To say that my flight to Houston was entertaining would be a gross understatement. Arriving at my seat midway down the aisle I shuddered at the size of the American couple that I would be crushed beside for the following 9 hours.  However, I couldn’t have been more surprised at how much fun I had with them!

Larry and Ladona were missionaries from the Church of Christ and spent the flight telling me stories about the rehab clinic that they run out of their own home in Nashville, Tennessee whilst I attempted to combat their misperceptions about Scotland.  Scottish people sometimes tend to take an adverse pride in the more negative stereotypes relating to our country (i.e. our supposed love of alcohol),  but being the keen Saltire intern that I am, I attempted to explain the workings of the Saltire Foundation and the Global Scot community to them and what I would be doing in Texas.  It became increasingly exciting to me  as I spoke to them, that I am part of a program that might just be able to shape a host of individuals who are not only capable of enhancing the business capabilities of our country, but that a consequence of this could be altering our unflattering national image.

Upon arriving at our apartments in Houston we were met by Maribel Socorro, the head of HR here at the Wood Group. Maribel had recruited her husband Eric to help her out with driving the 5 of us to get some food to tide us over and to drive us to lunch in Midtown the following morning. Maribel’s readiness to give up her weekend with her family to ferry us through the outrageous Houston traffic is testament to the friendliness of both the Texan people but more specifically the employees of Wood Group.

Everyone I have met so far at the office has been both welcoming and enthusiastic. I am working in the Corporate Communications section for the following 2 weeks before moving to Business Development, and the team here are brilliant. As a 20 year old undergraduate, with no previous experience of working in a business environment, I like to think that I have an impressionable mind when it comes to business, and I am greatly looking forward to soaking up all the information and tips that the intelligent and dedicated people I have been working with so far have to offer.