When I first started, I found it a little difficult to do anything after work, as I was quite tired out each day from learning new things. However, as I became familiar with my tasks and there were fewer surprises or new things each day, I had more energy in the evenings. I started yoga over the summer (partially inspired by one of my colleagues, who bought a new yoga mat in one of the early weeks!), which I would do either straight after work, or in the mornings if I got up early enough. I also tried to make sure I got outside at least once a day, either to do a walk in the afternoon, or to sit in the garden while I had my lunch. I had a bit of coursework that I worked on throughout, although it was a different sort of reading, so it was largely relaxing. Lasting Impressions I really enjoyed the internship, and even though it was mostly all in one place, didn't find it monotonous at all! Part of this owed to the very weird and hectic circumstances into which AAD Comms had been thrust, early in the lockdown, which meant that sometimes we had an incredible number of updates to put through very quickly. However, I think this helped to bind the team together, as well - it certainly felt to me that we were acting as a force, or one unit, and that the communications we were sending were really very necessary and appreciated by students and staff. I think that while working in a crisis situation is obviously not sustainable and not quite reflective of what this job is normally, it really gave me an insight into how a team of people can focus, delegate, and work together to achieve a lot in a short space of time. The experience, while confirming that there are some areas which I might not like to work on, also opened doors for me career-wise: I really enjoyed writing and editing audio, as I had never done that before. It's given me a chance and incentive to investigate that as a potential graduate career path, and I was fortunate enough to not have to know much at all or have any experience beforehand. What I loved most about working in communications in general was its sociability, immediacy, and creativity - these are things that, regardless of specific content, I'll be looking for in future work.
67
