I started my first real person full-time internship yesterday. We had orientation all day with half of the other interns which was nice to get to meet the other people who are all in the same shoes. There are 54 interns total out of over 1,000 applicants and as the day went on I became more and more surprised at how I somehow got chosen to fulfill this intern role. Now I had an internship last year, but it was only part time and it was extremely mundane. It was really a resume builder because I really didn't get anything out of it. I had to perform mundane and mindless tasks and I counted down the clock each day I was there.
This year's internship will be a whole other experience. I'll be working in the Global Compliance department of an international specialty pharmaceutical company so I'll be dealing a lot with legal issues, regulations and the likes. I'll be working full time so M-F, 8-5 type deal and though I'm bummed to have to forfeit my the free time I've grown so used to during my summers, it will be nice to have some cash in my pocket and not have to wait tables on the side like last summer. I'm the only intern in my department (actually the first to go through my department entirely) so it's going to be an interesting learning experience for me and my advisers.
Yesterday was our first day where we each got our own work laptops for the summer, learned about the company and took a tour of the campus (yes, campus--it has four buildings at this particular location). Today was each of our first days in the office. My department is very small so I got to meet almost everyone in it today which was nice. They had a lunch for me in one of the conference rooms where we spent an hour talking about Big Bang Theory, a beer festival, the classic rock cover band one of my advisers is in, airport security and more. It was nice to meet everyone in a much more casual setting because over the next two weeks I've got more formal meetings with everyone in the department to learn about their positions in such. Everyone seems really excited to have an intern in the office (probably since I'm the first one for this department, so I hope I don't disappoint) and that makes me feel like I'm actually a member of the team and not just an a coffee-grabber or copy-maker--which is not what my job will include this summer.
Speaking of coffee though, there are coffee stations located throughout the building and their is one just around the corner from me. This is exciting both because I love coffee and will need lots of it to adjust to long work days, but also because it's one of the kinds that you stick a packet in and it creates an individualized cup in like 30 seconds, so no waiting for a whole pot to brew. The best part, there's such a wide selection of coffee, tea and even cappuccino and hot chocolate. On top of all of this, on my floor in the building there's also a little coffee cafe...if I feel like going for a latte or some other kind of drink not covered at the coffee station. Pretty cool huh?
Another cool thing is that I'm going to be invited to sit in on a lot of meetings so I can learn about what goes on in the industry and such. There's a weekly department meeting that we actually video conference with a few of our international offices too. Although we all know that my heart is in theatre and that is what I hope to pursue someday, I think this will be a really great experience for me to learn about the corporate world so I can have a legitimate fall back plan.
Now the only negative aspect so far is that the commute is AWFUL. It's only 20 miles away from home and should only take me 30 minutes to get there, but the traffic at the time of day I have to travel is just terrible. It took an hour and fifteen minutes today to get there today and an hour to get home. I was so frazzled. I really hope I can find a quicker and easier route because getting stuck in traffic that bad everyday is going to get old really fast (it already is old).
The buildings are all modestly colorful but in a very pleasant and tasteful way. There is an onsite fitness center with exercise classes, personal trainers and even a massage therapist. There is an on site dry cleaner, multiple cafeterias and cafes where they even hold weekly lunch bbq's. Every building has a locker room area with showers, fresh towels, and even shampoo/conditioner. So if you want to work out before work or during lunch you're all covered. There are even "wellness rooms" which are small rooms with a chair and a little bed type thing that you can use if you start feeling ill during the day, or get a migraine or something else that would cause you to need to lie down for a few minutes in peace. I was literally baffled at this place.
Now, today was a pretty good first day of just getting used to the office and the company policies, going over some of my potential projects and such but something that really stood out to me was the hand soap. I know that sounds weird, but the hand soap in the bathroom has a very pleasant scent and it leaves your hands feeling so soft. As someone who can't stand dry skin, having fresh scented moisturizing hand soap in the bathroom is wonderful and I think that something as simple as that can really show that a company actually cares about it's employees.
It's going to be a long summer full of long commutes, figuring lots of things out, learning a lot and trying to be brave enough to ask lots of questions. We'll see where the road takes me with my first experience in the corporate world.
Ta-ta for now friends.
-MLD
