Hola!
SO, I have just begun my fourth week working at Jabil, and I fear time is slipping away ever so fast! The whole thing's been a blast so far, busy but loving it!
This week has been a great one for really plunging into the depths of my current project (testing and implementing a new financial reporting tool), and with the roll-out of the program beginning this week, it was vital that I got through a great deal. There is a promising light at the surface now as I approach the final testing. Part two of this project is to look at how this program works from a new user's perspective. Where the testing, understanding and co-operating with programmers has demanded my mathematical thinking, this is the part where I use my psychology to assist in breaking new users in smoothly, forming a cheat sheet using my last three weeks' experience to convey the ins and outs of the program; what each individual report does and which one is best to use for the information they'd like to acquire. For example, if an analyst was to come looking for how our American and European plants have compared over the last five years in terms of material cost, this cheat sheet would act as a compass to point them in the right direction. It is challenging to attempt to think about all the angles from which people will approach this program, and so my big task this week is to consider and appreciate these different angles, implementing them as I go along. My colleagues around me have been extremely patient in explaining the jargon surrounding finance, and how forecast and actual data is processed. It is really touching when a twenty-year finance experienced colleague takes ten or fifteen minutes just to sit down with you and explain one of the concepts fully, and this is what has helped me learn most.
Anyway, this most recent weekend has been packed again full of some of the great things Florida has to offer: a visit to Clearwater beach, a rare history lesson at Ybor City, Tampa's historic neighbourhood, Florida's aquarium featuring everything from otters to alligators, and a brilliant night out on Harbour Island! Let's start there.
Stacey and I were invited out by Patrick & Jennifer to Jackson's bar on Friday night, a beautiful little bar with a deck looking out on the waterfront. We were joined there by many of their friends, most of whom knew the six interns working for Jabil last year. It was a superb night, and it was relaxing knowing we weren't gonna be left to navigate our own way home in the dark, with Patrick being the designated driver for the night, who remained calm and composed enough to get us and others home, despite a car of seven excited party-goers! The following day Stacey and I headed out to Clearwater beach, where I managed to successfully burn myself on both shoulders purely by managing to miss those spots with the old factor 30. Was so annoyed, after the previous three weeks of preventing my pasty scottish skin burning. The following day we ventured out to the absolutely fascinating historic neighbourhood of Ybor City, a hispanic area which is home to many a classic American saloon bar, while boasting it's claim to fame as the Cigar Capital of the World. The area was actually established in the late 1800s by Vicente Martinez Ybor; a budding cigar manufacturer who had been forced to move his business abroad while political struggles took place in his home country of Spain. It is like stepping onto a filmset, it's just that different to the rest of Tampa's modern bustling style. A really nice break from all the busyness of the centre!
On our way out of Ybor, whilst awaiting our half tram half bus type back to where our car was parked, a randomer who can't have been older than twenty approached us and asked where we were from etc. We gave him all that chat but then he began showing a lot of interest in my flip flops (which are absolutely bog-standard by the way). He asked me where they were from and then what was on the underside of them. When I lifted them up to show him he licked the bottom of them, for no apparent reason!! I was baffled, and asked him if that was some sort of tradition here. He said he didn't know, and then ran off! Have had it confirmed at work that it is most definitely NOT a tradition, and that he was probably high. A slightly random end to a great weekend! Here's to another exciting week.
Hope all you other interns everywhere are having a great time, still enjoying the other blogs!
Aidan