Back in the USA
Hello faithful followers,
It has surely been a while since my last post, but I have made it back to the United States safe and sound. I left Edinburgh on the 25th of May (sad face), and since then have moved into my summer apartment and started interning in New York City. Leaving Edinburgh, and all of the wonderful friends and memories I made was really hard, but I am forever grateful for my experience. At some point in the near future I am going to write a long blog post about the wonderful benefits of studying abroad, but in the mean time, let me catch you up to speed with my summer.
Like I said I flew back from Scotland on the 25th of May, and the next day I moved into my apartment in Morningside Heights (the uptown Manhattan neighborhood that is essentially home to Columbia University and all of its students and faculty). It is a really safe and clean neighborhood, that is home to great coffee shops, restaurants, book stores, and parks!
In terms of work, I am interning at a start-up called Zerve, a fairly young company that is about seven or so years old. One of the main things that Zerve does is consult with small companies that run tourist activities in a number of cities (i.e. day cruises, an array of tours, etc.) and stream-lines their ticketing, management, sales, etc. A lot of the companies that Zerve works for only have a handful of employees, so before Zerve stepped in, these companies ran the business side of things as well as operating their respective activities. Stressful to say the least. By helping to take care of the business side of things, these companies and their employees now have more time to focus solely on the activities and tours they run. The other main thing that Zerve does is online and telephone ticketing for these companies. People interested in things to do in New York City, for example, can browse hundreds of different things online, check out reviews, and then go ahead and book right online. Or, they can call us and book over the phone as well. It makes for a really simple process.
Working at Zerve has been really fun and they make an effort to treat their interns like full time employees. I get to do a lot of challenging but rewarding work! I also really like the culture that is present in a lot of start up companies like Zerve. For starters, I get to wear shorts and t-shirts to work, there is a laid-back environment (laid-back certainly doesn’t mean no work however) but it is a lot better than corporate, and almost everyone at the company is young! There is a ton of interns and fresh out of college grads, so there is a lot of great energy and creative ideas flowing around!
The last two summers my internships were politically focused, and before I graduate I wanted to give business a shot to see which route I want to pursue after college. I must admit, I have a really hard decision in front of me and I honestly don’t know which route I will take at this point. But, I am really happy I tried something new this summer, and I am glad it has been a great experience thus far!
Although I feel like I have only been in NYC for a few days, it has already been almost a month! Although I work a lot, I have had the oppertunity to hang out and explore the city with friends from all walks of my life (Vanderbilt, home, Edinburgh, and NYU). Fortunately I still have two more months left in the city to cross off all those things on my bucket list before I head back to good old Vandy for my final year (adgdsfhsdfgasrdfgsdfd I am still in disbelief I am a senior).
Until next time (which is hopefully not another month again),
Luke
P.S. I know that a lot of my Vanderbilt friends frolic to D.C., L.A., Boston, and Chicago, to name a few, for summer jobs, so feel free to check out Zerve for a bunch of great stuff to do this summer in your city!