Great Expectations

As a young adult, finding a job is hard. Finding a job you like is even harder. In college, I feel like half of my friends have had awesome summer jobs or internships. The ones where you make all sorts of unbelievable connections, where a beer cart comes through the office on Friday afternoons, where great music is blasted throughout the day, or most importantly, the ones that liked you so much that you receive a job offer when your internship is finished. Hearing about these kinds of summer jobs makes it a little hard for me to keep my expectations low. So when I was told that I would be working at one of the most prominent news radio stations in Ghana, Joy FM, I think it’s safe to say that my expectations got the best of me.

Because I have never worked in radio before, I wasn’t really sure what I would be doing, but I had a few ideas. It couldn’t be that hard, right? Recording interviews, taking polls with people on the street, writing paragraphs that will be read on the air. Couldn’t be too challenging. When I walked into the office with Lana, the group A student that I would be replacing,all the coworkers were so welcoming, friendly, and fun. I was sure this was going to be the greatest place to work. It didn’t take too long before I realized that reality did not live up to my expectations.

As the day went on, no one told me what they wanted me to do. Although Lana had introduced me to everyone individually, none of the office big shots gave me a formal introduction to the entire office. My first day I sat in the newsroom, checked my email, read the newspaper, and watched the Olympics, while the other experienced reporters went out on all sorts of assignments. The next day I was told to stay in the office and “observe the newsroom.” I sat through pitch meetings and concluded that it was not a successful pitch meeting unless there were at least four people on their feet pointing and yelling at each other and one shouting match. After 3 days of waking up at 5 a.m., riding the tro-tro 45 minutes to work, walking 15 minutes to the office, doing nothing all day long, and leaving at 5 p.m., I was ready to call it quits. It wasn’t until the next afternoon that I realized what my problem was.

I got to accompany one of the reporters, Hannah, on one of her assignments. We were to go to a human rights organization, CHRAJ, conference, record and take notes for the news show later that day. On the cab ride over, Hannah and I talked about how I was feeling in the newsroom, to which I told her how I was struggling. She told me that I could not be afraid to ask for work, that it wasn’t personal, but that the reporters get very focused on their assignments, so when they are working on them in the office, unless I made myself known, I would just get forgotten about. She told me that no one was going to walk me through how to do everything and that if I wanted to go out on assignment, all I needed to do was ask. I told her that in America, as an intern I was used to being told what to do and how to do it, so this was a work environment that I was not accustomed to. That’s when she said something very profound that allowed me to change my outlook on my whole situation. Very nonchalantly she said, “Well maybe this is your opportunity to take more initiative, be a little more direct, and take those skills with you to the workplace when you return home. Maybe you’ll be a whole new Lauren.” Wasn’t that the whole reason I came to Ghana in the first place? To allow this different environment to change my perspective on things? To become a whole new Lauren?” Why shouldn’t that apply to the work place as well? And that’s when it changed for me.

The next day, after the morning meeting, I walked right up to my editor, Elvis, and told him I’d like to talk with him. He was very pleased that I had approached him and we discussed what my interests were in terms of stories I could report on and what my goals were for the end of my internship. He introduced me to the important people in the office who could help me achieve my goals. We came up with a plan and he would make sure I would get assigned to stories that would interest me.

Since then, I still wake up super early and ride the tro-tro and have a long walk to the office, but I see it as valuable “me” time where I can just sit with my thoughts, reflect on the day, brainstorm stories, and listen to music, which helps me wake up and makes the crowded ride MUCH more enjoyable. I’ve made friends with my coworkers, whom take me out to lunch to get authentic Ghanaian food every day. I’ve learned that the shouting matches at the pitch meetings are exciting, not scary, because everyone in this office is passionate about their job, and more importantly, the news. I’ve learned so much, just after one week, about Ghanaian politics and culture. And while many of my group members have internships at developing media houses, many of which are unorganized and move rather slowly (compared to the U.S.), I have come to realize that I get the privilege to work with some of the most hard working, well educated, dynamic, and interesting people I have ever met.

So what if it’s not EXACTLY what I was expecting. If it were, I probably wouldn’t have changed anything about myself or grown in any way. Great expectations will almost always disappoint and I had to realize that it was my attitude, not the job, that was causing my unhappiness. Learning to change my attitude and lose the expectations has made all the difference. After all, aren’t surprises more fun anyway?