degraaja's blog

Now, two months into my internship may seem late in the game to announce this, but: I'm in print!

I was really proud of myself today. I conducted four phone interviews in a loud and confident voice. And only two of them were saved for when by boss left her cubicle for a coffee break. I knew that on the other side of my cubicle Pete Daily with the Grand Rapids Business Journal (who I've never actually met...or seen) could not help but listen to me, just as I routinely absentmindedly eavesdrop on his phone interviews and hear every click of his typewriter (yes, typewriter!)

As predicted, this week was rather uneventful. The office was quiet, I was an independent lady and I checked some more things off my list of assignments. Productive, but nothing too exciting.

One thing I'm still really uncomfortable with: doing phone interviews with my boss sitting on the other side of the paper thin cubicle panel. Not that she doesn't have anything better to do than eavesdrop on my conversations, but the office is silent as a tomb and its hard to not hear my voice reverberating down the hall.

Today and the rest of next week will be pretty quiet (quieter, I suppose--if that's possible.) Both of my supervisors will be gone for the week, making me an independent intern until further notice (also, nothing new, really.) Before they left, they gave me some final assignments to keep me busy. But, due to two of the stories flopping, I might for a change, find myself with very little to do. This could be a good thing or a really bad thing.

This week, for the first time since I’ve been at Gemini, I’ve felt overwhelmed by my internship duties. Assignments have started to pile up, but the deadlines haven’t slowed down. Although each of my article assignments are typically only 300-500 words, I hate the feeling of getting heaps of new work when I haven’t finished previous assignments, even if they aren’t due until the August issue.

The past week at my internship has gone by much the same as the first—which is a good thing. I’m still really loving my job there and enjoying the people I work with; so far the “new job shine” hasn’t faded, and I’m crossing my fingers it won’t.

This summer I am working at Gemini Publications. This is a niche regional publishing company located in downtown Grand Rapids. They publish a variety of materials including Grand Rapids Family Magazine, Grand Rapids Business Journal, Grand Rapids Magazine and Michigan Golf Magazine to name a few.

I will be working at Gemini ten hours a week, which works out to two five hour days throughout July. I am one of six edit interns currently employed at Gemini. On the shifts that I work, I am the only intern in the office and have my own cubicle to work in.