How my last week has been...

I'm finally getting the opportunity to be on a computer for more than 30 minutes. Freaking-A. It sucks butt. So here I am in Wisconsin. Let me just say, I'm never coming back here. I think it's been ruined forever.

Let me start from the beginning. The plane ride was pretty good. I sat next to the cutest little girl! My gate was right above the baggage claim and my luggage was the first out. I was seriously in the airport for like 10 minutes, tops. Then, Steve picked me up. Totally a Massachusetts accent and attitude. Like 2 minutes into the ride he burst out in swearing at the traffic and zipped in and out of cars, and smoked twice during our ride. He was nice enough though. Then I got here. I saw my room, which really isn't my room. I have a roommate, and if I were staying here I'd have a whole heck of a lot more than just 1. Apparently there's supposed to be 4 equine interns and 10 "exotic" animal interns. There's only 4 places to sleep in our room! Oh, that would drive me insane. Oh, and did I mention there really isn't internet set up. She was lying.

I saw the barn and met Dana. She took me into her office and sat me down. She said like 2 sentences to me, and then just stared off at the tv. It was the most awkward thing ever. I was like "uh, can I go now?" except I didn't know really how to get back. And then, Friday was my first day of work. They wanted me to ride in the Saturday afternoon show! Yeah, freaking, right! No way was I going to learn 2 patterns well enough on horses I don't know when I haven't ridden in 7 months and I'm jet lagged and sick! And then they got mad when it didn't work out! That really ruffled my feathers.

Saturday was the show. It was a pretty fast day, except they didn't tell us they sleep in on show days so we got there early and stood around for 45 minutes. I didn't see any of the show cause I was backstage. I was shoved into the finale on an illuminated horse. That basically means that the horse and I are covered in blankets that have mirrors and lights on them. Awkward! And they didn't tell me that we trot in the finale. They assured me, "oh it's only at a walk". So I felt like an idiot when everyone was trotting and I wasn't.

The rest of the week has been pretty slow. Sunday we had our day off. Yep, one freaking day off a week, if we're lucky. That sucks. Monday we had a staff meeting, where Dana told us off! Seriously, it was the second time I'd met her and every other word coming out of her mouth was a swear word. She was angry that the show sucked and that some people were taking days off. I guess she was mad a Sarah for leaving for a wedding. She actually said "F*** weddings and having a personal life.. you work for me. This is my barn, my horses, my money, and you'll do what I say." Well, there goes that idea of me going home for Krissy's wedding in May. Seriously, she was so unprofessional. And most people here are. They swear like sailors and smoke in the barn and aren't really considerate of other people.

Yesterday, Lacey and I got to see some of the "exotic" animals. And I put quotes on these because most of them really aren't exotic, at least not to me. The cool ones were a ring-tailed lemur, a monkey, and I guess they have a bobcat somewhere. The lame ones were raccoon, skunk, pigs, rabbits, birds (although I guess they have a pretty cool bird show), ferrets, hedgehog... Yeah. I can pretty much find those animals anywhere. And I discovered why they're not AZA accredited. The living situations definitely weren't great. Some animals were in tiny cages with absolutely nothing to entertain themselves. They never see sunlight in the winter. They're only let out to do shows. There was not a good kitchen to prepare meals and the staff that takes care of them really don't seem qualified. Steve was even SMOKING in the barn! It's an enclosed area where the animals always are! Who on earth would do that?! That's just the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I wanted to scream at him!

Lacey, my roomie, told Dana she was quitting the other day. If she leaves before me, I'm screwed because I have no kitchen stuff. Dana told me I wouldn't need any, but when Lacey arrived, there wasn't even a microwave or pots/pans. Lacey's quitting for pretty much the same reasons I am. She's more bitter about it though. She's kind of a "Screw the world" attitude-type person. She basically always puts people down and does things with a crappy attitude. She's a young one too. Hopefully that'll grow out of her, because she won't get far in the work world acting like she does. Sometimes I just want to teach her a lesson. Even though I'm miserable and most likely going to quit next week anyway, I at least do my job now and don't bitch about people and say mean things under my breath, and not offer to help out with stuff.

Anywho, I think that's enough rambling. Besides, I'm hungry! Hope this keeps y'all at least somewhat updated on how things are going since I'm not able to get online much. :)