The Years Ahead

On completion of my 5-week internship with the public relations company 'The Big Partnership', I feel I am left with more questions than answers as to what to do when college is finally over. My mum and dad have always told me, "You have to find a job you enjoy son." The trademark shrug of the shoulders and, "Aye, whatever," response from me let them know I wasn't interested. Now I feel as though listening might have been a better idea.

It has been a long 5-weeks in comparison to a 5-week stretch of college life. Waking up at 7:30 a.m. followed by sitting at a desk twiddling my thumbs for 8 straight hours (not counting the blissful hour long lunch break I was allowed) wasn't exactly my idea of fun. Sure enough, I learned a lot about the world of public relations, what it takes to run such a company and how the private sector movers and shakers operate on a daily basis. But as far helping me with any pressing questions on my future, I would say this was a failure almost as grand as the USA women’s soccer team last week.

The concept of an internship is a fairly straightforward and reasonable idea, to provide a student some much needed experience of the working world, and in a field which they claim to be interested. I started at USAO solely intent on pursuing a future in journalism. I have since altered my mission slightly, learning more about other fields through our wide variety of classes in the communication curriculum. Public relations became something I was intrigued by, how hard can it be to design a few posters and hang out at party’s right? If only PR worked like that, the day to day grind is exactly that, a grind. The staff at 'The Big Partnership' worked hours of 10 and over on a regular basis and seemed so absorbed by their work that Motorhead could have played a live set in the middle of the office and the company wouldn't have missed a beat. Granted, their heavy workload, combined with the fact that summer is the busiest time of the year for public relations activity didn't add to my personal intern experience. The staff was in effect, too busy to make work for me. This led to a lot of Facebook and Twitter surfing on my part, followed by some inexplicable clock staring and daydreaming. So with all this in mind, you would think I have been put off the idea of a career in PR. Au contraire, in truth I just don't know. The one thing I know that I know which I always thought I knew is that I love college.

One thing you won't hear me complaining about anytime soon is a class assignment, or an upcoming exam. No matter how hard college gets for me I will always be safe with the knowledge that I can take an afternoon nap. What is there to complain about when you can play PlayStation until 3 in the morning and not feel the backlash the next day? College is the best time of your life as long as you make it that. Don't get bogged down with the little things, work hard when it is required but above all else enjoy yourself. That's my philosophy because I know that after this, my senior year, I will have to become an adult.

So next time you feel that life is getting you down, you have too much homework and your grades are slipping, spare a thought for all the adults out there. Life is tough when you have to provide for yourself and others, it helps if you can find something you enjoy doing. That's why as soon as I graduate I'll be calling my mum and dad and asking for that conversation they tried to have with me back in my teens, I just hope they don’t shrug and tell me, "Aye whatever pal."