I suppose the short version of my experience in Bosnia can be summed up like this: lovely country, awful internship. I had decided to suffer through the unreasonable hours and lack of structure, and even ignore the murkiness of the the "fee" I had to pay to the organization. What I could not tolerate was the extreme unprofessionalism of my boss, namely his emotional instability that had him lashing out at interns without warning and hysterically crying. The working relationship was abusive, featuring two incidents in which he verbally attacked interns in protracted displays of bullying. These existed along smaller incidents that proved I would not be able to continue working with him or the organization.
As such, Lilia (the other Amherst intern) and I contacted Ken on Saturday. We packed up, moved to a hotel for an evening (in which we were paranoid our boss was after us, egged on by my American phone receiving two calls from a blocked number) and worked on our escape plan. Ultimately, we made it to Sarajevo and shacked up for another night at a hotel. I left on Monday and made it back to SF by Monday night.
Sorry for the delayed notification. I just wasn't sure how to phrase my experience.
On Tuesday I schmoozed a bit at the SF Alumni/Intern/Student gathering. It was rather uneventful, and now I'm trying to decide what to do with my summer. So far, my most sought after volunteer opportunity is dressing up for a Canterbury Tales-themed fundraiser and working as an usher for an evening.
What does this mean for all you lovely people? Well, most of you are wandering the world or navigating jobs/internships, but, regardless of this, you are all welcome to visit me.
From a land of microwaves, dryers, and toilet seats in public places, gratefully,
Mia
Sounds like your schedule cleared up for a trip to Vegas!
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