Helping out at the Saltire Foundation information session at Strathclyde couple of weeks ago provided the opportunity to reflect on my experiences before, during and after the internship in Boston, which seems like an age ago now.

I can remember sitting at the equivalent meeting a year ago hearing about the SF and the opportunities and it was difficult not to be blown away. It ticked all the boxes and more for me; a challenging internship with a leading global firm, relevant to my area of interest, paid, abroad...

Selling the benefits of the internships was the easiest task in the world. I can only hope that Chris, Claire and I were able to get across just how amazing the opportunities were, though from talking to a couple of those in attendance they certainly seem as excited as I was a year ago.

As part of our presentation we each took the time to talk about our own experiences, and to be honest it was difficult to condense everything in a couple of minutes. I am still reaping the benefits from my internship. Working in a high-paced environment gets you used to heavy workloads, prioritising and working to tight deadlines, so whilst a few of my mates at uni are suffering mini-breakdowns over dissertations, class assignments, presentations, general essays and the job search, I’m feeling relatively relaxed. Even seemingly small things like working in a professional environment and interacting with people has made an impact. It may sound daft on the face of it but being able to talk to people can be a major strength and one which is in general undervalued. Between job interviews and dissertation research I’ve spoken to a host of partners, managers and directors, and feel that I was comfortable in presenting myself because of my experiences at Liberty Mutual. It looks like the benefits will be extending into my classwork too. For one subject I’m analysing the Scottish Government’s objective to encourage research and innovation, creating a better educated, more skilled and more successful nation. I’d imagine my experience will put me in a decent position to comment. 

Looking back over what we did outside of work had me amazed at how we managed to fit it all in. I was looking for material to try get those at the information session a bit jealous, and to be fair I didn’t have to search for long. Sifting through the pictures, from sitting in the shadow of the famous Green Monster at Fenway to enjoying the executive box treatment at the Gillette Stadium, the New York visit to the Cape Cod roadtrip, it was difficult to pick out just a couple to put up on my slide. I have to say my summer this year is bound to be pretty boring in comparison, though I’d have to do something pretty special to top last year!

I’ll be keeping an eye out when the details for this year are released on Friday. I’m sure it’ll be the start of an exciting few months for everyone involved, but I’ll do well not to feel overwhelmingly jealous for those who get the chance this year!