Internship Journal Week 1

This was my first week working at the Hoxton Trust in Hoxton. It was an interesting experience but I am excited for the opportunity and I am looking forward to my second week.

Per our discussion during our interview, I am to work Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10:30 to 18:00. I actually like these hours, because that means that the transport network won't be as crowded as say, if I had to be there at 8:30. So my first day was 22 January. I showed up and my boss, Karina, was ill. So what she had me do was first go through the binders of what the past interns have done to get a little more familiar with the firm. It was quite interesting and beneficial because I was a little unsure of exactly what the firm did. Now I am quite certain about the firms goal, purpose and mission.

However, Karina decided that she was going home, so she left me a little project to work on in her absence. What I was to do was go through the accounts and see how the accounts match up with the budgeted figures, note if they are over or under budget and then, look at individual entries to see where the discrepancies are coming from. To do this, I made a spreadsheet, which took a comprehensive look at each account, then breaking it down to smaller and smaller sub-accounts. All in all, it took me most of the day to finish this, and with each account, I wrote up some notes explaining what stood out to me.

On Wednesday, I got a text from Karina telling me not to come into work because she was not going to be there. This was disappointing but I understand why she could not come into work. It was also a little frustrating because I will have forgot a few of the details from the spreadsheet over the course of the week. Nonetheless, it should be a positive second week and I am looking forward to helping the firm for the remaining time I am here.

The biggest shock to me was the amount of social interactions during the work day. It is a relaxed place to work, so that is nice. The people are also very friendly. Every time I passed a coworker in the hallway (albeit  was only three times), we stopped and had at least a 15 minute conversation. These conversations were about everything from how I am getting along in London; to different forms of governments; how parliament works; and even the history of the Hoxton area. I really enjoyed it though because it made me feel accepted and welcomed.