Hello, it’s been ages since I last blogged! How was your summer?

This summer I was lucky enough to get an internship at a publishing company called Pearson and I cannot be more grateful for the experience!

For roughly 8 weeks, I worked closely with the English Literacy team (Both Primary and Secondary). I was given projects that were both exciting and challenging! One of the projects I worked on was to fix the layout for a new secondary book, they wanted me to add some structure to the text, put coloured text boxes where appropriate and find a few pictures for each page..which sounded quite an easy task, right?  But it took me more than a week to finish it.  There were so many little things that we normally would not think about, such as the source of the photos, the type of fonts and the spacing.  I did a fair share of writing in Secondary School (I am sure most of us did), but none of them required such an eye for details.

Thankfully, the company provided more than enough support for me. My supervisor would have a chat with me twice a week, making sure I was alright and offerring help whenever needed.  On top of that, everyone else in the team was incrediably accomodating and patient with me.  I remember I was learning how to use a software that edits audios but I just could not master it.  It was quite an urgent project as well and at the end, everyone in the team had to split my workload in order to finish it. I felt so bad but then they told me I was there to learn and make mistakes, no one blamed me! (I did actually managed to use the software at the end!!)

Going into this internship, I had no idea what to expect. I have heard so many different things from different people, some of them had horrible supervisors and some of them just did not enjoy their working environment.  But I honestly have no compliants about my internship.  They had recently moved to a new office so my working environment was extremely pleasant, they have a spacious pantry with a constant supply of biscuits and sweets.  Everyone had a chair that supports the back and a big table with a few drawers.  They even had posters around the office that reminds their staff to sit properly, to take regular breaks and to look away from the computer every 30 minutes.   These all seems to be unrelated to the job itself but I think knowing that the company cares about your health and wellbeing as well as your work keeps the staff highly motivated and committed to the company!

I was a bit hesitant to get an intership at first because after a long academic year, a big part of me just wants to relax and hang out with friends back home.  But this was an experience of a lifetime and I would not trade it for anything. Plus, I did see all of my friends and spend a lot of time with my family and close relatives. So if you ask me, it all worked out pretty well!!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!!