A Day in the Life

Hey all, I was forced to do a "blog entry" assignment for one of my internship courses, in which I detail a typical day in my life as an intern (including morning/evening activities). The concept is to give prospective American interns an idea of what they can expect when doing my program.

Since I had to write it anyway, and I've been horribly negligent of this blog (you'll see why when you realize my typical tendency to ramble and the time it takes for me to write an entry), I thought I'd post it on here. Enjoy!

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Woke up extremely tired this morning. That always seems to happen on Mondays, regardless of how much rest I’ve gotten over the weekend. I rolled out of bed and pulled my clothes on, having showered the night before--when there are three girls sharing a bathroom in the morning, someone has to give up their morning shower! I grab a sugar-free Red Bull and a blueberry muffin from “my” shelf in the fridge, and make sure I’ve got my iPod to keep me company on the way to work. My commute is usually about a 25-minute walk. When I first started walking to work back in January, I kept my eyes open and listened to everything around me. Now, like most Londoners, I usually have a pair of headphones on and walk quickly without making much eye contact with people.

Today’s a bit overcast and cold, which is on par for London but unusual compared to the warmth of the past weekend. On the way to work I pass lots of shops, mostly convenience stores and cafes, as well as a few major intersections with tall buildings. I work in Shoreditch, which is not quite “The City” but is pretty close. While most tourists would associate London with things like Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the London Bridge, or even the West End theater districts, this is not what Londoners refer to as “The City.” It’s actually the less antiquated, more metropolitan part of the city, where most large banks and firms have their headquarters. It’s basically known as a “financial district” and boasts such famous buildings as “The Gherkin,” a tall tower shaped a bit like, well, a pickle (other people have different ideas of what it’s shaped like).

The area I work in is trendy in the sense that there are lots of ethnic restaurants, organic food markets, and even a hopping nightlife on weekends. It’s probably more popular among students or young professionals who can’t quite afford to go out in “The City” or in the West End at night – the clubs don’t have cover like in most areas of London, but they ooze “Indie” in a similarly pretentious way. So it’s easy to see why my graphic design firm, Fresh01, fits right into the neighborhood. Our office is actually situated in a gated complex that has lots of other design agencies within, all arranged around a central courtyard of sorts.

I arrive right at 9 am and greet my coworkers: Jo, the only other female in the office (!), Mark (a client account manager, about 24), Andy and Siu (designers in their late 20’s). Kurt is our managing director and the founder of the company, and doesn’t come in until a bit later today. He’s usually not in on Mondays at all, but we have a particularly big account we’re presenting tomorrow (Tuesday) and he’s going to be in the office tearing his hair out all day. First things first though: we “put the kettle on” and gather ‘round a conference table downstairs to have a video Skype chat with Kurt at his home. He wants to get the stress ball rolling early, I guess.

The Liverpool International Boat Show is a big account that, if won, would mean Fresh01 got to design the logo, website, and all print collateral for the 2010 Liverpool Boat Show. I don’t fully understand the significance of boat shows, since I’m not British, but it’s a big deal to them and the “international” ones move around to different cities, like Southampton and London (and now, Liverpool). The company’s been under a bit of financial stress lately due to the credit crunch, but winning this account will mean we have a bit of breathing room, since we’ll have a guaranteed, contracted income over the course of the year. We can then supplement that with other, smaller client jobs without having to worry about making more people redundant (laying them off, basically, which unfortunately happened to a few people shortly after I arrived in London).

We listen to music throughout the day—usually it’s house/techno but this morning it’s Motown, which I’m pretty happy with. This morning I’m continuing work on a cell phone user guide that needs to be formatted for seven different countries. Each country has a book about forty pages thick that is translated in several different languages. Luckily, I don’t have to do the translating, but I do have to go through and make sure the phone numbers are correct in each and every guide and section, and if necessary shift things around so they fit better. Apart from the user guides, we’re also designing and formatting Top-Up Cards, a Quick Reference Index, a Sim Card, and various other elements that a new cell phone buyer will get in their little box.

In between working on the cell phone stuff, I do errands or small jobs for other people in the office. Jo sends me a “skyscraper,” which is like a vertical internet banner ad, and I format it for a “Find a Puppy” campaign being done by the Kennel Club. We’ve already done the logo for them, so I insert it and add some text, then animate it in Fireworks. I knew how to use a couple programs when I came here, but I’ve definitely had at least a little more experience with ones I was terrified of before—so I feel good about that.

The boys need lots of foam board for the boat show presentation tomorrow, and we’re running low. Mark gives me money to run to the art supply store a few streets over and I buy out what they have left of foam board in the size we need. Later the crew will meticulously cut out all their nicely printed logos, sample adverts, and website designs for the boat show pitch, and they’ll use spray adhesive to mount them dead center on these thick boards. It’s very important that even their plans for the project be presented in a formatted, bound book and taken to the meeting. Kurt’s very anal about this, but it definitely gives Fresh more of a professional edge, I think.

At this point in the day Kurt has come in and said “yea” or “nay” to a few of the designers’ logo changes. Now he has to tweak the brief (the plan in book form), where he’ll write up a strategy with fancy flow charts and budget projections and lots of marketing terminology that makes us sound like we know what we’re doing. People have been drifting in and out for lunch for the past couple of hours (it’s not really scheduled—we go get it and eat it back at the office, usually), so I figure it’s time to get some food. Around the corner is a ridiculously expensive organic health food store that we all pretend we have the money to shop at, and I get a pre-made Mediterranean couscous…thing. Sometimes Jo and I will walk to a place called the “Food Hall” up Old Street, which is even more expensive but amazingly tasty. They have different foods made every day and they’re set up on a table cafeteria style, so you come in and point to what you want and they ring it up for you. I’m nearing the end of my trip with some extra money, so I’m going a bit nuts—but truthfully I’ll usually have a Coke and a sandwich from the convenient store around the corner, or better yet, a “pot noodle” (what Brits call Ramen).

I run another errand for Mark after lunch, dropping off a package at the post office. I can never understand what they’re saying and it makes me feel like an idiot. I’ve got most British accents down to a manageable level, but when they’re mumbling behind glass it’s really difficult for me! I just stare at them and they laugh and have to repeat what they said slowly.

Although my work-day is technically 9 to 6, I usually don’t get out of the office until about 6:15. Today I leave right on time, because I’ve got a bunch of errands to do before my trip to Amsterdam and Paris this weekend. I go to CAPA to collect a package I ordered (a Pantone coffee mug as a thank you gift for my workplace), then head to Boots for some travel sized cosmetics. It actually takes about an hour to get from my work all the way to where CAPA is, so by the time I’ve gone there, checked my e-mail, and picked up my travel stuff, It’s about 8:15. I head into Waitrose’s grocery store (again, more expensive than my usual Tesco or Sainsbury’s) and grab a ready-made dinner to take home. I used to buy loaves of bread and boxes of pasta and things to cut up and make dinner, but it honestly gets so exhausting. I usually end up just grabbing something on the way home now. This also helps prevent the hassle of carrying a ton of groceries home from the store. Unlike Americans, who will often do one or two huge grocery trips a month, Brits will go every few days as they run out of things. Not many people have cars and it’s just impractical to do otherwise.

I read a book on the tube ride home, then walk about 10 minutes from the Angel station to my flat. My roommates are watching TV (their evening ritual, while mine is usually reading or surfing the net), and I pop my dinner in the microwave. So now here I sit, finishing up this blog entry. I’m waiting for my friend to call so we can book our hostel in Paris this weekend. Then off to sweet, blissful sleep.

I’m definitely going to need that Red Bull in the morning.