One Week In.

Today marked the official end to my first week as an intern! Wow, I can't believe all the things they managed to teach me in a week.

I did a lot of simple data entry, but it was nice to have responsibility. I also found out I'm doing these breakfast & learn sessions. I get to team up with interns at our sister companies and we get to learn more about the media industry (with free food!). They informed us that they are giving us the same training as their entry level employees, which I thought was really cool. I can already tell finishing up my last year of school will be difficult because I'll feel ready for the "real world" by the end of this internship.

My supervisors are so nice, and I can tell they really want me to soak up all the information I possibly can. This week they were constantly searching tasks that were in my skill range. There is so much to digital media planning and buying that it's a total learning process. There are so many acronyms, formulas, and general media lingo that I just completely don't understand.

I think my favorite part has been meeting with vendors that come in. Listening to their presentations is a good break from the usual work day, and they're all so nice. I like to listen and learn more about their company.

I think my team is trying really hard to incorporate me into everything they do, which I really appreciate. I'm really lucky to have such a hands on internship, rather than one where I'm just fetching coffee and extra paper clips.

I'm so excited about everything I will do and learn this summer. I'm so happy to have such a great opportunity.

A Journey to the "Real World"

This is how my first day of my summer internship at MediaCom Worldwide started. I woke up with a rush of emotions. Anxiety, fear, excitement, and more anxiety. I didn't know what to expect, or what they would expect from me. I left my apartment with enough time to arrive 20 minutes early. I have to take the L (the subway system in Chicago) to work, so I wanted plenty of time for my commute. My sister informed me that the L comes about every 5 minutes, unlike later in the day when they're usually 10-15 minutes apart. After getting onto the platform, I saw the digital board and it said my train wouldn't be there for another 16 minutes! Of course, panic ensued only to be immediately relieved by the oncoming headlights of my train. 

A short L ride later and I was at my building! I navigated my way through the long hallways, to the modern elevator that uses a touch screen instead of traditional up and down buttons, up to my floor. I was greeted by a nice woman behind a modern desk and we made polite chit chat as I waited for the director of human resources to take me to my office.

After I was warmly greeted by our human resources director, I was filled with some ease. She took me to what would be my desk for the next 10 weeks. It was garnished with my own computer, phone, locker, cubbie, and various office supplies.

I quickly met my supervisor, who was very nice and introduced me to my summer team. I quickly found out I was the only intern, which I'm completely okay with. More responsibility!

It was a whirlwind of a first day. They quickly gave me a run down of some, of the many, excel spreadsheets they use, along with where everything was located in the office. I had to sit through an orientation phone call from NY, which was an interesting, very long experience. I also got to sit in on an internal update meeting, which was all way over my head (they really like acronyms). I spent most of my day shadowing a very nice co-worker of mine, and learned how to do a lot! By the end of the summer I'm going to be an excel master!

The day came and went when my new colleague asked if I had plans. I didn't. She invited me to a concert that she had extra tickets for and meet and greet passes. We went to the concert, met The Wanted, jammed to Icona Pop, and had a great time.

Overall, it was an amazing first day. I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store!