Fleishman Hillard International Communications

I just got back from my first day at Fleishman Hillard International Communications and I have to admit it was fun. They ended up setting me up with my own desk at what they call pods. Essentially they are cubicles, but more modernized and not as claustrophobic. It was an early morning and I had to be there at 9:30 a.m. which apparently will not be normal because the expect me to be there at 9 a.m. It's only a 20 min. walk from my place so it's not too bad, but it's still a hike.

They set me up at my pod and introduced me to the tech team. They put the previous intern who now works full time as my Line Manager. We sat down and outlined my goals I wanted to accomplish while spending time at Fleishman Hillard. They had some fantastic objectives for me and really wanted me to delve into a little bit of every aspect of PR. I told them that my main objective is to get things for my portfolio and I asked them if I could possibly transfer to a Fleishman Hillard back in the U.S. They said they could write a letter of recommendation and definitely get me an interview, but can't guarantee a job. Obviously!

I didn't do much of anything today. General PR work. I didn't feel like an intern because it was a tedious task that as a PR personnel I should be doing on a daily basis. They gave me the tabloids and broadsheets (their newspapers) from this past weekend and told me to scan through them searching for the company's clients. They were doing the same thing, but from today's newspapers and they just didn't have time to do it from the weekend's editions. I outlined some relevant articles. It wasn't a horrible task because it helped me get oriented to the culture around Britain and their style of writing.

The press here is ruthless. They have absolutely no censorship. For example, there was a guy convicted of killing his wife and child. He was arrested, but hadn't yet been charged. Without shame they call the a bastard and good for nothing. Not those exact words, but along those lines. They just flat out called the guy out, which wouldn't fly in the states. It'd be libel. They also curse in the newspaper, some feature nudity and alot of their "news" sounds more like gossip.

They are also ridiculously obsessed with David Beckham. They are auctionining off 2 letters he wrote when he was 16 to a friend for £1,500 = $3000. WTF? But like I said I didn't mind the task because it's something that I should get used to doing if I want to be serious about PR. Scan the environment, monitor the surroundings etc. etc. etc.

From the looks of it they have some really awesome things lined up for me. I'm conscious of taking the tasks they give me and completing effectively and efficiently. I want to show them I'm capable of doing so much more than they may think.

On the walk home I felt so mature and old. It was strange. I could picture myself doing this for a living. Reporting to work at a 5 story PR agency. Knocking out a few hours, taking lunch in Convent Gardens (an outside mall of sorts) and walking home after a long days work. I love big cities man and I'm finally starting to feel grown up. I've had an internship before but this is completely different than having one at home. This agency is huge. It's roughly 100-150 people divided into different departments. I'm not working in a small agency with 7 people. There's constant commotion, interaction and work to be done. It's never slow.

I'm really feeling this "real-world" experience-- I can't lie. It kind of makes me excited to go out and find a job and start earning money. Score!