23 Aug Intern London | A Day in My Life
After a couple weeks of my London internship, I can say that I feel pretty comfortable in my workplace and with my colleagues. My commute to work is about an hour including walking to and from the tube stations, not as bad as some of the commutes my friends have to make for their internships! The office is located in Spitalfields and near the Shoreditch area of London, which is known for having a great night life and international food! I’ve already gone out for falafel, curry, and Argentine food on my lunch breaks! I’m also not always cooped up in the office all day. My line boss has been sending me out to observe the deliveries of our education programs so that I can see how my company operates in the field. All of the schools I have observed at so far have been at least an hour and fifteen minutes away from either my workplace or where I live, so I might as well have a super long commute to work like my fellow interns! At least if I have to travel a lot on an observation day I don’t have to come back to the office in the afternoon due to the travel time needed to get me around, AND I get to read a lot (I’ve already finished two novels just reading them on the tube!). I have really loved the observation sessions though, because it gets me in the classroom interacting directly with the kids and introducing me to the free-lancers who work for the company but aren’t always in the office. Granted I have suffered some timing setbacks in my first few days as a result of figuring out London’s public transportation better (mostly the National Rail service and the buses being more confusing than the tube). Despite any run-ins with timing trouble, the staff has been very understanding and helpful, not holding any troubles against me. I swear after all of this I will have to self-diagnose myself with a new disorder; public transportation anxiety! I’m always so nervous when I’m on a bus or train because I am afraid it will take me somewhere other than my intended goal or that I have gotten on the wrong one due to the mistakes I have made in the past, not just in London but in Brazil as well.
Touching more on the people I work with, they are a very diverse group of people that all have that quirky “MyBnk-ness” about them. When I say that, I just mean that they have fun personalities and enthusiastic attitudes directed towards what they do and how they do it, which I love. It’s the small things like asking about how my evening went, saying good morning as I walk to my desk, or giving me a big smile and a “job well done” after I have finished an assignment or a team meeting that really makes me happy to work for them. We also eat lunch together and head to the next door pub for drinks after work, providing me more time to get to know my coworkers not just as MyBnk super creative geniuses, but just normal people. The staff are encouraging and appear to value my opinion and the work that I do for them. Everything that they give me to work on is important in some way and I never feel like I am wasting my time at my internship in London. In or out of the office I am always learning about how to be a better intern and person either by observing my colleagues or by working directly with the students during the sessions. Patience, an encouraging/positive attitude, and a determinedness to work hard are some personal attributes I have been able to refine specifically through this internship. I come home every day exhausted but happy from work, excited for what challenge the next day will bring me, especially as I have been recently tasked with a large project; revising the structural plans of one of MyBnk’s programs (Business Battle). The changes I help make to this program will be used as the template to train free-lancers in the delivery of the program and will be in place at least for a few years (until the next revision process). I can’t wait to get started on this giant project, and observe Business Battle sessions all next week!
I promise to divulge more considering my international travel next time. I will have gone to Brussels, Belgium; Copenhagen, Denmark; and possibly Edinburgh, Scotland by the next time I write! For now, I’ve included pictures of some more local places, like M&M world, China town, Hyde Park, and the British National Museum.
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