Sunday, August 4, 2013

Dangling through a Whirlwind of a Summer

It feels like just yesterday that I was sitting on a plane on my way to Austria and now I am less than a week away from moving back to Athens. The past ten weeks have flown by but it has given me a great perspective and I would not dream of doing anything else with my time. 

Austria and Germany taught me that it was a sin for me to believe that I could go through life without seeing the rest of the world. There are so many interesting places that deserve my attention and I don't want to regret going through life and not taking the opportunity to let the world have its own affect on me. 

My first client of my internship taught me that it is necessary to step out of your comfort zone and there are going to be times when pushing myself is going to be the only path to success. It also gave me one distinct perspective of the advisory profession and helped me get closer to finding out exactly what I want to do. 

My second client taught me that productive teams can do great work and some of the best ideas come from spending an hour in a conference room digesting information and coming to conclusions as a group. This client was much more what I was expecting as an advisory professional and it solidified my decision to switch service lines last fall.

I have gotten to know so many of the interns especially the other UGA interns who I will be in graduate classes with in just a few weeks. It is a great feeling when you look around and feel like most of the people around you hold the same values as you. It expedites the process of making connections and makes me really excited to hopefully start full time with all of them next summer. 

I have learned the art of packing lightly and packing at the last minute. There was a span of two weeks where I was constantly packing and unpacking. I can see how business travel gets exhausting but I wouldn't trade the experience of being able to travel as an intern. I want to continue this streak of travel into the fall and I have a few trips in mind, but I understand now why so many people just take the first few years out of college to enjoy the world. 

Overall this summer has been so packed that I do not think I have digested it all yet. I am on my way to my last engagement as an intern in which I get to spend 4 days with 2000+ other interns, celebrating our success from the summer and kickstarting our careers. I know the next four days are going to be jam packed but I can't wait to soak in as much as I can about this firm and all of the opportunities that I might have the chance to participate in. 

It was a full circle when my flight this morning took off from the same gate as my flight to Austria in May. This summer has proved to me that all of my decisions over the past 12 months have been for the best and exactly what I was suppose to be doing. I can't wait to see how my life progresses over the next 12 months because I know right here, right now is exactly where I am suppose to be in this whirlwind of a life.