company actually starts them or starts different projects that they invest in. So pretty much there's like 5 different projects or company off-shoots of this one (maybe more actually, but I only know about a few), most of which are in the oil and gas business. So far I've been researching different markets and stuff. Yesterday I had to research stuff about tailings ponds, which are a consequence of the mining procedures in the oil sands and have become a huge environmental issue. I won't give you all the details, because honestly I'm kind of sick of talking about them after an entire day dedicated to reading about them. Today I had to do some background stuff on retirement homes in Calgary. They're thinking about building a luxurious retirement home in the area, because they don't really exist here (the luxurious ones). This afternoon I had to call a bunch of people to get information about their residences to get an idea of the market landscape. It was kind of scary, but mostly just fun. Seriously, I love my job already and it's only been three days. I never really believed people when they said that work is funner than school because it's real and actually applicable, but now I understand what they're saying. I would never have been interested in tailings ponds or retirement homes before, but I've suddenly become so much more excited about them! I think what I like about my job is that I feel like it's making me smarter about the world, which is always a good thing.
The job is kind of intimidating though. I work downtown, which is cool, but I don't feel old enough to be part of this scene. On my first day I even got business cards! And they said that I will have to go to meetings where I actually have to give them to people...oh gosh. There's a secretary here that does anything I tell her to (she's like the office mom more than a secretary), there's a kitchen with free drinks in the fridge, there's a gym in the office, and I can kind of set my own hours. The people here are super nice to me. We all went out to lunch today to welcome me to the office. Wonderful? Yes. Intimidating? Yes.
On top of that, I think it's going to be awesome experience. My boss sat me down the first day to give me a rundown of everything. He told me first thing that if I do a good job that I shouldn't hesitate to ask him for references in the future and stuff. Which is really awesome, considering that he got his MBA at Harvard. He's really clear about his directions and is really approachable. I share my office (that's right, I have an office, complete with my own phone number and computer and file cabinet and everything!) with a woman who is hilarious. Seriously, she is the skinniest 50-year-old woman and has lots of energy. She has a lot of connections and has already set up a lunch appointment in a couple of weeks for me with a friend that's an economist and writes for one of the big newspapers in Calgary.
So anyway, that's my job. The only problem is that I spend an unfortunate amount of time by myself staring at my computer. Luckily I always have something to be doing or thinking about, but it's kind of lonely. Especially because I get really excited about things but there's no one to talk about it with because what's exciting to me is not exciting to anyone else in this office (or anyone else anywhere, haha). It's nice to have Cathy around though, because I think she enjoys having someone to chat with every once in a while and she's good to talk to about ideas and things.
So that's that. Other than work, all I've really done is catch up with a few high school friends and have big family gatherings. I have a bunch of projects that I want to work on and books I want to read, but so far I haven't been able to. I talked to my mom yesterday about possibly working on a book of biographies of my ancestors, which sounds SO fun to me. I also want to practice the piano and sew some more things because my mom has a sewing machine and a serger. Score.
It's been fun, but I actually am starting to miss Provo a little. Only a little though. I miss being around people all the time and being able to walk everywhere and seeing people I like a lot. It's nice to be home and play with my parents though. I think my mom gets lonely too, so I look forward to spending time with her!
I love hearing your updates! It makes me feel a little less isolated from the world. Also, happy Canada Day! I get work off tomorrow and friday so I'm going to go hiking with my friends in Banff tomorrow. Yay for nature!
I love you all! I also hope that 4th of July exceeds all your expectations, even though it is on a sunday.
Love, Steph
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