By: Kristina Hahn

As many students are wrapping up their first week or two as an intern, we have been hit by waves of new experience and emotions. For many of us, this has been our first step into the adult world, and we’ve been anxiously waiting for months to start. Like many others, I was eagerly waiting for the first day of my summer internship and spent the entire week thinking about the commute, what type of work I’d be doing, if I’d get my own desk, and every other detail imaginable. I asked several peers what to expect my first week and every single one of them had something different to say, which in the end lead me to be even more nervous and anxious.

My first day came and went, and then my first week came and went and now I’m on to my third week still feeling anxious and filled with anticipation. And that’s ok. I have learned that while I can build up the idea of an internship in my head, I don’t fully understand it until I’m completely immersed. I was terrified that my supervisor would ask me to do something and I wouldn’t know what to do and of course, that happened. And that’s ok. The whole point of having an internship is to learn and gain the experiences so when you’re ready to start a career you no longer have that fear of not knowing.

Throughout the last weeks, I’ve felt all of the fears that I’m sure most other interns are feeling: lonely in a new place, frustrated with menial tasks, tired from working a nine to five, daydreaming back to when you had free and exciting summers, anxiety that you’re messing up an assignment. And to all these feelings, it’s ok too! It is so easy to build up what a situation will be like, but we never really know until that exciting first day comes around.

While we may grumble and start each day tired and nervous, the most important part is at the end of the day we are able to move forward and say that we’ve conquered and are ready for the real world.