Penguin Intern!

Today marked the beginning of my internship at Berkley imprint. It was a fantastic day overall. We started with a breakfast orientation during which we interns learned about the publishing company's policies, expectations, and history. We also got to meet our Core Groups, groups of interns that meet once or twice a week to discuss their individual internship experience, to bond, and to reflect on the role of intern. We then were excused to meet our supervisors. I met Emily around 11:30. She showed me to my desk, discussed a bit about my internship experience, introduced me to her boss (and partially mine), Lesley, president of Berkley imprint, and then left me to surf around on the company's website. I did that for a good while before excusing myself for an hour lunch.

I headed for a Starbucks across the street. (Turkey sandwich and Chai tea lattes make exceptional lunches for the first day of any work experience, in my opinion.) And after spending about 10 minutes there by myself, one of the other interns arrived. She and I had sat at the same table during orientation, and so I invited her to sit down with me. She did, and the two of us talked about our experiences so far. She works in the same building as me though on a different floor and for a different division of Penguin. It was nice to have company for lunch. She also told me she could help me figure out the subway system if I wanted (she's a native of New York). We've agreed to meet up some time and navigate the city together.

After lunch I went back to work and waited until Emily had time to show me around the building. We did the abbreviated tour, going around to the floors around us very quickly as I had to be somewhere at 3. When I returned from my 3 o'clock appointment, I anxiously asked Emily for some work to do. She sent me several manuscripts and told me to read.

Reading will be the basis of my internship experience. I'll be responsible for reading work, writing summaries of the work, discussing my summaries with Emily, and writing authors about their pieces. Also a part of the job description entails attending meetings with both Emily and Lesley. I am very excited for all of this, for this opportunity, and just working at Penguin! I never thought I would get this chance, and now that I'm here, I love it.