First Day

View from the office

Yesterday was the first day of my new internship! I am working for a national trade association in the jewelry industry located in the Midtown section of NYC. I will mostly be doing PR and marketing activities for the consumer arm of the organization.

With graduation just around the corner, I am truly blessed to have secured a paid position. It's a funny story on how I got this job. In March, I made the trip into the city and interviewed for a social media internship. When they called me, they let me know that I did not get the social media internship, but they wanted me to do the PR/marketing internship! Of course I accepted, and up until my first day, I wasn't sure what to expect.

The train from CT was about 1 hour, 45 minutes. I ended up only getting 2 hours of sleep the night before! I wasn't expecting the kind of welcome I got! I met my boss for the first time (I didn't interview with her since I wasn't going in for the job I have now).

I found out that she had just gotten back from a trip AND just got engaged so her life is really hectic. But she was still so welcoming and had everything prepared for me! I even have my own laptop and everything was set up for me already!

I was scared I was not going to be expected or I would just be in the way all day. But it was the opposite! I got to meet all 19 people who work in the office. I read up on what the organization does, looked at the website & social media accounts, and went through an orientation and filled out paperwork.

When lunch time rolled around, I found out I had an hour break. That was too much for me. I ate my lunch at my desk but decided to walk to Starbucks so I can get a break. Being in the city, a Starbucks was just around the block. I even checked out some clothing stores for the fun of it.

I wanted to make a few phone calls but it was too loud outside and too quiet inside my office! I mean, my office is really quiet. I feel like I am yelling every time I talk in the office since it's so quiet. It's hard to get used to. There is no break room either so there is nowhere private to make any phone calls.

After lunch, I got to sit in on a meeting for a trade show in Las Vegas! This is so different than my last internship. I am actually included in meetings and I even gave an idea on QR codes when we were brainstorming. Everyone seemed happy with my input and I actually felt confident to share an idea which was awesome! After the meeting, I did more research and finally left work for the 5:02 train.

Overall, I had a really awesome day. I found out I will be doing a lot of PR/marketing activities, as well as special events. Each week my boss will give me an assignment to do and I have a paper to keep track of all the things I do. She wants me to come in from 10-5 now (instead of at 9) so she can have the first hour to prepare for my assignment. It's great because now I can take the 8:00 train in to the city!

Now the train...I get motion sickness from just about anything. I was trying to read Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (part of the Hunger Games series) on my iPad, but it made me so sick. I felt like I had motion sickness all day. Even going down the elevator! The ride back wasn't as bad and I actually could read, but I really need to figure out something! Any tips would be helpful!