If you consider an internship as working, I have been kind of “working” for the past 7 months now. It’s true that an internship is different from being a full time employee, but there are a lot of similarities. One definite aspect is the interaction of fellow co-workers in the office, which I have appreciated to a greater extent after these 7 months. Prior to such a long internship, I do in fact have some holiday jobs here and there, but never one this long. And the concept of “co-workers” and “colleagues” never crossed my mind. To me, the people wh9m I hung out with are all my “friends”, I could never really tell the difference, or should I say, I never really wanted to discriminate.

Only until recently that I realized that there is indeed a difference, maybe a subjective, subtle difference, but nonetheless, a difference I can feel. There are a few fellow employees where I can get along with quite well. We go out for lunch; we hang out in each others cubicles, pretty much the stuff friends do. However, there are times when we were so busy with our work that we simply just walk past each other, like strangers. Yes, we have already greeted each other when we first came in for the day. Yes, we did exchange a glance to acknowledge each other’s presence, but it still feels weird. I tried to recall if I do that to my friends – not really. Maybe I did that to my “acquaintances”, but not to people whom I consider my “friend”. Friends’ encounter is always more than just a glance and a smile to me. Well, I guess that’s the term “co-worker” and “colleague” came about. Welcome to the working world, and I can’t even start to imagine how office romances work ;p

Enough about my work, I’m going to Yosemite to climb Half-Dome tomorrow!!!