Exchange year

33.

I'm standing in front of the school. I'm waiting for Clara. I can't believe that I may get an internship at VOGUE, it's unbelievable. I have to remember to thank Clara again and her dad. "Hey, there you are, have you been waiting long?" I turn around, Clara is walking out of the front door. "Hey, no. I've only waited a few minutes" "good. Let's go then" she grabs my arm and follows me down one of the streets. "I'm so thankful that you wanted to help me. Really. You have no idea how much it means to me" "You really don't have to thank me. Seriously, I'm glad that I could help" "But still" She laughs. We keep walking for a few more minutes before we stand in front of a cosy little Italian restaurant. There are beautiful flowers in the window and an Italian flag in front of the door. "It's here, don't be nervous, it's gonna be good. I promise" I nod and take a deep breath. She opens the door into the little restaurant, small round tables fill the room. It's really nice in here. She walks over to a table where a man is sitting. His hair is brown just like Clara's. He stands up when he sees us. He is high, really high. I think he's taller than Hero. Don't think about him now. He has a black suit on. He reaches his hand out and I grab it and shake it. "Hello, and you must be Ella. Clara has talked a lot about you. My name is Manuel." "Hello, Manuel, A pleasure to meet you." I smile at him. "Take a seat" Clara walks over and hugs her dad, I sit down and she sits down beside me. "So Clara tells me that you would like to get an internship at VOGUE?" He says. He takes a sip of his water glass standing on the table. "Yes, I would really like to get an internship at VOGUE. I dream about being a photographer when I get older and this would be a fantastic opportunity to see how the work as a photographer is. I really like to take pictures. When you capture a special moment in a picture, it's something special. Whether it's people or its nature. To bring out the beauty in people, animals, plants, landscapes, everything." I look at Manuel, he looks very interested in what I'm saying. "I see, well Ella we would really like to give you the opportunity to try to live out your dream" No way. "Thank you so much, thank you" I quickly reached out to shake his hand. I look at Clara who is one big smile. I'm so grateful for this girl, even though I don't know anything about her. Well, I don't really know any of the people I surround myself with, so what should be different with Clara? She is so sweet, really she is amazing. Imagine if I'd never talked to her. "Have you brought the papers so we can fill them out?" I nod and dig them out of my back. I hand him the papers. "So you need to sign here and here" He points at the paper, he hands me a pen. I quickly sign the papers, he reads them through. I have already read the papers 10 times to be sure I didn't miss anything. He sign a couple of places and hand me the papers back. "If you could mail me a copy of the signed papers would it be nice? My email stands on the paper" "Yes of course" I put the papers back in my back. "So would you like something to eat girls, then I can tell you about the internship and what you are supposed to do" "Yes, finally you asked," Clara says and laughs. "Yes, that would be nice" ... After three hours were done, "Thank you so much again, really. Thank you. I can't wait to start" I say to Manuel and shake his hand. "Your welcome Ella" I hug Clara "Thank you" I whisper in her ear. I walk out of the restaurant. Wow, that went amazing. I'm so happy. I pick up my headphones from my back and open Spotify. It's celebrating time, I open my playlist with Shawn and turn the volume up. I start walking back to school while listening to my favourite person.
So Clara and I are gonna work together, we are gonna work every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoon. We are gonna help the photographs, help with the settings, the light, background all that kind of stuff and also take some pictures of course. It's gonna be amazing. Imagine if we are gonna meet some famous people, not that I really know a lot about famous people, I only know Shawn and a lot of writers although most of them are dead. But it's gonna be cool anyway, we are starting next week. I can't wait.