Internship Update

My blog might make it look like my study abroad experience is all fun and games (okay, it's mostly fun and games), but don't forget that I'm also interning 9am to 5pm four days a week! Some of the more mundane tasks make the work days feel long, but overall I still thoroughly enjoy my internship.

Monday to Wednesday, I work in the Royal College of Art (RCA) Media Relations and Marketing Department:

My desk Monday-Wednesday

Media Relations and Marketing Office

On Fridays, I sit here in the Development Office. I have such a wonderful (and distracting) view of Hyde Park!

Luckily, the warmer weather has allowed me to enjoy the park on some of my lunch breaks.

Lunch breaks in Hyde Park

Those outdoor lunch breaks are even better when you have a friend to join you! Remember my friend Marissa studying in Paris? She was in London for a day on her way to visit Scotland, so we met up during my break and had a Hyde Park picnic.

Hyde Park picnic with Marissa

My daily tasks include organizing press cuttings, hounding students for their questionnaire answers, fielding calls from reporters, photocopying events listings, updating contact sheets, sorting through returned mail, etc. However, I've certainly had some pretty cool special events to tend to as well.

RCA students in the Design Products department are gearing up for the annual exhibition in Milan. Wallpaper Magazine is doing an article about it, and professional photographers came to the college for some images. My assistance simply included getting teas, fetching students, and helping organize the room, but it was really fun to help out at a professional photoshoot.

I work at the Kensington campus, but the RCA also has another campus in Battersea. A new building is in the process of being created, so my supervisor (Sue) and I took a quick bus ride over one day to check it out. The current Battersea campus building is very nice as well; she showed me around the studios there. Fun fact: designer Vivienne Westwood's office is located right next to the campus building! It was a cute, lavender colored building :)

Battersea campus construction

Other events I attended include a lecture by a former editor of Frieze Magazine, a meeting about the London Design Festival, and the RCA Corporate Sponsor's meeting (well, I actually only had time to help set up for it). However, the most exciting event so far has been attending PR Newswire's Meet the Media event this past Thursday night. Sue invited me to come to this annual event, and I couldn't say no to the opportunity to 1) hear the editor of the Evening Standard newspaper talk and 2) visit the event's venue: the newly renovated London St. Pancras Hotel! This snazzy building is not even open to the general public yet. Sue insisted on snapping a pic of me sipping wine in a fancy hotel with my personalized name tag...not too shabby eh?

Meet the Media event

Interior of the London St Pancras Hotel

The talk itself was really interesting. The editor discussed the decision to make the Evening Standard a free newspaper, noting that over 60 copies a second are picked up between the hours of 4pm and 6pm! I believe it; Brits are always reading the newspaper on the Tube.

I only have eight days left of my internship. Time flies! Now if only I could fly through this 2,500-word essay I have to write about my work experience...