This week was bitter*sweet*
I sent in my application, including a full-blown cover letter (a full page, no less--would you expect anything different from me?) and resume, at 11:58 on the day before the second deadline.
Yep, I missed the first deadline to apply to what would prove to be one of the most amazing experiences in my life. The #stuylife has finally started taking over me OHMIGOD.
The following two weeks were a flurry of scheduling and results and three rounds of interviews, climbing from virtual recordings of ourselves answering various questions to interacting face-to-face with who would later be our supervisor, editor-in-chief, and general manager (shoutout to Linda, Danielle, and Nisha #bossladies).
I spent three weeks of my life anxiously waiting for an email setting up a phone call to congratulate me on getting the Cambio #BUILTBYGIRLS internship and asking whether or not I wanted to take it (I obviously took about 3.7 seconds to say "YESYESYES PLEASE TAKE ME AS ONE OF YOUR OWN").
But nothing could've prepared us high school interns for an event invite to be the speakers at a #BBG panel for some Girls Who Code students.
I can't believe people thought we were mature enough to give advice to people essentially our age. I mean, sure, we have our meetings officially scheduled on an official teamaol email, and scan into the building with my fellow business suits using my official AOL magnetic ID, and have our own official Cambio team to discuss officially confidential Cambio business. But when we looked at our calendars Monday morning and saw that we were scheduled to go to City College with the #BBG Ventures interns to talk to a Girls Who Code program...
WE WERE TERRIFIED.
But, as it turns out, it's extremely easy for us to talk about ourselves and the #BUILTBYGIRLS program. Everyone was curious to know about how the interviews were and what part of our project we worked on and how to talk to a professional person and if it really does matter how firm your handshake is.
They thought we had all the answers (when we really don't), but it didn't stop us from trying to give them a heads-up in the tech world.
It also didn't hurt that they passed around notebooks for us to write our contact information down, and I basically felt like a celebrity.
And we sure felt like celebrities on Wednesday.
"Sorry for overgramming, but I needed to show off our @glamsquad hair 💁🏼💁🏻💁🏻💁🏽💁🏾 #builtbygirls #builtbycurls #glamsquad"
This week is the fourth week of our six week program at AOL, meaning us #BUILTBYGIRLS interns are two-thirds of the way through the best summer ever. The #BBG Ventures girls aren't as lucky: this is their last week until we all jet off to San Francisco for TechCrunch (SOOO PUMPED about that).
To celebrate Nastasia, Lila, Jennifer, and Amanda's time at AOL acting like real venture capitalists, #BUILTBYGIRLS threw us a goodbye dinner. And, of course, no socialite can go to dinner without getting their hair did.
So that's what happened.
"I got my hair did 💇🏼 Thank you @glamsquad! ❤️ #glamsquad #builtbygirls #builtbycurls"
GlamSquad came to our offices and set up shop to do all of the interns hair. It was strange, seeing a conference room filled with hairspray particles and the scent of slightly burned hair, but it was a welcome distraction from all of the debugging we have to do to get the Cambio site actually running.
This was the first time I had gotten my hair done since the infamous Bang Incident of 5th Grade (nope, this is not the time to talk about it--my therapist already has to handle that trauma), so I told my hairdresser to surprise me. I'm guessing that isn't something most people say when they're getting their hair done, but I like to live life on the edge, what can I say?
I ended up getting my blonde locks converted into a Blake-Lively-esque head of loose curls. It was actually enjoyable to sit in a chair and have someone else deal with the mess of dead cells on top of your scalp, and seeing the transformation was actually shocking. I've never had my hair curled and actually liked it (meaning that I didn't anxiously run water through my hair in an effort to de-curl the mess).
I couldn't even bring myself to move my hair from my neck to my shoulders for fear of disturbing the delicate ecosystem. The humidity didn't help.
We were glammed up, and now it was time to eat. They brought us to this casually fancy restaurant called The Smith, and ohmigod it was an experience to be had.
"I'm going to go nurse my food baby now 🍴 I knew there was a reason I wanted this #builtbygirls internship ❤️❤️"
There was chips and macaroni and flatbread appetizers galore. I had the pork chops and was actually completely okay with taking a bite of everything on the plate at once (I'm kinda weird about mixing food sometimes). For dessert there was chocolate lava cake and vanilla milkshakes and ice cream galore!
I ate like a queen, but I didn't need a carriage to bring me home.
Being able to eat mountains of food and not be overly full is the best way to live, in my honest opinion.
Friday was honestly the most fun day ever, at least in terms of foods and friends.
As part of our addition to the Cambio editorial content, we got to lead an interview with the three-piece girl band Sweet Suspense! And when I say we conducted an interview, I basically mean that we chatted about everything from who we fangirl over to how everyone pranks each other on the Pop Nation tour. You can actually read that interview here.
They're all our age (Millie just turned 16!!) so we spent the hour of free time they had before their BUILD panel just being teenage girls. It was awesome to talk to people who know celebrities and perform in front our thousands of people, but as if they're just normal teenage girls (which they actually are!).
"#tbt to when us #BUILTBYGIRLS interns met the lovely ladies of @sweetsuspense--@luvalwaysmillie, @only1summerreign, and @bryanasalaz ❤️🎤 Check out cambio..."
But no week could be complete without a sweet treat to eat.
I'm the next Doc Suess, guys. It's tru-ess (?)
I'm so sorry.
As a final send-off, we all took a little road trip to Big Gay Ice Cream to eat some little straight frozen yogurt ;). I couldn't have thought up a better way to say goodbye to the #BBG Ventures girls. It's going to be strange knowing that there are four fewer interns running around the AOL offices, but I know that they're going to have the best time travelling the globe and chilling at college.
Plus, we'll get to see them in SAN FRAN-FREAKING-CISCO!!1!
"Me and all my salty pimps/#builtbygirls interns chillin yesterday ❤️🍦 I'm gonna miss all of the #bbgventures interns. Don't forget about us software..."
