Week 3 - Tuesday: No work

No work today so I could sleep in. Good thing as I didn't sleep that well. I guess I had to get used to my new surroundings. I didn't have work as there weren't spots left at the Motley Crue concert. It's too bad at one hand, but on the other I would have been tired easily and wouldn't get things done at home which I could do now =P
I worked on editing lines and at 2:30 I decided to walk to the Shoppers drug mart. Stupid me forgot to turn right in the park so you can guess it: I got lost! (Again!)
I walked back until I saw another public road and saw a guy walking with grocery bags so I thought that had to be the right way and indeed! I found Shoppers drug mart xD
I bought some toilet paper, soap, air freshener and chicken noodles (okay and skittles)
and then I had to find my way back home, but that was easy. I recognized the road from googlemaps and I only had to follow one path in the park, but in the end I walked 20 minutes longer than I should have xD Good practice for tomorrow I guess when I have to walk 30 minutes.
At 6 my roommate returned from work and we both still had to cook, but didn't really feel like it so she suggested to go grab groceries (we needed dish detergent) and go eat with the three of us at Costco or the mac donalds. We all couldn't choose so I said we had to flip a coin. Eventually it was Mac Donalds! So we ordered a Mac double and a large coke which was only 1 dollar.
We got to know each other some more and had random conversations. We even somewhat planned a birthday / goodbye party in August as we are all born in August (they are twins) After that they showed me around in Walmart so I didn't get lost. They helped looking for chocolate sprinkels, but they were only to be found at the cake toppings. Not really the one I was looking for.

When we got home the ps3 got brought up and we connected it to the internet. I tried downloading my games on there, but I already said it wouldn't work. Well surprise: Soon they can play the games I bought as well. Only downloading the content was so slow!
Now I'm just typing this and hoping the stupid music video will finally render!

Week 3 - Monday: Day 10

Last moments in Cranford. I had to pack the last few things. I got help from everyone to move my stuff to the car (which was quite a lot xD) then I drove to work.
The day started good. An artist dropped by and he was so social and open. He also started talking to me. This conversation was less awkward then I was with the band on saturday. The guy was genuinely interested and that also helps me relax and talk more.
The man had a great voice! He sang one song that sounded Irish. His voice was perfect for that.
I didn't see much of his recording session: I worked on the same music video. This time I was halfway masking, but I found the masking generator tool which allowed me to mask it completely, only the downside was that it was in black and white. The supervisor walked by and said the black and white would fit. I was quite relieved because this meant I didn't have to continue the masking process. Instead I could now focus on other effects.
In the end I used a color curve and a colorcorrector. The colors differed too much from each other so I gave it a blue-ish color. Next to that I experimented with the rays and lights, but I will have to add that separately to the scenes I want to apply it too. Having it everywhere will get boring.
At the end of the day my supervisor watched it with me and said the titles weren't visible at the moment so I had to slide them before the song began and have a long fade in at the beginning of tge song. Also he would like me to focus on çutting to action' which basically means: Whenever there is a solo part I should cut closer to the guitar part to make it more interesting. I also had to remember that I shouldn't do long fades in the video and have two seperate tracks to avoid the lagging. Sadly it didn't help. The seperate tracks still lagged as much as it did before. I tried to render what I had so far, but the darn program crashed which lead me to running behind schedule. I left at 4 pm instead of earlier so I had less time to do grocery shopping. I hurried to my new room and unloaded the car. I quickly hopped in and drove to walmart. Unlucky me missed a turn as some ass was blocking my way with his truck. Didn't help I noticed the turn quite late. I drove through a whole new part of Lethbridge which was pretty, but it had me stressing. I arrived much later at Walmart and I had a long list to take care of. I got freakin lost in that huge store! Sure the veggies and meat was all together, but the pasta was hard to be found. I spent a half an hour in the store and had to pay a 100,- total which is not too bad as it included phone credits (of 25,-) but I was running late because my roommate would pick me up at 5.30 at the rental place! I also missed the right exit so I got stuck somewhere else xD The GPS didn't help either as he couldnt find number 3316, but could find 3315. The traffic lights were annoying me by turning red and the GPS led me drive in circles. Luckily I saw the rental place when I drove in panic past it and I arrived 25 minutes later. Right in time as the rental place closed in 5 minutes. My roommate didnt mind I was late as she was happy I at least got there in time.
She is so friendly and easy to talk to as well. When I arrived at the place she and her brother had to leave to a gaming night (boardgames) I was invited as well, but as I still had to eat and also maybe had work tomorrow and they would get home late I decided not to. I made wraps! and after that unpacked my suitcase. I noticed I missed some important stuff: Toilet paper and handsoap! Duh!
Aw well, tomorrow a new day ^^ Time to discover the west village mall.

Week 3 - Sunday - last day in Cranford

Last day here. Tomorrow I will be moving out to a room in Lethbridge.
Sadly the day didn't start good, I felt sick and my stomach kept turning the whole day, but luckily I felt good enough to go shopping after supper. I made a long list in the afternoon of what to buy today and tomorrow. The unedible supplies today and the food supplies tomorrow.
Wasn't much on my list for today so I was done quick (okay, not really. I got lost in the store)
I bought stuff like a waste bin (only 2 dollars o.o) freezer and sandwhich bags. Before Walmart I quickly filled my gas tank as I have to drop off my car tomorrow with a full tank. The wind was so strong, it almost blew me away at the gas tank xD it wasn't fun standing there outside in my little top and t shirt. Kind of regret it now, but it looked so warm outside.
Everything together cost me 60 dollars (45 euro's?) so that wasn't too bad.

After we got home I quickly played zombies with Erica and edited some lines and did some homework. I went to bed at 11:30

Week 2: Saturday - Day 9

A short day today. I arrived at 12 and worked on the music video. At 1 three people came walking in who were ready to record a song. I was a bit quiet sadly. The supervisor showed them around and I had no clue what to do DX In the end I didn't say much at all, only before they left.
That is something I have to change, but then again also I didn't know what to expect what would happen. The first thing that happened was them in the studio and tuning all instruments. Then they could play some test songs so the supervisor could adjust some levels.
When it was time to record they did it twice and we were done. He explained that the drums were out of sync and that they had to play SEPERATELY with the metronome so everyone plays at the same time. The bass and vocals would start and the drum would use the rhytm of the bass.
The supervisor also showed us how he imported every drum sound so it had a fuller sound. Don't know exactly how he did it, but he had a seperate programma for the drumkit.
It's a long process.
Later they talked about a collaboration and we could go. I will probably see them again for new recordings.

Week 2 - Friday: Day 8

Nearly two weeks in Canada. It feels so much longer than that.
I arrived at 10 again and he had some work for me right away. I thought I had to focus on the music videos, but instead he told me to finish the hockey tribute video he started. My job was to add fades and just let it flow nicely. It was a 20 minute video full of pictures.
I finished it quickly, but the supervisor told me to watch out with the long fades. Because of that the crossfade preview didn't run that smooth. So I had the choice to fix it or leave it.
As I don't like to keep things unfinished I chose to fix it. I made the crossfades a bit shorter and I realized that those long fades weren't even necessary.
The supervisor also wanted to include the sponsors, but one file he couldn't import as it could only be opened by adobe reader. I told him about the prt screen option and he was so happy he learned something new xD This saved him a lot of time figuring out how to get a jpg out of the adobe reader file. He had to leave so he told me to fix the sponsors and in the end I finished the full video.
I went back to the music video and boy that process takes long. I skipped so many keyframes. At this moment I am only at 2 seconds editing while the clip is 10 seconds long =(
Luckily I could take a break by watching the supervisor recording a commercial for mothersday! I had to sit at his desk, grab the headphones so I could listen to him recording it.
He did a great job, so energetic and also so fast! I told him I hoped to do this one day and he said I would. So hopefully in the future I can also try this out =D
He then showed me the editing process. I learned that he recorded it in mono and later made it stereo. He added two tracks (with reverb) together to give it a fuller sound. He added appropriate music and also sound effects to go with it (based on the words he said). For the voice files he used a sort of maximizer tool and when he had everything mixed he added the maximizer tool again and an equalizer.

Soon after that I could go home as he had to go to people. Tomorrow I will go to the studio again at 12 pm to record a band! This will be a busy weekend as sunday I will have to prepare for my leave: packing suitcase, getting gas, buying some things and loading in my car etc.

Week - Thursday: Day 7

Woke up at 8:15 and quickly checked my email before I left. I was so happy with an email I got!
Earlier I applied for my cancellation assurance and they said that my case was no visa during my trip instead of before so I didn't get money. I didn't agree obviously and sent another email explaining how much the visa program had an impact and not the visa itself.
Now I received the email that they took another look at my case and as it wasn't my fault and because of unexpectedly not getting my visa after all those promises from the embassy they decided to at least refund half of my ticket.. Ah, so happy!

Arrived at 10 again and I got a new project to take care of. I had to create a tribute for young hockey players so I received thousands of pictures! But setting up the project took so long that I couldn;t do much for a while. Instead I looked at what the other intern was doing and they were discussing fonts. A font that was chosen by a band member wasn't clear enough; the band name didn't pop out like it should be, so that had to be changed. The supervisor told us that you need spacing between some letters as letting an L overlay other letters will make it disappear.

When I could start on the video hours had passed and I had to delete lots of pictures in order to fit the 5 minute mark. But the supervisor concluded that this project wouldn't work for me as the pictures were randomized and the supervisor knew all kids. So in the end he took over and I can focus on the music videos again.
At the end of the day we also tested the drums! I had to sit at the (electronic) drumkit in the studio and had to put headphones on so I could communicate with the supervisor. I had to hit each drum part individually so he could test if they were working. Sadly the snare drum didn't want to cooperate so he spent an hour on figuring it out, I had to hit the snare drum repeatedly until something changed but that really didn't happen. XD We called it a day at 6. We were supposed to finish a commercial but as it was late I can't be involved in it anymore too bad.

Week 2: Wednesday: Day 6

I installed a new program today: Corel draw 4 which will allow me to create posters and magazines and album covers. Sure photoshop would work well too, but I feel this program is more specific for these type of jobs. The supervisor quickly showed me how the program worked as  Iwill have to make a poster in the near future as well.
After he showed me I continued working on the last music video. I was done quickly with the editing (the cutting), but I decided to do something else now. Yesterday I watched someone else's music video on the same artist and that inspired me to do something new. I have done masking before, but that was two years ago and on an anime character which is quite easy to cut.
I remembered how I had to do this so I started masking. Quickly I realized I started wrong! So that cost me a lot more time than needed. I accidentally enabled snap as I thought that would help me sliding the anchors easier, but it was the opposite! My cut outs weren't as neat as they could be without the snapping on. When I realized this I had to redo all the keyframes I already did.
On top of that I skipped keyframes. I should have zoomed in as now some are off.
Were I to do it right from the start then I wouldn't have to worry about skipping keyframes or fixing up A LOT of anchor points. I should have also used a lot more anchor points than just a few as I had to add so many extra. The supervisor was happy I tried something new though and he saw I was inspired by the other video. I hope to work with some more effects after I finish that masking T.T Another helpful point I got from my supervisor is doing the crossfades on two seperate layers. My program tends to freeze during the crossfade, but this way it wont happen.
(You can crossfade by fading out one and the top layer in)
We had more on the planning, but as the supervisor had to go to places we postponed the tasks to tomorrow. Tomorrow I will play the drums! as we need to check out the microphones if they are set up properly. Next to that he had a script written for a radio commercial. Now I am not sure if I interpreted this correcttly, but I believe he said he wrote parts and still had to think on lines for a female character mentioning her mother and that I would be involved. So this means I get to voice act in the radio commercial? That would be so awesome! No matter I will start practicing on losing the accent, but next week when I move to a new house I will start on that as it's more peaceful there. (less people around, so I can practice out loud)
The supervisor said he would print some scripts that  Ican take home with me. I also had to watch a lot of English shows, but that's what I do already XD
Tomorrow the other intern will drop by as well so I'll get to take a look at her work (mixing) and will learn about equalizers and compression in the process. Excited for tomorrow! Lots of different things to do! 

Week 2: Tuesday: Day 5

Yesterday I made a test video for the music video. Well, I showed it my supervisor and he was so happy! He was laughing and yelled: You've got it kid!
He was impressed that I had the music video done in one night. He also told his wife upstairs about my work and how happy he was. That made me so relieved and happy as well.
For the test video I used different shots and also zoomed in a couple shots. I learned before, that you should change from a long shot, to a zoom in etc in order to make it exciting. I could keep the shots as they were, but as they are almost all on the same spot it would become boring. I also made sure I zoomed a video to the size of the other one so the transition is a bit smoother. No cutting from an extreme close up to a long shot for example.
I made sure the guitar was in focus when there was a solo. But I still feel I could do better with the transitions. At times I cut it and other times I used a crossfade. I can't help but feel unsatisfied with a long crossfade so I hope to learn more about that later.
The supervisor showed me a dvd and explained that I would have to make a DVD with a custom menu. This means I have to look for a snapshot we could use as the menu still.
He also explained I should add titles to the song and use fades so I added that to my first test video.
I also asked if we should do color correction as the low angle had a yellow glow and another angle a blue one. Tomorrow we will look at it some more.
I hope to make another video with some more effects in it like blur and other stuff I have never used before. Maybe I can use masking at certain shots!

I worked on my second video and that one was more challenging. During editing I got asked to come take a look at a certain project he was working at: For example he was printing out a lable on a cd and he burned a cd and asked me if the order was right this way. The song that got first had instruments starting unlike the others whic hstarted with vocals. I think he chose that because it makes the listener curious to what is coming.

While editing I worked on more different shots and tried zooming in and pan, only the zoom in parts are quite blurry. Not too happy with some transitions, but that is also something we'll look at tomorrow. Tomorrow I will have to try to finish the third video as well.
The supervisor expected me to finish this project in 3 months! He was so stoked that it's only a couple of days now XD

I'm happy to have worked on music videos for the first time and these will also be released. Now they aren;t like you see on tv, but it's a music video from a life performance a few years ago.
I will also make music videos with pictures so the singer can use those on the background on his next life performance. This will be interesting as I won't be limited to a few shots. The supervisor already said he was looking forward to my creativity with this one. I am also XD I have no idea what to expect actually.

Week 2: Monday - Day 4

Didn't do anything special on sunday so that's why I'm skipping it.
I arrived at 10 at the company and set up my stuff. The videos I received before were being used today. I had to work on a music video for Mike Maguire. I got all the footage in Sony Vegas and had to match up different camera angles. That process take quite long because when I found them I had to match up the videos exactly so the audio synchronized with all videos.
I had a few layers in a row because of this.
At 11 we left to drop off the supervisor's broken truck and after that we drove to the radiostation.
I've got to see how the radio recording works. It looked as if you only had to press on the moment you were scheduled in, the last few seconds of the song automatically plays and then you have to talk in that moment. Other music fades in automatically as well. When it's done you click next and the recording is lined up automatically to be used on the radio. Didn't know it was that easy!

When we got back I worked on the footage again and had to delete songs other than the three chosen songs. I couldn;t stay long at the studio so I left home early, but I did get homework. I had to experiment with the videos by crossfading certain angles, or zooming some moments in.

Around 7 I had my first video fully rendered.

After that I went with Michael to the Walmart and had to get some gas. I was surprised how cheap the gas was: only 42 dollars. Michael was surprised about my joy about the prices as he didn;t find it cheap at all. But if you look at how much we pay: 70 euro's (90 dollars) Then this is cheap!

In the walmart I bought some stuff to eat, two pillows and a few towels for the room and an alarm clock so I don;t have to borrow Michael's anymore.

Week 1: Saturday - room viewing

Didn't have much planned for this day other than visiting possible roommates, but Erica wanted to come and plans started changing. We decided on going to the movies right after!
At 5 we left and I drove to Lethbridge... through snow. Man, getting tired of this weather. I want to see the sun! Well okay the snow is temporarily; in a few days it should be sunny.
Anyways we arrived a bit early so I quickly made a turn through the neigbourhood and then I parked on their driveway. I got a bit nervous when ringing the doorbell, but a friendly looking girl opened the door and all nerves disappeared. Still you don't know what to say at that point xD

She showed me around and also her brother came up to take a look. I saw my bedroom and it's big with an ensuite! I could choose that room or another smaller one, but as it was the same price I of course got the bigger one. She mentioned a housekeeper dropped by so I only really had to clean after myself. I also got to cook for myself as she and her brother have different schedules. I can drive with them to the supermarket
No problem, I can make it work. =P

We went to the basement and I spotted a huge tv and game controllers. I couldn't help but smile when I noticed the guy was a gamer and she was a little too! They have a ps3, xbox, gamecube and I believe a nintendo. I will for sure join into a gaming session one day.

The girl showed me the washing area and later showed me how everything worked because things work there differently than at home. I said I was interested in the room and the ywere also happy they found one. I signed some forms just to seal the deal and received the house key and a room key! The earliest I could move in was next week friday, but as they are out of town and I will be alone for the weekend I decided to move in on monday as I can still ask some questions then and get groceries. Monday is still earlier than I expected as I thought I could move in on May 1st.

Aaah so happy I got a room! The two siblings look very nice and easy to get along with.

We said goodbye after 30 minutes or so and left to the mall, but because the food courts were closed Erica drove us to the A&W. Hmmmm... those teenburgers are so good (only hard to eat)

At 19:30 we were back in the mall and got our tickets and pop. I also bought a frozen yoghurt with strawberry and banana. We  went to watch scary movie 5. It was a strange movie, but had its funny moments. I drove back home and we were home at 10.
I stayed up till 1 as Michael and I were having a conversation and then headed to bed.

Week 1: Friday - day 3

The day of the recordings. I arrived at the high school at 9:30, but had to wait 20 minutes to unload the truck. We had to carry all kinds of stuff like mic stands, mic boxes, monitor, pc, mixing panel etc. When carrying in the mic stands we had to turn a round plate so it could obviously stand.
I had to put it upside down and turn it around. I only still have to watch out with leaning with the mic on the floor as that could damage the top.
Once all the stuff had been brought to the band room we had to set up the mixer and microphones.
My job was to set up all the mic stands. It was a bit stupid of me to adjust them to the highest level as I knew the instruments were quite low, but I suspected the level adjustments to happen when we had to put the mics in place, but that was not the case. To adjust the levels properly at the start is mostly important for big concerts so that saves time.
After the mic stands were up we could hook on the microphones and later plug in the mic cables to the snake. Everything we learned yesterday happened for real today. I remembered the cable names and I also remembered to turn the pile around so the plug to the snake is on top. Or else the whole chord will be tangled. Also the pile should be near the microphone; you don't want long chords going around for nothing.

When all that was finished we headed to the subway for lunch. It was my second time, but ooh man it was a good sandwhich XD I had grilled chicken, lettuce and green pepper on there.

After lunch we had to test the instruments and somehow some mics didn't work, or at least the DI box but in the end it worked out fine. The band started to play and we had to record three takes of six songs. The orchestral band sounded nice at times; sadly there was one trumpet player who messed up many times and sometimes some instruments were out of sync.

After the band was done we had to change the mics for the jazz band as that was a smaller group.
Again one mic didn't work and that was the keyboard. I had to go back and forth the intern and the supervisor to let him know if it worked or not. We eventually changed the DI box for a mic and then all worked well. The jazzband sounded more experienced and so they did two takes of five songs. I also got to sit behind the mixing panel just to hear the volume through the headset.

After all was over we had to pack our stuff. Oh joy, no seriously setting up was fun, but packing in isn't that fun xD I had to roll up the microphone cables which I only did once yesterday.
I kept on messing up and was also told to restart as the circles weren't even x.x It looks easy, but it wasn't. I basically had to redo it 20 times and only rolled up two while the other intern did the rest >.> Luckily she had to redo some cables as well so I was not the only one. The supervisor told me to stop and that I could unhook the microphones. It turned out one microphone I hooked up wasn't turned properly to the player during the recording session, but it was sideways. Can't believe I didn't pay attention to that, but now I most certainly will. Lesson learned. Also never put down a 1000 dollar microphone on the ground when your hands are full. xD

When that was out of the way the supervisor showed us how to roll up the Snake.
He said that we had to leave it in the box at all times or else you are screwed. You don't want to roll up a 100 yard cable with your arms. When it's in the box the circles should be easy to make and things will go naturally. Next to that in concerts they can ask you to make an eight form to devide the space. He also informed us that we should always mention if we haven't done something before instead of lying and hoping it will go well. That is a no go in a concert.

We had to load in the truck again and my arms got sore but I pulled through. Must have been good for me to use my arms like that. At 6 pm I got home.
At night I played zombies and watched family guy and after that I sent in some lines for a mod.
At 1 am I was in bed.

Week 1: Thursday - Day 2

The drive to Lethbridge was a lot easier now. I can now find it on my own instead of relying on the GPS. When I arrived I had to wait a bit, but could set up my laptop in the meantime and read things through. Now my internship document is all done and approved by the supervisor. Just sent it off to my teacher.
After that my HDD is getting a lot of video footage which I will have to edit in the future. The transfering process took a long time as it's 110 GB.

The supervisor was about to leave for a radio job so I would have to find an activity for me to do in that hour. I said I could still work on some lines I owe to people. He got curious and listened to me speak in a Skyrim mod. He was actually impressed on how I spoke and delivered the lines so that makes me very happy.

I edited some lines in the hour he was gone and soon another intern showed up at the door. It was a bit awkward at first as I stumbled on my words, but eventually it gotten better.
The intern and I had to learn how to hook up microphones on the mixer and that is what we had to do the afternoon.
I learned what microphones needed phantom power. Nearly all except for a thick rounded mic.
And next to that I learned the names of a few cables, for example the xlr cable which has a male amd female side (holes and things that stick out) and a quarter inch cable.
My job was to unwrap the cables and to hook the right microphone in the right number together with the intern. Later I had to hook in quarter inch cables on each number on the mixer. That+s what I´ll have to do tomorrow as well.
But something went wrong with the mixer. It couldn't pick up any signals anymore, so we called it a day.

The rest of the day I worked on the assurance letter as I can't get any money back as they state I had to cancel my trip if I knew my visa wouldn´t come. So I clearly stated that if the visa did come before my trip that I wouldn´t have any problems. Long story though.

Later I worked on some lines for a Skyrim mod and went to bed at 10. 

Week 1: Wednesday - Day 1

My first workday! I was supposed to work at tuesday, but because of carpet cleaning the studio was occupied. I didn't sleep that well at night, but still I was pretty awake when I got up at 8:15.
I took things slow, quickly talked to my dad who was home early and left.
I arrived exactly at 10 even after having to scratch the ice of my windshield without an icescraper, but my sleeve.
I had to wait a half an hour, but then we could get things started. I got my own desk  in the living room where I can edit. The supervisor explained what tasks I was going to do so I could add that in my internship documents for school. I basically worked on that whole day so that was done.
What I learned today is what more activities I can do! I will make three music videos, videos for on stage, will record some bands (This friday there is already one) There is a huge concert coming up from Mötley crüe and KISS and there will be 3 events where we have to make magazines and posters for. Next to that I can maybe work on a side project with my co-worker so I can work on composing and If there's time left I'll get some advice in voice acting!
Quite curious how this will go, but I know it's gonna be a lot of fun.

When I had my documents nearly finished we lifted the heavy recording equipment out of the studio as we have to bring that to the recording session this friday. We also drove around to pick up a bunch of microphones and a snake to hook up some equipment on.
Right after that a girl dropped by who made a website for one of those 3 events, so I listened to the advice my supervisor gave the girl. Black background would make everything stand out more.
And having menu's that can expand is always a good thing on a website.

At 3:45 p.m I left and was home at 4:30. After that we drove to Barnwell so the guys could bike and Erica could rollerblade. When I got back I sent off my documents so the supervisor can add or edit a few things.

Week 1: Monday

At 9:30 we left to Lethrbidge to get a rental car. A guy took us in a room and we talked through the possibilities. He knew I was from the Netherlands based on my accent. Thought I managed to hide it, but sadly no XD He got my information and lead me to the car: A white ford fiesta.
Looks fancy! and the interior is something Im not used to. Renze drove first so he could show me how the car worked. He did warn me I shouldn't pull up that fast, so had to keep that in mind.
At Coaldale it was time for me to drive alone back home. I stepped in and pulled up too fast xD but driving on the highway was easy. As it was just one long road without any challenges I decided to go driving alone in the afternoon. I had my GPS and drove to Lethbridge to find the internship company by myself. It went alright! My GPS did fall one time so I didn't hear her directions and accidentally missed a turn, but luckily there was a roundabout so I could drive back.
When driving back I got the challenges of the traffic lights, but it was rather easy.
Driving in an automatic car is fun and easy. I can pay much more attention to my surroundings now instead of worrying about what gear the car is in (Yes, I sometimes do that)

I got home safely and told my dad on skype how it went. I had some pasta for supper and after that I went to bed because I got a headache and was extremely tired. Instead of laying down for an hour I stayed in bed as I started to feel worse.

Before heading to bed I already made an appointment with the internship company. I was supposed to start at 10, but he called later that he forgot an appointment and that I could start at 1.

Week 1: Sunday

I bought a new phone on saturday so it was time to registrate it online.

Sadly I had problems when trying to activate it. I needed to have a Canadian creditcard in order to transfer money (stupid rule) I didn't know how to get to the first step at first, but pressing on the bankaccount button I could finally continue. It was time to program my phone, but you can already guess that didn't work. It said I had to call custumors service as there were some programs missing for my phone. I didn't write down my phonenumber as I thought I would receive a list on email so I pressed finish. (like we get in the Netherlands when you activate something xD) but I didn't! I had no choice to call the customers service now as I couldn't make an account because I forgot my phonenumber and my phone wouldn't work because it wasn't programmed yet. 

The experience on the phone was funny and kind of annoying. I didn't understand the woman at times as she was talking too loud in the phone, but next to that she also spoke fast and had an accent.

It got embarrassing to say: what? , sorry? all the time. 

Eventually she took me to the process of activating the phone and I was ready, but she said a strange word: Pound and I had no idea what that was. I was searching on the phone and explained I didn;t understand. She tried to explain but still I didn;t know >.> Didn't realize she meant the hashtag. When I finally knew what she meant things went smoothly. I did ask her for confirmation to be sure xD but in the end my phone was activated!

Luckily I also got a response from a room I messaged earlier. She wanted to set up a meeting for friday! Finally things are going somewhere with the rooms. Hope we can get along and that I can get the room on May 1st.

Next to that I phoned to the internship and we made an appointment for tuesday. He gave me the time to get the car first and getting used to it. I had to call him the other day to talk about a time to start.

At night I gamed with the guys. They got some new multiplayer maps they wanted to show, but in the end we started playing zombies.

Arrived

Yesterday was a loong day. Sadly my flight delayed with an hour so I missed my connecting flight to Lethbridge. I was only a few minutes too late >.<
Luckily I had time to Skype on the airport so the 90 minutes passed quickly. But once in the small plane we left 30 minutes later as well due to the snow... Yes, snow. This frightened me a little as they needed to spray anti freeze on the wings and engines. You never know if something goes wrong xD

Finally I arrived in Lethrbidge at 6 pm and Renze and Annetta welcomed me in front of the door.
We immediately headed to a store to buy a new cellphone and I have one now for 38$ (38$ man! xD)

Next to that I have to pay 20$ a month for unlimited text and pay 10 c per minute when phoning. It's not so bad, not when you compare it to the prepaid cards and you will lose your money on the phone after one month already.

We were also looking for a GPS, but those were too expensive. Instead I will probably use Renze's old one which can be updated when I connect it to my laptop.
Tomorrow we will take a look at the rental cars. Not looking forward driving in the snow though xD

At 7 something pm I arrived at their house and I unpacked the gifts. Not soon after I headed to bed as I couldn't keep my eyes open. (Must have been around 8:30pm)

Now I am sitting at the same spot again. I woke up at 7, but went downstairs at 8.
Right now no one is up yet (It's 9:18) besides Erica who I hear downstairs.
Today will be a relaxing day. Will activate my phone, Call my internship, will respond to another room ad as I don't hear anything back from the other one and will read through my internship documents.

Vertaling volgt:

Leaving tomorrow

The time to pack and the time to enjoy my last day home. My parents also started realizing what day it is. My mom didn't look forward to filling up the suitcase and my dad ordered a satemenu as it would be my last Dutch meal.
Sadly I still have a lot to do on this last day, more than I wanted. I still have to do some voice acting and sending off lines on top of preparing my bags.

I'm not really looking forward to the trip, but I am looking forward to what I will experience there. Hope my internship jobs will be awesome and I also hope I can find some really nice roommates.
Sadly the room I had got cancelled out of nowhere so I applied for a new room. Don't know if I will hear from them, but I still have some backup rooms just in case I can contact when I arrive.

I won't post anything or film much tomorrow as it's the same trip; I think only the immigration office experience will be slightly different. I will be online on facebook to update or on skype if I have the time.

For now, I'll see you sunday. I'll update all my experiences about my internship and roommates starting from Monday.

Nederlandse vertaling:

Het moment om spullen te pakken en om nog van de laatste dag thuis te genieten. Mijn ouders begonnen ook al te beseffen wat voor dag het is. Mijn moeder keek niet echt uit naar het koffer inpakken en mijn vader heeft nog een sate menu besteld omdat dat het laatste Nederlandse gerecht is.
Helaas moet ik nog veel doen op deze laatste dag, meer dan ik eigenlijk wilde. Ik moet nog steeds een stem inspreken en zinnen sturen bovenop het inpakken van mijn spullen.

Ik kijk niet echt uit naar de reis zelf, maar wel naar wat ik ga meemaken.
Ik  hoop dat mijn stagewerk heel leuk zal zijn en ik hoop ook dat ik leuke roommates ontmoet.
Helaas is de kamer die ik al had geannuleerd dus heb ik weer gereageerd op een nieuwe kamer. Weet niet of ik wat van ze zal horen, maar heb nog steeds een paar kamers als back up.

Ik plaats niks of film veel morgen omdat het ongeveer dezelfde reis zal zijn; ik denk dat het alleen iets anders zal gaan bij de immigratie. Ik ben wel online op facebook om te updaten of zit even op skype als ik tijd heb.

Ik zie jullie zondag weer. Vanaf Maandag zal ik van alles updaten over mijn stage en kamergenoten.

Nearly leaving, but new problems!

Oh no, thought everything would be stressfree. Just returned from shopping (bought some new clothes!Even a pinkish pants o.o) Anyways, I read through the documents and read that my job offer contains the end of my visa. And my Job offer says it's valid until July 27th.
!! Don't know what to do now =( I emailed the migration office for some advice, but I'll probably receive a reply tomorrow.

Well I just calculated: If I work 6 days a week I'll be done on the 26th / 27th of JUly.
Then I'll have to go to the US and will have the tourist status until the 24th of August,
That's an option I guess, but not one i'm looking forward to.

Edit: Got a response from the migration office. She said that I should ask the boss to rewrite the job offer with the new dates. If that's not possible then she believes they will understand my story, though I'm not too sure anymore xD

Vertaling:

Oh nee! Dacht dat alles nu stressvrij zou zijn. Kwam net thuis van shoppen (heb nieuwe kleren gekocht; zelfs een roze-achtige broek)
Ik heb nu even de documenten doorgelezen en las dat mijn stagebrief de einddatum van mijn visum vast stelt. En daar staat 27 Juli!
!! Weet nu even niet wat ik moet doen =( Heb de emigratiebureau al gemaild vor advies, maar ik denk dat ik morgen pas een reactie krijg. Ik heb het gevoel dat ik niet een positief antwoord krijg, maar dat ze het dom vinden dat ik hier niet aan gedacht heb.

Heb net uitgerekend dat ik klaar zal zijn op de 26e of 27e van Juli als ik 6 dagen per week ga werken vanaf het begin. Dan op 27 Juli moet ik naar de VS en ben ik een toerist tot ik weer weg ga op 24 Augustus.

Dat is een optie, maar niet een waar ik naar uit kijk.

Edit:  Heb een reactie van het emigratiebureau. Ze zei dat ik de stagebieder moest vragen om de job offer opnieuw op te sturen met de veranderde data. Als dat niet mogelijk is dan gelooft zij dat de immigration officers niet moeilijk gaan doen. Toch ben ik ern iet zeker van. xD