Hey y’all

That’s us in week 6 of our internship at the Wood Group. The work is piling up, the bank balance is slowly but steadily declining and my tan is gradually transitioning from ‘pearl white’ to light egg shell. Reference - [B&Q, colours chart. Aisle 25]

It was my first week in Corporate Communications and my plan to make the most of every opportunity (see last blog) has slightly backfired. In my eagerness to follow up my self-set high standards I said ‘YES’ enthusiastically to every job/project/report/ task that came my way.

I am now constructing a golf website, proofreading the newsletter in 9 different languages, writing 3 reports on varying corporate activities, making a recycling brochure, organizing a walkathon, a soccer tournament and a Laser tag team bonding night.

I’m worried that my boss might start to take advantage of my ‘keen’ new outlook and force me to run unrelated personal errands.
Anyhoo after I picked up my boss’s dry cleaning and completed her tax returns I found time to tick a few more ‘to do’s’ from our list.
(N.B – the dry cleaning and the tax return thing is not true……yet)

On Wednesday team Houston visited IDEA, a marketing communications agency who have accounts with HP, Microsoft and Sony. It was awesome to hear firsthand about the future of communications, especially the role social media will play and how pivotal it will be in the next few years.

We also managed to catch a pre-season NFL game. Texans vs. New York Jets. My personal highlight was sneaking down to the second row in the fourth quarter to watch the( cheerleaders) Jets miss out on a game winning touch-down 5 seconds from the end!

This weekend Saltire interns from all across America united in LAS VEGAS. Kraig and I met with Fort Worth’s Chris and Patrick, and San Diego’s Reuben, Helena and Yvonne!
The meeting place – Trump towers International 5 star Hotel.

As it was a weekend in the famous ‘Sin city’ I will sum up the weekend’s highlights by seeing how many actual sins we managed to encounter.

Greed – excessive desire of wealth, status and power
‘Do you want to upgrade to the suite?’ - YES
Within 5 minutes we were running round our 27th floor, 1000sq foot suite, casually stopping to take in the view of Vegas from our full length windows and to Check what was on our TV, in the mirror.. IN THE BATHROOM.
Thanks Katie for sending over the Saltire branded robes as a replacement for the tshirts.

Sloth / Acedia – the neglect to take care of something you should do
In this case i neglected my bank balance. One important lesson I learnt this weekend is that I am terrible at gambling. With my key motto in Vegas being ‘Go big or go home’, I ended up going big and going home a substantially poorer man. Upon reflection I think I will leave gambling in Vegas and find other ways to lose my money equally as quickly.

 Trump pool...

Gluttony - excessive consumption

After some masterful ‘blagging’ that the real hustle would be proud of and a few celebrity name drops, Reuben and Helena successfully negotiated us into one of Las Vegas’ most prestigious nightclubs. There were many differences between this club and say… Garage

It had a rooftop pool (with MERMAIDS) and a Jacuzzi with views of Las Vegas strip from 20 floors up! I don’t know how this one relates to gluttony but I just wanted to make you guys pretty ENVIOUS.  

Lust – excessive thoughts or desires

Taking my, ‘capitilize on being Scottish’ advice from last week, Chris and I adorned our national dress for Saturday night. Needless to say the Kilt went down a storm.

Drinks -$15

Entry - $20

Watching a husbands face while his wife tries to find out if are a ‘true Scotsman’ - Priceless

This allowed me to reflect on how grateful I am for having a culture like Scotland’s. Our outgoing and friendly reputation allows us to travel without any problems and to be welcomed with open arms almost anywhere in the world. This was demonstrated in abundance on Saturday night along with constant echoes of ‘OMG are you guys Scattish?!?’ And 'OMG I LOVE YOUR KILT/SKIRT!!'

Overall the weekend was a huge success and it was great meeting up with other Saltire interns and finding about how they are enjoying their Internships. It is already evident that being a Saltire Scholar isn’t only an eight week internship, it’s an opportunity to build up relationships/friendships and knowledge that can be utilized in all aspects of life in the future.

Next weekend Team Houston and Team TAESL will be returning to Austin and will spend our last weekend tubing down the Guadalupe river!

Catch you next week!