Internships, real world experience?

I am currently working on my third internship, and while my resume looks impressive with all this "experience" I've had, I wonder, am I really experienced in the field? In a perfect world, in each internship I would work under my boss, and he would allow me to help out with as much as possible, so when I am completed with the internship, I would feel comfortable doing such tasks on my own. I would love to say this is the has been the case in my experiences, however I cannot say this. I have found that I am GREAT at entering data into excel, can probably say the alphabet backwards, and have conquered the mail merger. I often find myself passing the hours in my lonely cube doing undesirable busy work that my "co-workers" do not wish to do themselves. I understand I am only an intern, and this is the work I am supposed to do, but I wish I would get the opportunity to work on more important tasks, tasks that actually matter and will help me in the future. I have been assertive seeking these types of tasks, however I am always stuck back in my cube doing yet another cumbersome task. I wonder, when I graduate, will I be able to preform as well as my resume makes me look?

Working in the Field

Interning. It's great when I can pitch a story to the West Bend Daily News and see it show up a few days later. It sucks when I e-mail a press release and then drown in follow-up calls that are never answered and never returned. Sometimes, I am on a roller coaster of emotions. Am I actually good at this? I cannot tell if I enjoy working with the media or if I loathe it. It's a love hate relationship. Building a bridge seems to take at least two personal phone calls and a few great story topics. Burning a bridge takes two seconds and just one too many follow up calls. What's to be done? My boss is amazing at media relations. Maybe it just takes time, practice, multiple scripts and a few sweaty palms. I must admit that I am getting a bit better after having contacted the media a few times, at least physiologically. I can control my heart, breathing and sweaty palms a bit more. But then again, one rude journalist and I am back to square one. Gotta thicken that skin. Media relations must get easier, just has to get easier, WILL get easier....but my hands still get a bit sweaty.

Is it Election Day yet?!

I've seen it everywhere the past few weeks: "I'm sick of this election." "I don't really care about the candidates anymore." "Let's get this over with." I've noticed that many people are tired of hearing about the upcoming election, and simply don't care anymore.

But why? Are there too many messages in the media? Are we constantly being bombarded with fliers, commercials, magazine ads, newspaper articles, buttons and bumper stickers to the point where it's almost annoying? And if so,  how is it impacting the candidates?

I remember the last election, but I don't remember it being this... chaotic, I guess. Anyone else? Would love to hear your thoughts on this, and the way our candidates are being presented in the media in general...

Saving Money!!

Saving Money!!

This summer I worked at a bar in downtown Milwaukee. I made at least $150 every Friday and Saturday night and got to make it in an environment I really enjoyed. At the end of the summer I realized that with my hard class schedule I would not be able to continue on with my job due to lack of transportation and my demanding class schedules. Classes like Global Marketing, Stats, and PR classes lead to very expensive books ranging from $95-$175 or more. I wanted to save as much of the money I made this summer as I could and decided to start looking for an alternative way to get books for cheaper. I didn't really know where to look until about three weeks before school started. One of my good friends was talking to me online and had told me about how she had saved up to $200 on books this semester because she found a site she could rent them off of. I was a little unsure about the renting books concept because I had never heard of it until now, but I decided to look into it. Chegg.com was the name of the website, and i completely recommend it to everyone who wants to save money on books. My global marketing book, normally $185, I rented for around $85 (the most I even paid to rent a book). I completely recommend the site and will continue to use it for the time left I have at Marquette University to save as much money as possible!