The Big Apple

Rosie’s take on… Living the New York intern life 
What an incredible week. 

I have officially finished my first week of my internship, and I am absolutely stoked with what I’ve achieved this week. 

My family and I do this thing whenever one of us is away, called a ‘selfie day’, where the family member will take selfies of what they’re doing throughout the day and then send it in a big email, so we can all see what they’ve been up to.

It goes without saying that I’ve taken a lot of photos over the last 7 days since I arrived in the States. So welcome to my blog version of a selfie week. But so as to not overwhelm you with selfies, I will only include the highlights. 

I already included photos from Rockefeller on my last blog post but I’m still reliving the amazing experience so here, have another. 

On Monday I started my internship! I have taken a selfie of my outfit every day this week except Monday, when I rushed out the door and forgot. I was so anxious I was going to get on the wrong subway or get lost on my first day that I left for work freakishly early, and as a result sat in the Starbucks across the road for an hour until it was time for me to be there. 

My first day was long but satisfying, I worked from 9.30am till 6pm, and when you factor in that I got there an hour early, and allow 45 minutes of travel on either side, it was a long day while still suffering from jetlag. But I was feeling positive. The people I work with are lovely and the office is amazing. Plus, I’m in New York City!

Tuesday was another long day at work, but in the evening I went out with a group of interns from my program. We went to an amazing, dingy little bar that had $2 shots and $3 beers (I am still so in awe of this place, I’m literally going to dedicate a whole separate blog post to it). We had an absolute ball, totally worth the hangover the next day at work, and running off 4 hours sleep. And I apparently drink beer now so that’s cool. 

New favourite place for their cheap food and booze

Last night I went to karaoke with the other interns and that was a real highlight of my week as well. It also, coincidentally, featured $3 beers. Australia needs to get their act together, it seems. 

Waking up for work this morning was rough, as was the hangover that lingered all morning. Totally worth it though. The subway was particularly heinous this morning, but overall I quite enjoy my commute. 

I have blisters from every single pair of shoes I’ve worn this week because I have been walking so much. I have spent a fair amount of time and money in H&M buying new clothes; some of which are my new overalls that make me feel like a little farm girl. All I need now is to wear my hair in two plaits. 

I’m also totally justifying buying clothes because “I need it for work”. At this rate I’ll be able to wear a new outfit everyday for the entire 8 weeks. 

I took the following photo this morning on the walk from the subway to work. I work in Dumbo, just across the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather was beautiful today as it has been every day; it was still 36 degrees on my way home at 6pm!

My office space is incredible, it’s on the tenth floor so it has nice views, plus it has naturally excellent lighting. I was shamelessly taking selfies at my desk today (“it’s okay, it’s for my blog”). Ignore the fact that I clearly had way too much beer and way too little sleep last night.

And yes, those are hammocks behind me. I know. Amazing. 

The subway stations can be as disgusting as always described. When we were waiting for a train at 2.30am the other night and there weren’t many people around, we saw no less than 3 carefree rats roaming the platform with no regards for secrecy or trying to hide from us. This photo was taken this afternoon, so no rats can be seen. Maybe next time. 

I want to take a moment to talk about the following quote. 

I know so many people my age slaving away at jobs they hate, but for what? I think it’s so important to create memories, experience things. Above all, I think it’s important to be happy. You could do pretty much anything, and as long as you were happy I’d respect you for it. I don’t see the point in stressing over being stable right now. That can come later. It’s true what they say, you’re only young once. You’ll never regret the opportunities you did take, only the ones you didn’t. And I can already say this trip was one of the best things I have ever done. The things that I am learning and the experiences I am having are way more valuable than what I would have achieved had I stayed at home working full time in a job I didn’t like from now until I retire. I’m all for having goals; being stable, financially and otherwise, is one of them. But I’m also for living. 

More specifics about the actual work I’m doing to come next week, as I’m working on some pretty exciting stuff! But I have worked five whole days, and can safely tell all the haters I didn’t have to get one single cup of coffee 😉