Rather than spend this week’s installment covering the same routine intern duties, I’ve chosen to focus on just one day in particular. It just so happens that this day became one of the best days on the job so far – and I warn you, this may get cheesy. Boy do I love good cheese in editorial pieces like this. Anyway, here’s why Thursday became the Best (Intern) Day Ever.
Music Direction
Remember when I mentioned wandering into a program directors’ office looking for work to do and he offered to meet with me to talk about programming? That meeting ended up being today and it was truly a great experience. (Hey, I warned you about the cheese.) All kidding aside, it is discussions like this one that I have found make any internship or opportunity worth it – hearing about an industry or position from the perspective of someone you respect is something that can be very eye opening.
In this case, I have grown up with this particular radio station, as well as growing up listening to this director’s interviews with artists and groups. Sure, I was nervous as to how I would ask about how he got to where he was and what he does without sounding like a complete idiot, but he is a genuinely nice person and was open and welcome to any questions I had. He even told me stories about his connection to some of our (mutual) favorite artists like Fun. and My Chemical Romance. Being able to connect with him on not only the musical level, but with the understanding and passion for it was comforting and, to be honest, uplifting.
Lately I’ve felt a little lost when it comes to figuring out what I want to pursue as I finish out college, but it’s meetings like these that seem to mold my path towards music.
Cue the Crazy
As soon as I had walked in the door, it seemed my day went from zero to sixty in six seconds flat. After my meeting with the program director, I saw that I had missed a call – it ended up being a representative from a music internship I applied for fall semester. When it comes down to it, I ended up having two interviews for various positions during the fall semester in an hour and a half. The best part? I was still riding a high from my previous meeting – and I was feeling confident. That made my interviews seem to go so much better – I was feeling good about myself, about my abilities, and about life in general. Call it cliché, but positive juju makes literally everything so much better.
Even spending the latter part of my day untangling a pile of Christmas lights (Christmas in July – yeah) didn’t feel too tedious. It was as if my entire aura was alight; there was nothing that could make me stop smiling. (Look! More cheese!) I think my co-workers might have noticed it too – a lot of jokes were passed around and I joined in on the ribbing. One of the promo techs teasingly asked me who I was going to miss the most after next week when I left. I said I was going to miss everybody (which is relatively true), but even though my intern time is winding down, I’m starting to get the general idea of just how valuable this position has been to both my career path and to me personally. It’s getting to be that time – with one week left, I’m determined to soak up all of the extra knowledge I can, in every area, all the time.
Each week is obviously different; depending on the number of events scheduled, the work days can fly by or drag on. However, with each entry in the Intern Diaries, I hope to shed some insight on not only my own experiences, but perhaps inspire you to search for your own opportunities or write about the ones you’re experiencing now.
Until next time. Happy interning.
