Today was one for the books. It was my first official day as an FCS intern. My hours were 1-5pm and I hurried from my language classes to the Embassy. I finally have an official so I breezily waltzed through the heavy-duty gates with a new sense of confidence. I waved to my new Marine friends and proceeded to my office.
When I arrived, the office was eerily quiet. I did a quick loop to see who was working and tried to pretend I had a purpose. The curious eyes of Chinese nationals popped up cubicles to see who the newcomer was, but the officers were no were to be found. I went to my barren cubicle and twiddled my thumbs. Admittedly, I had no idea what to do.
After sitting for about 60 seconds, I decided to be bold. I walked down the fluorescent hall to the land of the people far more important than me. Each office door indicated their occupants were in meetings, except for one. Of course, it was Mrs. Kemp’s door. She is the Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs. Or in other words, she has far more important things to do than to see me. She and I were never introduced during my weeks of erratic orientation attendance, but something overtook me and I strolled into her office.
I said “Hi Mrs. Kemp.” to which she just went “hmmm” without looking up from her computer. The frequency that which people attack her office with questions and memos seems to give rise to a reaction that could be misinterpreted as rude or apathetic. But after seeing my mother work for years in a high-speed government office, I knew better. I smiled and said “I’m the new intern- McKenzie.” Her head snapped up and she stared at me for a second, likely with shock, and then laughed and stood up. She extended a hand and shook mine firmly. I continued with “Sorry to drop in, today is my first day and I figured the chances of ever seeing you alone again are very slim. If I am interrupting I can come back later.” In response she laughed “Oh no, no trouble at all. Please sit. You know I have never had an intern stroll in here. I suppose they are all scared of me. They are far too often trembling in their boots.”In that moment, I realized that what I did was rather crazy but it certainly paid off. I had made an impression and established a base-line relationship from which I could harvest a very valuable network web and knowledgeable mentor. After speaking with her for several minutes, she warned me “just so you know, we do no on-boarding here. You have to learn how to swim on your own.” Although I remained composed, I felt some anxiety stir in the depths of my perfectionist’s heart. I thanked her for the heads up and I told her if she needed me to do anything she could find me in the barren cubicle in intern alley. She laughed again and said “I like you already.” I left her high-end office with a small smile on my face and confidence in my stride.
I danced back to my desk to find that my official boss was still no where to be found. I realized that I could either hide in my cubicle and get away with doing nothing under the pretense that no one told me what to do. But after my conversation with Ms. Kemp, I took another chance. I opened up my fancy new government outlook email and sent a mass forward to the whole office. In sum, I told them I was new and ready to jump in and where they could find me. Within 6o seconds, two officers emailed me back with projects. As I was reading them contemplating all of my life choices leading to hitting that send button, I heard a stranger’s voice yelling “McKenzie!” over the cubicles. Hiding my dear-in-headlights eyes, I stood and saw a many with salt-and-pepper hair and intelligent eyes searching for me. I waved and he laughed and told me to come to his office. Meet Brad. He is another Commercial Officer who specializes, from my understanding thus far, in Energy. Without any sort of introduction ( I only know what I just wrote from his door tag), he asked me to work on a project for him. I blindly agreed.
As a result, I spent three hours coordinating PowerPoints and SWOT analyses with the local staff. They certainly thought I was much smarter and experienced than I am based on all my conversations. We are working on an expo of sorts and I am very excited to see how it turns out.
Of course, I was doing Brad’s project from my computer so I had the honor of watching my outlook inbox light up like 2010 Juarez with other projects. I was also tasked with preparing a PPPT on Smart Cities for an upcoming event . Thankfully, a quick google search informed me that Smart cities were cities using technology to combat urban issues…not “pretty smart places with pretty smart people?” like I thought initially.
By 4pm, I felt spread a little thin by the high-speed, caliber, almost impersonal environment. But the inspiration I drew from my co-worker’s passion and intellect overpowered this sentiment. And the sense of accomplishment from my tiny tasks that I somehow managed to figure out without training whispered that I should carry on. I continued on and got everything done before the time stamp and exceeded expectations from what I could tell.
Just when I thought the storm was over, another Officer (do not know his name), popped his head above my cubicle and asked a deadly question “do you like shredding?”. I lied and said yes. Three hours later, which I wish was an exaggeration…I shredded two printer boxes filled with information. After several fights with a very, very angry shredder and a mishap with a staple not ready to part a packet, I realized it was 7pm. I also realized that I still felt happy and that I could keep going, whether it was intense SWOT analyses or shredding. Bring it on, I thought.
Overall, I am very EXCITED to see where this internship takes me. I learned so much on my first day and I realized that I love learning by trial-and-error. I also rise too occasions when people expect me, even if I don’t know how to approach a solution. I was very proud of my work that day. I feel more confident and motivated that ever before. Most importantly, I learned how to manage expectations. Throughout my day, I asked questions if I did not know how to do something and I even turned down a project so I would still be able to provide quality work to my current works. I think my superiors respected that decision more than if I had took on every project and did not deliver as well. All I can say is that it is going to be hilarious, informative, educational, and life-changing internship. I am ready to swim on my own.
Life at the Embassy 