A cure for the lonely intern blues

It’s tough interning in a city where you know no one, since even the most exciting places can be lonely without a friend or two.

Back in the states I lived with fantastic roommates, had great friendships working on the school newspaper, and an even closer social circle outside of work. There was never a Friday or Saturday night where I didn’t have someone to go dancing into the night with, or just to stay in and watch a good movie. When I first arrived in London, I found myself in a city where I knew not a soul. As you might guess, my best friends were my lap-top, my iPod and a tall stack of magazines.

Though I read my magazine stash more than once (probably three or four times), watched the entire series of "The Office," and scheduled the outfits I would wear to work for the upcoming three months, I eventually did find ways to meet people. So if you’re out there, lonely intern, don’t worry. There was hope for me, there’s hope for you.

1. Friends where you live—The first “mates” I made were at a student hostel I stayed in for the first week. Four strangers shared a room, all from different countries, all new to London and we all really got along. When we moved out we exchanged numbers, and though we moved to different parts of the city, still called each other up for drinks after work, or to catch Sex and the City on opening weekend.
2. Social networking sites—Use good judgment and caution and the internet can be a great asset to meet people. I joined a London Interns Facebook group, and met several people just from them messaging me. It was comforting to know so many other people were in the same boat. The group is also organizing an event later this month for everyone to get together and chat over food and drink. Hurray for more friends!
3. Hello, your internship!—If there are other interns at your magazine, even in other departments, ask if they want to get lunch sometime. You can fill one another in on the how the other department works over a budget meal. One of our fashion interns keeps me informed on what I should be wearing. He’s also French so sometimes we translate press releases for one another.
4. Get out on the town—Then again, the easiest (and hardest) way to make new friends is to put your self out there. If there’s a high-volume weekend event, go alone and start talking to people. You may be at the bottom of the magazine food-chain, but you made it, which means you’re awesome. That friendship calendar is bound to be booked for the following weekend.

If you’ve ventured somewhere new on your internship this summer, leave a comment and tell us how you managed to make new pals. If you’re still looking, hope this helps!
Then again, you can’t feel too lonely; you have the four of us!


--Ed's Intern #4