This year, I started working on the Fringe in early May. I was over the moon to be asked back and to be of use for more than just the month of August! The run up was hectic and unlike anything I have experienced. My role within the company changed a month in, which gave me more responsibility and duties. 'Administration Officer' had a much nicer ring to it than 'Press Office Assistant'. My only worry was that I wouldn't be working with the girls that I had grown so close with the previous year. But as we all reconnected in the last few weeks before the Fringe, any worries I had disappeared. As the Edinburgh Festival began and I left the security of the Press team for a new office and new faces, everything fell perfectly into place.
I quickly adopted the nickname 'little one' because of my young age. Nicknames have always found there way of sticking to me. In primary school I was know as 'Teeny' and even some of my teachers began referring to me as such. As the first few days passed I started to interact with such interesting and crazy people, that I would never have otherwise met. I was engaging with our visiting companies on a more frequent basis and I would now consider many of them my friends. 2012 was a whole new level of fun. Of course this may be directly linked to my spending more time out at night making friends and really enjoying the environment that I am lucky enough to work in. The month long festival feels like it lasts for longer when you are in such good company. Even when I found myself stressed over production runs or an ever growing 'to do' list, all I had to do was remind myself of where I work and who I get to work with. Whenever anyone asks me what it is like to work in the Fringe I always tell them: the long hours and sleepless nights are totally worth it because of the people you meet. The people are what makes my job easy.
As afore mentioned, I got the opportunity to reconnect with the girls that I worked with last year. With the friendship foundation already in place, I felt totally at ease with them and was able to really be myself. Rowan, Hannah 'sissy', Chrissie and Katie are amazing woman who have achieved so much and I was so happy to have them back as mentors, as a guiding conscious and as friends. Individually they look out for me and have my best interest at heart. It's like partying with your best friends but having your mum there to take care of you if something goes wrong. The GB family is very real and very strong. I even found an honorary sister in the lovely Hannah. And the icing on the cake was meeting even more people who make coming into work that little bit easier. Lindsay and Kitty in the box office were my go to for pointless conversations or distractions whenever I didn't want to work. Granted, if Lindsay was busy I would normally be told to go back to my desk and do something productive. Jen and Jess were the new additions to the press office and I'm very glad they were. I'll never know how my boss manages to gather some of the smartest and nicest girls from all over the world (let's be honest, most of them are Aussies!) and bring them to Edinburgh.
There have already been several applications for our comedy competition So You Think You're Funny for the 2013 season. This makes me very excited for my third year to commence. I'm sure my older and wiser self will make a few smarter decisions and will continue to appreciate the opportunity that she has. I love my job. I really, really love my job.
