So sincerest apologies about the lack of posting. With my roommate leaving this past week, I didn't realize we had a utilities bill due, oh, June 15th. So last week, without any warning (since I'm an idiot and don't check my mail), they shut off my internet. I'm a little scared to attempt blogging at work. I don't want to seem like I'm "bored".

So now I sit at my friends apartment using his internet to reflect upon my past week.

I feel like I'm a VERY eager intern. I love to do the "menial" tasks that come with an internship. I really do. I'm assigned a mentor, or boss, that is supposed to give me both, if not all, of my tasks. Well ... I think because I'm the only intern in my area I feel that I'm not only assigned to my mentor but also the other 15 people within my bosses domain. It gets so very demanding with a thousand job requests coming my way. It is severely stressful but I came to realize that it TRULY is making me a much "stronger" intern.

I think for we interns, it's very important to respect every task we receive. I'll be the first to admit that fetching Starbucks for your boss without a little extra cash for yourself is not fun. Neither is a hand full of papercuts because you've trimmed over 300 invites for a BIG party... which you're definitely not invited to. Nor is realizing you've been working on a project that just got cut from the magazine. But you know what? All of those things make us a better and more well-rounded intern, which means a greater chance of getting hired later on. Even if you spend 30 hours "wasted" on a project that never makes it to press, if you do it with a smile it will get you so much farther. It will also make your tasks overall much easier to take.

This may seem like a fairly obvious piece of information but when you're in that situation, you can easily forget how far a frown goes. So this week, vow to do everything (no matter how small or insignificant) with a big smile. Just wait and see how much easier your week gets!

Have a good one!!

A Jersey intern's worst nightmare: the commute to NYC

Anybody who’s ever had to commute into Manhattan during rush hour can tell you—it sucks. But when you’re commuting as an unpaid intern and the money for the bus tickets and Metrocards are coming out of your own pocket, that makes the commute that much more unbearable.

Ok, maybe I’m blowing this whole thing out of proportion. One the one hand, I’m lucky that I have the luxury of living in my parents’ home—there’s nothing like eating a great home-cooked meal and curling up into your own bed after a tiring day on the job. And of course, I don’t have to worry about where I’ll get the money for my next rent check or my next meal.

But a commute like the one I do 3 times a week can really tire a girl out. First, I need to take the bus from my hometown in Jersey into Port Authority. Granted, I pop in my iPod headphones and take a cat nap in the Lincoln Tunnel, but the almost-one-hour ride is anything but relaxing. Next, I hop on the blue subway line, which is, to my luck, always filled to capacity with sweaty old men, whining toddlers, and uptight business women. I then get out at a stop that’s a few blocks away from my office and walk 5 blocks and an avenue to my building. Total time of morning commute=almost 2 hours.

Don’t get me wrong. I feel for all you interns who are dorming in the city and struggling to make ends meet. I’m sure eating Ramen noodles for dinner and skimping out on Starbucks(or, um, after-work cocktails) a few times a week to save an extra penny is no fun feat. But I’d literally kill for the extra hour of sleep you get and that extra ten bucks you save for not having to pay for bus tickets. Really, I'm so jealous.

But, fellow edsters, I really can’t complain. I’m lucky enough to be interning at a large NYC publishing house, at a magazine that I love. And I’m actually really thankful that I live in the New York area, so my dream job is literally just a quick bus and subway ride away. So yeah, it's always fun to complain(and vent) once in a while but, come to think of it, the pros of my NYC internship are definitely outweighing the cons.

Anyway, I’ve gotta go eat dinner. Tonight, my mom's making lasagna.

--Ed’s Intern #1

College friendships and serious connections

I’m happy to say that last week’s task of booking interviews with an amazing list of bands/artists ended well. I was able to get eight (out of 10) scheduled, within only five days! It was a satisfying end to several late evenings spent tracking down music publicists.

But I will confess, I couldn’t have done it all on my own. I must duly thank the fantastic concept of college social networking for the week’s success.

I’ve said several times before that I worked as an editor at my college newspaper. Well, the music editor for the paper graduated in the spring and landed a job at a large record label in New York. As you might have guessed, there were artists I had to contact who were signed to the label she works for.

I told her about my task during a lunch break Facebook chat, and asked if she knew the best ways to contact them. She helped me track down some of those hard-to-reach A-list names, and talked up the magazine to the label’s Director of Publicity, so they would agree to the feature!

Only months ago, we were interviewing student bands for the college paper and going to keg parties. Now, here we are, making things happen in the real media world.

So remember Edsters, it’s never too early to start networking.
Those carefree college friends might get you a pat-on-the-back from an impressed editor someday.

--Ed's Intern #4

Who needs Ben & Jerry's when you have a fab internship?

What’s an unpaid intern to do when she’s suffering from boy problems and too poor to embark on the necessary shopping spree that would inevitably cure her sorrows?

Why, she focuses even more intently on her internship, of course!

Lately I’ve been having my fair share of problems with the menfolk, which causes me plenty of angst. But luckily I’ve been able to channel the energy I’d normally spend on obsessively finishing pint after pint of Ben and Jerry’s into being the best intern I can be. Besides, my internship’s expiration date is quickly approaching (less than a month and a half to go) and I need to focus solely on that, not boys.

So lately I’ve been trying extra hard to do well in every aspect of my internship, including small details such as punctuality. I’m a punctual person by nature, typically five minutes early for everything. However, the horrific and unpredictable Atlanta traffic hasn’t allowed me to be that prompt as of late. Every morning I wake up thinking that today, just maybe, I won’t end up stuck in traffic, only to be gravely disappointed as I sit at a standstill on the highway. But with all the effort I’m not spending on boys, I’ve been able to spend time mapquesting different routes and looking at backstreets. Next week I'll hopefully be punctual once again.

I've also applied my boyless energy in other ways. This week I put a sufficient amount of time and effort into creating an organized filing system for press releases. Now when my editor needs a certain press release, it'll take her two seconds (not literally) to find it, rather than having to spend an inordinate amount of time sifting through piles upon piles of them. In addition, I've compiled a contact list of area retailers, read all the recent copies of our rival publications and helped copy-edit several features for our August issue, which literally just got sent to the printer.

Focusing solely on my internship, particularly on the most minute of details, really is the best thing for me at the moment. Why worry about anything else when I have such an amazing thing going on?

My apologies, Ben and Jerry. I really have no need for you right now.

—Ed’s Intern #3

Positive feedback=1 happy intern

I’ll let you in on a little secret—I’m celebrity obsessed. I’d rather read about Brangelina’s twins than Barack Obama winning the Democratic(or is it Republican?) nomination. Sad, but true.

So you can imagine my delight when my editor at the website I’m interning for gave me my dream assignment; to find pictures of 20 celebrities wearing strange or ugly outfits and write catchy, witty blurbs about each. I love celebrities. I love fashion. Heck, I’m even a little witty. This assignment was my calling. I really wanted to do this right.

For the entire day, my fellow intern and I scoured the web for pictures of celebrities having those “what were they thinking? fashion moments. I’d compiled my list of 20. I’d done some background research on the celebrities I wasn’t too familiar with. I’d spent hours writing and rewriting my 3 sentence blurbs so they were catchy, funny, and to the point, as my editor had wanted.

5:00 rolls around and I’m putting the final touches on my piece. I was a little iffy about some of my headlines (did I really just write Geri Halliwell: Shlumpy Spice as a headline? Yikes), and I wasn’t positive that my blurbs were quite as clever as I’d wanted them to be. But, what the heck. I emailed the Word doc in an attachment to my editor and waited for her response. This was the moment of truth.

By a quarter to six, my editor had read the piece and responded with her comments. “This is amazing!”, the email opened with. “I’m so impressed you did this so fast and I think you’re a fab writer. Will do a few minor edits and we’ll build it onto the site next week.”

I breathed a sign of relief. While this wasn’t my first writing assignment I’ve had at my internship, it was the one that I was the most passionate about. And to get back some amazing feedback from a nitpicky editor was, of course, extremely gratifying.

See ya next week! In the meantime, I’d love to hear your stories about the great jobs you’re doing at your own internships.
--Ed's Intern #1

Viva la vida

There have been some late evenings in the office this week. I'm sitting here waiting for NY time to roll around (I have about an hour before the work day starts) and following that there are calls to make in LA (which means four hours).

The mag I'm working for has a strong base in the fashion, film, and contemporary art industries, but next month they'll be introducing music. So in preparation, my editor has given me a list of bands/artists that we will feature, and has asked me to schedule interviews and photo shoots for the next few weeks. And, let's just say, there are some BIG names on this list. Like, been-to-Madison Square Garden, back again, and again BIG.

I was shocked and flattered to be trusted with such an important task, but I knew it wouldn't be an easy one.

I started Monday. I did a quick Google search to find out each band's label, and proceeded to contact the press office for each. The press offices either transferred me to a management agency or publicist, or said they would contact them and get back to me the second they could confirm. So most of my week has been spent waiting, patiently.

And calling.
And calling back.
And calling back, again.

In the meantime, in addition to my obsessive perusing of Gawker and The New York Times, I've had time to process the reality of how I'm spending my summer.

On the messy desk next to me there's a pile of print-outs from a celebrity photo shoot, a marked-up copy of a feature on Christian Lacroix, and a black phone book filled with contacts of the biggest designers, actors, and artists working today. Whoa... I'm actually at my dream internship!

And outside, there's a bright, sunny London.
(Seriously, it hasn't rained since Saturday!)

Although I'm broke and thousands of miles away from my friends, this internship is probably the best decision I've made in my life. Even if I am just that annoying girl who's been pestering the music industry all week.

--Ed's Intern #4

Parents, unpaid internships and money troubles, oh my!

Last night I received the most dreaded of phone calls. I remember the moment well. I was sitting in my room, watching BBC’s “Extras” and having a laugh, just living the lazy life, when all of the sudden, out of the blue, my beloved cell phone rang.

It was my mother. Ready to give me a lecture about money. Or rather, my lack of money.

You see, my parents, I suppose, are not the kind of people who are very familiar with the concept of unpaid internships. When I told them the fantastic news—that I had accepted an internship in Atlanta—they were so happy for me! Within the HOUR I received e-mails from grandmothers, aunts and family friends. It was one of those noteworthy moments that surely would have been included in the family newsletter… if we were the Cleavers.

My mother was thrilled because, not only was her daughter going to be doing something that would give her bragging rights, but I would finally have a paying job! Or so she thought.

I spent much of the past school year working as an editor for my school paper. The experience was great, but the pay was little and I had to depend on my parents financially. This, of course, never thrilled them. They always thought that children (or, in my case, 21-year-olds) need to work for their money.

They certainly weren’t thrilled when they found out my internship was unpaid. Nor were they thrilled when, for some reason, I just couldn’t find a part-time job. Nor were they thrilled when they received a well-worded and butt-kissing e-mail from me yesterday, in which I asked for more money.

But today I got another phone call. Finally, somebody gave me a job!

Don’t be too excited for me, though, Edsters. It’s only a short-term gig as a promoter for a new movie. I’ll be shamelessly passing out flyers and giving away free movie posters, beach balls and other trinkets. It’s certainly not the most glamorous or dignified job, but hey, it’s a job all the same, and I’m really glad to have it. Sometimes I think of how unfair it is that my parents have to sit there and pay for me to live in a big city following my dream, when I could easily be at home working and making money. Now, I’ll be able to contribute, even if it’s just a small amount.

So, here you go, Ma and Pa! With each flyer I hand out, I’ll be giving away a piece of my dignity… for you.

--Ed’s Intern #3