A pleasant, not-so-pleasant, surprise

Today I was offered a summer internship with the San Diego Union-Tribune, my first choice as far as summer internships go. It's a large paper in a beautiful, exciting city. And I have family there I could live with for a few months. And the Trib wanted me to write features and entertainment/lifestyle stuff.

Only...it's unpaid.

For some reason I was under the impression it paid a fairly decent amount of money each week, because I remember our internship listerv saying so...but when I was talking to the internship coordinator on the phone, he assured me that it is most definitely unpaid.

And my heart broke.

I can't complain, because the Republic is an amazing and...uh, highly paid position, but I will be doing strictly news writing there. And I will be spending three months in one of the most sweltering, disgusting cities in the U.S.

I had dreams of crashing on my sister's couch, hanging out at the beach during my time off, and writing fun, feature-y articles about a city I love.

I really, really wanted this...but it would be kind of ludicrous to accept an unpaid position over one that can support me for three months--and then some (and by 'then some' I mean a trip to Thailand to visit my dear friend June for a few weeks).

I am conflicted and torn and a little pouty. But I think it's in a good way. A few years ago there was no way I would have believed that two very large, reputable papers would be asking me to write for them.

At least I have a definite game plan for the summer.

Farewell San Diego, hello Phoenix.