Day 44 then. And funnily enough guess what? I haven't got a job yet.
So aside from the all consuming activity of job hunting, what else am I doing to fill my time? Well, hanging about drinking in the flat with flatmates James and Tom for one. The enjoyment of this activity has been increased by the presence of TV channels I've never had before, like MTV, RTE 1 and 2, Sky One, etc. Only a few nights ago I watched the last episode of Series 2 of Lost, which was quite fun having not seen the previous 13 editions. Not exactly an enriching lifestyle I know, but it's been a good laugh so far.
Slightly less dull has been the drinking sessions with hostelmates Lisa and Sharon, who have sadly now returned to their native Cardiff. Also I've been getting back into the habit of enjoying the music scene, helped along by getting on guestlists for gigs, thanks to another girl I met, Tina, who's got some good contacts out here. With her I've been to see 'Joan As Police Woman' (Solo singer-songwriter type woman) and Richard Thompson (Seemingly very popular folk singer) both for free, and both were very fun. Also went to a 1 o'clock in the afternoon secret gig, which turned out to be a band called Republic Of Loose, playing on a floating platform in the middle of the River Liffey, right in the centre of Dublin. All good and very busy, until it started raining halfway through, the guitarist's amp blew, and they had to abandon after only 5 songs.
Also, I've booked tickets to a couple of gigs I'm very excited about. Both are in Dublin next month: Faithless, who it's always been an ambition of mine to see (supported by Kasabian, which was a major draw) and Daft Punk, who I've heard from 3 people who have seen them on this tour already that they've been stunningly good. Can't wait for both.
Yesterday was nice. I got a tram to my birthtown Dun Laoghaire, which is a suburb of Dublin. The last time I was there was in 1998, when I was 14, so it was interesting to see how much I remembered of it. And how much did I remember? Bob all. The only thing I recalled was the tram ride in, which I'd been on 8 years previous, going past the beaches and Lansdowne Road stadium. Even so, it was nice to take an afternoon walking around, exploring the place.
Right, as if I haven't bemoaned the fact already, the job market over here is bloody annoying. I think the best indication I can give of this fact is that even McDonalds and Subway stores aren't recruiting. At all. And yes, I know that because I've asked. It's like this because apparantly every summer Dublin (and Ireland in general) gets swamped with people like me (though mostly coming from mainland Europe, e.g. France, Germany, Poland) looking for summer jobs. To date I've had one interview, my flatmate Tom got me one through a friend of his, a warm-calling telephone job where you phone customers of the company and organise their next appointments with our financial people. Paid well and everything, but, true to form, I royally ballsed up the interview.
It's been ages since I last had a professional-style interview, and so I forgot one piece of necessary preparation: Researching the company that I'm being interviewed for. I mean, the thought to find out a bit about them before I turned up didn't even cross my mind, which is crazy. So anyway I arrive for my interview, and the first question asked of me is: 'So tell me what you already know about the company.' The rest of the interview went okay I guess, but I'm due to hear back about the job tomorrow. I'm not really holding my breath.
With that in mind, today I've taken a decision to try something different, and look for volunteer work in Dublin. There's some great websites on the matter, and there seems to be an opportunity to find something really good to do here. So, even if I don't earn any money I'll have done something worthwhile, and have something to show for this summer. Also, I'll probably bring my return-to-Nottingham date forward to the start of September. I've paid rent up until then, and I'm keen to cut my losses.
I'll see how things pan out over the next couple of days.
Bless y'all,
Mark
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