I am going to use my first blog post to explain what an internship feels like to me, a real life job. Waking up in the morning, getting ready and braving traffic is something, until now, I had shunned. I always felt like being in school was my job and I loved the fact it was one I didn't have to wake up an hour and a half early for. I am currently a senior at the Univeristy of Oklahoma and I am studying public relations. This is my last semester (well, so I am planning) at OU and I am not sure exacltly where I am going to go from here. I have had odd jobs here and there, but nothing professional or important, so I am hoping that my internship will give me a starting point for my future. My internship is at a political campaign. A world I was very unfamiliar with until now. I had never had an affinity for or interest in politics, but I did know how beneficial a campaign would be with my intended career path. With graduation on the horizon, I wanted to jump headfirst into something that I was unexperienced in and would push me to learn something new.
So far, I love my job. The first week I spent learning roles in the office and getting to know everyone. I was happy to find out that everyone I work with is exciting and vibrant. It isn't like the normal desk job I expected, and I was happy to find out I wouldn't be hibernating in a cubicle alone. I don't do well without social interaction. The laid back, yet hardworking atmosphere makes me feel like I can make mistakes, learn from them and move on without being fired. One of the main downfalls about office work is I discovered how much I despise excel. The program makes me dizzy and frustrated. However, it did help me learn about having to organize large amounts of information in a short period of time. This is the only major hatred I have discovered. Other than that, I enjoy getting to talk to people and by working on a campaign, I have witnessed one of the greatest public relations jobs-fundraising. Wathcing how many people will contribute their own money to a campaign shows the skills that the people I work with have. Today, one of the major projects I worked on was fundraising list information and I got to help draft a fundraising letter that will be sent out all over Oklahoma.
I am looking forward to what other adventures I will be on during this campaign. It is a lot of work and as the months progress it will only get more time consuming, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
**This week I worked Tuesday and Thursday from 9-6. I also went in on Friday from 9 until lunch. My responsibilities were to work on compiling lists for possible donors and support for the campaign!
