Mission Intern

It’s almost a year since we moved into our flat in Edinburgh and started to find out what it was like to live in this small but happenin’, quaint but cool, chilly but snug city of Scotland.

Settling in here was actually rather a doddle. Although six hours from home we are still on the same (not so sunny) isle as almost all of our friends and family and Edinburgh has a decidedly southern British feel to it (don’t tell the Scots!) which means it really has felt like a home from home to me.

Big anniversaries tend to get people reminiscing and I’m no exception. My home life has stayed resolutely and romantically the same (for which I’m very grateful!) but my professional situation has changed somewhat.

Now, I could wax lyrical about the sorry state of the job market in Britain currently. I have also got a fair few opinions on the use of interns in the creative industries at the moment and, indeed, my own status as the eternal intern. However, before I rush off on a tangent of bitterness and scorn, I need to hold up one moment.

Whenever I start grumbling and grunting about my very slow progress on the career ladder I instantly pinch myself and remember for the millionth time that I have absolutely nothing to be complaining about. Compared with almost all other 23 year olds in the world I have vast wealth, health and happiness. I need to wake up and smell the coffee if I think that working four days in a café as well as three days at a magazine is too hard to bear.

Also, I absolutely love my internship. I can’t really believe my luck at finding myself in the editorial office of a well established, highly regarded magazine which is only five minutes from my front door! I’m not being paid to be there but I am experiencing three days of total immersion in everything editorial and I really couldn’t be happier.

Today is my first day off in ten days. I am just about to start working again for a similar amount of time. I am truly knackered but I am one step closer to my dream of working in a publishing house. And, it’s nearly Christmas!