W2 Day2

Dia office today. We have moved into another room in Rasha’s appartment. It’s a much nicer space to work in as everyone has a lot more space to work and it’s a lot brighter, with lots of big windows, so we got a lot of sun today.

I pretty much did all of the editing for Dia Magazine, as the new issue is being published (online) tomorrow. I was quite shocked by the amount of typos made by all the journalists and bloggers who contirbute to the magazine – I guess I’ve realised subbing is one of my strongest points. I had to edit a lot of photos and crop some to create thumbnails for the stories on the webpage. It was mainly simple things like formatting that I wasd asked to do, but this took such a long time as there was just so much of it to do and as soon as I finished one piece, Wafa asked me to do another. I have a feeling that I was doing the majority of her work – but I guess that’s just part and parcel of being an intern.

The morning flew by, but the afternoon seemed to be endless – I just had so much work. I contacted the author Wafa wants to interview and she replied with some very nice emails. We arranged for her to come into the Pop Up Shop on Friday at 3pm. She seemed more interested in the shop and Sketchbook than Dia (despite her being an author on Middle Eastern culture (though she is caucasian). I emailed a n Arabic-American architect on a design he’s created and recently shown at the Milan Design Week. He lives in New York, s it will have to be an email interview.

I also uploaded my second story onto WordPress (the server Dia uses for its blog and magazine) and both pieces I wrote (one on falafels!! And the other on a new tea brand launching in Beirut). The falafel one, I believe, is going in the magazine but I think the tea one is going in the blog.

I didn’t leave work until 6:45pm and work throughout the day without a break – that’s the hardest thing to deal with. By about 3pm I was ready to give up with work. I think I would be a lot more productive if I had an offical one hour lunch break. Some days are different though, and most people seem to be working as they eat. It’s just so crazy and something I’ll have to be ready for when I start work professionally.

Still haven’t been able to start my research, but I am starting to notice that this diary/ blog is keeping track of a lot of relevant information to do with how the magazine manages itself. It’s curious how seemed to have gotten involved with two publications over the placement. I intend to make a mention of my intentions to Wafa tomorrow as I feel our relationship is growing more casual and relaxed. She trusts me with a lot of work and values what I do which is a great feeling. Tomorrow I’m going to the Tea and Cake PR press day with workmate, Laurel. That should be fun. Also Thursday will be attending the British Fashion Council Estethica press day, both held at Somerset house (really excited) but I am going by myself to Estethica which isn’t so great because I always find myself so lonely and less confident when I’m plunged into the fashion insider circles without someone to introduce me. It’s notoriously hard to break those (especially as novice).