Internship Interview #1

Ahh, internships. Great experience and resume booster for me, great free help for the company.

Today I had a interview with a company called Uplifted. It's an American PR/marketing firm for start-up businesses. Here's their website.

I researched the company, translated and printed my resume, and found out what bus I needed to take (which is usually the most annoying part).

So I walked about 9 blocks to my bus stop on Cordoba y Pueyrredon then took that all the way to Palermo. I'm always very nervous about the buses because I feel like I'm not in control. I never take the bus at home since I don't live in the city so I'm still trying to get used to it.

What's worse? I forgot my map... So I had to stare at every single street sign to figure out when I had to get off. That wouldn't be that bad if every street had signs on it... Cordoba was pretty good with that though.

While waiting for the bus stop, THREE of my buses passed us because they were too full... THREE! I was so nervous I was going to be late. Luckily I left a full hour before my interview.

Finally one stopped for us but only a few of us could get on cause there was so many people on it. It was gross, I never want to touch that many people at one time again. I couldn't move at all and I was standing right next to the front door- couldn't get much farther than that.

So I finally got off at my stop and started looking for the building. Couldn't find it. I asked people, I walked up and down the block (both sides) and still couldn't find it. So I called one of the Student Affairs administrators of IES so they could get me in touch with the internship guy.

By the way, it was 4pm... aka time for my interview and I was going to be late.

On the phone with him I realized I wrote down the incorrect street number!! I wrote down 5101 and not 5110... Silly me.

So I finally found the place. I failed miserably at using the buzzing/intercom system but they finally let me in.

After all that mayhem, THEY SPOKE ENGLISH! Woo!! I was relieved at time but I know if I get this internship it won't help me improve my Spanish which kinda sucks.

But the internship went really well! I spoke with Nora Leary and another woman named Katie. They told me about the company and it seems super relaxed. I'm not going to be doing "intern jobs" like getting coffee, getting lunch or running errands.

They said I can do as much as I want to do.

If I want to compose tweets for a client, I can. If I want to write blog posts for a client, I can. If I want to call a reporter and do some PR work that way, I can! And If I don't know how to do something, they'll train me for anything.

There also isn't any hierarchy system. Because the company is so small (there's probably only about 5 of them at the office) everyone does every job. They work together for creative pieces or tedious tasks which I think is awesome.

Nora also said she brings her new puppy into the office a lot which is so much fun!! That right there shows how laid back they are.

She said she got her puppy from an organization that gives them out at the park. It's like the SPCA but without background checks or fees. You go to the park, pick out the puppy you want and walk away- it's that simple!

I also talked to the full-time intern there named Lance. He gave me the 411 on what happens on a daily basis there. It was pretty much what I expected: writing blogs, calling clients, interacting with clients on Facebook and Twitter to share their info and get them a bigger audience, etc. It seems like it's a lot of social media stuff.

They were super impressed when I said I have three different blogs!

They also do Pinterest. I LOVE PINTEREST!

So all in all the interview went really well. Lance said their other intern is leaving soon so they are going to want to hire soon. Probably I'll hear within the week.

I was so impressed with myself cause I got home with nothing but the bus number. I needed to search for the bus stop. Since most of the streets are one way it took a while cause I had to cross over a few blocks.

The bus didn't go home on the same road that it came (because everything is one way) so I had to figure out where the heck I was and once I got off the bus, figure out which way to walk I wasn't familiar with the road we drove on. But I got home on my first try!!

For dinner, we had guiso de lentejas which is basically cooked lentils with chunks of churrizo-- que rico!

So now I'm trying to Skype my mom. The fam is currently down the shore so they're running all over Stone Harbor trying to find wifi since our house doesn't have it. They're at a McDonald's now because they needed a password for the wifi outside of the library so let's hope this works!

I wanna get to bed somewhat early tonight cause I have Spanish at 9am then my second interview in Palermo for New Wave at 4! So excited! I like this "trying to get an internship" life.

Chau!