INTERN DIARY: Close encounters of the nerd kind
If there was a world record for sleeping, I must have broken it over the course of the weekend. It was practically all I did and I'd definitely need if I was to finish the extra work I failed to complete last week (and what was no doubt coming again over the next five days).
Deciding to be as efficient as possible, I prioritised my remaining list of tasks, and suddenly realised that I had not even made a start on my project for the MD. This was a mammoth task. So I sat there for an hour simply trying to understand the title, but realised I wasn't getting anywhere, and even my buddy had to idea what I could write.
Being the resourceful intern I am, I called up the research up team and arranged an immediate meeting.
On meeting the research analyst (for some bizarre reason), I could not help drawing comparisons in my head to the 'computer nerd' from the Mariah Carey Touch My Body video which caused me to snigger occasionally, much to his confusion.
This often distracted me from what he was saying, but in general the research guys are like walking encyclopaedias. By the end of our session, my notebook was brimming with facts and figures, including the most obscure facts I could have ever imagined.
When trying to come up with a new product, one of the most important things, especially post financial crisis, is risk. With this knowledge, I decided to have a sit down with the risk guy who looked after our desk.
This was possibly the longest meeting of my internship. By the end of this four-hour meeting, the end of my thighs were physically scarred from all the pinching I'd inflicted on them simply to stay awake in the dimly lit meeting room. The first hour was relatively interesting and relevant to my project. The subsequent THREE HOURS were not. I am tempted to list this is on my CV under achievements for managing to stay awake!
Later in the week, I was in need of another meeting with the research and risk guys as I had further questions, but was extremely weary from my last encounters with both. I settled to emailing them; when they tried meeting up I came up with numerous excuses which meant I wouldn't be free until the next year, so thankfully they just sent me detailed email responses.
By the end of my week, all four pieces of work were completed and ready to go. I took a risk and decided to send my work to every single member of my desk, making up a different excuse to each for sending it to them to show how much I had done.
I sat nervously by my computer waiting for any kind of feedback, but I received none, and by 6pm and I had not received anything from the team. So I gave up hope and just packed my things up and went home, (secretly patting myself on the back for my week's achievements).
