It's Paddy's Day tomorrow! Woo! Apparently town will be nightmarish but I don't care. Bring on the green-headed Guinness!

Sorry I haven't written for ages - not much to say, jobwise. I have started to look for things to do when my internship finishes - Boyf found a good thing about a copy writer for a travel guide company so I've gone for that, will keep an eye out around and about. TIP: journalism.co.uk and gorkanaPR.com are both good for copy writers, wannabe hacks and PR darlings.

I'm still in my internship with the trade magazine and I get highs and lows. Catching the train back with a colleague he said that when I was out of the office last, my boss said he liked the quality of my work, which is good to know. I never assumed I was the office dunce or anything and I have been so pleased about the features and interviews my boss has helped me into. It's just a shame that I am NOT business savvy! Especially not when it comes to the world of Irish food shops. Sometimes it is frustrating but I guess I am glad for my friends that it's not my specialist subject. I just know that if I did it 9 to 5 then I would probably become an incorrigible grocery geek. Like the other day I tried to bring up in ordinary conversation this amazing statistic for the recession about how frozen food is so big right now that Tesco saw sales of mushy peas - MUSHY PEAS!! - go up 320%. Amazing?

Amazingly boring to most. Thanks for tolerating this post!

I have a confession to make.

I went to see 'Confessions Of A Shopaholic'. Worse, I think I enjoyed it.

I have to give you a bit of context on this: I met up with other interns and we wanted to go to the cinema, and we wanted a comedy. It was on Saturday afternoon, and, well, this was the pick.

But before you get up on me, I thought this film deserves a better press than the trailer elicits. This is not a squeal-a-minute vapid comedy about clothes. Yes, it's styled by sartorial empress of New York, Patricia Field, and there are an awful lot of costume changes. But the storyline actually figures around a young journalist who can't face her credit card bills without a bottle of tequila. She's trying to get a job on a high-octane glossy magazine to pay off her outrageous credit card bills - but someone's told her that if she gets a job on a financial mag within the same publishing house, she can elbow her way in. Refreshingly, she ends up turning her back on the fashion magazine and sticks with her column on 'Successful Saving' because she feels like she's really getting through to her readership there. In the film, you see her going to a Q&A, a media conference and a job interview - I felt like the film was even more about her career than it was the romantic sub-plot. Besides, no editors are ever as cute as Hugh Dancy.

Rolemodels in unlikely places! Who is your career inspiration?

Hey y'all, it's your emissary from the Irish supermarket world. More-or-less a month in to my internship, I have just seen my name in print, and my workload is about to take off. Er... hurray?

So, I'm getting on OK at work. One of the two staff writers has just gone on a long holiday so my editor is thinking about giving me some of her work. Yay! This means interviewing independent grocers and off-licence owners in Ireland and reporting on all kinds of drink industry news. Get me. In the mean time, I have had a couple of short, plain 'market profiles' published in the Feb issue, started a feature on why Ireland doesn't have a mySupermaket.com, and started compiling the top 100 trends of 2009 with the other retailer.

What I have learned about groceries in Ireland so far:
- the Irish make a lot of fuss about prices and value but are generally quite content to be repeatedly ripped off. For instance, non-food shopping like electricals, clothes, furnishings, can expect as much as a 100% mark-up in the Republic compared with Belfast prices
- alcohol sales, in bars and in off-licences, will sink this year
- the governments (Irish and UK) should be doing a LOT more to reduce food waste, although the recession should make people more leftover-happy. The UK spends £10.2bn a year buying and binning good food: £420 a year per household, or £610 if that household includes kids. [WRAP]
- frozen food is a bargainous must
- sushi's out, daifuku's in

I won't beat about the bush: the grocery business is boring. Business, as a whole, is routinely dull. But getting to grips with the lingo ('brand equity', 'market share', 'sales by volume') feels good. And glossy glossy magazines are still enchanting, whatever they're about. But please God, may I never have to work in grocery journalism again.

Tell me something you learned at work this week.

It's been two weeks today since I first set foot in the office and it's going well. It's all hapening over my head at the moment because the February issue's going to print any day now, but I'm pleased to say I'll have some bits in it! It's not much to write home about... In fact, it's quite hard to muster my own enthusiasm, but I have written a few 'market profiles', describing trends and what to sell when it comes to Italian food, frozen food and oral hygiene. Yeah, thrilling! But what I am more pleased about, is I helped Orla (one of the staff writers) transcribe interviews, and they will be in there. I've got my first interview with Checkout tomorrow morning because I suggested a feature to John and he said it was a good idea, and gave me a contact. I don't want to tell you any more: suffice to say, it will be a feature with quotes about the Irish fast-moving-consumer-goods retail industry. Hold onto your hats.

I've got the green light from the reviews company I freelance for too. So the bars of Dublin are about to come under my judging right hand. I'm not getting the same moneys... But times is hard... and I want to keep in with the company and I like the work.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to the Jameson Irish Film Festival, and visiting the Jewish Museum on Sunday. I'm also please with free flights from Ryanair!!!

What's everybody else up to? And what up with Twitter, are we fans or not?

That, kids, is the view over Dublin from the Guinness Museum.

So, I am here, working on Ireland's leading monthly magazine for the FMCG & grocery retail sector - and so far so good.

In the office, there's five of us: the editor, two journos, the designer and me. The two journos are young Irish women who have only recently got into the industry - they're really friendly, although it's hard to find Dubliners who are unfriendly. The mag really is about groceries and supermarkets. But it's interesting in its own way. I get the impression I'll get an eyeful of how PR works, as half the mag features big brands and is recommending some new wine or jam or loaf to its readership. Still, there's interviews with local independent retailers, features on Dublin's international foods market, plus all the latest on Dublin's hottest Spar branches... I'm being asked to research and write relatively big things already. The perk of interning with a v. small editorial team?

The city's great, if a little dear. A pint, anywhere, is €5. Tragic! I feel like I've seen a lot already - an exhibition on WB Yeats, 'The Playboy of the Western World' at the Abbey Theatre, the seaside at Howth, the Guinness storehouse, the Grand Canal, Camden Street. But there's lots left to explore. In the meantime, I suggest you all Google "Molly Malone Dublin" and enjoy what might be Europe's most buxom bronze. Alive, alive oh! x

PS. Enjoy frolicking in the snow!

So, I'm about to take up a ten-week internship with these people:

CHECKOUT, Ireland's "leading monthly magazine for the FMCG & grocery retail sector".

FCMG stands for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (i.e. food). I like food and I like magazines. Therefore I feel I cannot but enjoy this placement. Woo!

If you could work on any magazine, paper or website, where would you work and why?

Best answer gets a fast-moving consumable good. x

The Guardian has written some great articles that have finally noticed the impact of the recession on graduates:

Generation crunch: young face crisis in hunt for work

I wasn't expecting anyone to sit up and take notice like that, I've got to say. Every time I discuss it with someone older than me who's got a job, I find myself excusing the siutation, saying things like, "It doesn't matter, because at least I've got no dependents, my degree makes me quite employable, there's a lot of internship schemes and postgraduate study on offer even if there's no jobs". Unfortunately, I have always known that's not true and it's quite a comfort having Britain's leading broadsheet put the issue front page.

What do you think of the issue, and the Guardian's coverage?

Having said that, at least on the front line of this crisis of prospects we have felt it for some months now, and made provisions. Yesterday I went to Lewisham for an interview for a journalism and reporting internship with the EU's Leonardo scheme, and they are going to sort me a placement in Dublin for January 25th! I'm pretty excited! It will be so nice to be away from home again, so nice to be in full-time work in the sphere I love, and great to be in yet another capital city! It's short notice but hopefully it will all come together. I'll keep you posted in the next fortnight as to where I'm going to be working.

Also, I'm applying for three top magazine journalism courses. Wish me luck!

I have long been suffering The Boredom of living at home, jobless - not a phonecall off Reed for a month now, few jobs I want to apply for online - so I thought the best thing for it was to learn a few more skills and hop on a postgraduate diploma programme for would-be journalists.

But it's a bit fearsome! Shaking off the dust, timidly emailing old professors to ask for not one or two but three references; gulping as I read the requirements of the application; getting a literal feeling of fain-heartedness. I know I don't want to sit on my backside any more... But have I got the balls to apply for a new programme of study, shell out thousands and become a student again? What about earning a wage?

Anyone else rubbish at making their own decisions?

If anyone wants me, I'll be taking the auspices in order to decide what I want for lunch.

In this moment of financial discontent and global crisis, here's a fun game to take your mind off the recession. With a friend, or on your own, see who can make the most use of the phrase, "It's The Credit Crunch!". Whether answering serious questions about the economy or just explaining to your flatmates why you haven't replaced that pint of milk you finished yesterday, you'll be amazed at just how durable this sentiment is. Whoever exploits the phrase the most in the space of 24 hours, wins something from Poundland.

Don't forget to post your favourite conversations here afterwards!

Get this, gap year students. I'm young, free, and qualified to degree level. The world's my oyster - right?

Right. But I'm getting cold feet about going abroad again. I've found a work experience scheme for print journalism, but it's in Dublin. Travelling and living abroad relies on huge reserves of excitement and a thirst for adventure. But mine was quenched in Paris last autumn. What I really want is to get some good work experience in the UK. But no-one wants me!!

Anyone else finding it hard to convince people to take them on for free? Got any tips?