To some, this is equivalent saying you’re at the bottom of the food chain. You’re the fish the shark eats. No, scratch that, you’re the little fish the big fish eats that the shark eats. No, scratch that, you’re the algae the little fish eats that the big fish eats that the shark eats.
You get the point.
You’ll be ordered around by these I-think-I-am-slash-I-actually-am-better-than-you “superiors” (ahem, tyrants). Do as they say. File their paperwork. Fetch their morning chai tea lattes from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (but whatever you do, don’t spit in it).
However, on the flip side, being an intern can be a good thing. It’s empowering. And in fact, it’s the best thing. I’m going to take the glass-is-half-full route and tell you exactly why. (Disclaimer: some of these things may pertain specifically to my internship, but you get the gist.)
1. You’re allowed to make mistakes.
You can screw up the first … second … and maybe third time. (Much more than that, though, and you’ll earn yourself a bad rep and responsibility of all the timeless, irrelevant and un-breaking news stories.) Do you realize how liberating this is?
Just think — HEY, you’re allowed to make mistakes. You’re only potty training.
2. You can take exploit company resources and not feel guilty about doing so.
This is my absolute favorite part. For example, I found out on my first day that as an intern, I’m “required” to attend a taping of The Soup and Chelsea Lately.
You can screw up the first … second … and maybe third time. (Much more than that, though, and you’ll earn yourself a bad rep and responsibility of all the timeless, irrelevant and un-breaking news stories.) Do you realize how liberating this is?
Just think — HEY, you’re allowed to make mistakes. You’re only potty training.
2. You can take exploit company resources and not feel guilty about doing so.
This is my absolute favorite part. For example, I found out on my first day that as an intern, I’m “required” to attend a taping of The Soup and Chelsea Lately.
…..UHHHHHH. Do you understand how loaded this “requirement” is? Especially to me? Chelsea Handler is my IDOL. I kid you not. I am the least star-struck person maybe to exist (anticlimactic, I know, to be living in Los Angeles) with the exception to Ms. Handler and her fabulous midget friend, Chuy. And I get to meet the dynamic duo tomorrow, sitting VIP in the first row for her 2 p.m. taping. (I know, I know, tough life.)
Additionally, on an every-other-daily basis, Pinkberry or Joan’s on Third or Fonuts (fake donuts, get it?) set up camp in the office and I’m “required” to attend an E! Online social.
Furthermore, if I were to ever stumble upon a movie premiere (ha, like this would ever unintentionally happen), I would be “required” to cover the event — stalk the stars of the red carpet, pester the shit out of Hollywood’s latest heroes — as a reporter representing E!
It’s safe to say I haven’t really been able to complain about my intern “requirements.”
3. You’re still in college.
This makes everyone jealous. (Especially Madison or Rob, recently graduated 20-somethings, sitting at the cubes next to you.)
Your hard work has paid off: You have earned an incredible opportunity at an incredible news or magazine publication. Yes, you’re working long hours and many, many weeks, but just think: you are still in college. (Pending you make it alive and well out of your internship), you will have gained a multitude of skills, get to put it on your resume and resume the routine of college life: sleeping, attending 15 hours of class per week, sleeping, partying, sleeping, hanging with friends, repeat.
4. You have a set start and end date.
Meaning … if you absolutely hate the living shit out of your job — well, suck it up. You’ve only got a few more weeks. As the (wo)man, the myth and the legend, otherwise known as my wise Aunt Sue, once told me, “This, too, shall pass.” Your job has an expiration date. You are not slaving your life away to support a family; you are not obliged to a 3-year contract; you are simply gaining experience over the course of a few months.
Take, for example, my internship last summer. I worked up to 12-hour days at a high fashion publication, running garment bags of Alexander Wang gowns to and from the Canal Street store — sometimes taking the subway up to 14 times a day — in heat stroke-inducing heat, only eating once a day on my 30-minute (max) lunch break and working in an overcrowded fashion closet where we weren’t even allowed to touch the computers or breathe in the presence of our famous editors. I was a fashion intern. And going into the summer, I thought that was the end all to be all. However, what I quickly learned from my slave labor was that no, I didn’t want to pursue a career in fashion; I wanted to write. It became crystal clear to me only through my experience.
While I hated last summer’s exhausting internship, I learned a hell of a lot about myself. That’s what internships are for. And instead of crying while I was waiting for the subway, I thought; I wrote; and most importantly, I smiled: it was only a summer internship.
Alternatively, if you absolutely love your internship …
5. … and if you really, really crush it, it may just transform into a real job.
How nice would it be to have the security blanket of going into your junior or senior year of college and knowing what your post-grad life entails?
Might be nice …
Personally, I absolutely love my job. I look forward to going into work every day, even if it means driving in the parking lot of crackhead LA commuters for up to an hour each way (to go 14 miles, may I add); even if it means I don’t eat dinner until 8 p.m. each night (to put that into perspective, that is 11 p.m. North Carolina time); and even if it means I don’t have Kaelyn time. Ever.
EVEN if it means I am only an intern. Because, hey, I don’t think being an intern is that bad.
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