Like I mentioned in previous posts, I have an internship at Clean Energy Pipeline. CEP is a subscription-based database that provides clients with actionable business information. I am on the data and research team: so my job is to sort through articles and deal sheets concerning renewable energy projects. A difficulty I have faced is just using the admin / ‘back-end’ server, especially to find out if we already have data on a project. My boss/mentor/adviser – the head of data and research – encourages questions though because he expects them. He actually said, “I would be more worried if you were not asking questions because this stuff can be tricky.” We use skype chat so we do not have to always get up, but when I have a tricky deal to do he is more than willing to come help. I feel that I have pretty much gotten the hang of it and each day I ask less questions. I feel that I can call him my friend now. Each morning – because I work Monday Wednesday Friday – we talk about the NBA. He is a big fan. There have been lots of trade talks so we can end up talking for at least 20 minutes before we start working.
I have also gotten pretty close with a journalist and market researcher. They took me out for a pint after work which was cool. They have given me lots of good tips to get acclimated to London. I already feel a part of the team at CEP.
Advice to incoming interns: just be yourself. I have not met anyone in London who was not curious nor eager to meet me. It can be hard to understand people actually though, but they do not get offended if you ask them to repeat something. Some have much thicker accents than others and a good amount of my coworkers are actually immigrants with various first languages as well. Do not be worried about making friends, in or out of your internship.