Lucy Emily

It has been a long time coming but placement year is finally here. It is crazy how fast it has come around – I was talking to somebody the other day and it hit me that I have been talking about this for so long and now it is actually happening. It always seemed so far away saying ‘oh yeah I’m moving to London to work in PR’. Things change so fast – only a month and a half ago I was finishing up my second year of University and how I am working in PR. So how have my first few weeks been? I feel like I am repeating some of what in my last post about Weber Shandwick but I was so nervous thinking about this internship. I have absolutely zero confidence in myself so I did not know what to expect. But I could not have been made to feel more welcome and wanted into such a large organisation. I have loved my first few weeks. Don’t get me wrong, it has been a huge learning curve so far – I have learnt more than I thought was possible! But I am so grateful to have been given some amazing opportunities already. I am finding it so interesting seeing PR from a different angle. My last two work experiences have been agency so I am loving seeing it from an in-house kind of angle. Oh, and to top it off the people I get to work with are so lovely!! I love that there is such a strong intern culture although I am still getting there with meeting new people as there are around 100 of us….! And then everyone in my division are so nice so I can’t wait to see what this year holds! But this post wouldn’t be right on this blog if I didn’t touch upon the whole, student to employee transition. You see, student life is pretty laid back, you do what you want when you want. Lie-ins, late nights, spontaneous nights out, shop when you want, eat when you want. Absolutely anything goes. So it can be quite a shock to the system when you start a full-time job. From 8 hours of Uni per week to 8 hours of work a day. From needing to be at Uni for one, one hour lecture to being needed to work for 8 hours. The 2am bedtimes aren’t going to cut it anymore. I started work experience one week before my placement to get me into the swing of things but even then it is a bit of a shock to be working 9-5. Weekends were always just ‘another chill day’ at Uni but now I appreciate them so much! The big move  Oh, and I am now living in London! I seem to have completely glanced over this in the blog (It probably has a lot to do with the complete lack of wifi (see below)). Moving in or out of Uni is always a bit stressful but giving myself one week to go from Uni to London probably wasn’t the wisest move? I completely underestimated the amount of stuff I had collated in a year until my parents come to move me in with endless boxes. Just when you thought they were all in, down comes another. But I am finally here. Finally here living with my friend from Uni who conveniently is also on placement right next to my office – win win! But it has been (surprise, surprise this is me) a bit eventful already – I’m not sure if either of us are truly ready for adult life but I guess after three weeks we know more about light bulbs, fuse boxes, aerial and wifi connections than we did before. Is this what adulting is all about? But in all honesty, finally being in London is a bit weird? Like I’ve previously said, I’ve been saying that this is always something that I’ve wanted to do and to actually be doing it is a bit surreal? But I do love it. We are so settled in our little flat and love being here. Love being here now we have wifi and TV after three weeks. Yes you read that right, three weeks. Cue my parents saying you spend too much time on your phone already (said it for you, Dad) but really you need the internet to do anything. I didn’t even realise until we were three weeks without it. I mean, I’m all for a digital detox now and again but three weeks was maybe a step too far. Thank you to all of the coffee shops and shopping centres that provided me with my dose of reality these past few weeks 😉 And would this be a ‘newbie to London’ post without mentioning the tubes? Don’t get me wrong, they are…