Hey everybody!  Well 1 week down 7 to go.  Not that I’m wishing them away just the first week has flown by so quick and I hope the rest don’t do the same.  Florida is an amazing place.  The heat is phenomenal and it’s very strange to walk out of the cool air conditioned apartment and office into the boiling hot air of Florida.  Even at night there is no relief but we have also had a few wee rain storms with thunder and lightning and steam comes off the roads which is fascinating. 

I know everyone is probably doing this and its getting a bit cheesy but I really do thank the Saltire Foundation and Jabil so much for giving me this opportunity as it definitely is a once in a lifetime opportunity!!

The six of us started at Jabil on Monday morning after a 15-20 min drive across the water to the office.  I had expected to be slightly more concerned about this as I don’t mix well with bridges.  However it’s such a beautiful sight that it almost takes your breath away and I totally forgot about my fear.  Also the road is almost on sea level so we weren’t actually that high up which I think helped.  After a brief orientation slide show we were taken to get our security badges as access to the aerospace and defence building is restricted for obvious reasons.  While we there we were kindly informed of the alligator in the pond just outside the building and the rattle snake that likes to hang about on the footpath.  At first I thought this maybe something they just told the interns for a laugh almost like an initiation type thing but no its definitely true!  However we have been informed as long as we keep eyes open and don’t feed the alligator we will be fine.   Phew!!

We then went for lunch with various VPs of the departments we will be working in and Forbes Alexander the GlobalScot representative that has made this internship possible.  He gave us a more in depth insight into what the company does and we then dispersed to our various departments.  I am working in the Internal Audit department with Valeria who is very nice and helpful and has introduced me to the team I will be working closely with for the next 8 weeks.  Again everyone is very nice and one thing I can say is everyone here seems so happy with life but then the quality of life here does appear to be something else.  At the local supermarket they thank you for having lunch with them!!  Don’t think I’ve ever had that at home.

I found out I will be helping the audit team on various audits such as compliance, corporate and IT.  I can’t wait to get stuck into these as my knowledge of auditing so far is textbook theory and putting this into practice will be great experience.  The rest of the week was taken up with meetings with the individual audit type managers who explained what they do and how they got to where they are which was extremely interesting.  I also had to read the manual as to how to work the Internal Audit system they use on the computer and hope I now have a basic grip of this although you never really know till you start using these things.   I have also been given my own little project to set up reports for the managers and include everything they require and currently I have no idea where to start but I’m sure I’ll get there.  Och well that’s enough chat from me for now.  I have probably written far too much but have no idea what is too much or too little.   

Take care Kirst x x x