Jennalyn Abroad: August 2013

I got back to Guelph a week and a day ago, and I have to say it hasn't been too shabby! I was pretty sad leaving the cabin because I made some great friends at work this summer (who would-a thunk?). I have been told before and am slowly starting to grasp the fact that I tend to have fun no matter where I am or who I'm with, so I need to stop dreading things! To be honest, though, I've been too busy in Guelph to even think that I'm having a bad time.

I went with some friends to Canada's Wonderland on Wednesday (the day after I got in) which was so much fun and soooo hot. I love roller coasters even though they scare the bejeezus out of me. I had recently seen on the news that a mom in the States had fallen out of a roller coaster (and died) while riding it with her family, so that story was in the back of my mind all day...I didn't share this story with my companions until we were safely back in the car.

This past weekend I went to the Gentlemen of the Road festival with Ilana, her boyfriend Peter, Pete's friend Liam, and Dave. It was such a good weekend full of good music, great friends and couldn't have been any nicer weather wise! Dave lives in Simcoe, where the festival was, so we stayed with him and got to go swimming in his lovely backyard pool both days that we were there. On top of that, I met up with Kelsey who lives in Windsor but I met in Ireland. It was wonderful to see her again! We saw Dan Mangan, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Bear's Den, Hey Rosetta!, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Mumford and Sons. My favourite bands to watch were definitely Edward Sharpe and O.C.M.S. They were such good performers! If either of them are ever in the area again I would not hesitate to see them again (hopefully in a smaller venue). Of course everyone was excited to see Mumford (they were the headliners/organizers of the festival) and they were great as expected, but everyone around me was singing so loud I could hardly hear the music! I had seen Mumford 3 1/2 years ago with Margi and Katie and I liked that show so much more - there were maybe about 200 people there compared to the 15,000 there this weekend.

Danielle (Kelsey's friend), me, Ilana, Peter and Kelsey

And to top off a great week I got a job! I had been handing out resumes like mad and hadn't really heard anything (because everyone and their brother was handing out resumes at the same time). My roommate, Jamie, mentioned that he knew some people that managed at Fionn MacCool's, so he put in a good word for me and got them to look at my CV. I had an interview on Monday which went really well and the interviewer told me that I could expect to hear back by the end of the week, but he also told me that it was a good sign that I even got an interview. The interview was at 2:30PM; by 6:00PM I had an email in my inbox welcoming me to the Fionn MacCool's team. He was prettttty impressed with my Dublin experience, as it was the first thing he asked me about. I have orientation tomorrow (in the middle of the Central OV training) but I've got it all sorted out. Can't wait, it looks like such a fun place to work!

And lastly, I have my room finally set up just the way I want. I love it; it's so "Jenna"! Here are some photos - how cute is it?!