New Intern on the Block

11th of July, 8.30am. Cut to me standing outside Broadcasting House Southampton and looking incredibly lost. Celestine is getting out of a car, ready to show me in to the office I'll be working in for the next month. I'm Ruthie, and for the next 4 weeks I'll be working as a marketing intern for JCI Southampton.

What does this mean? Well, unlike my mother's suggestion of "filing, photocopying and stapling" (thanks Mum), it means that for the next couple of weeks most online content (be it twitter, blogposts or events) will probably be at least posted by me. Also lots of cups of tea. The office has a lot of teachers. Supply and demand really. If I'm honest, I wasn't really expecting this much when I applied. I too imagined a lot of grunt work and sitting in the back of meetings and generally not doing very much of consequence. Cue the shock when Celestine tells me that I will be running most of these channels on my own back, as well as getting to attend lots of different meetings and socials. I might be sat in the back, but I'm still excited to get to watch what happens at these kind of events. These kind of opportunities are incredible for a recent Philosophy and Politics graduate like me and I can't wait to see what I'll learn while I'm over here.

I don't know what I was really expecting out of JCI as an organisation but whatever it was, I was wrong. After only really being part of this community for a couple of days I'm already incredibly passionate about the ideals and opportunities it wants to support. Young people are, as much as it is cliché to say it, our future and to be able to provide us with these chances for us to train and travel the world and meet people just like us is all part of setting us up for bigger and better things than our parents. Again, at risk of becoming a walking parody of every self-help book known to man, "Be the change you wish to see in the world". JCI really is one of the best ways to help you do this. I think it's safe to say that I will be becoming a full member as soon as I can!

It's going to be an exciting month working here and I can't wait for all the challenges and opportunities I'll be facing over the next four weeks. If there's one thing for sure, it's that I imagine JCI is going to become a big part of my life from now on!