Workin' for the Weekend

My recent absense from blog land is likely due to the fact that I, Joanna Nettelfield, have a job. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am working on my vacation. Before I give details of my job and being a big girl in London, I first need to give a shout-out to Rob Wilson who organized my current internship as well as took Kimmy and I into his home (which he and his wife realize means full access to phones, refrigerator, and of recent times, his car... Seriously Rob, what are you thinking?) But in all seriousness, a huge thank you to the Wilsons, and a shining star to Rob for making things way too easy for me.

Now for the good stuff. I have been hired for a very brief internship at a media company in London called Universal McCann. As the name suggests, it is an international company and I am working in their London office which is located in Farringdon. I started at UM last Thursday and will be with them until the second week of November. As an intern, I have been given many fun and exciting intern jobs like checking Excel spreadsheets, editing PowerPoint presentations, and silently sitting in on meetings in which I have no clue what is going on. But to be honest, I am really enjoying my time here. The people I work with are incredibly welcoming, sweet, and helpful. UM has many prestigious clients such as Microsoft, Xbox, and Brown Forman, which owns labels for Jack Daniel’s and Southern Comfort . I have been placed on the Xbox team but have somhow only done work for Microsoft and Brown Forman (lucky for me, computers and I get along very well, and SoCo and I have had a long running love affair... Add video games to the mix and I might never go back to the states!).

I have never worked with a media company before, and I have learned so much about this field since I have been at UM. Advertising has always been a job avenue that I have kept in the back of my mind, but never actually pursued anything in the field. I am finding it all incredibly fascinating but not terribly exciting. After a number of internships and jobs, I am learning more about my professional self, and what I am learning is that I don’t think I am cut out for a desk job. I get very bored and lonely sitting at a desk staring at a computer all day. I find myself staring at the clock all day wishing it’s end to suddenly arive so I can leave my worst enemy, the PC, behind. I have come to realize that I need different environments, different people, different schedules day after day. I like to be excited and challenged, and even stressed out. I like instant gratification with my work. I like to work towards an immediate deadline, achieve it, and then feel like I accomplished my goal with a tangiable outcome. The good thing about internships is that I can do as many as I want until I figure out exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life (Don’t worry Jamestown, I’m still coming back to you, but I have a feeling that being the “JD Girl” is a job inteded for girls in Never Never Land and sadly, I will grow up, and the last thing you want is a 35 year old pretending shes 22 saying “Jamestown Distributors, DOT, com *wink*).

So, I have caught you up on my job and such. Plans for this weekend are quickly getting hectic. Friday is Halloween, an American tradition of absurd costumes which Kimmy and I plan on bringing to the conservitive Brits (England never really stood a chance with the two of us). Saturday morning I am catching a train to my grandmother’s house in the country to see my Dad’s brother, sister and a few of my cousins. Saturday night JOSH is coming home! Josh is the son of the Wilsons and has been one of my best friends since before either of us can remember meeting. Lots of plans are coming up and we have a lot to fit in because we only have about a week and a half left in London before we take off with our backpacks to reap havoc all over Europe!