Internship: Awesome

I'm now in the middle of my third week at The Nature Conservancy, and I'm in love. I work a stone's throw from my house, a seven-minute drive from Bryony's school, in a really happenin' part of town. I can walk along the river at lunchtime, eat at any number of great restaurants at lunchtime, and my office space is a converted three-story warehouse with beautiful hardwood floors and exposed brick and chipped plaster walls. It's gorgeous.

Now, as for the job itself...my title is officially intern, but as one of my colleagues put it, this is no "can-you-go-make-me-a-copy-of-this?" internship. From the minute I first met with my boss, I've been on the fast track...scheduling meetings with researchers from eight different states; attending in-person and online meetings with researchers, project managers and upper echelon; getting up to speed on the project by reading, reading, reading; learning the names of my officemates, and understanding what they do and how I'll work with them. It's been a flurry of information and activity and at times it's been overwhelming, but I love it. I think the thing I love the best is that even though the other interns and I are affectionately known by the name "Intern (fill-in-the-name)," I don't feel like anyone at the office looks down their nose at us, like we're "just the interns." If anything, it's the exact opposite. I've found that people have gone out of their way to introduce themselves to me, to learn more about me, and to express excitement by the prospect of us working together. It's really satisfying to know that I work at an organization where people are enthusiastic about their job and the folks they work with, regardless of title.

Perhaps the best bit of all is the workday schedule. I arrive at 8:30am, and since TNC only works a seven-hour (plus lunch hour) day, I leave by 4:30pm to pick up my girl. At this time, when our guy is away and I'm the only parent she has around, there is nothing like being able to hop in my car, drive seven minutes and see my little girl's face light up as she runs to hug me. And to know that we have the rest of the afternoon and evening to go to the farmers' market, swim class, dance class or just hang out at home over a leisurely dinner...that's priceless.